Monday, August 18, 2008
Nihon-koku: The religion
Besides the food, there is another important aspect that characterize the society of a country, both in good and in bad things, and that is the religion. All the traditions, both for family and big scale society are somehow connected, or at least originated, by their religious belief.This, is of course true also for Japan.
Nevertheless, the religion there is lived in a complete different way then we do, also because the religion itself it is very different. First of all, they don't have a unique religion, but there are 2 completely different religions that somehow cohexist. The oldest one is the Shinto.
Shintō originated in prehistoric times, as a religion with respect for nature and in particular certain sacred sites. Each worshipped element was associated with a deity, so Shinto is a complex polytheistic religion. The deities in Shintō are known as kami, and the word Shinto means the way of the gods. Worship of Shinto is done at shrines. Especially important is the act of purification before visiting these shrines. Shinto shrines can be distiguished by the typical Japanese gate (torii) made of two uprights and two crossbars.
The other religion professed in Japan is the Buddhism. Buddhism in Japan is more recent, as it arrived in the VI century from South Korea. The main kind of Buddhism that arrived in Japan is called Mahayana and is originated from India. Is much more personal then the other currents, so I think that found a good environment to grow among the Shinto beliefs. The buddhist religion is much more complex and has so many different aspect and currents that is really beyond my skills to describe it in few lines. I can only say that in Japan Buddhism followed more or less the Capitals. So, it mainly started in Nara, where still now there are many temples, and also where the Shingon form of Buddhism, more esotheric, spread for the first time in the country.
Around the 1100 the era of the Shogun begun (sorry for the rhyme...) and also Buddhism developed. The capital has been moved to Kamakura and there new form of Buddhism arrived. The most famous is the Zen, but this is only one example. Visiting the temple complexes it is clear the importance of synergy with nature. Many other places are very important for religion like Nikko, Koya-san and of course the whole city of Kyoto. Nevertheless, these two capitals show somehow the developement of Buddhism in Japan.
So, these two religions are the most important in Japan. How to distinguish one from the other? Hard to believe, but in Japan the difference is not always so clear. They are very well merged together, and each of them take care of some special aspect of the life of the people. For example, Shinto doesn't have any real answer for life after death, so the funerals and all the death concerning rituals and belief are normally left to Buddhism. Shinto, on the other hand, is much better in solving everyday problems, like passing exams or being succesful in life, so for these kind of needs people often go to Shrines. Most of the Temples and the Shrines have many aspect from both the religions. This is possible because in Japan religion is not very important in every day life. It is more something parallel, that is always there, but doesn't affect your life. So, almost everybody will have some kind of shrine at home, or will bring the new born baby to a Shinto Shrine or will have a Buddhist funeral, but is more a matter of tradition then real faith. Every aspect of life is connected with a different ritual and, nowadays, christian weddings are becoming more and more popolar due to the beauty of the white dress and the grandeur of the decorations. Often they are performed in Wedding Halls and not in Churces though.
Festivals are very common, and can be related to nature and agriculure aspects, so more from Shinto origin, and they are called matsuri, or they can be more related to the time of the year, so they are have more Buddhist origin and are called nenjyuu gyouji. An example is the New Year day.
What I really liked about religion in Japan is that is not punishing the people for being people, but is really human-oriented. We are like we are, we are part of the Earth and the Nature, so we have to cohexist with it and respect it. We must find our way to be happy, and this can be achived with equilibrium and order, but we shouldn't be afraid of punishment. There are very wise and illuminated people, but there is not a God with a flash light, thundering around for sinners. The concept of sin and suffer is much different from ours, their religion has on the very center of interest life, our has death. That is the main difference I found. This is why I prefear so much more their point of view. It is so amazing that such old beliefs, like the Shinto religion, are still followed in one of the most modern countries of the world. I think the reason is that they live religion in much a more relaxed way then us, it is more something for the free time, to ask what you need, more then paying a everyday price to survive life and reach the eternal life (after death...). In Japan religion gives just the basic necessary answer to not be afraid too much about the future, but leaves people free to pursue their happiness, and this is such a more succesful way to go for a religion. The moral there is very strong, but is more given by traditions then the fear of a punishment. This is more effective, because you behave in a certain way because you, and you only, believe it is a good way to go, not because you hope that behaving this way God will assure you a nice afterlife. Of course, the drawback is that these beliefs are harder to estirpate, because people is really convinced about it, they are not only afraid. If we don't steal only because we are afraid that we will be punished, if we know there is nobody to punish us, we will start to steal. But if we strongly believe that to have a working society we shouldn't steal, then we will never do that. This unfortunately, can be applied also to the rights of women or other more "extreme" traditions, but that's a bit the price to pay I guess.
Anyway, just to be on the safe side, I bought an hamulet of long life....
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4 comments:
Se mi passa mal di schiena (e pure il mal di stomaco successivo all'ingestione di anti-infiammatorio per la schiena, grazie all'amuleto, giuro che mi converto...
ma poi a nikko se stadi? (si, non son ancora arrivà a veder le foto con calma...)
e vè becà qualche festa??
mz
a proposito de foto: ma ermes se ga tinto i cavei?
mz
si: me li sono tinti di rosa, specie sulle tempie
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