BUDDHISM IN JAPAN
Buddhism is a faith wholly different from Shinto. The goal of
the Buddhist disciple is interior enlightenment, as experienced and subsequently taught by
the Buddha in India. The kernel of the Buddhas teaching is that the world as we
ordinarily see it is unreal, insubstantial, and productive of suffering. Suffering stems
from desire and desire arises through the notion of self. Only extinguish this
cause, realize the world and our selves as they really are, and suffering will
cease. The Way to extinguish our fundamental illusions is the Buddhas dharma
or teaching.
GENERAL FEATURES
The Buddhist Way, which saw the source of ill as being within
our own minds, thus stood in sharp contrast with Shinto, which looked entirely to the
external world. The kami, or deities of Shinto, were conceived as bestowers of
material blessings outside the competence of man, never as revealers of interior or
ultimate truth. Most religious effort in early Shinto seems to have been directed towards
divine favours in this world, such as bountiful harvests and protection from famine and
disease. There was no tradition in Japan, comparable to Taoism in China, of a spiritual
method directed to altering inner consciousness to comprehend an expanded mode of truth.
By the time Buddhist teachings reached Japan in the late 6th
century, this original, simple but dauntingly difficult path had been overlaid by an
elaborate doctrine and an iconography of saviours designed to make it easier to follow.
The Mahayana school of Buddhism, which had made its way from India eastwards to China via
the silk road through central Asia, claimed in particular to be capable of offering
salvation not only to the dedicated individual but to the broad mass of humanity. To this
end a pantheon of Bodhisattvas had been generated who were dedicated to helping weaker
sentient beings, and in addition there were other supernatural protectors such as the Four
Deva Kings. From the Mahayana school likewise came a stream of anonymous sutras, which not
only expounded metaphysical doctrine, but also promised the disciple magical aid in every
conceivable difficulty if he copied and recited the potent words.
Buddhism in Japan has always shown two different aspects which provide
for two different kinds of people. For the majority, who have no real aspiration to carry
out the Buddhas teachings to the letter and who are unwilling to submit themselves
to a regime of strenuous discipline, Buddhism has always provided two important services,
neither of which has any connection with the original message of the Buddha. It provides
familiar worldly benefits. In most sects, there are temples which derive much of their
income from spells for a range of favours which include the curing of sickness, safety
from traffic accidents and finding a congenial bride. Second, Buddhism takes care of the
dead, in both a practical and a spiritual sense. Unhampered by the fear of pollution which
always made death problematic for Shinto, Buddhism from the earliest times offered requiem
obsequies, which were considered the most potent means of setting the dead to rest and
obviating their curses. In this sense it filled an important gap in Japanese spiritual
life, but in doing so moved further away from its doctrinal origins.
For the majority of Japanese who have experience the call to the
spiritual life, and who perceive the world to be insubstantial and full of suffering,
Buddhism has supplied several viable methods of spiritual practice, whereby the disciple
can hope to bring about the requisite transformation of consciousness. Notable among these
are the meditative practices of Shingon school, of Tendai, and of Zen, all of which
require total commitment and taxing levels of concentration. Given this emphasis on the
inner life, it is hardly surprising that Buddhism supplied from the Japanese a whole
dimension of ethical concepts hitherto unknown. In Shinto there is no moral vocabulary.
Buddhism gave Japanese culture the words for compassion, wisdom, mercy, kindness, all
related to the spiritual end of Buddhist awakening.
One of the major strengths of Buddhism lies in its flexibility and in
its recognition that there are many paths to the same final truth. There have been some
notable exceptions: the Nichiren sect claimed sole and total truth of itself and denounced
other versions in violent terms, and the history of Buddhism in late medieval Japan was
one of constant strife. But, broadly speaking, sectarian strife is not common and Buddhism
is characterized by its very variety.
THE INTRODUCTION OF BUDDHISM TO JAPAN
When Buddhism first reached Japan from Korea it arrived in
semi-magical form. It came as sutras which promised protection from the whole land if
properly recited, images of merciful Bodhisattvas ready to succour and protect in any
contingency, and a new, dazzling art, sculpture and architecture. It was natural therefore
that for two centuries the new religion should have been understood as simply another and
more potent means of producing the kind of this-worldly favours always sought after from
divine beings in Shinto.
Buddhism was quickly adopted by the courts as the official state
religion, established to promote the welfare of the land. From Prince Shotoku (late 6th
century) to Emperor Shomu (mid 9th century), who ordered temples to be built in
all provinces and who constructed the Todai-ji at Nara and the huge statute of Buddha
within, the court was a devout patron, providing lavish support for the temples and the
monks in return for the divine protection they afforded.
