REL 125 Religions of the East
Weekly Notes Summary

Please scroll down to week of April 27-May 1

(As we have an exam coming up in two weeks, I have not removed any of the previous Japan material)

n  Japan encompasses diverse climates and terrains; such extremes embody immense natural beauty but also great uncertainty (e.g., climatic changes, seismic activity)

n  The ancient human inclination is to attach supernatural forces to such diverse and unpredictable conditions

Five characteristics of Japanese Religious Consciousness

n  The intimacy of human beings, gods, and nature

n  The spiritual character of the family

n  The ritual dichotomy of defilement and purity

n  The prominence of local/popular religiosity

n  The bond between religion and nation

    Five Strands of Japanese Religious Tradition

n  Indigenous Folk Religion

n  Shinto

n  Buddhism

n  Religious Daoism

n  Confucianism/Neo Confucianism

Pre-Historic/Early Historic Japan

n  Jomon Period (ca. 3000-400 BCE)

n  Paleolithic (hunting and gathering)

n  Ceramic “cord pattern” motifs

n  Ancestors of Ainu culture in Hokkaido

n  Yayoi Period (ca. 400 BCE-250 CE)

n  Neolithic (planting and raising)

n  Emigration (from Korea?) to Kyushu, moved eastward to Honshu

n  Iron/bronze tools and weapons

n  Introduction of widespread rice cultivation

n  Kofun Period (ca. 250-710 CE)

n  The emergence and ascension of the Yamato uji (“clan”) as the dominant power base (cf. the Kojiki, below)

n  The Wei Chih chronicles of China: 240 CE

n  The shaman-queen Himiko (a matriarchal leadership of a pre-Yamato culture?)

n  Today, a miko 巫女 is a female shaman who serves as a ritual channel to the kami

n  Funeral rituals

n  Burial mounds (Kofun)

n  Haniwa figures

Indigenous Response to Buddhism in Japan (***we will cover Buddhism in Japan later)

n  “The countenance of this Buddha… is of a severe dignity such as we have never at all seen before.  Ought it to be worshipped or not?” (from the Kojiki, 712)

n  Shinto 神道 (“the way of the gods”): formally acknowledged in order to lift up and distinguish indigenous Japanese gods and practices from “foreign” ones

Characteristics of Shinto

n  Kami 神 : any one of thousands of divine energies or powers that infuse a natural place or thing (mountains, caves, forests, etc.)

n  Jinja 神社 (“shrines”) built at holy sites throughout Japan

n  Vast array of national/localized matsuri 祭り(“festivals”) to honor the kami

n  Veneration of ancestors

n  Respect for the land/nation of Japan

n  The attainment of ritual purity, both inwardly and outwardly: makoto no kokoro 誠の心 (“the heart of truth”)

The Mythological Construct

n  The Kojiki, 712 (“Chronicle of Ancient Matters”) and the Nihongi, 720 (“Chronicle of Japan”)

1.       A constructed mythos serves as a divine legitimization for those who wrote it

1.       Izanagi and Izanami: the divine creators of Japan and the subsequent kami

2.       Amaterasu: the Sun Goddess

3.       Susano-o: the Storm God

4.       A mythological metaphor for an actual political rivalry between the Yamato and the Idzumo?

n  Ironically, the Kojiki and Nihongi are written in Chinese (the language of the Japanese elite)

n  “History written backwards:” mythos as:

o   A “record” of the rise and establishment of the Yamato uji

o   A divine sanction of the Yamato authority

n  Jimmu, of the Yamato uji - the first emperor of Japan

o   “Great-grandson” of Amaterasu

o   Arrives in Kyushu from Silla (a Korean kingdom); conquest moves eastward to Honshu, into competition with the Idzumo (Izuma) uji

o   The transition from matriarchy to patriarchy

§  Recall shaman/queen Himiko of the Kofun Period

The Formation of Medieval Shinto (12^th-14^th centuries)

n  Despite Buddhism’s dominance among the elite, Shinto still prevailed in the population at-large

n  The developments of both Buddhism and Shinto were quite hybrid in nature (they borrowed from each other)

