Religion Question

religion writing question and need the explanation and answer to help me learn.

Please discuss the following prompt:
How does science contend with or complement Buddhism? Please support your points with supporting evidence.
The essay should be approximately 1000 words and include the following:
Use at least one source from our assigned readings for class;
Use at least one peer reviewed source found outside our course readings;
Use at least once concept found and cited from the courses lectures;
Use Chicago Manual of Style with footnotes and bibliography for citations.
Use the documents attached below.
Requirements: 1000 Words | .doc file
Kirk Sandvig, Ph.D.Japanese Buddhism
Buddhism to Japan
PRINCE SHOTOKU▪Shotoku (574-622) – Founder of Japanese Buddhism▪Built 7 temples in Japan▪Urged all people to accept Three Refuges of Buddhism▪“Avoid evil, undertake good, and purify the mind. This is the teaching of the Buddha”▪Instituted Diplomatic relations with China

The Nara Period (710-784)●Six Schools of Japanese Buddhism●Kusha (Zhushe) School●Jojitsu (Chengshi) School●Ritsu (Vinaya) School●Sanran (Sanlun) School●Hosso (Faxiang) School●Kegon (Huayan) School●Emperor Shomu (r. 724-749)●Todai-ji Temple (Great Eastern Temple)●Vairochana Buddha (symbolizes mutual penetration)●Promoted unity of Japan
●file:///.file/id=6571367.245896767

HEIAN PERIOD (794-1185)▪Tendai Buddhism▪Founded by Saicho (767-822)▪Stressed importance of One Vehicle doctrine of Lotus Sutra▪Taught comprehensive spiritual journey▪Meditation types▪Silent Sitting▪Walking▪Half-Sitting and Half Walking▪Non-sitting and Non-walking▪Ennin (794-864) and Enchin (814-891)▪Warrior monk tradition in Japan
●Shingon Buddhism – Japanese form of Tantric or esoteric Buddhism●Founded by Kukai (774-835)●Ten Stages of Religious Consciousness (Juju shinron)●Animal-like●Ignorant●Uncultivated without fear●Recognizes objects of perceptions, but not self●Freed from seeds of karma●Mahayana●Aware of negation of causality●Follows true One Vehicle●Lacks own-being●Filled with esoteric splendor of celestial Buddha●Shingon practitioner seeks to unite speech, body and mind with Three Mysteries of the universeHeian Cont.
Kamakura Period (1192-1333)●Pure Land, Zen, and Nichiren Buddhism●Appeal to the masses●Pure Land Buddhism●Japanese Pure Land (Jodo) School founded by Honen (1133-1212)●Became known as ‘Single-Practice’ or Nenbutsu ●Emphasized 3 states of mind●A sincere and devoted mind●A mind of deep faith●A strong aspiration to attain the Pure Land
●True Pure Land School (Jodo Shinshu) founded by Shinran (1173-1263)●Shinran was laicized, got married, had 6 children●Realized any practice was only strengthening ego●Two types of Deep Faith●Efforts are futile●Great Action of Amida Buddha can save from this condition
Zen Buddhism●Zen Buddhism in Japan founded by Eisai (1141-1215)●Dogen (1200-1253) – founder of Soto Zen School●Felt that just sitting was best means or gradual awareness and Awakening ●https://youtu.be/_WAi2fwUqN4●https://youtu.be/6pllQ_-ZxEA●Rinzai – ‘sudden’ school of Zen
NICHIREN BUDDHISM▪Named after its founder, Nichiren (1222-1282)▪Originally practiced Zen, but was uncomfortable with so many sutras▪Decided Lotus Sutra taught purest form of Buddhism▪Concluded all schools were inferior to Tendai▪Developed method of preaching called ‘confrontational conversion’ (shakabuku)
JAPANESE BUDDHISM TODAY▪The role of syncretism▪Seek religion during times of need▪Jizo▪Kannon Bodhisattvas
Jizo

Kannon
IMPORTANCE OF NATURE AND ART▪Nature reverence in Shinto and Buddhism▪Both beautiful and sacred▪Rock/sand gardens▪Garden art

JAPANESE BUDDHIST FUNERALS▪Funeral Buddhism – soshiki bukkyo▪Monks viewed as ‘funeral salarymen’/’funeral entrepreneurs’ (ososhiki no sarariman/ soshikiyasan)▪Ancestor Veneration▪Home shrine – Butsudan▪Daily offerings
O-BON FESTIVAL▪Part of Ullambana festival▪July or August▪https://youtu.be/vgPIFMhHk2o
Within the house the ancestral tablets are set out and the house-altar is decorated. In the evening the souls of the dead are supposed to arrive and take up their abode in their tablets. Water to wash awaits them at the door, and before the shrines are placed food-offerings of many kinds. These are renewed on each of the next three days so as to provide the ghostly visitors a continuous feast…During the festival days Buddhist priests visit the homes to recite sutras and offer prayers for the dead. Special services are held in the temple on behalf of ‘hungry ghosts’ who have none to care for them. The graves, too, are visited by relatives, who clean and decorate the tombs and make offerigns of flowers and incense, accompanied by prayer.-James Thayer Addison, ‘Religious Life in Japan’. In The Harvard Theological Review,Vol. 18, No. 4 (October, 1925), pp. 327-328.
SETSUBUN – NEWYEAR’S DAY▪Usually held in February▪‘Bean-Scattering’ ceremonies▪“In with good fortune! Out with the demons.”▪https://youtu.be/jQhzxXR18Fo
New Expressions of Buddhism
TOPICS IN CONTEMPORARY BUDDHISMEXPERIMENTAL BUDDHISMInnovation and Activism in Contemporary JapanJOHN K. NELSONMUniversity of Hawaii Press Honolulu
© 2013 University of Hawaii PressAll rights reservedPrinted in the United States of America18 17 16 15 14 13 654321Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataNelson, John K. (John Kenneth)Experimental Buddhism : innovation and activism in contemporary Japan I John K. Nelson.pages cm — (Topics in contemporary Buddhism)Includes bibliographical references and index.ISBN 978-0-8248-3833-1 (cloth : alk. paper) —ISBN 978-0-8248-3898-0 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Buddhism—Japan—Customs and practices. 2. Buddhism and social problems—Japan. 3. Buddhism—Social aspects— Japan. I. Title. II. Series: Topics in contemporary Buddhism.BQ676.N45 2014294.30952’09051—dc23 2013015000University of Hawaii Press books are printed on acid-free paper and meet the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Council on Library Resources.Printed by Sheridan Books, Inc.
Japanese Versions of BuddhismThis chapter’s brief survey of the histories, practices, attitudes, and reputations of Buddhist priests in Japan may be somewhat subversive to idealized expectations of these individuals and their traditions. Readers who cherish personal memories of a tranquil temple garden, an encounter with a kindly priest, the awesome spec­tacle of a Buddhist ritual or festival in full swing—or who have found certain teachings by renowned Buddhist teachers to have significance in their lives— may experience this chapter’s observations as inconsistent with their views of Buddhist beliefs and practices. Cognitive dissonance often arises when a grand theme or preconception confronts the specific realities of history and human be­havior. The good news is that our minds are capable of incorporating unsettling new information in ways that do not compromise our basic orientation to a topic, institution, or place. Just as we can gaze at a magnificent cathedral in France and know it was constructed with the backbreaking labor of artisans and peasant workers, so should we be able to balance the noble ideals of Buddhism with its all-too-human leaders and institutional manifestations. The develop­ment of Buddhism in Japan is an amazing story after all, one emblematic of how religion in all places and times is constantly shaped in sometimes startling ways by shifting variables of culture, politics, and power. The brief overview that fol­lows can touch upon only a few of the key “headlines” that have shaped this tra­dition into its contemporary forms.BUDDHIST HISTORIES IN JAPAN: AN EXECUTIVE SUMMARY1Buddhism has influenced Japanese civilization and culture in decisive ways ever since arriving in the islands around 538 CE. The religion was recommended to the ruling clan of the time by King Songmyong of a Korean kingdom called Paekche (Baekche), who, like his counterparts in China, found Buddhism useful because it promoted stability and order in society. While today many people in the West tend to associate Buddhism with meditation and the quest for enlight­enment, for most of its history in Asia it has emphasized merit, salvation, karma, healing, and benefits in this world {genze riyaku). All of these themes are cultural
JAPANESE VERSIONS OF BUDDHISM • 29adaptations of a set of core teachings. Fueled by faith, patronage, and innovation, the expressions of Buddhism we see today—the architecturally significant tem­ples, beautiful gardens, and impressive painting, calligraphy, and sculpture—can be thought of as edited versions of a complex religious heritage, adapted to suit and receive support from the audience at hand.2To put it differently, stereotypes about Buddhism in Asia, and especially those characterizingjapanese Buddhism as “Zen and everything else,” have to be shelved in order to see Buddhism as a dynamic social, economic, and sometimes political force. We have to remember that it took almost a thousand years for Buddhist teachings and practices originating in India to reach far-off Japan. When traveling to new regions via trade caravans or as members of official dele­gations sent by a king, mendicant Buddhist monks had little choice but to affili­ate with patrons who could provide the land, shelter, protection, and resources necessary to sustain monastic life.Along the eastward drift of Buddhist teachings were innumerable cultural encounters that reworked some of Buddhism’s basic ideas and worldviews. Over the centuries there have been many interpretations about the relationship be­tween monks and their parents, founders and disciples, rulers and the Buddhist dharma, death and salvation, historical and future buddhas, the appearance of bodhisattvas, esoteric teachings, and so on. But circumstances change and reli­gious practice must adapt. In India and China, to reciprocate benefactors who provided material resources and protection, monks conducted rituals that ad­vanced Buddhist themes while still addressing the concerns of their clients. They generated merit, conducted funerals, and later held memorial services for de­parted ancestors. Through rituals they empowered individuals seeking better health, an easy death, a stable social order, a smooth trip to paradise, or even vic­tory in battle. Since physical ailments were ever-present, monks did their best to heal or exorcise the cause of the affliction. Once a temple became established, the management of donated or acquired property and other material resources was important as well. Monks administered land and the revenue it produced, in­cluding crop production and rent from tenant farmers. Temples also stayed sol­vent by selling various products such as medicinal cures and amulets, and would even parade an image of the Buddha in a procession for the purpose of fund- raising.3A social history of Buddhism on the Asian mainland rich with material resources, political patronage, and cultural influences has both momentum and consequence for how the religion developed in Japan. After a brief period of un­rest over religious and political issues between local clans and those with ties to
30 • EXPERIMENTAL BUDDHISMthe continent in the sixth and seventh centuries CE, temple construction prolif­erated throughout Japan beginning in the eighth century. While several denomi­nations competed for influence and patronage, the emperor Shõmu (724-749) initiated the kokubunji system in 741 whereby a monastery and nunnery built in each province was under the control of central authorities in Nara. The purpose of these temples was not to educate or help local populations but to promote peace and stability in the realm. Subsequent temple construction often answered a desire by wealthy elites to have a more privatized ritual site devoted to their an­cestors. From the eleventh to thirteenth centuries in particular, large temples such as Kofukuji or Enryakuji controlled vast estates (shöen) created in part from land donated to accrue merit for the individual and clan, or from land given as payment for ritual services. A number of priests in these large temple estates served as landlords and tax collectors, and both sought and rewarded patrons by performing rituals of empowerment. These practices were not unique to Japan but common throughout Asia wherever Buddhism was accepted.The architectural style of a temple in Wajima city—using traditional wood and beam construction—requires costly maintenance and is typical of tens of thousands of temples in Japan.