New and remarkable forms of art and architecture arose under the
guidance of skilled craftsmen from Korea. Great temples were built on the Yamoto plain, in
and around Nara after the capital was established there in the early 8th
century, and enshrined here were countless images of Buddhas such as Shaka, Dainichi and
Yakushi, and Bodhisattvas such as Kanon, Fugen and Monju. The contrast with Shinto, a
religion without icons, is marked. Within these temples were sponsored a series of
seasonal rituals, based on Mahayana sutras and designed to protect the state. Those texts
considered especially efficacious were the Lotus Sutra, the Sutra of golden
light, and the Sutra of benevolent kings. The Lotus sutra was valued in
particular for its extra virtue of helping the dead by annihilating their karmic sin. It
became the most highly venerated scripture in Japan.
These sutras contained, besides spells and promises of help, passages
of metaphysical doctrine, which were studied by groups of scholar priests and which in
turn gave rise to what are known as the Six Schools of Nara Buddhism. Although these
abstract theories themselves never reached further than the confines of the monasteries,
some of the vocabulary and key concepts were eventually to percolate through to literature
and culture in general.
DEVELOPMENTS IN THE HEIAN PERIOD
From the 9th century, when the capital moved north to
what is now Kyoto, Buddhism settled down in the form that was to persist for many
centuries. The most notable aspect was its accommodation with Shinto. Far from branding
the native beliefs as pagan or simple superstitions, the kami were simply brought
within the Buddhist fold, becoming local guardians with their special shrines in Buddhist
temple precincts. More sophisticated doctrinal systems were later devised which converted kami
into local and temporary manifestations of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Despite their
differences then, both religions merged into a common system, which served as the religion
of the majority of Japanese for most of their history.
It was during the Heian period that Buddhism gradually began to change
from a scholastic institution supported by the elite for its own purposes into a religion
with truly popular appeal. This development began with the arrival in Japan of two sects
from China, Tendai and Shingon.
Tendai, introduced by Saicho (767-822), gave paramount importance to
the Lotus sutra but also placed great emphasis on the belief that there were many
paths to truth. The aim of the Chinese founder, Zhiyi (538-97), had been to create a new
synthesis of competing doctrines. So it was that Tendai incorporated a number of different
practices including the study of other sutras, Zen-like contemplation and magic and
ritual. The underlying belief of Heian Buddhism was that perfection was attainable in this
present life. Given its eclecticism, it is hardly surprising that it was Tendai that
became the starting point for subsequent sectarian and doctrinal developments.
The other sect, Shingon (True word) was introduced by the
eminent scholar Kukai (724-835), later known as Kobo Daihi. Shingon placed greater
emphasis on esoteric secret practices that could only be carried out by initiates; in this
sense it was far more exclusive than Tendai. It made its political impact by laying claim
to spell and prayers that could bring rain, cure disease and vanquish enemies, but on a
more personal level it offered a viable method of spiritual practice, invoking the
doctrine of Buddha nature: Buddha nature exists within all people,
perfect, original, awakened and identical with the Buddha, but is hidden and must be
rediscovered by means of spiritual exercise. Shingon demanded a complex ritual, involving
gestures of the hands, mantras and visualizations, whereby disciples could so transform
their consciousness as to rouse their hidden oneness with the Buddha. By this method,
claimed Kukai, we may become Buddha in this very body. Shingon is a
manifestation of late Tantric Buddhism which now only survives in Japan and in those areas
of the world where Tibetan Buddhism is still practised.
MEDIEVAL BUDDHISM
It was not until the 13th century that any further
major developments emerged. They came as a result of the gradual spread of Buddhism
throughout the population and the perceived need for less complex teachings which could
offer more immediate hope of salvation to the common people. A combination of natural
disasters, civil war, famine, earthquake, and a conviction that the dharma was
already in an advanced state of decay in which people were too weak and ignorant to follow
the original precepts of the Buddha, led to the emergence of new forms.
