Yukatado
Japanese Buddhism
M. Dankert
November 29, 2003
The
Ryōbu Shintō
System and the Yoshida Shintō Cosmology
In the early Kamakura
period (1192-1333), Buddhism enjoyed a revolution in theosophical development.
Hōnen (法然) and Shinran (親鸞) developed and refined Pure
Land Buddhism in the forms of Jōdo-Shū (浄土宗)
and Jōdo-Shin-Shū (浄土真宗),
respectively; Dōgen (道元),
brought over Zen Buddhism (禅) from China; and, Nichiren (日蓮)
developed his own radical sect of Buddhism based solely on the Lotus Sutra and
recitation of the title in the form of the Daimoku (題目).
However,
contemporary to these purely Buddhist developments, were the truly
revolutionary developments of three new and revolutionary ways of thinking
about the local Japanese Kami (神) or Gongen (権現) –
literally, “Avatar” – and how they relate to Buddhism: Ryōbu Shintō
(両部神道);
Sannō Shintō (山王神道); Ise/Watarai Shintō
(伊勢／わたらい神道)
and, Yoshida, or Yuiitsu Shintō (唯一神道), which was
built upon the previous three, and yet, it was a reaction against them.
Why were these forms of theological and
philosophical development so significant? After all, Pure Land Buddhism enjoys
the majority of Japan’s
faith with Zen coming in second; however, Ryōbu, Sannō and Yuiitsu Shintō
is probably unheard of outside of academic circles. To answer that question, we
must first examine Japanese history, going back to the Asuka (593-710) and Nara
(710-794) periods. Introduced in the Asuka period, Buddhism was not very easily
accepted. Furthermore, due to a political rivalry between the Sōga clan,
who were the first to adopt Buddhism, and the Nakatomi clan, who were in charge
of the native rituals of Japan
– the rudiments of Shintō as we know it today – the Nakatomi were quick to
point out that the foreign religion of Buddhism was blasphemy to their
established kami.
After the Sōga staged their coup d’etat and
they were beaten back, Buddhism and Shintō enjoyed an uneasy truce – in
fact, some of the emperors were amongst the more pious Buddhists of their time.
However, in the Nara period, when
the Daibutsu was commissioned, it marked a milestone in the development of Shintō-Buddhist
thought. The Daibutsu was to be built on a place already occupied by a Shintō
shrine. Gōgen was able to secure the shrine’s permission to build a
temple on the land as well as raise enough funds to build the temple. This
marked the beginning of cooperation between the Shintō and Buddhist
religions.
However, cooperation does not mean amalgamation.
During the Heian period and on into the Kamakura, Buddhist
monks began developing theories on Shintō since they were the scholars of
the time. This was the precursor to the Ryōbu system. It was not
until the Kamakura period that the
Ryōbu system was devised to explain the Kami and their relation to
Buddhism.
Buddhist assimilation is nothing new. The
Buddhist pantheon in Japan
contains several Indian and Chinese deities, all of which were part of said
pantheon before Buddhism came to Japan.
In her text, The Buddhist Philosophy of Assimilation, Alicia Matsunaga
writes, “In Japan with the rich heritage of Indian and Chinese thought, the
philosophy of assimilation was systematized and given practical application,
yet the components for this systematization and application were already
present in Chinese Buddhism. Finally, even in the applied Japanese theory,
which was not so systematical, we find that Indian deities appear both as honji
(true nature) as well as the suijaku (trace manifestation) of various
Buddhas and bodhisattvas . . . The practice of absorbing native gods and various
other rites into Buddhism began in India”.
Furthermore, as we shall discuss later, Yoshida’s Yuiitsu Shintō does much
the same thing that Hindu did in India, claiming that in fact the Buddha is
only one of the many deities, or in Yoshida’s case, Kami, and not the
other way around, wherein Buddhism claims that the Kami are
manifestations of the Buddha – or Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, in the case of Ryōbu
Shintō.
Ryōbu Shintō has its origins in the
Heian period though: “The first stage in the assimilation of the indigenous
gods consisted of the effort to prove that the native deities both accepted and
protected the Buddhist Dharma”
and in truth, this began as early as the Nara period, “This step had already
been accomplished during the Kakuhō and Nara periods with the
establishment of the jingūji (shrine temples) where the sutra was
changed for the benefit of the native gods . . . in return for these
considerations, the native gods extended their protection over Buddhist
undertakings, such as Hachiman’s supposed protection of the Tōdaiji and
the interesting use of the local deities to serve as protectors of the temples”.
From the Heian period to the Kamakura
period, Buddhist scholars shifted the Kami from being mere protectors of
the Dharma to being fully fledged manifestations of the Buddha. Most readily
identified as a Buddha or bodhisattva is Amaterasu Ōmikami (天照皇大神)
with Dainichi Nyorai (大日如来) – Mahavirocana, but she is not the
first. Usa Hachiman (宇佐八幡) enjoys that place. Although, from
the beginning, Hachiman was a bodhisattva and he was a Kami.
Ryōbu Shintō is literally, “Both
Parts Divine Path” meaning that the Kami had a dual ontological
existence: Buddha (or bodhisattva) and Kami. As stated above, the
supreme Kami was Amaterasu Ōmikami and the supreme Buddha was
Dainichi Nyorai and therefore, naturally, they were associated with one another
as one in the same. Dainichi Nyorai manifested itself as the Kami
Amaterasu Ōmikami. The historical Buddha, Śākyamuni himself, is
identified by Sannō Shintōists as, well,
Sannō, protector of Mt. Hiei.