JAPANESE VERSIONS OF BUDDHISM • 31Clearly, Buddhism was instrumental for elites, but what about commoners such as merchants, peasants, farmers, and soldiers? It is likely they were intimi­dated by the wealth and power of the large temples (where they were not wel­come), seeing them as “landlords and rulers rather than sources of comfort and salvation.”4 Itinerant monks and lay believers had raised funds for and con­structed village temples as early as the ninth century, but these were exceptions to the general rule. By and large, the practice of what the elite considered to be au­thentic Buddhism required religious specialists authorized by the state, advanced literacy and education that allowed access to texts difficult to comprehend, and substantial donations to the temple so that one’s petition could be accommo­dated through appropriate rituals.Much of this system would change over the next several centuries. As one political era (Heian, 794-1185) transitioned into another (Kamakura, 1185- 1333) through a series of battles and new alliances, religious possibilities began to expand for the common person. Innovations in doctrine and practice introduced by highly educated monks in the Kamakura period eventually resulted in organi­zations that are among the main Buddhist institutions still around today. Inter­estingly, all these religious reformers began as bona fide Tendai monks.5 By 1240 there were two types of Zen Buddhism emphasizing seated meditation (zazen). In another hundred years, there would be a greater accommodation of com­moners with a new focus on faith and devotion, as Pure Land and True Pure Land priests advocated the spiritual efficacy of a prayer to the Amida Buddha (namu amida butsu, “I take refuge in Amida Buddha”). Around the same time, disciples of rhe monk Nichiren promoted the primacy of the Lotus Sutra through the chant namu myõhõ renge kyõ (“I take refuge in the sublime law of the Lotus Sutra”).Of the two main schools of Zen Buddhism, Rinzai catered to urban, politi­cal elites while Sõtõ developed in the countryside, where the religious market­place was less crowded with competing types of Buddhism. Sõtõ Zen priests pioneered a style of funeral ritual that made instant monks out of ordinary corpses and gave them a posthumous “Buddhist” name as well. As a result, dona­tions gathered from rural populations allowed the sect to proliferate throughout the countryside, even earning the nickname “farmer Zen.”6 Almost 20 percent of the 76,000 temples still in operation in Japan today are affiliated with Sõtõ Zen.Even though the founders of these new sects were all originally ordained as Tendai monks—Eisai (Rinzai), Dõgen (Sõtõ), Hõnen (Pure Land), Shinran (True Pure Land), and Nichiren (Nichiren)—their interpretations of the dharma would later challenge those stemming from mainstream Buddhist traditions
32 • EXPERIMENTAL BUDDHISMsuch as Tendai, Shingon, or Hossõ. It is important to remember that even as new teachers and teachings emerged, the dominant institutions in Japanese society—the military class, the aristocrats, and the major religious sites, with the emperor acting to legitimate activities among all three—continued their recipro­cal relationships. Termed the “esoteric/exoteric system” ^kenmitsu taisei) by in­fluential scholar Kuroda Toshio, rituals conducted to ensure the stability and legitimacy of these elites remained the primary function of the main religious centers.8 At the same time, as we will see in more detail in Chapter 3, a counter­movement developed that promoted a type of Buddhism tailored for the com­mon person but which also, in less direct ways, benefited the state.The contrast between elites and commoners, as well as secretive rituals and broad-based participatory ones, became more pronounced during the Kamakura period. On the one hand, the new Pure Land sects empowered commoners in unprecedented ways regarding their own salvation. However, they also imposed on society a religious causality about karma and retribution that became wide­spread and coercive. Genshin’s Essentials of Salvation (Õjõ yõshü, completed in 985) described in graphic, often terrifying detail the six realms of existence (hell, hungry ghosts, demonic beings, animals, human beings, heavenly beings) through which every living creature must pass, in multiple incarnations, before reaching the perfection of the Pure Land. Although it took nearly 400 years to gain institutional traction, the influence of Essentials of Salvation was immense throughout all schools of Buddhism. Theoretically, a farmer or fisherman not only had to contend with the volatile world of spirits in nature as he eked out a livelihood, he now had to balance the karmic effects of his actions, such as whether killing a rat that was eating the family’s barley supply would compro­mise his chances for salvation in the Pure Land.Despite the dominance of Buddhism in society, most of its priests also in­corporated rituals to placate local spirits. Deities called kami associated with rivers, mountains, natural phenomena, and rice plants were assimilated into Buddhism through a process called shinbutsu shügõ or “the syncretization of kami and buddhas.” However, the intermixing of these two religious perspec­tives resulted not in a balance but in a system dominated by Buddhism. An ad­ditional theory (honji suijaku) saw kami as manifestations of bodhisattvas and buddhas. Since kami were considered irascible and capricious, compassionate Buddhist deities chose to be reborn in those forms in order to lead them to salva­tion.During the tumultuous disorder of growing civil and political conflict in the thirteenth century, Pure Land teachings in particular gained wide popular
JAPANESE VERSIONS OF BUDDHISM • 33support, although elite detractors were persistent and still powerful. In 1227, monks from the Tendai temples on Mt. Hiei (near Kyoto) descended into the city to desecrate the grave of Hõnen, founder of the Pure Land in Japan, and burned copies of his major works. This action had little effect on the develop­ment of a sect started by Honens disciple, Shinran. True Pure Land practice was spread around the country via small groups of practitioners called kö, whose pri­mary emphasis was chanting the prayer to Amida Buddha. Around 1450, the eighth hereditary leader of the True Pure Land movement, Rennyo (1415-1499), began to systematize the teachings and organize these scattered groups into a well-disciplined religious movement.The head priest and the architect of Sairenji (True Pure Land, Nishinomiya City)standing before its distinctive exterior. The contemporary appearance of a temple may not reflect members’ expectations about the role of the temple and its head priest.
34 • ExPERIMENTAL BUDDHISMThe result was a new development in Japanese Buddhism. Taking advan­tage of a time of widespread social unrest, Rennyo drew on the networks of True Pure Land followers to enable a kind of militant security force dedicated to pro­tecting the sect’s main temple, Honganji. Bands of armed peasants and low- ranking samurai loyal to the True Pure Land tradition rose up against those landlords, bureaucrats, merchants, and officials they considered to be oppressors. These were not the first people calling themselves “Buddhists” to take aggressive action in protecting their version of the dharma. As early as 1039, a kind of mon­astery soldier (söhei) hired and housed at the Enryakuji temple on Mt. Hiei had been authorized to attack and burn the temples of rival sects, and even chal­lenged the imperial court itself. Four centuries later, however, insurrections (ikkõ ikkí) inspired in part by True Pure Land beliefs were led not by monks but by commoners. With little to lose and salvation guaranteed through their faith in Amida Buddha, True Pure Land militias were able to hold their own against ex­perienced armies and sometimes even defeat them. By 1500 they controlled sev­eral provinces as well as what is today the city of Osaka. Their fortress temple Honganji (on the site of today’s Osaka castle) was never breached, but they were finally forced into submission by the warlord Nobunaga in the 1580s.By the late 1600s, when Japan’s political instability had been largely re­solved, temples expanded throughout the country as the different denomina­tions vied for resources and patronage. Temples continued to serve as a link to a greater world of ideas, people, and political power. In addition to actual monks, villages were visited periodically by wandering “holy men” (hijiri, shidosõ}. These individuals were loosely affiliated with a particular tradition and were sometimes little more than skilled performers who provided a variety of religious services and products. Hijiri had “holy” potions to heal sickness, told tales of wonder about sites of pilgrimage such as Mt. Kõya, Kumano, or Ise, advertised religious benefits of all kinds, instructed rapt audiences about the horrors of hell, and sold charms to provide protection and blessings. With a largely illiterate populace in­terested primarily in procuring benefits related to the spiritual well-being of their ancestors or their own physical health and future salvation, religious “virtuosos” were mediators between the mysterious worlds of deities and bodhisattvas and the trying conditions of village or city life. Through rituals, priests as well as the itinerant hijiri were believed to access religious worlds and convey messages to deities, and so could return to their clientele (for a modest fee) some of that oth­erworldly power and sense of control.It is hard for us to imagine living within a worldview that is thoroughly dominated and defined by religion. For people in the premodern era, there was
JAPANESE VERSIONS OF BUDDHISM • 35really no separation between religious and secular worlds. The orientation of houses to maximize auspicious directions, the way fire burns in the hearth, various aches, pains, and diseases, political instability, even affairs of the state—all were, to some degree, influenced by spiritual forces. Is it any wonder that people wanted protection from and a sense of control over the unstable variables of worlds seen and unseen? Did a local image of Kannon-sama, the bodhisattva of compassion, hear impassioned pleas for help, or would petition­ing a noted guardian of the Buddhist teachings, Fudõ Myõõ, in a small town a day’s walk away be more beneficial? Making a pilgrimage, carrying amulets and talismans, and hiring a priest to chant sutras that would placate, neutralize, or exorcise angry spirits all served both specialist and practitioner in tangible ways.It was next to impossible for a person of limited learning and worldly expe­rience to steer clear of mainstream religious and spiritual orders accepted among all social classes. New methods to negotiate these realities sometimes became available, such as pilgrimage to sacred sites or chanting prayers directly to bud- dhas of the Pure Land or bodhisattvas of the Lotus Sutra. But the dominance of a Buddhist worldview that emphasized karmic retribution, rebirth, and the agency of religious specialists, believers, demons, and an array of deities changed very little until the modern period.THE PARISHIONER SYSTEMOne of the long-standing institutions devised to foster the merit of patronage as well as promote compliance with Buddhism was the parishioner system. Com­munity temples of all sizes were structured around households (danka) that sup­ported the temple and its priest in material ways. Individuals in these households became members of the temple, eligible for memorial rituals for themselves and their ancestors. Started originally as a way to keep track of the population after Christianity briefly challenged the feudal order in the late 1500s, the temple reg­istration system (terauke seido) was formally launched and applied to all Japa­nese around 1635.9 With state support throughout the 270 years of the Tokugawa regime (1603-1867), many temples served as community centers. Priests ran schools, allowed markets on temple land (and benefited financially from the leases they provided), held periodic festivals, and sold medicinal remedies. By the time Japanese Buddhism entered the modern period—which began in Japan in the mid-nineteenth century—it was pervasive, wealthy, and still the only reli­gious game in town for a majority of the population.
