Hugo Makibi Enomiya-Lassalle

Hugo Makibi Enomiya-Lassalle

Hugo Makibi Enomiya-Lassalle (1898-1990) was a German Jesuit, a pioneer in integrating Zen into his religious practice. At the age of 29 he was ordained a priest and two years later traveled to Japan as a missionary, where he spent the rest of his life. He immediately realized that he had to respect and know the millenary legacy of the people and the culture that welcomed him.

The experience of the atomic bomb, which fell on Hiroshima in 1945 leaving him seriously injured, confirmed the importance of rapprochement between peoples through cultural and interreligious dialogue.

Already in the 50s of the last century, Enomiya-Lassalle advocated before Pope Pius XII for an encounter between Christianity and Buddhism.