Shintoism today

While Shintoism may have had a permeating role in the past in Japan, in recent times it has slipped into the background. In earlier times, Shinto was very animistic - Shintoists worshipped nature through the sun, trees, water, mountains, etc. There was no particular line between man and nature, they viewed everything as one (much like the concept of brahman).

In addition, Japanese philosophy is that a person never had to adhere to one specific religion. According to japan-101.com, "Premodern Japanese were usually both Buddhists and Shintoists at the same time and often Confucians as well."

While it has faded into the background, Shintoism is still alive and well at festivals and on certain holidays by shrines who have specific importance. Also, the traditional Japanese love of nature has not faded, and derives strongly from Shintoist concepts. While very few Japanese today are traditional Shinto practitioners, the soul of the religion still lives on in Japan, seemingly immovably intertwined with Japanese culture.

Source used: http://www.japan-101.com/culture/culture_religion_shintoism_today.htm

Buddhism

I find myself unable to fully relate to Buddhism - it is a religion that was born separated from western influences. Much like the Japanese and Chinese languages are indescribably different than English, both in form and characters, Buddhism and Christianity have few, if any, common links. Being raised to worship the Holy Trinity and hope to get into heaven based on a virtuous life is much different than being raised to believe that one's soul carries on in a cycle of life, death, and rebirth until one's mind becomes fully cleared and enlightened, followed by eternal nothingness, bliss - nirvana.

Beyond that, the lives of Buddhists follow very different paths than what I was raised with. I suppose meditation can relate to prayer, as mantras could relate to hymns or spoken prayer. However, shaving the head and wearing identical orange robes - I am both amazed and impressed by Buddhists' willingness to surrender their individuality for the sake of their religion, even if it is not required.

The stories of the religions' "messiahs" could be similar, although only in life - both Jesus and Buddha lived virtuous lives, not power-hungry, simply preaching what they believed in to those who believed in them. Neither believed in a "toll" to achieve the final happiness (be it heaven or nirvana) and for me, those qualities are ideal for a true leader.

The Eightfold Path

Buddhists have an interesting aspect of their religion called the eightfold path. It's made up by a number of disciplines (eight... big surprise) that collectively can lead to enlightenment. they include Right understanding, Right thought, Right speech, Right action, Right livelihood, Right effort (eliminate unwholesome thoughts, cultivate wholesome), Right mindfulness, and Right concentration (meditation, focus, still the mind). They are made up of three main groups: wisdom, ethics, and mental disciplines. It's interesting to see how each religion connects to other religions through their code of ethics, and living a life of righteousness. I would be interested to see how Buddhists would think of Christian ethics.

There are also four universal, "noble truths" that make up Buddhism. The first is that life is suffering and suffering is unavoidable. The second is that suffering is brought on by craving and want. Next, the suffering can be ended by letting go of these desires, ending in following the eightfold path. I personally found it odd to focus a religion so much around suffering, but it makes sense that the end balances it out.

Buddha's life

The paradox introduced at Siddhartha's birth was the most intriguing of the whole ordeal to me. Siddhartha's father was told that his son would either be a religious leader, or a world leader. In trying to guide his son to the path of the world leader, it's very possible that Siddhartha's father drove him to the path of religion. There are also some consistencies in the story, such as how Siddhartha was fully enlightened at birth, yet is completely ignorant 20 years later, but the most interesting question posed by the story is whether death changes life. MY answer is absolutely - but it's just unknown in what way. For me, the very existence of death is what makes life worth something. for Siddhartha, death makes life meaningless.

more hinduism

Across the past few weeks we've been diving deeper into Hinduism. One of the things we've been talking about more is puja, which is a religious ceremony. it involves a number of odd (to us) customs, including where one cleans themself first. Next they anoint the deity in milk and dress it, avoiding eye contact. Afterwards there is chanting, both of the traditional vedas and the puranas. Finally, there is Darshan- the climactic moment of contact with the deity where the eyes meet. There is also gift giving, like donating money in church, in the interest of reciprocity.

The most commonly worshipped god in Hinduism (there are many gods) is the god Vishnu, who is also the most widely recognized. Vishnu's symbols are a conch shell (presumably like a battle horn), a disk, and a mace.

We also learned about the four castes:

Brahmins- priests

Kshatriyas- rulers, warriors

Vaishyas- skilled workers, merchants, farmers, artisans

Shudras- unskilled laborers, servants

Also, there are outcasts/untouchables, who handle jobs considered dirty to society.

We keep seeing the number 4 popping up in Hinduism, in the stages of life, the four goals, the four sutras- i think there may be some deeper connection with the number in Hinduism.

The Hindu Religion and Buddhism

We haven't had quite as many classes lately, so the topic material is a little more scarce. however, we did delve into the world of hinduism, namely its origins, characteristics, and the branches of this religion.

Originally Hinduism began just as Vedas, in "Vedic religions". However, these religions lost popularity as people started to find them too ritualistic. Over time, Buddhism began to replace the Vedic religions as the main religion of India. Another aspect of Buddhism was yoga, and yoga sutras- essentially, people used meditation to sharpen themselves in many ways, and to this day scientists are fascinated by certain effects of meditation. see here:

http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2003/09/60452

Next came Puranas, a branch of Hinduism that details specifically from creation to destruction. part of this branch is Puja, which is an offering to gods.

Four words: Dharma shastras: varnasrama-dharma. definitely the biggest mouthful to come from this class yet. Dharma-Shastra is the "science of dharma", and is a group of texts that contains information from the Vedas. It is also important that they are also called Law, but in hinduism there isn't much of a line between religion and law. Varnasrama is a social system like a caste system in india, although tends to be kinder that the traditional caste system, in that it offers everyone spiritual advancement. Finally comes one of the most important aspects of Buddhism- reincarnation. In this regard of life and death, Buddhists believe that upon dying (which never really happens because your Atman, or soul, lives on after death, connected to Brahman (which is basically what everything is and is connected to)), one's soul is brought up and, based on what kind of life they lived, based on Karma, they either move up, down, or stay where they are on the "spiritual ladder". The goal is to reach Nirvana and achieve eternal bliss, which is called Moksha, when one is released from the cycle.

Hinduism and Buddhism are certainly interesting religions- they're old enough that they certainly compare with native american religions, yet at the same time are still present enough today to be fully studied. For all their metaphorical nooks and crannies, they're certainly religions I'm excited to learn more about.

first cycle thought

i originally took this course for extra credits. last year when we were picking classes, i saw it and it seemed like it wouldnt be too hard, just a little bit to lighten the class load. but the moment we sat down and started talking, i noticed i wasnt just interested in what we were discussing (the islam center being constructed in new york and the controversy around its propinquity to the location of ground zero), but i was in fact participating and sharing my own thoughts about the topic. considering i rarely speak up in class, this was pretty strange for me. and that day i realized that any opinion that could exist, does exist. and none are wrong, but at the same time non are right. to say one opinion is evil, or stupid, is just naive - because the people with the opinion opposite yours could be thinking the exact same thing about your opinions. in any case, hearing the back and forth about whether it was alright to build the community center so close to where radical muslims attacked nine years ago was truly illuminating. after the first day, my interest in the class only started growing. in the next class, i enjoyed learning about the aboriginal "dreamtime", and how through proper rituals one can "become the ancestors". next we learned about creation stories from native american and african tribes, each as distinct and bizarre as the last. there is no real common thread between the south american bumba, or the native american paq, or any other story - that is because they have all been created separately and is a true testament to the diversity of cultures in our world. at this point in the class, i no longer see this block as an easygoing block, but rather as a way to find out more about the past, about humanity, and maybe even myself.