n  Many Shinto shrines existed side-by-side with Buddhist temples; priests often shared duties with one another

n  Honji-suijaku (“original substance is manifest in traces”), i.e., Shinto is revealed in later forms:

o   A Buddhist bodhisattva is a Shinto kami

o   Dainichi (the Sun Buddha) is a form of Amaterasu

o   The Shingon dual mandala (diamond and womb) correspond to Izanagi and Izanami, whose duality transcends itself in the creation of Japan (***we will look at Shingon Buddhism later)

n  Kami no kaze or kamikaze 神の風 (“the divine wind”)

n  The Mongol ruler Kublai Khan of China attempted to conquer Japan through two separate invasions of Kyushu (the southernmost island), in 1274 and in 1281

n  On both occasions, his forces were repelled by violent tropical typhoons, thereafter referred to as the kamikaze

n  These events added credence to the assertion that divine kami were indeed protecting the Japanese land

n  This served as the inspiration, tragic as it was, behind the kamikaze pilots who flew to their deaths during the final months of the Pacific War in 1945

Shinto During the Tokugawa Period (1615-1868)

n  Due to its political institutionalization, Buddhism falls into relative disfavor

n  Motoori Norinaga (1730-1801)

o   Edited both the Kojiki and The Tale of Genji, in order to strip away the layers of Buddhist and Confucian socio-ethical ideas that had been artificially imposed on them (also, the Kojiki is written in the Japanese kana syllabary so that it is much more accessible)

n  The Kojiki accounts for both good and evil kami, for all of life is a composite of good and evil, right and wrong

n  The ethical inconsistencies of Genji demonstrate that human emotions do not follow the dictates of reason

n  Better to accept the inconsistencies than to follow the deceptive Buddhist and Confucian views that attempt to hide the truth

n  Mono no aware 物の哀れ (“the sadness of things”): life is an immense opera that hurts, and the kami of the natural world are behind it

Shinto During the Meiji Period (1868-1912): the Unification of Shinto and State

n  Due to its spiritual decline, Buddhism posed no obstacle to Shinto’s ascension to prominence

n  The close association of temples and shrines made it a relatively simple matter for the Buddhist priest simply to “change his robe”

n  In 1868, Shinto is proclaimed as the sole basis of the Restoration government: one need only to invoke the Kojiki to legitimize the link between religion and state

n  The Imperial Rescript of 1870: Japan created by the kamis and by the unbroken line of the imperial family

n  All citizens required to register with a local Shinto shrine

n  A government “Department of Shinto” is created

The Creation of “State Shinto”

n  Due to the foreign pressure to increase religious freedom (particularly for the re-admittance of Christian mission), the government was forced to grant allowance

n  The government response to this foreign imposition was to create a category of Shinto practice that is “non-religious”

n  Referred to as “Shrine Shinto,” it was distinguished from the “religious” form known as “Sect Shinto”

n  “Sect Shinto” held the same religious status as Buddhism and Christianity, thereby allowing for religious freedom (while “Shrine Shinto” was presented as “non-religious”)

n  The Imperial Rescript on Education (1890) assured that Shinto (and Confucian) principles would be respected in the moral education of the people, while “religious” teaching, as defined by the state (Buddhist, Sect Shinto, and Christian) was excluded from the educational curriculum

n  Any Japanese who grew up between 1890 and 1945 received a public education that was grounded in kokutai (“nationalistic values”)

n  The Sino-Japanese War of 1895

n  The Russo-Japanese War of 1905

n  These stunning military victories served to reinforce kokutai in the Japanese mind, thereby providing a rationale for expansionism as a kind of divine destiny

“Bushido”

n  It is generally held that bushido is a “formal” code of honor that dates back to the medieval age of the samurai

n  Evidence suggests that the term itself never existed until it was artificially romanticized into the modern 20^th century Japanese mind

n  Bushido: The Soul of Japan, by Inazo Nitobe (1900, revised 1905) presented bushido as the means by which Japan rose to become a world power

n  Bushido evolved into the basis of the nationalist spirit that led to Japan’s aggressive military expansionism in the Pacific War (1930-45) 