36 • EXPERIMENTAL BUDDHISMIn addition to ongoing monetary contributions, the main religious respon­sibilities of a danka household included visiting the family temple {bodaiji) on key occasions: memorial services for the sect’s founder and the historical Bud­dha, the obon summer festival when ancestral spirits were thought to return for three days, spring and autumn equinoxes, as well as the death-day anniversaries of one’s ancestors. According to a document titled “Regulations for Danka Mem­bers of the Sect” (1700), this last occasion also required inviting the priest to one’s house and “treating him with generosity” as he conducted a memorial ser­vice for the ancestors.10 One can assume that he came away with more tangible rewards than a drink of tea and sincere thanks for his services.Readers will recall there was no choice but to belong to the local temple and be registered as one of its members. Should a member fail to perform his duties, he (and his entire household) could be stricken from the temple’s registry and were subject to fines, ostracism from the community, imprisonment, and, in ex­treme cases, even execution. If a person was not registered, suspicion arose about whether or not he was a Christian in secret and thus subversive of the political order. The ascending chain of punitive measures originated with the govern­ment’s draconian efforts to regulate society and stamp out Christian influences, but it depended on the local priest to enforce registration and compliance. In a society best thought of as a police state—with constant surveillance, reporting requirements, restrictions on travel and prescribed obligations for one’s social class—dissident behavior was not tolerated to any degree.11 In the mid-eighteenth century, even priests found guilty of disturbing the social order through adultery or other crimes could be arrested, executed, and their heads displayed on a pike.12With few external challenges to the authority of the temple registration system, the danka and its resident priest formed a symbiotic relationship cen­tered largely on funerals and memorial services. Priestly power was circumscribed to some extent by influential danka members serving as advisers {sodai) to the head priest. While coercive, the system gave villagers the opportunity to display social status at funerals and later exert influence in selecting priests that the danka thought appropriate for the community.JAPANESE BUDDHISM’S CONFRONTATION WITH MODERNITY, 1868-1912Centuries of heavy-handed religious authority and frequent corruption within many parts of Japanese temple Buddhism were curtailed by a new political re­gime that began in 1867. Obsessed with modernizing quickly so as to avoid
JAPANESE VERSIONS OF BUDDHISM • 37colonization by European and American forces, the Meiji government regarded temples as bastions of feudalism and declared Buddhism a “foreign” religion. After more than a thousand years of blurred boundaries—with many Buddhist and native deities existing side by side in the same general location so as to maxi­mize efficacy for petitioners—the Meiji government forcibly separated Buddhist from Shintõ places of worship, sometimes converting the former into the latter.13 It was a time of crisis and wrenching change for the varied traditions of Bud­dhism in Japan.This period demands a closer look because it shows how religious leaders can respond to adversity and then adapt to changing social, economic, and po­litical circumstances. Could there be parallels with the present day that will help in assessing the state and possible fate of Buddhism in the twenty-first century?After a revolution in 1867 ended nearly 270 years of feudal rule, long- simmering resentment against Buddhist temples and priests surfaced for the role they had played in registering and monitoring the population. A new policy was launched (shinbutsu bunri) to “dissociate” Buddhist influences from the govern­ment’s newly reorganized religion of choice, Shinto. Although the purpose of this move was likely to appropriate some of the “material vitality” of Japan’s temples—gained through rewards of property and payment by the previous re­gime—a weak central government could not control fully how local leaders im­plemented the new law.14According to one scholar, from the 1840s until the mid-1870s, the collapse of the Tokugawa regime and the restoration of imperial rule “triggered the most violent suppression of Buddhism on the local and national levels in Japanese his­tory.”15 As a result, vilification of Buddhists as “parasitic, corrupt, and un­Japanese” led to the destruction of temples, images, texts, and the appropriation of temple property.16 The government issued new regulations that permitted monks and nuns to eat meat, grow their hair, marry, and return to lay life. The movement to “abolish Buddhism, destroy Shakyamuni” (haibutsu kishaku) was not an official government policy, but officials did little to curb excessive acts against Buddhist institutions and priests. According to one source, some 18,000 temples were forcibly disbanded and over 56,000 monks and 5,000 nuns re­turned to lay life from 1868 to 1872.1 Another scholar cites survey data to show a loss of 15,000 temples during the next five years.18 One estimate numbers the decline or consolidation of temples nationwide from 1868 to 1888 to have been around 40,000.19 While most destruction was concentrated within this short period, the state’s antagonistic policy toward Buddhism continued for the next
38 • EXPERIMENTAL BUDDHISMtwenty years and was instrumental in shaping the responses of Japan’s denomina­tions to a new political and social order.Faced with oppressive state control and oversight of their religion, and a substantial loss of resources, Buddhist leaders from the nation’s many denomina­tions and sects saw little choice but to come together. If they were to stop the de­struction and prove Buddhism was still compatible with state interests, they had to downplay doctrinal and political differences and seek a common foundation from which to build a modern institution that would complement the state’s agenda of modernizing Japan. As Robert Sharf has pointed out, some Buddhist leaders argued that state oppression of their traditions was a purifying force, one that would rid Buddhism of its “degenerate” features and return it to the original teachings of Shakyamuni.20 Over the next two decades, a variety of organiza­tions formed with the intent to revitalize Buddhism, but they were unable to agree upon a coordinated strategy. Richard Jaffe has shown how denominations eager for a new approach to the role of religion in modern life sent priests on fact- finding missions overseas, similar to the multiyear journeys to Europe and the United States undertaken by government envoys.21 A new vocabulary was emerg­ing to describe Buddhism, one that adopted concepts and expressions from phil­osophical and scientific discourse in the West.22The colonizing powers of Europe and the United States were not the only sources of inspiration for modernizing Japan’s Buddhist denominations. During a visit to Sri Lanka in 1879—a place considered by many scholars at the time to represent the most direct continuation of original Buddhism—Japanese officials saw how the religion was being used to challenge British colonialism by critiqu­ing its dominant ideology, Christianity. Japanese Buddhist leaders also encoun­tered efforts to establish a pan-Asian Buddhism started by Westerners such as Henry Olcott and continued by local intellectuals like Anagarika Dharmapala. They saw a more aggressive Buddhism in South Asia that wanted to defend sa­cred pilgrimage sites from Hindu control in India, promote Buddhism as an in­tellectual equal to Christianity, and encourage Buddhist unity under a newly designed banner of a multicolored flag representing the five auras emanating from the body of the enlightened Buddha.Inspiring as these developments in Asia were for the Buddhist leaders from Japan, the dire situation at home remained first and foremost in their minds. In order to advance reform within all Buddhist denominations and slow the coloni­zation of their religion by the state, a group of intellectuals led by Shimaji Mokurai and Shaku Sõen (both of whom would later attend and be influenced by the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1894) created the Buddhist
JAPANESE VERSIONS OF BUDDHISM • 39Trans-denominational Cooperative (Bukkyõ kakushü kyôkaï) in 1890. They be­lieved the diverse teachings of Japanese Buddhism needed a textual unity similar to that of Christianity and so published a five-volume Essential Texts of Trans- denominational Buddhism (Bukkyõ kakushü kõyo) in conjunction with the founding of the organization. Their intention was to create a Buddhism that would be “classic and modern, grounded in faith and reason, born in Asia and global in its application.”23 Like other revivalist movements in Asia at this time, they also desired to create a pan-Asia Buddhist identity that could resist Western political and cultural imperialism.24 The movement promoting these texts and ideas has been labeled Unified Buddhism or Trans-denominational Buddhism (tsü bukkyõ) because it aimed to demonstrate to highly critical state and public audiences the viability of a reformed Buddhism in a modernizing nation.25Although the trans-denominational movement created the appearance that Japan’s denominations had transformed themselves into “modern, cosmo­politan, and socially efficacious institution(s),” rivalries and splinter groups undermined its effectiveness.26 Intellectuals not connected to mainstream de­nominations disparaged institutional Buddhism’s unwillingness to distance itself from traditional identities and privileges, as well as its “otherworldly” focus that did little to address the pressing spiritual needs of the common person.2 One critical voice of the time, Seno’o Giro, founder of the Alliance of New Bud­dhist Youth, expressed his frustration with the status quo: “We regard all exis­tent Buddhist religious organizations as corpses that profane the spirit of Buddhism, and we resolve to denounce these organizations and promote a new Buddhist epoch.”28Had a trans-denominational discourse been able to continue, it is possible that some kind of coordinated and sustained social movement may have devel­oped. But once the government began a series of foreign military interventions and wars in 1894, it was no longer sufficient to justify rapid modernization as emblematic of civilization and progress.29 With nationwide conscription and “heroic sacrifice” now expected of Japan’s young men, the very concept of mod­ernization became a necessary ideological tool for building a strong nation, for supporting troops stationed overseas, and for imposing an increasingly strident imperial creed. A popular slogan, “Revere the emperor and expel the barbarians” (sonno jöï) was modified in nationalistic Buddhist writing to “Revere the em­peror and serve the Buddha” (sonnõ hõbutsu). Other catchphrases included “Love the country and protect the Dharma” (ai ko ku go hõ) and “protect the country by promoting Zen” (kozen gokoku)?^
40 • EXPERIMENTAL BUDDHISMOne brief example clarifies different priorities of the time on how best to modernize Buddhist institutions to benefit society and thus, by extension, the state. As the pressures of factory work and urban life created human casualties, it was first the state, and not denomination leaders, that called upon priests to edu­cate their members against the “feudal” practices of abortion, infanticide, and child abandonment. An organization dedicated to the care of abandoned chil­dren, the Fukuda-kai ikujiin, was created in 1879 and received financial support from the main denominations. Its existence helped restore a modicum of public trust in the social relevance of priests and Buddhist institutions.31As a spinoff of this initiative, many temples around the nation opened their own orphanages and shelters for unwanted children. Temples later provided day care and kindergartens for the children of parents working in factories operating at a breakneck pace. Given the state’s interest in religion supporting projects related to social welfare—a concern that we will see manifesting itself again in the twenty-first century—priests from the True Pure Land denomination be­came particularly active in factory and prison ministry and newly created insti­tutions for the mentally ill.32 Leaders like Shimaji were also among the first to raise awareness about oppressed minority groups (burakumin) within Japan.33 Other areas of Buddhist social and charity work included campaigns against prostitution, starting schools for the disabled, participation in temperance move­ments, and numerous programs for children, women, and young adults. It is im­portant to note that while engaging in these activities, Buddhist organizations also conveyed the national ideology of loyalty and patriotism.34What correspondences can we find between Japanese Buddhism’s first en­counter with modernity and the fast-paced, globalized modernity facing priests today? For one thing, it seems that religious leaders in both periods regarded the novel forces of modernization not as an opportunity but as problematic and dis­ruptive. The head abbots of leading Buddhist denominations came together in an 1890 conference (ßukkyö kakushü kanchò kaigî} to discuss the unsettling effects of the new era and formulate plans for dealing with them. Denominations today continue this concern through their publications, organizations, conferences, blogs, Web sites, and nonprofit or nongovernmental affiliations. In both time frames, there was widespread realization that reform, however painful, was nec­essary and could benefit not just the individual temple or denomination but also could make a positive contribution to society.The most obvious point of difference is that Meiji Buddhists encountered modernity in the context of a political predicament brought about by a dramatic change of government. Its initial policies toward Buddhist institutions were
JAPANESE VERSIONS OF BUDDHISM • 41highly antagonistic and regarded Buddhism as a relic of the feudal period. The major denominations slowly resolved this tense confrontation with the state by cooperating with its domestic policies as well as supporting foreign military in­terventions in China (1894), Russia (1904), and Korea (1910) aimed at increasing territory and access to resources.35 Although efforts were made to introduce a unified Buddhism into Japan, the major denominations were too polarized by centuries of doctrinal and political disputes (over land, tributes, patronage, ap­pointments, and so on) to adopt a consistently unified stance.36 Despite outward appearances, new texts and concepts that aligned with the language of moder­nity, increased social activism of service to the state, and the internal dynamics and hierarchies of Meiji Buddhist institutions prevented the emergence of a new type of institution.37The change that did occur within Buddhism at this time was to align Meiji and Taisho period temples in all denominations with the agendas of the imperial project in order to become “useful Buddhism” {goyõ Bukkyõ).^ Leaders from many denominations promoted ideas that the utility of Buddhism to protect and pacify the nation warranted the reestablishment of Buddhism as an official reli­gion {goyõ shükyô under protection of the state. The power of the state was in evidence when Buddhists rallied briefly to protest a copper mine that, beginning in the 1870s, dumped pollutants into the Watarase River. Over time, with irri­gated rice fields poisoned in over 1,300 villages stretching through four prefec­tures, the health and livelihood of some 300,000 people were affected. Temples in these areas set up offices to coordinate a campaign for financial redress but in 1902, the Religion Bureau of rhe Ministry of Home affairs warned all religious bodies in Japan to avoid political discussions of the Ashio copper mine inci­dent.39 Being “useful” to society obviously had different interpretations, and this was a time when the state could not only determine what was permitted but also effectively clamp down on dissent.At present the state shows no hostility to Japan’s Buddhist traditions, al­though attempts to restructure the nation’s economy and banking system are partially responsible for dramatic demographic and workplace-related trends af­fecting the ways in which people affiliate with temples. More significant forces undermining the traditional social foundations of Buddhist temples include higher levels of education, easy access to technology and information, and in­creased social and demographic mobility. We can also add to this list a growing secularism among the general public and the privatization of religion (topics mentioned earlier in a global context) that have undercut support for temples in significant ways.