This of course was done from a Tendai perspective, whereas most Ryōbu
Shintō was done from a Shingon perspective. Yuiitsu is reverse, coming
from a Shintō perspective.
Ise Shintō, in its own form of
Ryōbu Shintō, as stated before, claimed that Amaterasu Ōmikami
was the manifestation of Dainichi Nyorai. It also claimed that the Naikū (内宮)
and Gekkū (外宮) were, respectively, three-dimensional
representations of the Diamond and Womb Mandalas. Mandalas were large paintings
of many various Buddhas, bodhisattvas and sometimes even Kami. The two
most important in the Esoteric Buddhist traditions were the Diamond and Womb
Mandalas. The Diamond Mandala was so named because it was arranged in a square,
which, when turned onto its points, looked like a diamond. The Womb Mandala was
so named because the arrangement had the Buddhas and bodhisattvas
concentrically surrounding Dainichi Nyorai.
Honji-Suijaku, however, is and yet,
at the same time, is not the basis of Yoshida’s Yuiitsu Shintō. Yuiitsu Shintō
actually developed as a reaction to Ryōbu Shintō, a reaction to
Buddhist assimilation, and finally, a ploy to gain Imperial sponsorship. At the
time, Buddhism was already quite well established in Japan
and the concept of the Kami as protectors of the Dharma was widely
accepted.
Yoshida makes a bold move, therefore, by
stating that the Buddhas in fact originated in Japan.
Unlike the prevailing Japanese belief at the time that Buddhism’s final
fulfillment was to be held in Japan,
Yoshida states that Japan
is the tree’s trunk, China
its branches and leaves, and finally, India,
its flowers, and thus Buddhism originated in Japan,
developed in China
and flowered in India.
How does he back up such a claim? Because
the Buddhas are in fact manifestations of the original source Kami, Daigensonjin
(大源尊神),
by Buddhist logic, the historical Buddha, who is a manifestation of
Mahavirocana, is therefore a Shintō Kami – Mahavirocana is a manifestation of
Daigensonjin. He even claims that it was originally Shōtoku Taishi
was the original one to have said this.
“Needless to say, Yoshida neglected to cite proof of where Shōtoku Taishi
advocated such a viewpoint”.
Yuiitsu, goes on to claim that there are
three major lineages (家) of Shintō:
1) Honjaku Engi Shintō (本弱縁起神道)
– “The Shintō formulated through ‘Co-dependent origination of essence and
hypothesis . . . ”
2) Ryōbu-Shūgō Shintō (両部習合神道)
– “ . . . the Shintō devised around the ‘Twofold Mandala combinations’”
3) Gempon-sōgen Shintō (元本宗源神道)
– “ . . . and the Shintō called ‘Original and Fundamental’” –
which is actually Yuiitsu Shintō.
After having convinced the Imperial family
that his was the one true Shintō faith – Amaterasu, after all, was a
manifestation of Daigensonjin; and, having convinced them that the sacred Yata
Mirror (Amaterasu’s mirror that is supposedly held within Ise Grand Shrine)
flew from Ise to Yoshida Shrine, he obtained Imperial patronage. Fortunately,
the Imperial family continued to patronize Ise as well. Yuiitsu became very
popular in Japan
from that point onward because it elevated Japan
to a much higher status in the world than the Japanese had seen themselves
previously. Before Yuiitsu Shintō existed, Japan
was enamored with Chinese civilization. Now, Japan
could claim for itself, a position greater than that of any other country, as
Daigensonjin was the source of all things. Yuiitsu Shintō therefore,
became the main Shintō of Japan until the Meiji period (1868-1909).
Furthermore, it fueled the beginnings of Japanese nationalism. The only irony
was that it was its own destruction. It was audacious enough to claim Amaterasu
Ōmikami as subordinate to Daigensonjin. This was inconvenient for the Mito
Studies scholars that began seriously fleshing out a more unified Shintō
theology, the basis on which justification of the Emperor’s restoration to
power was made. The emperor descended from Amaterasu and not Daigensonjin.
Thus, with the advent of Meiji, the Ryobu System and Yuiitsu died out, and
currently, there are no known followers thereof. How were these religious
formulations so significant? They were important because these studies helped
establish Shintō as we know it today. Shintō without Buddhism would
never have evolved beyond folk superstitions and totemic beliefs; shamanistic
cults would have died out long ago and more than likely, any religion that came
to Japan would
have been readily accepted to fill in the void. It was Buddhism that took this
unrelated pile of beliefs and practices and formed it into the unified and
sophisticated cosmology that it is today. Without Buddhism, Shintō would
not exist.
Bibliography
Matsunaga, Alicia; The Buddhist
Philosophy of Assimilation, the Historical Development of the Honji-Suijaku
Theory; Sophia University, Tokyo in cooperation with the Charles E. Tuttle
Company, Rutland, Vermont & Tokyo, Japan; 1969
Matsunaga, Alicia & Daigan; Foundation of Japanese
Buddhism Vol. II, the Mass Movement (Kamakura & Muromachi Periods;
Buddhist Books International, Los
Angeles – Tokyo, (No Year
Given)
Dobbins, James C. & Gay, Suzanne; Shintō
in the History of Japanese Religion: An Essay by Kuroda Toshio; from the Japanese
Buddhism Reader
Yoshida, Kanetomo; Yuiitsu Shintō
Myōbō Yōshū; Translated by Allan G. Grappard; from the
Japanese Buddhism Reader