.c>­ Jan./Feb. 2005 Vol. 32· 00e' 0 15 .c DHARMA WORLD '"'::. 0 "" For Living Buddhism and Interfaith Dialogue ~... 8 N @ .g CONTENTS ~ g Cover photo: "Bear and Boy Silhouette," ~ Special Feature: Emerging Forms of Spirituality Santa Fe, New Mexico, U.S.A. Photo by Emerging Forms of Spirituality by Mark R. Mullins 2 Ken Ross. The Roots ofJapanese Spirituality: A Linguistic Exploration by Toji Kamata 5 Drifting Faith: Civil Society and Public Philosophy in Japan by Tomoya Kaji 9 DHARMA WORLD presents Buddhism as a A Vision of the Religion of the Future by Soho Machida 13 Emerging Forms of Spirituality 2 practical living religion and promotes in­ A Reflection: Religion and Science in Global Society terreligious dialogue for world peace. It · by Kuniko Miyanaga 15 espouses views that emphasize the dignity War, Environmental Destruction, and Religion: of life, seeks to rediscover our inner na­ The Spiritual World ofHayao Miyazaki's ture and bring our lives more in accord Nausicaii of the Valley of the Wind by Martin Repp 18 with it, and investigates causes of human suffering. It tries to show how religious principles help solve problems in daily life Reflections and how the least application of such Learning throughout Life by Nichiko Niwano 21 principles has wholesome effects on the Achieving Peace in a Globalized World by Nikkyo Niwano 40 world around us. It seeks to demonstrate truths that are fundamental to all reli­ The Stories of the Lotus Sutra gions, truths on which all people can act. The Stories of the Lotus Sutra 23 The Jewel in the Topknot by Gene Reeves 23 Conference Report WCRP Europe Meeting in Italy Focuses on the Role of the Media by Eva Ruth Palmieri 28 Publisher: Yukio Yokota Buddhist Living Director: Hironobu Nakagawa Making a Dream Come True by Noriko LaMar 30 Senior Editor: Koichiro Yoshida Editor: Kazumasa Osaka News 33 Editorial Staff: Toshihiko Nishino, Katsuyuki Kikuchi Gotama Buddha (70) Editorial Assistant: Hisae Nakashima The Distribution and Veneration of the Buddha's Relics Editorial Advisors: Buddhist Living 30 by Hajime Nakamura 34 Kokan Sasaki/ Professor Emeritus, Komazawa University The Threefold Lotus Sutra: A Modern Commentary (80) Susumu Shimazono / University of Tokyo The Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Law Noriyoshi Tamaru I Professor Emeritus, Chapter 8: The Five Hundred Disciples Receive University of Tokyo Tsuneya Wakimoto / Professor Emeritus, the Prediction of Their Destiny (4) by Nikkyo Niwano 43 University of Tokyo Mark R. Mullins/ Sophia University Rissho Kosei-kai Overseas 48 Consultants: Gene Reeves, Suzanne Trumbull, Stephen Comee, Gaynor Sekimori Note: Because of their scholarly nature, some essays use dia­ Correspondents: critical marks or alternative spellings for foreign names and Yasuhiro Shimizu, Hiroshi Miyahira terms; other essays do not, for easier reading. Subscription Staff: Kazuyo Okazaki Gotama Buddha 34 DHARMA WORLD is published bimonthly by Kasei Publishing Company, 2-7-1 Wada, Suginami-ku, Tokyo 166-8535. E-mail: [email protected] Copyright© 2005 by Kasei Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Printed in Japan by Komiyama Printing Company and Kasei Publishing Company. CHANGE OF ADDRESS: Please provide both old and new addresses. Six weeks' advance notice is requested. Requests for permission to reprint all or part of any article in this issue must be made in writing to the editor of DHARMA WORLD. Vl 0.. 0.. B 0 ..c:: 0.. Emerging Forms of by Mark R. Mullins t may be hard fqr us to imagine now, but only a few explain or account for the contradictory tendencies and am­ decades ago many scholars assumed that religion and bivalent effects of modernization upon religious sensibili­ I spirituality would soon be a thing of the past, as the ties and institutions. Without denying the insights provided process of modernization extended throughout the world. by secularization theorists, it has become increasingly clear Secularization was regarded as an inevitable global proc­ that we need to give equal attention to new patterns of ess, explaining the consequences of modernization for "sacralization"-or new expressions of spirituality-that both organized religion and individual belief and practice. have appeared as human responses to the search for mean­ It is apparent that certain forms of religiosity have weak­ ing in our troubled times. ened over the past century-established Christian churches In the context of Japan, religious involvement was for in Europe, for example, or Shinto communities and Bud­ many centuries closely connected to a network of social dhist temples in rural parts of Japan. obligations and duties-either to the extended family (ie), At the same time, however, one can observe significant in relation to the danka