42 • EXPERIMENTAL BUDDHISMThe priority of restructuring Buddhist institutions to better align with changing domestic and international socioeconomic realities appears to vary for Japan’s Buddhist establishment. Like global warming affecting local weather pat­terns, the emerging forces beginning to destabilize Japanese temple Buddhism have been identified, studied, debated, and written about by leading Buddhist scholars and priests. At the same time, comprehensive responses to these forces have been slow to take shape and even slower to have any effect. After all, it might be reasoned, the coming generational shift and estimated loss of parishioners is still a decade or more in the future for most temples. One leading Zen priest in the 1950s, Shaku Jõkõ, was so frustrated at the status quo of the time that he wrote, “My heart’s desire is to burn down every temple and kill every monk.”40 His rhetorical exaggeration was intended to impress upon readers the necessity of developing a type of Buddhism more resonant with the original teachings and codes for monks and less conditioned by Japanese culture and politics. For the time being, funerals, memorial services, and the sale of graveyard plots constitute business as usual for most temples and priests, bringing considerable financial gain. And yet, like a dependency on fossil fuels, there is a shrinking time horizon for just how long this reliance can be sustained. For one scholar who has observed Japanese Buddhism closely over the past thirty years, “as an institutionalized form of religion centered around sectarian structures and around the relation­ship between local temples and a household-based clientele, [it] may be in its death throes.”41One more anecdote brings this executive summary to a close. The inertia within one denomination of Japanese temple Buddhism was brought home to me during a June 2008 visit to Eiheiji monastery in the mountains of Fukui Pre­fecture. Established by Dõgen in 1244, Eiheiji now serves as one of two main training monasteries for Sõtõ Zen Buddhism. Its pristine forest setting and clas­sical arrangement of buildings, halls, covered walkways, and rigid training make the challenges facing temples in the twenty-first century seem far removed. Young men raised at family temples come to Eiheiji for the traditional training necessary to become a priest, setting aside their video games, computers, and cell phones while they undergo the requisite one to three years of intense religious discipline (shugyo).Conversations with several of these monks, as well as with the senior priest in charge of training (the tanto róshí), confirmed an impression that the monas­tery functions in a kind of time warp. “We have computers at the front office to keep track of visitors, temple communications, and administrative matters, but we rarely use them for purposes unrelated to life at Eiheiji,” a twenty-six-year-old
JAPANESE VERSIONS OF BUDDHISM • 43monk working as a visitor liaison told me. Part of this is intentional, according to the tanto rõshi, because “we want to return to a practice that is pure and direct, and which develops the next generation of priests.”This long and venerable tradition has value of course, but its emphasis on spiritual and religious training can also be seen as a sign of institutional torpor. How are young monks being prepared for the challenges they will face when they inherit their fathers’ temples and slowly eroding parishioner base? Both they and the tanto rõshi acknowledged that Eiheiji has neither programs nor plans of this sort, nor were they aware of policies to develop some kind of community-based services. “We do hold a large ritual in a civic auditorium once or twice a year, with over a hundred monks and senior priests participating,” I was told. With little apparent concern for community outreach or addressing everyday prob­lems, perhaps spiritual discipline will indeed come in handy so that Sõtõ Zen’s young priests will not panic at the prospect of a career characterized by decreas­ing temple membership, declining revenue, and a lack of social relevance.42CONTEMPORARY BUDDHIST TEMPLES AND PRIESTSAs Japan’s economy grew dramatically to become the second largest GNP in the world during the 1980s, so too did the wealth of many Buddhist temples. Begin­ning in the 1970s, it seemed everyone had enough money to pay the rising costs of funerals, procure from a priest an auspicious-sounding posthumous name (kaimyõ and secure a grave or other site for ongoing memorials. Even when a funeral was held at a private home or, increasingly, in a funeral hall, the services of a priest were contracted as part of a package deal?3 According to the 2008 An­nual Report on Religious Activities from the Cultural Affairs Agency, Buddhist memorial services made up nearly 85 percent of all temple income.44 Back in the late 1990s, the Mitsubishi Research Institute predicted that the Japanese funeral industry, including both temples and companies providing memorial services, would outpace the automobile and dental care sectors and become Japan’s largest industry by 2020.45Priests contracted by funeral companies to chant sutras may have little to no interaction with the family of the deceased. In more intimate settings, such as the funeral of a danka member conducted at the local temple, a priest speaks directly to the assembled crowd at both the beginning and end of the service. Words of gratitude for their attendance and participation are frequently fol­lowed by a short sermon on traditional Buddhist themes. It is an occasion for community members to hear Buddhist teachings firsthand from their own
44 • EXPERIMENTAL BUDDHISMpriest, and perhaps follow prescribed concepts and practices for enhancing their own prospects for salvation.The effects of modernity and postwar economic dynamics upon Japanese family structure have also been a key factor in weakening the relationship be­tween a temple and its danka. Pressured by economic forces, many families have turned away from farming and moved to urban areas where they seek higher- paying jobs in factories and companies. It is also the case that older danka mem­bers who try to pass down their administrative roles to the next generation find that there is often little personal incentive to support the temple financially, a donation that amounts to about 8 percent of a temple’s yearly income.46 An aver­age yearly contribution would range from as little as 30,000 yen ($375) to well over 150,000 yen ($1,875), depending largely on the temple’s policies, reputa­tion, maintenance costs, and administrative priorities of its head priest.While researching the condition of rural temples along the western coast of Noto peninsula—about as far away from major urban areas as one can get in Japan—I met a couple from the island of Kyushu who were touring the region by car. After I answered their questions about the purpose of my trip, they informed me (with some degree of satisfaction) that they had recently ended their family’s centuries-long relationship with Buddhism and recently joined a “new” religion, Tenrikyõ. When I asked how difficult it was to extricate themselves from the web of obligations and responsibilities required by generations of temple affilia­tion, they said they simply told their local priest they were breaking off relations and would soon be moving the family grave out of the temple’s cemetery. Mr. Namba said that he just couldn’t see the point of paying all that money to a tem­ple (70,000 yen or around $875 a year) and getting only a grave and periodic ritu­als in exchange. Much more important to the Nambas are the dynamics of an active community that is interested in spiritual concerns but which also facili­tates new friendships, interest groups, travel, and extensive networking. As Mrs. Namba remarked, “Our religious reasons for joining Tenrikyõ are much less im­portant than our desire for finding a community with which we can share our lives.”Building upon some of Steven Covell’s findings in Japanese Temple Bud­dhism, we can summarize a number of features about contemporary Buddhism based on a tense dialectic between “image” and “reality.” Despite its long history, rich cultural heritage, and significant historical role in the shaping of Japanese civilization and culture, contemporary Japanese Buddhism struggles with a less- than-positive public image. The fundamental problem for Japanese Buddhism since the Meiji revolution has been the gradual diminution of a temple’s social
JAPANESE VERSIONS OF BUDDHISM • 45activity and presence, leaving it with what is perceived as a monopoly on death- related rituals. Earlier in this discussion we saw how temples served as adminis­trative tools of the state in the Edo era (1603-1868) because they monitored, registered, and even forced individuals to comply with laws and religious prac­tices acceptable to the authorities. As Japan modernized in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, temples remained ritual and ceremonial centers, but their roles as educational sites, community hubs, land administrators, and distributors of medicine and healing were either lost entirely or greatly cur­tailed.Scholars such as Tsuji Zennosuke, Nakajima Hajime, Tamura Yoshiro, and others characterized late nineteenth-century Buddhism in Japan as corrupt. Ac­cording to this line of thought (and academic discourse called daraku setsu since the medieval period, priests at the headquarters of each denomination have failed to challenge the politicization of their temples or to question their support of ruling elites. Priests also neglected to maintain strict codes of conduct regarding relations with women, alcohol, homosexuality, priestly status, and the handling of money. As a result, new doctrines did not evolve with the times. This stagna­tion rendered temples little more than “tourist sites and funeral parlors” rather than places where the public can be instructed about the relevance of key Bud­dhist teachings for their lives?But the “funeral problem” (sõsai mondai) has another critical component that dates to the postwar period. Mark Rowe calls attention to the impact of land reform laws enacted as early as 1946 that required absentee landlords to sell their land back to farmers. Since a majority of temples owned land that was farmed by tenants (a practice as old as Buddhism in East Asia), the loss of this land deprived temples of substantial revenue. Citing a variety of surveys carried out by research­ers in the Sõtõ, Pure Land, and Shingon denominations dating from immedi­ately after the war to 2003, Rowe provides compelling evidence that most temples had little choice but to begin relying on funerals and memorial services to replace income lost from agricultural sources?8Temples came to be associated almost exclusively with two kinds of ser­vices: rituals affecting salvation, and funerals followed by ongoing memorial rites for departed souls. With increased financial means among Japan’s growing mid­dle class in the postwar period, temples expanded their cemeteries to include graves for the general public rather than long-standing temple members?9 It is no exaggeration to say that the income derived from funerals and memorial rituals— held at specified intervals as well as at seasonal junctures (such as the equinox, solstice, and obon)—has transformed the institution of Buddhism in Japan in the