Devotion to and faith in the saving power of the Buddha Amida to rescue
believers at the moment of death and personally conduct them to his paradise, the Pure
Land, had been common since the 11th century at court, but it now took strong
root throughout Japan, In Amidism, Buddhism came close to evolving into a monotheistic
religion with paradise and salvation in the afterlife as the primary goal. It is not an
exclusively Japanese phenomenon by any means, but its emergence shows just how far
Buddhism could diverge from its origins. To invoke the grace of Amida, in accordance with
his original Vow, all that was needed was recitation of his name in a formula known as the
nenbutsu. Several schools based on this teaching arose during the 13th
century, notably the Jodo or Pure Land sect, founded by the monk Honen, and Jodo Shinshu,
followed by his disciple Shinran. Both sects are characterized as relying on tariki,
force from the other, on the assumption that effort from self
alone is of little avail. It was also with these sects that one finds priests deciding to
reject celibacy, preferring instead to partake of the lay life. Jodo Shinshu still has
huge numbers of followers in modern Japan and supports many prosperous temples.
The Nichiren sect, named after its founder Nichiren (1222-82), likewise
offered an easier way to salvation. Starting from a foundation in Tendai and so preaching
the primacy of the Lotus sutra, Nichiren believed that everyone could be brought to
salvation merely through the act of reciting with sincerity the name of the sutra in the
formula known as the daimoku. Nichiren was a patriot: he saw himself as the
incarnation of a Bodhisattva and claimed that it was owing to the efficacy of this
practice that the Mongol invasions of Japan in the late 13th century had been
thwarted. He was bitterly intolerant of all other sects which neglected the Lotus sutra,
particularly Jodo Shinshu with its rival invocation to Amida, and his strong views brought
him into conflict with the military authorities. The Nichiren sect continues to thrive to
the present day, numerous sub-sects having hived off from the original group in recent
years. Prominent among these is the aggressive Soka Gakkai, which through propaganda and
vigorous conversion techniques has managed to establish branches all over Japan and in
many countries abroad.
In contrast to both Nichiren and Amidism, Zen offered another method of
spiritual practice whereby disciples might recover their Buddha nature. Less complex than
Shingon practice, it is no less difficult. Disciples may see their own nature and
become a Buddha by means of a special method of meditation, and spiritual
transmission from master to pupil. This method points directly to the mind
without the use of words, which are recognized as ineffectual either in scripture or as
means of communicating the enlightenment. Zen teachings came to Japan from China in two
branches. The Rinzai sect, better known in the West, makes the koan exercise
central to its meditation. These riddles, not soluble by the rational mind, are set as
disciplines to force the mind out of its accustomed habits. The Soto branch, on the other
hand, founded by the celebrated master Dogen, avoids the use of koan, believing
them to be counterproductive to the end they profess. The school relies instead on shikan-taza,
just sitting, a method which is said to favour the advanced disciple and to be
difficult for the neophyte.
FROM THE 14TH TO THE 19TH
CENTURY
Although no major developments occurred during this long period,
the history of Buddhism from the 14th century was hardly uneventful. Zen
prospered under official patronage and spread its influence into all forms of art and
culture, while those sects with a more popular appeal began not only to feud among
themselves but also to come under considerable pressure in an increasingly disturbed and
warlike environment. They were seen as potentially subversive and often misused their
undoubtedly privileged position. The power of the Tendai sect, for example, was such that
it could act at will, imposing its demands upon the capital by threatening armed force. It
was only broken by the first unifier, Oda Nobunaga, who in 1580 ignored threats of divine
retribution and burned their main temples to the ground for flouting his authority.
Once the Tokugawa regime was firmly established in the 17th
century, this warlike behaviour of the major sects was remembered and the shogunate
decided to place Buddhism as an institution under strict government supervision. In many
cases temples were reduced to little more than registration centres for all Japanese
families. Although true worship undoubtedly continued, the power of Buddhism as an
institution was broken forever. The history of Buddhism in this period becomes a patchwork
of occasional colourful figures, some lay, some priests, who stand out as rebels,
eccentrics or saintly figures.
The coming of the Meiji Restoration in the late 19th century
brought little comfort. Indeed the early Meiji could be seen as Buddhisms darkest
hour since 1580, as the new nation state set about reviving and recreating Shinto as the
state religion. The centuries-old accommodation between the two faiths was broken and in
the process many temples were destroyed and much land lost. Since that time, however,
Buddhism has slowly regained much of its hold on the hearts and mind of the ordinary
Japanese and the old accommodation is alive again. Many new sects have emerged, older
sects have retained their foothold, and the financial base of most temples is now secure.
The increasing prosperity in the country has been reflected in the refurbishment of
temples, and Buddhism remains the major candidate to fill the spiritual vacuum that many
Japanese feel to be the legacy of their breakneck and modernization.
Source: Richard Bowning & Peter Kornick
(1997),The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Tapaz, Kyoto.
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Computer typing: Lydia Quang Nhu