japanese religions midterm

five strands

the five major religious traditions in japan

shinto

1. “Indigenous,” way of kami

2. But: Buddhist prayers, shared sites, overlapping “Gods”

3. “Shen dao” (“the way of the Gods”)

4. Some stories/rituals unique to Japan, many aspects are influenced by/linked to China

5. Heavy functional mixing of Shintoism & Buddhism

• Mix of Shinto & Buddhism

• Shinto worship conflict with Buddhism ideas?

buddhism

1. India → China → Korea → Japan

2. Rokudo: 6 paths/realms ~ “rebirth”

   1. Gods (kami)

   2. Warriors (jealous gods)

   3. Humans

   4. Animals

   5. Ghosts

   6. Hell-dwellers

3. 6 paths → continuity of mind & awareness via skillful means

confucianism

1. Family/loyalty/respect

2. Goal: maximize humanity via ritual & social organization

3. Shaped Japanese family dynamics, respect for elders, honor & community

4. Emphasizes idea of a “greater good”

taoism

1. Immortality practices, nature

2. Priests manage divine bureaucracy

3. Focuses:

   1. Nature & seasonality

   2. Influence aesthetic interest of Japan

   3. Shugendo: immortality practices (extreme discipline → longevity)

folk religions

1. Local traditions & ritual practice, eg. rice festivals

kami

• a powerful being linked to a location; spiritual/mythical figures accessible by humans

  • Kami are amoral (not moral/immoral, but responsive to respect)

  • Norinaga—kami is anything that can fill us with wonder and awe

  • Worshipped via offerings, festivals, temple visits, etc. (ring bells to summon)

ancestors

• Tama

• Quiet ancestral ghosts

• Can detach self from host

• Collective ancestor—family members united in eternal rest

• 33 years

• Worship:

  • Obon—festival to honor and connect with ancestors

  • Buddhist ideas

onryō

• angry ghosts/vengeful spirits

• Danger in the transitional period (33 years)

• If you fail to feed your family members, they will be non-satiated, angry ghosts and cause trouble

• Onryō = worst case scenario, created via:

  • Family doesn’t feed you

  • Sense of injustice/murder

  • No family to take care of you

lotus sutra

• collection of parables (short narratives) and explanations of the narrative (prose, verse)

  • Last sermon of Shakamuni Buddha (500 BCE) or new vision movement: Mahayana (“new vehicle,” 100 BCE)

  • Most influential Buddhist text in East Asia

  • Nichiren (Japan) leads chants to the Lotus Sutra → text itself becomes recipient of devotion like bodhisattvas, kami, etc.

    • Becomes Soka Gokkai movement

  • Reflexivity: self-reference of text

  • Triumphalist (everybody will eventually adhere to the Lotus Sutra)

  • Hōben: skillful means

    • Appeals to our preoccupations

    • Only real truth is skillfulness itself

  • Tone of the text is arrogant, often repeats itself several times over

  • Sophisticated but not subtle

burning house parable

• Suffering & escape

• Skillful means

• House: world of suffering (change)

• Kids: us (distracted)

• Father: Buddha

• Carts: Buddha’s skillful teaching

  • Carts outside of house: ultimate teaching of Mahayana

• Dishonesty only worthwhile in terms of why it occurs

• All kids get the same cart

• Allegory for human life

• Fire = change and instability (suffering)

amida buddha

• West: Sukhanati

• Good place/pure land

• Became Dharmakara Bodhisattva

bodhisattva dharmākara

• 38 vows

  • #18: chant Amida’s name

• Karma? Morality?

• Karma & compassionate intention → karmic force → good things happen

• Power of truth

nembutsu

• Japanese religious practice (recite name of Amida Buddha—Nembetsu)

• Ippen’s strategy

• Chanting

• Practice derived from Bodhisattva Dharmakara’s 38 vows (#18)

ippen

• 13th century hiriji (wanderer)

• Performer & poet

• Used skillful means (hōben), committed to perfecting skillful use of langauge

• Pulled up to towns and started throwing down & chanting Nembetsu, handed out slips

buddha nature/original enlightenment

• Also original enlightenment

• If awakening/enlightenment must be build/learned/created, it’s a problem (that makes it an attachment)

• You’re awake right now, in nature of your awareness, you just haven’t realized it

• Hongaku: original enlightenmnet

  • Jewel in coat; enlightenment is already here

• Method, not “thing”