46 • EXPERIMENTAL BUDDHISMmodern and late modern periods.50 According to statistics from the Sõtõ Zen Comprehensive Research Report of 2005, the annual membership fee comprises around 8 percent of a temple’s earnings. Around 85 percent, however, comes from income generated by funerals and memorial services conducted largely for this same clientele.51Using words normally associated with business activities—earnings, ser­vices, clientele, patrons, and so on—may seem out of place in a discussion about religious institutions. In Japan, however, the comparison between a business and a family temple is apt. Covell points out that temples are considered legal reli­gious corporations (shûkyö höj iri) and must meet three requirements to maintain this status: spreading religious teachings, performing rituals, and providing reli­gious education and support to their members.52 They must have a board of di­rectors, bylaws, and a chief officer (usually the head priest) who is legally responsible for temple affairs. Because they fall in a broad category of public in­stitutions that are supposed to benefit society (“public interest corporation,” köeki hõjin), they receive certain tax advantages related to both activities and properties that support their mission.53 Until recently, governmental oversight of the activities of religious corporations has remained lax, although the Aum Shinrikyõ incident of 1995 has resulted in increased scrutiny (see Chapter 6 for potential new tax increases on temples the government is considering).Here again the dissonance between image and reality is striking. Priests and their temples are a ubiquitous feature of the Japanese landscape and so would appear to serve the needs of society by providing funerals, memorials, and interment within a Buddhist context. But the reality of this seemingly al­truistic relationship is premised as much upon a lucrative economic exchange as it is religious belief. In part because of laws regulating religious organiza­tions in Japan (Religious Juridical Persons Law, or shùkyô hõjinhõ) each temple has little choice but to operate like a business. Temple priests must be con­cerned with cash flow, public relations, the marketing of their services, liability insurance, strategies for minimizing taxes, efficient administration and book­keeping, and so forth.54 A temple’s clientele may have a certain amount of con­fidence in the efficacy and quality of its priest, but the money that changes hands (ranging from simple donations to installment payments for memorial services) is substantial. Rowe urges a tolerant view in thinking about these ex­changes, stating that the mix of business and religion that goes on at a temple is not necessarily indicative of commercialization or decline but serves rather as “aspects of negotiations that occur at all temples and thus act as legitimate manifestations of Buddhism.”55
JAPANESE VERSIONS OF BUDDHISM • 47There is a joke in a Japanese form of storytelling comedy called rakugo that has a villager seeking out a local Buddhist priest to get advice about life. Even before the punch line, the audience can appreciate the humor of the initial prem­ise because, as several surveys have indicated, a temple priest is rated as among the last individuals one might seek out in times of trouble. In the joke, the priest turns the villager away, saying, “Sorry, we don’t handle ‘living’ stuff.” The final line may elicit a laugh, but the story is grounded in the sobering reality of contemporary temples and their priests.56 According to one priest, “When you pass one of us on the street, usually no one cares. But when you see a priest coming out of a home or apartment, you immediately think of death. We are like walking hearses, con­veying bad associations, and so no one wants to get involved.”5^At a 2004 symposium in Tokyo on the condition and future of Buddhism in Japan, comments were solicited from audience members attending the event. Some of their main points were the following:• Temples do nothing but perform funerals and memorial services.• Priests who conduct funerals are not particularly considerate or memorable.• Priests have little awareness of social problems.• Temples have no power to reform society.• Temples make a tax-free profit for priests.• Priests are not concerned with people’s suffering, coolly assuming that it has nothing to do with them.• Priests preach the importance of compassion {jihi) but never take any ac­tion.• Priests are insensitive and dull to begin with.58At the risk of overgeneralizing and thereby maligning those temple priests who have good relations with their parishioners and are highly regarded for the work they do (some examples of which are discussed in Chapter 3), it is fair to say that the priesthood struggles with an image problem caused in part by how they stage and conduct funerals and memorial services. According to one thirty-year-old male critic:Buddhist priests are totally caught up in tradition. They think it’s enough to perform funeral services, and you don’t see any initiative at all to reform the system. Lately they’ve been talking about things like the “spiritual darkness in our hearts,” but each person is supposed to deal with it himself, and there’s no collective effort, no place where everyone can vent
48 • EXPERIMENTAL BUDDHISMtheir feelings. I think a temple should really be a nucleus for that kind of activity, but they don’t seem to play that role at all.59Attributing the disapproval of priests solely to the effects of the funeral trade elides other significant factors affecting the public’s perception of the roles priests play in society. An additional influence of major proportions is the economic power still residing in the danka seido system, whereby a temple is financially de­pendent on donations from households affiliated with the temple. In some areas, many temples still have all the households they can handle.60 I was told by one senior priest to think of the danka as a “private club, the temple as the clubhouse, the graves as the club’s entertainment, and the priest as the manager whose goal is to service and please his clientele.”61 When individuals or families move be­cause of economic opportunities, or when a parishioner dies and the descendants then choose to sever ties with the home temple because they live elsewhere, the number of households producing donations decreases and so may force the priest to seek other sources of income.62The changing structure of families—such as increased numbers of single parents, women and men postponing marriage, and a greater autonomy from parents and relatives—can also result in tenuous bonds between a household and the temple. These factors can create a greater isolation for the individual who, especially if living at some distance from the family temple, may resist pressure from relatives to participate in appropriate ancestral rituals (see Chapter 1). De­mographic shifts from rural to urban settings have long been a part of Japanese social history, but the scale and speed of people moving to cities for economic opportunity during the last forty years is profound. In 2000, nearly 78 percent of Japan’s population was living in urban areas, compared to just 63 percent in I960.63 Temples and Buddhist denominations have been buffeted by social and political conditions on many occasions throughout history, but they have always relied on a village-based foundation for support. Today, however, the population of many rural areas has declined to such a degree that many temples can no lon­ger function without some kind of external funding source, usually secured by the priest taking a full-time or part-time position, or merging with a larger tem­ple (and thus losing relative autonomy). Rowe summarizes the findings of four separate surveys carried out by Nichiren, Sõtõ Zen, and two Shingon sects to ar­rive at a range between 20 and 40 percent of priests over the last thirty years who have needed outside employment.64One more key factor informing the public perception of priests is the role of the mainstream media in reporting scandals and misdeeds. There is nothing like
JAPANESE VERSIONS OF BUDDHISM • 49priestly misconduct to generate sensational headlines, whereas work related to social welfare, environmental preservation, agricultural sustainability, educa­tion, and so on is usually ignored.65 Each Buddhist denomination has an office of public relations that provides detailed news reports to major media outlets. How­ever, because the long shadow of the Aum Shinrikyõ cult still hovers over Japan’s social landscape, mainstream newspapers and magazines rarely publish informa­tion that originates from administrative headquarters. In a confidential inter­view with a reporter from the Kyoto branch of the Asahi Shimbun, he remarked that editors are nervous about being accused of religious favoritism. They play it safe by publishing only articles that are critical of religious organizations, or about events open to the general public, like festivals or major rituals, which any­one can observe.Yet another influence on the social perceptions and presence of priests in Japan is the paradox of administrative succession within a temple. As in any busi­ness, continuity is valued and important in retaining customer loyalty (parishio­ners) as well as market share for services (memorial rituals) and products provided (graves, memorial tablets, amulets). Since the majority of priests in Japan marry and have families—indeed, their parishioners expect them to do so—there is considerable pressure for one of the priest’s children to eventually undergo educa­tional and religious training, obtain the necessary certification, and assume lead­ership of the temple.66 Whether they are interested in assuming this responsibility is another matter. As Steve Covell notes, temple priests have become more “risk averse” because of the perceived need and financial necessity to cater to their pay­ing clientele and support their families.6 This relatively recent practice dates to the twentieth century and became especially pronounced after World War II. As the next section indicates, there are plenty of problems on all sides of this system.A final but by no means conclusive factor is the postwar trend toward a more individual and less communal form of religion. Words like “privatization” and “individualization” are commonly used by scholars of religion to describe this situation, but what do these concepts really signify? The loss of grand narra­tives during the process of modernization in the nineteenth and twentieth cen­turies is again relevant here (Chapter 1). A variety of social forces in the twentieth century challenged and subverted traditional ideas of the individual as bounded by gender, class, or race. Additionally, the religiously oriented worldviews that dominated sedentary societies, as well as their lack of access to technologies of transportation, communication, health care, and so on, were all deconstructed. As a result, new questions and perspectives about the role of religion in the lives of individuals and its proper role in society have emerged. For example, postwar
SO • EXPERIMENTAL BUDDHISMJapanese were famous for responding to questions about religion by saying they had none. Perhaps this was true in a structural way at that time. When compar­ing the monotheisms of the West—with their founders, sacred texts, holy lands, and so forth—to the ways in which religious activities in Japan were complemen­tary and dispersed among a number of traditions (Buddhism, Shintõ, Daoism, shamanism, Confucianism, and even Christianity), the Japanese scene was de­cidedly not religious in a sense that privileged exclusive brand-name loyalty.A leading author on religious practices in Japan has commented that the “nonreligious” ^mushùkyo} stance of many postwar Japanese is, in fact, a religious attitude in itself. Shimada Hiromi believes the term does not mean an individu­al’s life is completely free from religion.68 On the contrary, to self-identify as “nonreligious” implies a “barrier-free” approach to diverse religious traditions. Buddhism has significance for one set of circumstances related to dying and death, whereas Shinto rituals of purification and renewal work well for new be­ginnings or other endeavors. Likewise, a young couple engaged to be married might choose none of the above but opt for the style and glamor of a wedding with a Christian theme and church setting. In case after case, the Japanese people (like a growing number of people in liberal democracies) want religious tradi­tions to serve their needs and respond effectively to specific situations. Prescrip­tive religious beliefs and practices are still valued by conservative and reactionary organizations but on the whole, a greater flexibility of approach and application for religious and spiritual traditions is a growing social trend.LISTENING TO THE TROUBLES OF PRIESTSWe can learn more about the consequences of social changes on Buddhism by listening to the voices of those most directly affected. The magazine Jimon Kóryü has published an advice column for priests with personal or professional prob­lems that, for a number of years, was edited by a well-known, prize-winning au­thor and Rinzai priest, Genyú Soky. In 2006, he assembled his responses into a book titled Even Priests Have Troubles {Obôsan datte nayanderu)^ A quick sur­vey of a few of these questions not only reveals a great deal about the role and occupation of priests, it also verifies a number of the critiques made earlier in this chapter. For example, on the subject of funerals and graves, questions include:• How can we teach children about the meaning of funerals?• Isn’t it too showy to have a large photo of the deceased on display at a funeral?
