Japanese Approaches to Religion / Spirituality

Dr. Harold Netland Reaching Japanese for Christ October 9-10, 2009

Religions are “systems of meaning embodied in a pattern of life, a community of faith, and a worldview that articulate a view of the sacred and of what ultimately matters.” [Roger Schmidt, et al., Patterns of Religion p. 10.]

Ninian Smart distinguishes seven dimensions of religious phenomena: (1) ritual dimension; (2) “mythological” or narrative dimension; (3) doctrinal or philosophical dimension; (4) ethical dimension; (5) social and institutional dimension; (6) experiential dimension; and (7) material dimension. [N. Smart, Worldviews: Crosscultural Explorations of Human Beliefs, pp. 7-10].

Which of the dimensions are most significant for practitioners of Japanese religious traditions?

Shinto

Prior to the introduction of Buddhism to Japan in the 6th century AD, there was no special term denoting the web of indigenous religious practices and beliefs already in place in Japan. In order to distinguish the indigenous tradition from Buddhism, the term “Shinto” (way of the kami) was coined. Shinto was thus differentiated from Buddhism (butsudo, "the way of the Buddha").

"I define the word Shinto as the traditional indigenous religious practices of the Japanese people as well as their worldview, based on their concept of kami." [Naofusa Hirai, “Shinto”, p. 280]

Shinto is "the ensemble of contradictory and yet peculiarly Japanese types of religious beliefs, sentiments, and approaches, which have been shaped and conditioned by the historical experience of the Japanese people from the prehistoric period to the present." [Joseph M. Kitagawa, “Shinto”, p. 139]

Kami

“Speaking in general, however, it may be said that kami signifies, in the first place, the deities of heaven and earth that appear in the ancient records and also the spirits of the shrines where they are worshipped. It is hardly necessary to say that it includes human beings. It also includes such objects as birds, beasts, trees, plants, seas, mountains and so forth. In ancient usage, anything whatsoever which was outside the ordinary, which possessed superior power or which was awe- inspiring was called kami.” [Motoori Norinaga, as cited in Hajime Nakamura, Ways of Thinking of Eastern Peoples, p. 522]

The 20th century Shinto scholar Sokyo Ono states that included within the concept of kami are the qualities of growth and fertility; natural phenomena, such as wind, thunder, the sun, mountains, trees; some animals; ancestral spirits; the imperial family; spirits of noble families;

1 guardian spirits of certain occupations and skills; and spirits of people who have demonstrated exemplary bravery or courage, or who have made great contributions to society. The kami are considered to be directly involved in the affairs of the living; they are the source of blessings and prosperity. [Sokyo Ono, Shinto: The Kami Way, p. 7]

Differences between the Shinto notion of kami and the concept of God in the Judeo- Christian tradition:

1. There is in Shinto no clear ontological distinction between the natural realm and the supernatural realm. Kami does not refer to a divine reality transcending the universe, but rather to a reality which, while in some sense distinct from the world, also exists within the continuum of the universe itself.

2. There is no place in Shinto for the concept of an eternal, self-sufficient, creator God. Ono states: "In Shinto there is no absolute deity that is the creator and ruler of all". [Sokyo Ono, Shinto, p. 8] Kenji Ueda claims that "the Association of Shinto Shrines rejects any monotheistic interpretation that could detract from the independent dignity of individual kami in the Shinto pantheon." He says, "Shinto is a polytheistic religion, permitting worship of many kami at the same time, although Amaterasu retains the central and highest position." [Kenji Ueda, “Kami”, p. 244]

3. One does not find in Shinto the notion of deity being the basis for the moral order. The kami are not presented as the source of moral good and righteousness. Thus, one finds in Shinto neither a clearly defined ethical system nor a strong religious foundation for moral judgment.

Buddhism

Gautama Buddha. (566 BC - 486 B.C.; or perhaps 466 BC - 386 BC).

The heart of the Buddha's teaching is contained in what is often called the Four Noble Truths.

(1) Now this, O monks, is the noble truth of pain [dukkha]: birth is painful, old age is painful, sickness is painful, death is painful, sorrow, lamentation, dejection, and despair are painful. Contact with unpleasant things is painful, not getting what one wishes is painful. In short the five khandas [aggregates] of grasping are painful. (2) Now this, O monks, is the noble truth of the cause of pain: that craving which leads to rebirth, combined with pleasure and lust, finding pleasure here and there, namely, the craving for passion, the craving for existence, the craving for non-existence. (3) Now this, O monks, is the noble truth of the cessation of pain: the cessation without a remainder of that craving, abandonment, forsaking, release, non-attachment. (4) Now this, O monks, is the noble truth of the way that leads to the cessation of pain: this is the noble Eightfold Path, namely, right views, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration. [Samyutta Nikaya, V.420; A Source Book in Indian Philosophy, p. 274f]

Karma and rebirth.

2 The Buddha accepted the reality of samsara, the repetitive cycle of rebirths, and karma, the principle which regulates current states in light of past actions. But he did not believe in the reincarnation of an enduring soul. All things constituting the world as we know it are characterized by dukkha (suffering), anatta (absence of self, no-self), and anicca (impermanence). The Buddha denied the reality of any substantial or enduring soul. What is passed on in rebirth is not a soul but rather the cumulative effects of past actions which, in the next life, form the “five aggregates” (khandas). This then gives the illusion of an enduring person or soul.

