Religion in Japan...Entry 4 in a series of 5

I have been living in Japan for just short of three years now, and many things still remain a mystery to me. For one, how buddhist are Japanese buddhists? And Shinto, the religion native to Japan, is that separate all together? Can you be two religions at once?


Buddhism originated in India in the 6th century BC. It consists of the teachings of the Buddha, Gautama Siddhartha. Of the main branches, Mahayana or "Greater Vehicle" Buddhism found its way to Japan. Buddhism was imported to Japan via China and Korea. While Buddhism was welcomed by the ruling nobles as Japan's new state religion, it did not initially spread among the common people. There were also a few initial conflicts with Shinto, Japan's native religion, but the two religions were soon able to co-exist harmonically and even complemented each other. Nowadays, most Japanese practice both Shinto and Buddhism.

"Buddhism in Japan is not strict," my 67-year old student, Shoji Ogomori said, "It's generous. I pray every morning and every night in front of a buddhist altar: I pray for other men, illnesses and traffic accidents. But in the case of Shinto I pray only for myself. Only because that's the custom. I believe in everything -- there are 8 million gods in Japan. Japanese believe that even the small stones on the streets could be gods."


Shoji's view of religion is reflective of many Japaneses' view: open-minded, not concerned with the right or wrong answer, and instead of resting one's belief on one subject, they opt to pray to many. Nowadays about 90 million people, or 85 percent, consider themselves buddhists in Japan. The everyday Japanese buddhist may have a wedding at a Christian church and go to a funeral at a Buddhist temple. They might pray at a Shinto shrine to receive a chocolate for St. Valentine's Day, a Christian-rooted holiday. On New Year's, the most celebrated holiday in Japan, the Shinto shrines may be the only busy places you'll find. Some of the more famous shrines will be jammed with people, as they go up to the altar and pray to gods for the health and prosperity of the coming year. Though, just moments after, those same people could be found at a Buddhist temple, going to hear the 108 bongs of the bell, which are supposed to drive off the 108 sins of the human condition.

For some westerners it may be outlandish to think that one could believe in many gods, let alone many religions. With such a hodge-podge of different religious practices, are the beliefs behind all the celebrating uniform?

"When I die, I believe I will go to heaven," another student, Seiji Kondo said. "But not the Christian heaven, the Gokuraku heaven."

Eternal life in a heaven after death in Japanese called Gokuraku-jyodo. People who believe in this don't believe in a transcendent type of god or gods, but they do believe in the need for a personal savior, the power of prayer, and this paradise nirvana where they will be reborn.

With many Japanese, religion does not play a big role in their everyday life. The average person typically follows the religious rituals at ceremonies like birth, weddings and funerals, may visit a shrine or temple on New Year and participates at local festivals (matsuri), most of which have a religious background.

The Japanese way to incorporate the features of many religions into their daily lives shows the religious tolerance of Japanese buddhists and the importance Japanese place on human kindness. I see this every day. In every polite gesture, every time one of my students goes out of their way to help me without thinking twice about it, and everywhere around me.