JAPANESE VERSIONS OF BUDDHISM • 51• What should I do about people who want to put ashes in a repository that is nota grave?• How can I deal with grave visits and requests for memorial services from people who are not part of the danka?• What should I tell a danka person who wants to put the cremated remains of her beloved pet into the family grave?When the topic turns to temple affairs, we might judge the questions as ranging from anguished to comical, yet they are all taken seriously by both questioners and respondent:• (As a Buddhist priest) I am against war, so how can I speak to a danka member who is part of the Ground Self-Defense unit that will be stationed in Iraq?• Why do I feel so guilty about not being able to perform volunteer labor at a natural disaster site?• Why does a temple have to be so big?• I’m not good at giving sermons or talking to people directly, only at chant­ing, so what should I do?• I can’t sit in a kneeling posture anymore (seiza), so what should I do when I perform a ritual?• Is it all right for the temple to have one day a week when it is closed to danka members?t When I visit homes and pray before a household altar {butsudan I some­times see curious objects from other religious traditions; so is it acceptable for danka members to believe in religions other than Buddhism?• Am I mentally ill because I feel anxiety when I don’t have access to my cell phone?The final theme concerns thorny problems related to maintaining stability and continuity within the family enterprise, that is, sons (usually) succeeding fa­thers to take over the temple. For example, the wife of a priest writes, “My son is only ten years old and already he says he doesn’t want to be the successor kõkeisha who takes over the temple. Should I send him to the denomination’s university? What can I do so that he will want to succeed his father?” In an­other case, a priest complains about his impudent son dyeing his hair brown: “It is so embarrassing for me to have danka members comment about my son’s brown hair. He gets so angry when I bring it up, saying he will have to shave his
52 • EXPERIMENTAL BUDDHISMhead in the future when he takes over the temple, so why can’t I leave him alone now?”Even when the succession issue is already decided, it does not mean the priest’s son is of the hook. One young man complains, “I want to remain sin­gle, but my father is forcing me to find a bride. Danka members come around regularly with marriage candidates and advice. This is driving me crazy! Am I abnormal not to want to get married?” And finally, one troubled priest writes that although he doesn’t have a son, “my daughter (who is thirty-three and mar­ried to a public official) has started to say that she wants to become a priest so as to continue the temple. Her desire is not religious but rather she wants to protect her mother from being expelled from the only home she’s ever known. I worry constantly about whether the danka will accept a female priest, even if she is my daughter.”An anonymous priest writing in the magazine Jiin no Genzai (Contempo­rary Temples) gives another insider perspective on the affairs of Buddhist priests. The author did not grow up in a temple household but became a priest after graduating from a leading university and says that when priests get together for informal conversation following meetings, they first complain about the tax they have to pay to denomination headquarters. This topic is followed closely by com­plaints about demanding temple parishioners and relations with the head temple (honzan) of the denomination. Talk then turns to golf, karaoke, women, and cars. The author says not a single serious topic related to Buddhism is discussed, and that “ifdanka members could hear their local priest in unguarded conversa­tion with his peers, they would faint!”70Let us pause at this point to summarize the ways priests are perceived within Japanese society. On the one hand, it appears that a great many people regard them as opportunistic, morbid, manipulative, money hungry, privileged (because a different tax code applies and because of expansive living quarters on the grounds of a temple), traditional, duty bound, and very possibly corrupt be­cause of all these associations. Paradoxically, some of the same people may also see a priest as a community leader, a person with formal learning, and a purveyor of high culture, spiritual protection, salvation, and ritual magic. So it is a trade­off, although one marked with ambivalence and apprehension. Few occupations in Japan face such a barrage of negative associations, unless it be moneylenders (sarakin) or gangsters (yakuza) with whom priests are often confused due to their closely shaved heads and penchant for expensive cars.71 According to Steve Covell, Yamaori Tetsuo, Richard Jaffe, Mark Rowe, and other scholars, priests today are trapped between images of ideal Buddhism (the priest as ascetic, ritual
JAPANESE VERSIONS OF BUDDHISM • 53expert, and scholar) and “corrupt” funeral Buddhism; “between calls to retain tradition and calls to address contemporary needs.” 2When confronted with the complexities of late modern society, many Japa­nese priests and devoted practitioners might argue that, in order to be more effec­tive, traditional Buddhist teachings about suffering, salvation, and spiritual power need only be reemphasized and applied more diligently in today’s world. It is common to hear religious leaders proclaim, “Go back to the founder!” {Sôshi ni kaire!^ for religious inspiration and direction. 3 Unfortunately for them, most of the audience for this message has left the building. With the gradual displace­ment of traditional worldviews brought about by modernization, education, and secularization, Japanese culture no longer endorses the metanarrative of Bud­dhism to supply spiritual meaning and direction. 4 Pressured by a rapidly chang­ing society and an unstable demographic base, Buddhist priests and institutions are now experimenting with innovative, sometimes risky, and paradigm-shifting policies so as to restore credibility among a populace skeptical about many as­pects of religion in general and “funeral” Buddhism in particular. For younger priests faced with the unexciting prospect of life as a service provider of rituals to elderly parishioners, exploring alternative ways of running a temple (and generat­ing income) is slowly starting to generate interest. Chapters 4 to 6 consider some of these approaches.THREE VIEWS FROM THE TOP: SENIOR OFFICIALS ON THEIR DENOMINATIONSNow that we have an idea of the complex challenges and criticisms facing priests in contemporary society, let us consider the perspectives of senior officials operat­ing at high administrative levels in their respective denominations. How are they responding to the multifaceted issues facing their traditions, temples, and priests? What policies are they developing or pursuing that can help to better align neighborhood temples with their surrounding communities?I discovered that asking top officials about their denomination is a little like talking to a car salesman. They are aware that what they say about their product will be scrutinized, with possible repercussions for their position within the or­ganization. When discussing the appearance and performance of their product, however, any number of positive points are emphasized and expounded upon at great length, giving the impression that everything is in order when viewed from a distance. Closer inspection, however, reveals problems, flaws, and incongruities between form and function. For example, an official at the Myöshinji branch of
54 • EXPERIMENTAL BUDDHISMRinzai Zen said much about the 650-year celebrations {da.i-onkí) that were just concluding and the positive impact they would have on the future of Rinzai. But not once was there mention of the fact that roughly 900 of Rinzai Zen’s 3,700 temples are without full-time priests.75 Highly articulate and sometimes good humored, the manner of senior officials is practiced and courteous, as is common for individuals whose lives revolve around meetings, personal contacts, and skilled negotiations. Whatever question or concern is raised, they will either have a positive reply, or politely evade or reshape the question by focusing on some other aspect of the issue at hand.To create an accurate, truly representative portrait of what goes on within a single Buddhist denomination in Japan would require a sustained local effort on the part of the researcher as well as a multisite ethnography. Letters of recom­mendation, personal contacts, suitable academic affiliations, and so forth would be needed to obtain official permission to get started. Then, a lengthy period of fieldwork and perhaps office employment would establish relationships of trust with senior administrators. It would also be critically important to have confi­dential contact with one (or more) lower-ranking informants actually working within the head office, not to mention discussions with priests in charge of re­gional administrative units. Since the internal politics of any organization are rarely transparent, there would also be ethical questions for the researcher on how to disseminate privileged, contested, and potentially damaging information imparted in discussions that range from casual to classified.76 And at any mo­ment, of course, access could be denied (with no reason given) and the project compromised or scuttled entirely.During a majority of the extended interviews conducted for this study, I heard local priests around Japan discuss, worry, strategize, and sometimes avoid talk about the future of their traditions. Negative comments and accusations leveled at national headquarters were common for what is perceived as a failure to adequately understand and support local priests. A key factor in this tense re­lationship is the financial obligations of member temples to support their head­quarters’ various programs, offices, and administrative staff. A local temple must pay a kind of yearly tax (shûhı) to the main office, although the words used for this payment in Japanese do not indicate that it is a levy imposed on the number of danka households. Amounts can be as little as 200,000 to 300,000 yen (roughly U.S. $2,500 to $3,750), or several million yen, depending on the size of the temple, its parishioner base, and its yearly income. In return, the temple gains full membership in the national organization and is kept informed about devel­opments, initiatives, new regulations, opportunities for education, networking,
JAPANESE VERSIONS OF BUDDHISM • 55travel possibilities to domestic and international Buddhist or historical sites, and so on.Should the local temple run into difficulties—as in the case of a priest’s sud­den death or damage from some natural disaster—the national organization is supposed to provide assistance and ensure continuity of the temple enterprise. Unfortunately, this is not always the case, as many priests in the Kansai area (Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto, Nara) discovered after the 1995 Hanshin earthquake that took the lives of over 6,400 people and devastated much of central Kobe and its suburbs. In my interviews with twelve priests representing six major temple de­nominations in the Kobe-Nishinomiya area, no one indicated satisfaction with the level of support from headquarters after the earthquake. Repairs to their temples had to be financed out of temple assets and by their parishioners, who were often hard pressed to restore their own homes. A common complaint was, in the words of a Nichiren priest, “All the main headquarters could do for us was to suspend the yearly tax we have to pay.” Even priests from large and seemingly well-off denominations like True Pure Land reported the same conditions, with needed temple repairs often taking years to complete.What might seem a unique and atypical situation is actually fairly represen­tative of the distance between local temples and denomination headquarters. As one Rinzai priest noted, “I glance at the stuff they send me, but I rarely read any­thing. I regard mail from headquarters the same way I do flyers and handbills [chirashi]. It’s just not relevant to the work I’m doing, or the conditions of this temple.” Another priest from the Pure Land denomination wondered about the administrators working in national offices. “Many of them are priests just like us,” he said, “except they work at headquarters during the week and then admin­ister their own temples on weekends. It must be hard to do this. Yet somehow they give more attention to the national organization than the concerns of tem­ples they are supposed to serve.”Although priests running neighborhood temples and top administrators do indeed share a number of characteristics—such as religious ordination, uni­versity education, family life, and dealing with a demanding clientele—there are clear class distinctions. Ian Reader points out that priests coming from wealthy temples have the means to finance administrative careers and deal with sectarian politics. In his interview with the director of a company providing consulting services to priests and temples, the director said that senior priests serving as administrators are “less likely to have confronted directly the problems that poorer temples face—and are thus less likely to feel the need for drastic action or reform.”77
56 • EXPERIMENTAL BUDDHISMSeveral senior administrators I interviewed believe they perform key func­tions in helping their denomination articulate and realize its goals, as well as fulfilling its stated mission (as defined in their constitution, a document all Bud­dhist denominations are required by law to have). There must be management and coordination among various internal interests, not to mention fiscal ac­countability both within the denomination and to the national tax agency. Characterizing the headquarters of Rinzai Zen in charitable terms that could be applied to Japan’s other Buddhist traditions, Jørn Borup believes it is a “dynamic organism, neither streamlining nor controlling its members, nor leaving them in an open void or chaotic melting pot.”78In the following discussion, we will visit officials at three denominational headquarters: Tendai, Sõtõ Zen, and Pure Land (Jôdoshù). I also refer to other denominations that I visited in 2008 and 2009, but these three case studies will serve to represent different dimensions of managing a national organization of temples and priests. After hearing directly from senior administrators—all of whom are ordained priests with their own temples to look after—I will revisit some of the main issues they share. In order to protect confidentiality, I do not name the official except when granted permission to do so.TENDAIThe Tendai denomination is in some ways the “mother ship” for the many kinds of Buddhism active in Japan today. Priests like Eisai (Rinzai), Hõnen (Pure Land), Dõgen (Sõtõ), Shinran (True Pure Land), and Nichiren all received train­ing and ordination within Tendai before branching out to start new religious movements. And yet Tendai is now one of the smaller Buddhist denominations, with only around 3,000 temples nationwide. The official I spoke with at Tendai headquarters in Otsu-Sakamoto is section chief in charge of corporate affairs, sectarian education, women’s groups and alliances, sect welfare {minsei-in), inter­national affairs for temples outside Japan, and information activities. He has his own temple near Tokyo, and so commutes back and forth between Kyoto and Tokyo each weekend, riding the high-speed shinkunsen and then transferring to local train lines (an organizational expense, of course). Only one of the officials I spoke with ran a temple and lived in the same city as the denomination’s head­quarters.The Tendai official said a local temple is “far removed” (hanareta) from what goes on at headquarters. “Just as the national government would not intervene directly to help a small business, so must our temples go through intermediate levels of support when they have challenges.” He noted that Tendai includes