Shinto in Post War Japan (1945-  )

n  National pride is not to be equated naively with nationalist aggression

n  Shinto should therefore not be condemned as the impetus behind Japan’s expansionism in the Pacific War

n  Rather, it was Japan’s expansionist policies that appropriated and exploited Shinto doctrine for its own aggressive purposes

n  Nevertheless, due to its use of Shinto as an ideological tool, as well as the concern that it might continue as such, Japan was ordered by the occupation forces to abide by the following:

The Shinto Directive (1945)

n  All government sponsorship or promotion of Shinto will cease

n  All public financial support of Shinto shrines or teachings will cease (voluntary private support to be permitted)

n  Religious-oriented teachings will be removed from the curriculum and textbooks of all public educational institutions

n  No political official, acting in his public capacity,  shall visit a Shinto shrine nor shall he participate in any ceremony or observance thereof

The Imperial Rescript (1946)

n  “…we will construct a new Japan through being thoroughly pacific, the officials and the people alike…”

n  “The ties between Us and Our people… do not depend upon mere legends and myths.  They are not predicated on the false conception that the emperor is divine, and that the Japanese people are superior to other races and fated to rule the world.”

n  “Love of the family and love of the country are especially strong in this country.  With more of this devotion should we now work towards love of humankind

Week of April 20-24

n  Formal separation of religion and state is one thing… the interrelationship of religion and public life of a nation is yet another

n  A Shinto shrine that memorializes the war dead: should it receive public support?

n  Is it a “private shrine” or a “public memorial”?

n  The former can only be funded privately

n  The latter can be funded publicly

Chronology

n  1862: rituals are enacted to honor those who died fighting in support of the Imperial Restoration against the deteriorating Tokugawa Shogunate

n  1867: Shokonsho(jo) (招魂所 “place to which spirits are invited”) are to be built in every region under imperial control in order to honor those who gave their lives for the emperor since the rebellion for restoration began in 1853

n  1868: the unification of government and ritual affairs; local Shinto shrines are therefore tied to state agenda, much as Buddhist temples had been in the Tokugawa/ Edo period

n  1872: the Tokyo Shokonsha ( 招魂社 “shrine to which spirits are invited”) is placed under the control of the army and navy ministries.

n  1874: the emperor attends ceremonies at the Tokyo Shokonsha for the first time

n  1875: the spirits of the war dead from all regional shokonsho are brought to the Tokyo Shokonsha

n  1879: Tokyo Shokonsha formally becomes Yasukuni, which means “peaceful nation” ( 靖 “peace, serenity;” 国 “nation, country”).

Ritual Enactment

n  Shokonshiki (招魂式 “rite of inviting spirits”): the enshrinement ceremony in which the names of the war dead were transferred to the Yasukuni Shokonsha in the palanquin procession, through which they are ritually transformed via an overnight vigil into kami of the state

n  The list of names acted as a kind of guide for the lost spirits of the war dead, so that they could find their respective ways “home” to Yasukuni

n  The spirits at Yasukuni are not “invoked,” but regarded as always present

n  Traditionally, the welfare of the dead is the concern of Buddhism, not Shinto (ritually, the dead are kegare, “defiled, unclean”), which makes Yasukuni unique among Shinto shrines

n  The spirits of those who have suffered untimely or violent deaths are considered “unstable”

    For their well-being (and for that of the nation itself), they require ongoing care; Yasukuni provides this care on a daily basis, even through the rituals of permanent resident “miko maidens”

    Week of April 27-May 1: Buddhism in Japan

Early Buddhist Sects of the Heian Period

n  Tendai Buddhism (Tendai, “heavenly platform”)

n  Saicho (767-822)

n  Importance of secluded mountain retreat (i.e., Mount Hiei, NE of Heian) and proper meditation technique

n  More practical than speculative in content, e.g., the proper methods of living the disciplined life

n  The Lotus Sutra and the metaphor of the lotus

n  Shingon (“True Word”) Buddhism

n  Kukai (774-835)

n  Centered on Mount Koya (SE of Heian)

n  Esoteric mantras, rituals, and symbol systems and meditation techniques

n  An esoteric, “gnostic” Buddhism with a secret “knowledge-within-knowledge”?

