Kris' research on Buddhism

In our research thus far, we have had a number of interesting observations on the intermingling of Zen Buddhism and other religions, and specifically with the monk we visited on our temple trip. Nation-wide, the Buddhist doctrine has mixed with the animist Shinto religion, leading us to find that while Buddhas and the enlightened were held in reverence in the temple, there was a specific room dedicated to the worship of a “guardian spirit” to answer the wishes and prayers that a Buddha cannot. In other words, there was a dedicated place for the worship of Shinto Kami. This is not particularly surprising, considering the influences present in Mahayana Buddhism, or even new, considering that (Ko-) Shinto and Buddhism were already being blended together by the time of the Nihon Shoki in the early 8^th century.

In addition, the monk we visited was quite open about his feelings about the non-exclusivity of his religious beliefs, talking about combined Shinto/Buddhist burials and ceremonies and the co-operation between their religions. In addition, the monk also sometimes attends Christian ceremonies, to pray for those faithful to that particular religion. I found this particularly fascinating, as he doesn’t necessarily believe in the Christian god himself, and in fact goes in his capacity as a Zen Buddhist monk, and is praying for others on behalf of the god they believe in, rather than his own sake or within his own beliefs.

It is interesting to delve a little into the various reasons that Zen Buddhists are less picky about their affiliations. The Buddha(s) are not revered as gods as such, but are rather enlightened human beings  have an official position on the existence of other deities, so they have been more open to coexisting with native religions. This ties back in to the greater Japanese and East Asian cultural view of religion- with those not mutually exclusive being blended freely, such as Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism in China, which leads me to think back to the greater cultural facet of Japan’s adaptation of new ideas into their own. Not just in the realm of religion, but also in other aspects, such as their adaptation of Chinese noodles into their world-famous Japanese ramen, or German brewing techniques into their own beers, even to facets of their culture that are now defining, such as the massive and world-spanning Japanese automotive industry.