JAPANESE VERSIONS OF BUDDHISM • 57various types of temples (applicable to other denominations as well), which influ­ences their condition: some specialize in efficacious memorial prayers (ekõdera and others emphasize benefits in this world {kitõdera), while others are focused on their relations with parishioners (dannadera). With these important differ­ences, he believes it is really up to the priest to determine what policies and prac­tices work best. “Understanding your temple’s religious and social role is a kind of spiritual training [shugyõ]^’ he said. “Priests young and old have to do the best they can in whatever situation they find themselves. Mostly, I tell young priests not to worry so much.”79Tendai temples are grouped in sets of thirty, with each group sending an elected representative to general assemblies to discuss matters of policy. There are also twenty-six different organizations within Tendai on the national level, with each of these units (such as the Association of Women, or Association for Doc­trinal Education) also organized in a typical hierarchical style. Individual priests can, with ability and support, rise to positions of power and influence within the national organization. But the official I spoke with noted that there is more to success within the organization than simply intelligence or skill. “Each temple is independent but operates within limits of its financial resources, parishioner support, and regional networks. It is possible that priests who are smart and well-intentioned inherit temples that are problematic for one reason or another.”When asked how headquarters could help a situation like the one just men­tioned, the official said the national organization should try to build a closer rela­tionship to these temples. He simply laughed when I pointed out an earlier comment of his noting that local temples are “far removed” from the national headquarters. He added that the national office performs a service to local tem­ples when it refers people looking for graves to Tendai temples in their area. Headquarters also tries to promote initiatives on the use of temple space for of­fice functions, school outings, and community events, although “it is really up to the local priest to make these activities happen.”Warming to the theme of how the national office is connected to local temples, the section chief said that interaction takes place in three areas. The first is following up the 1,200-year commemoration of the founding of the denomi­nation, observed in 2006. Its theme emphasized how each person could adopt special Buddhist precepts established by Saichõ, the founder of Tendai Bud­dhism. The second campaign, called “Light Up Your Corner (of the World)” {ichigü wo tera.su), has been functioning since 1969. “This initiative will develop a more spiritual society, with concern for others and volunteer activities stem­ming from our Buddha-nature [hotoke kokoro] and a feeling of plentitude.” He
58 • EXPERIMENTAL BUDDHISMcontinued that the phrase ichigü wo terasu has been adopted by schools and busi­nesses that have nothing to do with Tendai, but which want to promote the idea of happiness for oneself and others. “This is Tendai’s way of being socially en­gaged with society.”80 Finally and perhaps most important for local temples, the national headquarters is planning a campaign to educate the general public about the origin of Japanese funerals. Given the current dissatisfaction with funeral services that many people feel, this campaign is intended to “increase general ap­preciation of this important cultural tradition” and, one might suppose, drum up more business for local Tendai priests.SÕTÕ ZENIt takes five hours and four train changes from the bucolic setting of Tendai headquarters on the east slope of Mt. Hiei to the urban labyrinths of Tokyo, where offices for the national headquarters of Sõtõ Zen occupy two entire floors of the Shiba Kõen Grand Hotel. Although the physical setting is completely dif­ferent from the mountainside location of Tendai offices, these national head­quarters have a number of organizational similarities. Aside from typical office hierarchy, layout, and salaried employees, administrators believe they offer sup­port and valuable networks for local temples nationwide. Yet when pressed to name specific ways in which they assist smaller temples and their priests, they admit to a distance created by the bureaucratic structure.If a businessman deep in conversation on his cell phone took a wrong turn and walked into the Sõtõ national offices, for a few moments he might think he had entered a mid-sized company. Desks are lined up in rows side by side, with young women serving tea and making copies for their mostly male superiors. Most of these men wear white shirts, neckties, and dark blue blazers, with an in­digo blue surplice ^kesa) draped around their neck and shoulders. Most also have shaved heads, which are bent toward computer screens or stacks of paperwork. Visitors, single or in groups of two or three, are ushered into a long but narrow canvas tent divided into little receiving areas. Each one is separated from the oth­ers by nothing more than a thin wall of cloth, which does nothing to mute con­versations. Meeting spaces for larger groups are arranged into cubicles with sofas, tables, and ashtrays, but no doors for privacy. It is one of the most austere recep­tion areas I have seen in over twenty years of fieldwork at religious organizations in Japan.When the general affairs manager who agreed to meet me finally appeared, he had an assistant in tow who was soon bound for a temple in São Paulo, Brazil, and so “needed some experience in meeting foreigners.” All my questions had
JAPANESE VERSIONS OF BUDDHISM • 59been sent by e-mail and fax, and so I anticipated carefully rehearsed answers. However, my informant indicated that in order for these questions to be an­swered “correctly,” I needed to meet the head of each division within the organi­zation who specialized in the particular topic relevant to my research: priest training, women’s groups, youth associations, and so on. Fearful that the inter­view would end abruptly, with nothing to show for it except more appointments and postponements, I related a story about meeting the head executive officer (shitsuji) of Tõdaiji in Nara. Although he was the bureaucratically correct person to meet a foreign researcher like myself, his answers were heavy on Buddhist platitudes, diplomacy to protect the temple, and ambiguity. After listening to my account, the general affairs chief agreed that I could get the runaround were I to adopt the approach he suggested. He then settled into his chair, sent his col­league off to fetch copies, and indicated with a rather resigned air that he would try to answer my questions.Like the Tendai organization, Sõtõ Zen’s headquarters sees itself as facili­tating and coordinating activities within the denomination, which is Japan’s second largest after True Pure Land. Sõtõ Zen has around 14,624 temples throughout the nation, each of which (like almost every other temple regardless of its denomination) pays a yearly membership fee in exchange for information about the organization’s many activities and groups, for administrative assis­tance, for educational and training workshops, and for academic research into a variety of topics. The hierarchy of administration is decidedly more elaborate than in Tendai, with a number of intermediate agencies and levels between local temples and the national office. According to rhe general affairs chief, “Nothing happens directly between local temples and headquarters. If they have an issue or concern they want to bring to our attention, they have to go through local offices and meet elected or appointed representatives, most of whom are priests like themselves.”The organizational chart for Sõtõ Zen shows clearly a hierarchy of net­works linking local, regional, and national administrators. As one of the largest Buddhist denominations in Japan, it is to be expected that a complex administra­tive structure has developed to align institutional continuity with the appoint- ments/promotions/resignations of priests filling key roles.It was surprising to hear that the institutional affiliation between a local temple and national headquarters is rather easily dissolved. “If a temple is not satisfied with their membership, they can leave the organization with a single sheet of paper,” he said.81 Ending affiliation with headquarters is often the case with large temples on a major pilgrimage route, famous for their reported
This organizational chart for Sötó Zen shows the structure of the institution, as well as the bureaucratic distance between top administrators and local temple priests. Courtesy of Sötó Zen Shu muchõ and with thanks to Rev. Ito Yji, Sótö Zen Educational Center, San Francisco, CA.
JAPANESE VERSIONS OF BUDDHISM • 61“benefits.” They must pay a higher percentage of their income due to increased revenues from tourism and regular visitors, and so some of these major temples, such as Toyokawa Inari, have opted out of the system.82When asked how the Sõtõ Zen organization helps train young priests for the challenges of managing a temple in this day and age, the answer was not what I expected. He said the national office ratifies the training young priests receive through other institutions but there is no policy devoted to this specific topic. Instead, “temple administration” is part of a certification class {)zenkyüka.í) that is offered two times a year, at the conclusion of the traditional education for a priest. Most individuals attend a university affiliated with the Sõtõ organization (such as Komazawa University) where they take classes in doctrine, organiza­tional history, business management, and so on. After they graduate, they usually enter one of two monasteries—either Eiheiji or Sõjiji (in Yokohama)—for an in­tense period of instruction in ritual performance, discipline, meditation, work practice (samu), and so forth. When finished, they must then attend (at a later date of their choosing) a day-and-a-half session at the national offices in Tokyo. The curriculum covers the following topics:• How to be a proper priest (a more direct translation would be “how to de­velop the heart of a priest”; jûshoku no kokoroé)• The teachings of Sõtõ Zen• A term that translates as “human rights” (jinken) but which means devel­oping a sensitivity for speaking with or about racial or ethnic minorities, physically handicapped people, women, and foreigners• Legal regulations for temples as established by the national government, Sõtõ headquarters, and temple charters• Accounting principles for temple administrationEach topic is given about an hour and a half, followed by a two-hour ceremony that includes a talk from the head of the organization (or his chosen representa­tive). Participants then receive a certificate indicating completion of the course and full recognition of their status as priests. While it is possible to be a priest without attending the program, the head office “encourages” all priests to be cer­tified in this way.The general affairs chief commented that in his view the certification pro­cess is insufficient and perfunctory, but it is the best that can be done “under the circumstances.” When asked for more details on the special circumstances affecting the training and certification of priests, he said simply that the autonomy
62 • EXPERIMENTAL BUDDHISMof local temples gives them great independence in conducting their own affairs. This statement can be interpreted further to imply that because each temple and its community is different, a one-size-fits-all approach to training priests at the national level would be less than productive.Recalling the organizational chart for Sõtõ Zen, the distance between a lo­cal temple and national headquarters is substantial, mediated by numerous inter­mediary levels. As a result, the independence and self-sufficiency of a local temple can work to its disadvantage if there are problems. National headquarters rarely hears about trouble until it blows up into public relations or administrative head­aches. A typical example is a local priest who becomes indifferent to the concerns of his parishioners (danka) and has conflicts with their delegates (the sõdai-kaİ). The members of the sõdai-kai may then appeal to local and regional offices for a replacement, a request that will ultimately be handled at the national level. Lawsuits are not uncommon.According to the general affairs chief, most local priests tend to procrasti­nate in seeking solutions to problems until they fester into crises. They are em­barrassed to seek assistance from local or regional Sõtõ officials, usually because they know some of the priests there personally. As a result, they hesitate to call attention to problems for which they may be responsible through lax accounting practices, poor human relations, or indifferent attitudes about their role as a priest in the community. Additionally, the system of “senior/junior” relation­ships (senpai/kõhaí) within Japanese culture is especially ingrained within Bud­dhist organizations and personal relationships. My informant commented that based on hierarchy and seniority, “the senpai/köhai relationship deters frank communication from the lower-ranking person.” In such a relationship, the se­nior person commonly presents physical and spiritual challenges for the junior to overcome, emphasizing endurance, forbearance, and the cultivation of a strong will. A priest will complete his preliminary education and then, in an ideal sce­nario, serve as assistant head priest (fuku-jüshoku) for a number of years until the head priest (usually his father) retires or dies. He may be in his forties, fif­ties, or even sixties before taking over the temple completely. The general af­fairs chief said that should a priest run into difficulties at this stage, he may feel he would lose face if he appealed to a senior mentor for advice and assistance. As a result, he may simply quit and leave his temple in the lurch, at which point the national headquarters would hear about it and be asked to recommend a replacement.83The general affairs chief commented that today’s younger generation of priests is even more complicated, difficult, and withdrawn than their elders. He
JAPANESE VERSIONS OF BUDDHISM • 63believes that human relationships privileging communication based on cell phone and computer technologies have become shallow. Younger priests are not skilled in face-to-face interactions with other people, which makes them want to avoid conflict at all costs. Rather than dealing with pressing problems at their temples or in their lives, they will “isolate themselves within their temples play­ing video games or surfing the Internet.” Because of the hierarchical culture of Sõt Zen, the general affairs chief complained that there is no venue within the organization where priests can get together and talk frankly about their lives and positions.84 “Priests should not think about themselves so much, but it is unavoidable because they are expected to have families and children, and of course priests are concerned about their family’s welfare before that of the temples membership.”PURE LANDThe final example presents a national organization that appears to be more proac­tive about both the future of the denomination and the possibilities for individ­ual temples. Although I could not meet with an official with responsibilities similar to the previous two, the questions I asked at Pure Land headquarters (Chionin branch) about the future of the tradition, the training of priests, and the relationship between local temples and the national offices were identical. However, the Pure Land priests I interviewed at various temples in central Japan indicated they also struggle with the same structural problems mentioned in the other two denominations: declining parishioners, the distance between local temples and top administrators, and a lack of training and support for younger priests.It appears that there is a concerted effort within the Pure Land denomina­tion to address some of these issues through the focus and resources devoted to a major celebration. The 8OOth anniversary of the founding of the Pure Land tra­dition in Japan was marked in 2011. Planning for this event (with a budget of 28 million yen/$3.6 million) helped top officials reexamine many aspects of their denomination and rethink its mission for the future.85 In this endeavor, they also benefited from the work of Rev. Akita Mitsuhiko (profiled in Chapter 4), whose Osaka temple has pioneered some of the key concepts and institutional strategies that may make important contributions to the future of the denomination.86Located not far from Chionin, the main Pure Land temple in the Higashi­yama area of Kyoto, administrative headquarters occupies a newly refurbished contemporary building. Its exterior has the look of polished granite, similar to a corporate headquarters or branch in the heart of a major city. Inside, its