The Three-Stage Decline of the Buddhist Law

n  The Ideal Stage (shobo)

n  All follow the Buddhist teachings with diligence

n  The Initial Age of Degeneration (zobo)

n  With institutionalization, Buddhist teachings are followed but in a mindless fashion

n  The Final Age of Degeneration (mappo)

n  No one follows the Buddhist teachings any longer

n  Referred to in Genshin’s “Essentials of Salvation”

n  Buddhism of the late Heian and Kamakura Periods was seen as enveloped in the third stage

n  Existing institutions were deemed to be of no help for lay persons seeking and needing salvation

The Pure Land of the Amida Buddha

n  The 12^th c. collapse of the Heian court

n  Buddhism released from the “prison” of the aristocracy; the Kamakura, while military/feudal, is a culture “of the people,” not the courts

n  The “Pure Land in the West” of the Amida Buddha became a refuge for the weary souls of an unstable age

n  Not a reward for good works, but accessible to anyone who invokes the name of Amida

n  Chanting of the phrase: “Namu Amida Butsu”

Early figures of the Pure Land Tradition

n  Kuya (903-972)

n  Originally from the Tendai sect of Mt. Hiei

n   The dancing saint of the streets

n  A “champion of the common people”: no one to be excluded for the Pure Land

n  Genshin (942-1017)

n  Also from the Tendai sect of Mt. Hiei

n  Ojoyoshu (985): “The Essentials of Salvation”

n  A kind of Japanese version of Dante’s Inferno

n  The ten realms of existence, with hell at one end and the Pure Land at the other

n  Created graphic descriptions and paintings of the torments of hell, the glories of paradise: a new genre of religious art: jigoku-e

Reformed Buddhist Sects

n  Jodo (Pure Land)

n  Honen (1133-1212)

n  Ritual and meditation replaced by faith in and grace from the Amida Buddha

n  The repetitive chanting of the mantric phrase, Namu Amida Butsu (“Praise to the name of the Amida Buddha”)

n  Jodo Shinshu (True Pure Land; largest sect today)

n  Shinran (1173-1263)

n  Faith alone is sufficient for salvation

n  Shinran disdained the celibate monastic life and initiated the convention of the married priesthood (which continues today)

n  The wicked more acceptable than the good (cf. NT Luke 18.9-14)

n  Zazen (seated meditation)

n  Entered Japan effectively, ca. 12^th-13^th c. (recall Ch’an Buddhism in China, Sung Dyn.)

n  Ch’an monks as advisors, translators on trade missions, commercial enterprises

n  Enlightenment not outside oneself but within

n  Satori 悟り (“flower moment”) in the course of one’s everyday experience

n  The actualization of non-duality

n  Intensive student-master relationship

Eisei (1141-1214): the Rinzai Sect of Zazen

n  Another veteran of Mt. Hiei

n  Traveled to China to study; on his return introduced tea to Japan

n  Found his calling with the disciplined warriors and samurai of Kamakura, not with the aristocrats of Heian

n  The use of seated meditation and koan

Dogen (1200-1253): the Soto Sect of Zazen

n  Traveled to the centers of monasticism in Japan and then China, but lamented that he could find no Buddhist ideal…

n  In China, master Ju-ching

n  “dropping off both body and mind…”

n  “setting the seal on nothing…”

n  Koan: directed too much at “getting a certain thing”

n  The importance of sitting (and hitting!)

Zazen and the Samurai

n  Why would any form of Buddhism appeal to the warrior?

n  Tiendai and Shingon: very esoteric doctrines and demanding scriptural study

n  Jodo (Pure Land): very pious, and even sentimental at times

n  In contrast, Zazen taught enlightenment through discipline, inner control, and austerity: already the traits of a warrior

n  Overall, the teachings of impermanence of all things rang true with the warrior’s awareness of living and fighting “on the edge:” death can come at any time, even to the bravest

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