seido, * or to the emperor and the new patterns of belief and involvement with the sacred. The nation under State Shinto. Since the establishment of reli­ appearance of scores of new religious movements world­ gious freedom under the post-World War II constitution, wide, the growth of postdenominational forms of Christi­ however, religion has increasingly become a matter of per­ anity, and the revitalization movements within Islam in sonal choice. While the older ritual obligations connected recent decades have forced sociologists and historians to to family and community have by no means disappeared, rethink this rather simplistic interpretation of the chang­ they have certainly lost some of their power. ing nature and role of religion in modern societies. The sec­ In the early postwar environment, numerous new reli­ ularization paradigm, in other words, does not adequately gious movements attracted the attention of seekers and 2 DHARMA WORLD expressions of religion, there remams a high interest in spiritual concerns. A look back over the past two decades, in fact, reveals a growing interest in the occult, mysticism, religious experience, and healing. Examples abound of Spir new forms of spirituality appearing outside the structures of traditional religious institutions. One could say that a new counterculture or subculture has emerged and be­ come a visible feature of many contemporary societies. Strolling through almost any bookstore in Japan, one will come across a section of books under the label "the spiritual world:' This is usually a rather large collection of books found next to a smaller counter of books on tradi­ tional religion. Here one will find books, magazines, and videos on a wide range of topics, including astrology, div­ ination, techniques of magical healing, communication with the spirits of the dead, and training methods for con­ trolling the spirit world. There are also many translated New Age materials from the United States. Along with these published materials, the Internet has become an important resource for people to explore their religious questions and concerns. With convenient access to the global purveyors of religion and spirituality, individ­ uals can easily consider and experiment with beliefs and practices from a variety of sources. Each person is now free to cut and paste selected elements and construct an indi­ vidualized spirituality. In addition to these private forms of exploration, the more adventuresome can participate in personal development seminars and form loosely organized displaced masses in urban areas. These movements often encouraged individuals to cultivate their own spirituality rather than simply depend on the ritual performance of a priestly order, but at the same time expected serious com­ mitment to the religious organization. Many of these movements have now become "established" new religions, and their appeal has diminished accordingly. Organized religion-whether traditional or new institu­ tions-is facing hard times in the cunent environment. In the Japanese context, for example, where roughly 30 percent of the population claims to have a personal faith of some kind, attitudes toward organized religion are extremely negative. Survey research has shown that most Japanese regard religious institutions as untrustworthy, gloomy (kurai), closed (heisateki), and, most recently, as dangerous Mark R. Mullins is professor of religion in the Faculty of Compar­ (abunai). These attitudes have undoubtedly been culti­ ative Culture, Sophia University. He has published widely on the transplantation and indigenization of world religions and the role vated by the media treatment of financial scandals related of new religious movements in modern societies. He is the author to religion, the "cult" problem, and the close connection and coeditor of a number of books, including Religion and Society between religion and terrorism in recent years. in Modern Japan, Christianity Made in Japan, and Religion and In spite of these negative views toward institutional Social Crisis in Japan. January/ February 2005 3 EMERGING FORMS OF SPIRITUALITY spiritualistic groups, which focus on meditation, personal advanced by Max Weber in his analysis of the social forms healing, channeling, divination, nature worship, and envi­ of the Christian religion. He added a third type, mysticism, ronmental concerns. a much less significant phenomenon at the time, to refer to These new spirituality movements, as Susumu Shima­ a form of religiosity that was free of social organization zono refers to them, are still primarily concerned with the and first became truly possible after the invention of the cultivation of personal spirituality and the transformation printing press. Perhaps we are now entering