Japanese Religion Online:
Essay Questions

1. Chapter 1

   1. Discuss three reasons for Japanese religion that are important to you personally. (These need not be the same as those presented in the text: e.g., there have been students who wanted to study Japanese religion because they were planning to marry a person of Japanese religous background.)
   2. Present and discuss your definition of religion. This is not meant to be a personal definition, but one that might be used by a historian or social scientist to define that area of human life and society that might most usefully be designated religion for purposes of study and understanding. Remember that any such definition will have ambiguities; these should be recognized and discussed.
   3. Using this definition, discuss how one might approach the issue of defining and interpreting religion in Japan.

2. Chapter 2

   1. Select one important actively religious site in Japan, such as a noted shrine or temple or center of one of the new religions, and describe it analytically in terms of the forms of religious expression presented in chapter 1: theoretical, practical, sociological, ethical, artistic, and historical. Be sure to understand carefully what is meant by each of these in religious studies terms.
   2. Bringing together the several Buddhist sites presented in this chapter, discuss the overall symbolic and worship role of its characteristic images, other art, and architecture.
   3. Based on the material in this chapter, analyze what seem to be differences in style of worship and social role between Shinto and Buddhism.

3. Chapter 3

   1. Discuss the ritual and significance of the shikinen sengu, or rebuilding of the Grand Shrine of Ise every twenty years. What would be the religious meaning of taking down a shrine every two decades, but rebuilding it exactly as it was before on an adjacent site?
   2. What are characteristic roles and meanings of very ancient shrines that seem to be closely linked to folk religion and the agricultural cycle, such as the Inari and Miwa shrines?
   3. How do you understand the meaning of Meiji-era shrines honoring persons and events of recent historical significance, such as the Meiji, Togo, Nogi, and Yasukuni shrines?

4. Interlude

   1. Assuming that the traditional life of the Buddha is largely legendary, what do you think this narrative is trying to say in story form about the meaning of this individual and his message?
   2. Present the distinctive teaching of Mahayana Buddhism in your own words, illustrating it with contemporary images.
   3. Discuss a novel or movie you are familiar with that seems to suggest something of the basic Yogacara or Mind-Only perspective, that we create our own reality out of karma, attachments, and "store-consciousness."

5. Chapter 4

   1. Read the account of Pimiko in a book like The Sources of Japanese Tradition, and describe her and her world in your own words. What would it feel like to live in that world?
   2. Discuss the introduction of Buddhism to Japan, emphasizing the changes this meant in several areas of life: personal, religious, artistic, political.
   3. Why was the Nara period open to such achievements as the Great Buddha, and vulnerable to a scandal like that of Koken and Dokyo?

6. Chapter 5

   1. Describe and discuss the worldview of Shingon Buddhism.
   2. Why is Tendai Buddhism able to embrace so many paths to enlightenment? Discuss with examples.
   3. Discuss the great literature of the Heian period: what were its dominant themes, and how do they relate to the spiritual values of the court?

7. Chapter 6

   1. What were the main values and what was the way of life of the samurai, and how did religion relate to them? Take into account Buddhism, Shinto, and Confucianism, together with other values you may find important.
   2. Discuss the life and teaching of Honen. Regardless of whether or not you accept the Pure Land doctrine, how meaningful do you find his basic concepts of senchaku, choice, and senju, single simple practice, in religion?
   3. Examine the life and teaching of Nichiren. What in his times, as well as his own personality and life-story, may have helped make him the kind of person he was?

8. Chapter 7

   1. Compare the lives and teachings of Eisai and Dogen. Howe were they similar and how did they differ?
   2. Select one of the traditional Zen arts and discuss in depth how it reflects Zen values.
   3. The writings of Dogen, Ikkyu, Basho, and Hakuin, like that of many later practitioners of Zen, contain very frank autobiographical material of great psychological interest. Why do you think Zen may especially draw out such introspection and a willingness to present it openly to readers?

9. Chapter 8

   1. Try to imagine yourself in Japan at the time of the arrival of the first Portuguese traders and missionaries. How do you think you would have reacted to them and their religion?
   2. Describe in detail the ideal society as envisioned by Tokugawa Confucianism.
   3. Discuss the basic ideology of Kokugaku or nationalistic Shinto.

10. Chapter 9

    1. Examine the response of the Meiji Restoration government to western incursion in terms of its religious policies, including its sometimes-changing treatment and use of Shinto, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Christianity. Why was religion often a difficult matter for the Meiji regime?
    2. Discuss the role of the imperial institution in the ideology of the radical nationalists prior to 1945.
    3. Why do you think it was the emperor who was seized upon as a central symbol? How did this ideology relate to the major religious traditions of Japan?
    4. What values rooted in Japanese religious traditions helped Japan undertake what might otherwise have seemed a desperate enterprise in its military ventures of the 1930s and 40s?

11. Chapter 10

    1. Why do you think Japan in the last 150 years has been productive of many new religious movements?
    2. How have these movements been related to older religious traditions, and how have they added new elements? Be specific, giving examples.
    3. Select one Japanese new religion, and analyze it in depth in terms of the forms of religious expression and their interaction: theoretical, practical, sociological, ethical, artistic, historical.

12. Chapter 11

    1. How do you feel about the charges of Critical Buddhism? Do you think the concept of hongaku or "original enlightenment" is really dangerous, likely to lead to a casual attitude toward basic Buddhist morality, or is this accusation an exaggeration based on particular times and circumstances?
    2. How do you feel about mizuko kuyo services?
    3. Overall, how would you assess the role of religion in Japanese society today?

Or buy the
Asian Religions Bundle
at a reduced price.

• Buddhism—the eBook
• Hinduism—the eBook
• Chinese Religions—the eBook
• Japanese Religions—the eBook

Buy Bundle Now

Or buy the
Lethbridge East Asian Religions Bundle
at a reduced price.

• Chinese Religions—the eBook
• Japanese Religions—the eBook

Buy Bundle Now