Nirvana The only thing which is permanent and not subject to change is nirvana. The Buddha held that there is a deathless, permanent, unconditioned state which can be attained, and that the one who does so will not be reborn in another life. This is nirvana, the religious ultimate, the only thing which is unconditioned and permanent, the attainment of which is the goal of the devout Buddhist. Nirvana is described in Buddhist literature in negative terms -- as "cessation", "absence of craving", "detachment", or "the unconditioned". Positively, however, nirvana is release from the cycle of rebirths, or in other words, from the chains of karma.

There are three major groups of Buddhist traditions: Theravada (Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar) Mahayana (Vietnam, China, Korea, Japan) Vajrayana / Tibetan (Tibet, Mongolia)

Buddhism came to Japan in 552 AD from Korea. Initially resisted as a foreign religion, Buddhism adapted itself to Japanese culture and indigenous religious patterns and has had an enormous influence upon subsequent Japanese ways of thinking and living.

Japanese Buddhism is different from classical Indian and Theravada Buddhism in several ways:

• There is less emphasis upon attaining nirvana and release from the cycle of rebirths and greater emphasis upon attaining enlightenment in this life (Zen). • Buddhism becomes linked with death, through its embrace of the ancestral cult and funeral rituals. • Less emphasis in popular Buddhism on the idea of anatta (no self); some Japanese forms of Buddhism presuppose the existence of the soul. • Bodhisattvas and buddhas are worshiped in (somewhat) theistic ways. • There is a strong universalistic strain in popular Buddhism; all sentient creatures partake in the Buddha-essence and thus can realize enlightenment.

Although Zen is the best known form of Japanese Buddhism in the West, the most popular form of Buddhism in Japan is Pure Land Buddhism.

The Pure Land traditions became established in Japan through the monk Honen (1133-1212) and his remarkable disciple Shinran (1173-1262). Honen became the founder of the Jodo Shu (Pure Land) and Shinran the founder of Jodo Shinshu (True Pure Land) or Shin Buddhism.

Pure Land Buddhism in Japan rejects the jiriki (self-effort) of classical Theravada Buddhism in favor of tariki (other effort / merit). The goal is to enter the heavenly paradise of the Pure Land,

3 presided over by the bodhisattva / buddha Amida (Amitabha), upon death. By reciting the nembutsu” (recitation of the name of Amida: "Namu Amida Butsu”) with a sincere heart (shinjin) one can attain enlightenment (satori) in this life and be reborn in the Pure Land upon death. Shinran clearly rejected the idea that there is anything meritorious in the recitation of the nembutsu. It is not the act of reciting the nembutsu, but the faith -- shinjin, arising from sincere trust in Amida -- in accordance with which the nembutsu is recited, that produces rebirth in the Pure Land. But even having faith in Amida is not itself anything meritorious since it is actually the Amida Buddha who enables the “arising of faith” within the individual in the first place.

Some general observations about Buddhism:

(1) Gautama the Buddha did not believe in a creator God or a Supreme Being. Most Buddhist schools are atheistic or agnostic, although some Mahayana traditions (Pure Land) seem close to theism.

(2) There is within the early Buddhist teachings a strong sense of human individuals being responsible for their own liberation. This was later modified in the Mahayana, especially the Pure Land schools, with their doctrines about the bodhisattvas and the Amida Buddha.

(3) Although there are hundreds of Buddhist sutras (Pali, Tibetan, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese canons) these are not “revelation” as this is understood in monotheistic religions. In Buddhism there is no God to reveal or inspire scripture; the sutras are authoritative records of the insights of those who have attained Enlightenment.

(4) Buddhism has always adapted itself to local cultural and religious patterns, so that the Buddhism of India and Sri Lanka looks quite different from that of China or Japan.

Some helpful resources:

Andreasen, Esben. Popular Buddhism in Japan: Shin Buddhist Religion and Culture (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1998). Earhart, H. Byron. Japanese Religion: Unity and Diversity, 4th ed. (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2004). Hirai, Naofusa, “Shinto”, in The Encyclopedia of Religions, vol. 13, ed. Mircea Eliade (New York: Macmillan, 1987). Kitagawa, Joseph, “Shinto”, in Kitagawa, On Understanding Japanese Religion (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987). Lopez, Donald S. Jr. The Story of Buddhism: A Concise Guide to its History and Teachings (Harper SanFrancisco, 2001). Ono, Sokyo. Shinto: The Kami Way (Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle, 1962). Radhakrishnan, Sarvepalli and Charles A. Moore, eds. A Sourcebook in Indian Philosophy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1957). Rahula, Walpola. What the Buddha Taught, revised edition (Grove Press, 1974). Schmidt, Roger et al., Patterns of Religion (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1999) p. 10 Smart, Ninian. Worldviews: Crosscultural Explorations of Human Beliefs, 2nd. ed (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1995). Ueda, Kenji, “Kami”, in The Encyclopedia of Religions, vol. 8, ed. Mircea Eliade (New York: Macmillan, 1987).

4 Williams, Paul. Mahayana Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations (London: Routledge, 1989).

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