64 • EXPERIMENTAL BUDDHISMwood-paneled and spacious reception room is well apart from the main area of desks, computers, and offices. Because of the nature of my questions about the future of the denomination and the relationship between headquarters and neighborhood priests, Pure Land officials thought it would be more helpful to my research to meet with Rev. Mitsunari Handõ, the section chief in charge of the 800-year commemorative event (the abbreviated term da.i-onki was preferred in conversation). While the dai-onki was of course centered on Hõnen, the founder of the Pure Land tradition in 1211, Rev. Mitsunari saw the event as a chance for “turning the eyes of the denomination back to society” as well as for regular people to encounter “how sincere belief might have relevance for their lives.” Although there was no office devoted to propagation, Rev. Mitsunari felt that the dãi-onki would be permeated with many Pure Land teachings and valu­able opportunities for priests and lay participants to develop more meaningful relationships.As for who might participate in this grand event, Rev. Mitsunari took care to distinguish between people who belong to a temple (danka, motivated pri­marily by their proximity to the temple and their family graves in its cemetery) and those who have some belief (danshinto) in the teachings of Hõnen or Bud­dhism in general but who may not be parishioners or live near a temple. “The re­sources we are committing to the dai-onki are not just for the denomination but for society in general. We want to make a contribution by promoting temples as centers of a community through the concept of tomoiki, or ‘living together har­moniously.’ ”8Central to this endeavor was the model, established by Rev. Akita in Osaka, of a nonprofit organization (NPO) working in collaboration with temple activi­ties. Since the foundation of Ötenin in 1997, Rev. Akita has shown not only that it is possible to recast the mission of a temple (which in this case emphasizes “learning, healing, and enjoyment”) but that it can serve as a community center for all kinds of activities, only some of which are related to Buddhist themes. Rev. Akita believes a temple’s most important role is to bring people together because of mutual interests or shared concerns rather than the ritual occasions of memo­rial services and other ceremonies. If establishing a partnership with an NPO facilitates this goal, then the shared interests of both organizations can be served.Thanks in part to Rev. Akita’s published articles and his persistent efforts to educate top officials, the Pure Land administration has come to share his per­spective on the possibilities for tomoiki-type. symbiosis between temple and com­munity. With so much space available in temple compounds, an NPO can usually set up offices without causing much fuss or detracting from the religious
JAPANESE VERSIONS OF BUDDHISM • 65atmosphere. As we have seen in the case of premodern temples in villages, a con­stant flow of people helped to keep them connected with the outside world, where new networks, relationships, and affiliations could present resources and opportunities not available locally.Because of reordered priorities after the March 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown, plans to establish a Web site that helps to match NPOs with temples have been postponed. Initial versions used a word common for In­ternet dating Web sites (deaikei, or “type of chance encounter”), forums where interested parties can check each other out before making a commitment. Priests listed the attributes and resources of their temple, while NPOs did likewise for their organization and its mission. After a screening process, the interested par­ties would meet to discuss the possibilities of collaborating and establishing a working relationship (including rent, sharing utilities, infrastructure, transpor­tation access, and so on).According to Rev. Mitsunari, “the space provided by temples can help peo­ple (and organizations) realize their potential. Temples can serve as a key meeting point for organizations and the greater community, where resources on both sides can complement each other. There’s no stopping the decrease in temple membership that will grow increasingly severe in the future, so this seems a way to work together with other denominations to address a shared concern. For me, waving the Pure Land flag and putting doctrine in front of this kind of initiative is taboo. We have to develop new approaches, such as one based on a continuity of life’ [inochi no renzokusei], that speak to the interests of people in today’s society.”Pure Land officials believed the efforts made as part of the 800-year cele­brations would establish a foundation that could be carried over to the next gen­eration of priests and administrators. Throughout our meeting, Rev. Mitsunari was attended by a younger priest in his late twenties who will, forty-five years later, begin planning the next dai-onki and thus assume the responsibilities of his mentor. This is why, in response to a question about the training of young priests and their preparation for a problematic future, Rev. Mitsunari said he was not really worried. “They will learn through their experience with the current 800- year celebration, and prepare for the next big event fifty years from now. Our ef­forts at the national headquarters and the dai-onki itself will create a legacy for the next generation to help guide the Pure Land denomination into the future.”Leaders within the Pure Land denomination are only now beginning to imagine the paradigm shift if neighborhood temples in the future were restruc­tured to take on some of the roles of a community resource center. A temple’s
66 • EXPERIMENTAL BUDDHISMmission and essential services would still be religiously informed but would also emphasize more humanistic concerns that advance individual growth and social welfare, both domestically and abroad. With collaboration from NPO and non­governmental organizations, neighborhood temples could become centers for distance learning, for classes taught by local educators, for programs of personal enrichment, and for education about health concerns, financial management, and so on.An annual prize [chiiki tomoiki bunka taishö} was established in 2007 that awards 1.5 million yen (U.S. $18,750) to innovative projects focused on improv­ing the lives of people in specific communities. It is a promising sign of new types of cooperation between Pure Land Buddhism and the nonprofit sector. The proj­ects are not required to have an overtly Buddhist or religious mission, only to have significance for improving the welfare of individuals and the community as a whole.88 A quick survey of the awards gives an indication of projects deemed significant by the selection panel of priests and administrators from within the denomination. The first prize in 2007 was awarded to an organization helping foreigners adjust to life in the city of Kobe and the next went to an NPO explor­ing sustainable models of food production and recycling. The third award went to a coalition in the city of Kitakyushu to help homeless populations stay off the street and return to society, and the fourth to a group targeting the educational and cultural needs of the children of recent immigrants to the greater Tokyo area. The 2011 award went to a temple-based NPO in Kamakura that uses volun­teers from a consortium of schools, universities, and community organizations to teach decorum, discipline, and Buddhist practice to local elementary and middle school-aged children. Due to the March 11, 2011, disaster, the prize has been suspended temporarily so that all available funds can go for relief-related pur­poses.89ELUSIVE CONCLUSIONSReaders have probably drawn their own conclusions about Japanese versions of Buddhism by now, but let me add a few brief afterthoughts. The first is to counsel a charitable attitude toward what might be considered a deviation from ideals found in the early sutras of the Theravada tradition: celibate monks, strict mo­nastic codes, vegetarianism, and so on. This is not to explain away the institu­tional expressions and practices of Buddhism in Japan but to situate and contex­tualize this diversity as we would any religious tradition. There is simply no way to avoid the social, economic, and political forces at work upon any type of
JAPANESE VERSIONS OF BUDDHISM • 67religious practice. Lest religious leaders be overwhelmed in trying to cope with these dynamics, they attempt to moderate their traditions and institutions in order to navigate oftentimes dramatic social change and the realpolitik of their times. As a result, the practice of a religion often appears to be at odds with some of its core teachings. This is particularly true in Buddhist traditions where each application of the Buddha dharma often has a radically different approach than what the Buddha is said to have actually taught.90A second consideration is that each of Japan’s major schools of Buddhism proposes a version of Buddhism that rests upon a founder’s understanding about what was appropriate for the conditions of his time. In all cases, decisions were made to emphasize one theme or practice over another so as to maximize benefits in this world and accrue merit for the afterlife. Buddhism in China, Southeast Asia, or Tibet is similar because the process of adapting and assimilating Bud­dhist traditions that began in India in the fifth century BCE has created novel and varied expressions over the centuries. Were the historical Buddha to appear in Japan in the 1500s or today, he would certainly recognize glimmers of his original teachings. The histories of conflict, factionalism, cooperation with state power, and an emphasis on material culture (lavish temples, expensive cemeter­ies, beautiful gardens, elaborate sculpture and paintings) would also be familiar to him since his own historical period was likewise replete with comparable issues.Rather than judging both historical and contemporary expressions of Bud­dhism against some idealized or “pure” past, it is far more constructive to observe how people have rendered ancient ideas (originating in a society during the Iron Age) into applications useful for their own time. Japanese temple Buddhism’s current dependence upon funerals and memorial services has been conditioned by history, politics, economics, and culture. Those factors are still in operation, shaping the contemporary scene in ways that will continue to shift and modify Japan’s diverse Buddhist traditions in significant ways.My concluding remarks may appear prescriptive, but they are derived from years of observation, teaching, and research regarding Buddhism in the con­temporary world.91 If asked my opinion, I would identify four issues in need of sustained attention if Buddhist temples in Japan are to survive well into the twenty-first century and beyond as something more than tourist attractions or museums.First, public perceptions that temples are little more than places for fu­neral Buddhism and that priests are aloof and money hungry should be coun­tered more aggressively. These general perceptions are, to put it bluntly, a public relations disaster with real consequences. Every temple that depends on income
68 • EXPERIMENTAL BUDDHISMfrom memorial services should make a determined effort to chart more inclusive forms of religious practice that announce to the public, “We share your con­cerns.” National denominations can promote any number of initiatives along these lines, but the present and future reputation of Buddhism depends on the actions of individual priests at temples all over Japan. What can a temple do to shift its current identity as a “private club for paying members” to a community resource open to all comers? The Pure Land project to revitalize temples as com­munity centers with NPO collaboration depends heavily on the cooperation of local priests. Since priests have a great deal of independence in running their temples, they may very well decide it is not worth the bother until they see some evidence of success. As noted earlier in this chapter, priests have become risk averse to try new ideas for fear of offending their temple members or appearing aggressive in attracting new ones. The remaining chapters of this book survey a number of these attempts, but they tend to occur randomly, with little or no co­ordination beyond local actors and people within their extended networks. Na­tional headquarters could offer incentives (such as a decreased temple tax rate) for temples trying to shift the dominant paradigm.A second area for development is for the leadership of national denomina­tions to figure out how to get more people through the doors of a temple. The degree of estrangement between the general, nonreligious public and temples in their midst is so extreme as to be humorous. Individuals may live in the same neighborhood as a Buddhist temple but not once find cause to enter its doors until someone they know dies and (if the temple can offer a service comparable to that of a funeral company) a funeral is held there. Until local priests and national organizations come up with appealing ways to pique the curiosity of people unin­terested in religion and give them a positive experience of a temple and its re­sources, some of which are profiled in Chapters 4 and 5, the estrangement will only grow more pronounced. Finding partners in the media to advance these ideas will also be critically important.A third area for Buddhist denominations to explore is how to capitalize upon a very real public pride in Japan’s cultural heritage and the contributions Buddhism has made to society over the centuries. Japan is seeing a “Buddhist statue boom” (butsuzö bümu) as great numbers of people visit museums to view Buddhist statues rarely exhibited in public. At Tokyo’s National Museum of Art, a famous eighth-century statue of a multiarmed male deity called Ashura from Kõfukuji in Nara drew a crowd of over 800,000, the third largest attendance in the museum’s history (after the Mona Lisa and Tutankhamen). A publication critical of contemporary Buddhism noted this event as representing a religious
JAPANESE VERSIONS OF BUDDHISM • 69“thirst,” a “religious will,” and “religious homing instinct” (shükyõteki kaiki honno) on the part of the general public. However, the author found no necessary connection between the butsuzô bùmu phenomenon and a local temple. In fact, he says, a “deep gap” exists, for which he believes priests themselves are mostly responsible.92Finally, Japan’s long Buddhist history and heritage can become more than artifacts and stories of a golden age never to return. The contributions made by Buddhist priests and institutions to society in general need to be promoted as strategic resources that can inspire people toward goals that are primarily hu­manistic rather than religious. A collaboration between all major national de­nominations (and even some new religions) could find unity in themes addressing suffering and the possibility of awakening to one’s full potential. Since the March 11, 2011, “triple disaster” (see Chapter 3) there has been an even greater urgency for Japan’s Buddhist denominations to network, collaborate, and launch projects aimed at improving society and the lives of its members. Temples and priests would have to demonstrate to a skeptical public how they themselves embody these broad themes in the work they do and ways they live, but resources (train­ing, counseling, grants, consultants) should be available to them to succeed in this endeavor.The stakes are high and time is limited for enacting policies and initiatives that can have a positive effect within the next decade or two. The “demise of Buddhism” in Japan has been predicted many times but, until now at least, its valuable human and material resources have helped with any number of difficult transitions between political regimes and sociohistorical eras. It will be fascinat­ing to observe whether and in what ways the twenty-first century will be yet an­other chapter in this long story, or the beginning of something entirely different.

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