Hello! It is the blog How Unique Japan. We always share any uniqueness through this page!
Today, we would like to discuss an important aspect of Japanese religion: Buddhism.
Buddhism originated outside of Japan, so it is not the original religion. It came from India to China. However, this religion works as the main religion now.
Why?
Then, we shall see the origin and founder of the religion (history) and how it worked for ancient Japanese after it came there.
The history
The religion initially traveled from China to Japan in the 6th century. However, the founder created it around 2,500 BC in India, so it was much older when it came.
The founder is the ancient prince/nobility in India named Gautam Siddhartha.
Although he lived in worthy environments, he used to suffer from anxiety and fears. They are about living, aging, illness, and death.
When he was a child, he was terrified of them. He asked his servants, teachers, father (the king), and mother about those negative aspects.
However, nobody ever gave him the answer he wanted or satisfied him. Thus, he became a monk to overcome his fears through hard training. That means he threw his career (nobility family line) away.
At that time, monks took physical training seriously as a means to achieve enlightenment or salvation. It was sometimes like torture – for example, stop eating/drinking while, do not sit down while, and do not sleep while (there are plenty of ways).
We need to understand that some individuals may find catharsis through the answers and solutions provided by the training, as they have put in significant effort.
However, Gautam Siddhartha failed the training. So, he did not gain any opportunities or hints for catharsis, salvation, and enlightenment from the training
(when he did the training, he chose the way he stopped eating for a while). Even so, he had done it for over six years.
Nobody can expect how much he disappointed himself. He dragged his body to the nearest village from the forest where he trained. He was weak, almost dead from starvation.
However, one girl took care of him with porridge with milk. He hesitated to eat first, but could not resist his appetite.
He ate it; even so, he was in training. Let me say again. Nobody can estimate how much he got confused when he did.
It was when he grabbed the tiny light for enlightenment/salvation from positive thinking (because he was finally full?).
It is that too much training will rob us of our energy to live. Such a condition sometimes takes us far from enlightenment or salvation.
That was an opportunity to rethink what is right or wrong. He concluded there is no evil desire or fear. It is always YOU.
He finally achieved enlightenment through that profound realization and became the founder of Buddhism, the Buddha.
Surprisingly, that fundamental idea has not changed since then.
It is that.
Our goal is to reach a calm soul/heart by understanding the cycle of suffering. We shall say that every incident (or fate) should have a cause and a result. It is the reason for Buddhism.
After he finished the training, he televised his new lesson.
What they must have admired about Buddha is that he treated everyone equally. Nobility, sellers, farmers, soldiers from enemy countries, and slaves are the same. So, he never created a wall/board between his disciples.
That was shocking because citizens naturally accepted the rank from the social system at the time. Another religion even had this way.
Poor people were poor, but nobles were worthy. Nobody tried to change this system. Thus, everyone in India willingly accepted his lesson.
When did it come to Japan?
After it influenced Asian countries, the religion spread from China across the sea. It was around the sixth century.
Interestingly, Buddhism slightly (and already) changed when Japan adopted the religion. It was due to (added) teachings from another country.
Respect past family or relatives with graves, for example. That idea is the Chinese religion of Jukyo. However, Buddhism observed this lesson. Ancient Japanese loved this way.
Japan then had two different religions. It is Buddhism and Shintoism. Thus, the ancient Japanese needed to call them separately to avoid confusion.
That’s it. Before Buddhism came, Shintoism did not have its name.
In 582 AD, the ancient Japanese emperor Suiko Tenno adopted Buddhism as the national policy.
The next emperor, Tenmu Tenno (reigned from 673 to 686 AD), implemented his policy by constructing temples and popularizing the rules (concerned with Buddhism) among the citizens.
It is the root of Buddhism in Japan.
To close
This time, we talked about Buddhism. However, it is not over yet. We still have other content.
Our blog consists of four categories. They are religions, the Edo era, Japanese food, and Japanese lifestyle.
Besides, all articles are on the front page of our blog, or you can visit any page from the top.
If you are still interested in those articles, please visit the pages.
Thank you so much for reading this article! See you for the next Japanese uniqueness!