Japanese Religion: The eBook
by Robert Ellwood
Japanese Religion Online:
Self-Test Questions
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Chapter 1
- How does studying Japanese religion help one to understand Japanese culture?
- How might studying Japanese religion help one understand Japanese politics or corporate culture?
- What are the two main sources of the Japanese language?
- How do you understanding the meaning of religion as a human phenomenon?
- What is the theoretical expression of religion? Give an example from Japanese religion.
- What is the practical expression of religion? Give an example from Japanese religion.
- What is the sociological expression of religion? Give an example from Japanese religion.
- How is religion expressed in art? Give an example from Japan.
- How are religion and ethics related? Give an example from Japan.
- How do many Japanese combine Buddhism and Shinto in their lives?
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Chapter 2
- What is the Daijosai?
- What is a matsuri?
- What figure does the Great Buddha of Nara represent?
- What is the meaning of the mandala in the Toji Shingon temple?
- What are the basic teachings of the Tendai school?
- What is the basic teaching of Pure Land Buddhism?
- What is a major practice of Zen Buddhism?
- What is the chief practice of Nichiren Buddhism?
- What does the Martyrs' Monument in Nagasaki commemorate?
- What are the "new religions" of Japan? Give an example.
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Chapter 3
- Why is the Grand Shrine of Ise important?
- What does the term kami mean?
- Describe Inari shrines.
- What is the significance of the Meiji shrine and others to recent historical figures?
- Why is the Yasukuni shrine controversial?
- What are some major common features of the Shinto year?
- Give and briefly explain five keynotes of Shinto.
- How is Shinto worship typically conducted?
- What is the Shinto creation myth?
- Summarize the cycle of myths involving Amaterasu.
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Interlude
- Outline the traditional life of the Buddha.
- Give the Buddha's Four Noble Truths, and briefly summarize their meaning in your own words.
- What are the Three Refuges?
- What is meant by the Middle Way and Nirvana?
- Present five significant differences between Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism.
- How do you understand the "cosmic buddhas" in Mahayana Buddhism?
- How do you understand the Mahayana concept of the bodhisattva?
- Why are Mahayana meditational and devotional practices so diverse?
- What is the key notion of Yogacara or "Mind Only" philosophy?
- What is meant by "original enlightenment"?
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Chapter 4
- What are the major stages of Japanese culture before the introduction of Buddhism?
- What are four major cultural influences on Japan?
- Present the traditional account of the introduction of Buddhism.
- Why is Prince Shotoku important?
- When did Confucianism first come into Japan?
- How were Buddhism and Shinto reconciled?
- Describe the Buddhism of the Nara period in the capital.
- What was the Buddhism of the countryside like, and what role did obasoku priests have?
- What was the role of Gyogi in building the Great Buddha of Nara?
- What was the scandal involving the Empress Koken and Dokyo, and how did it bring the Nara period to an end?
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Chapter 5
- What spiritual values seemed to most affect Heian court society?
- Who was the founder of Shingon Buddhism in Japan?
- What are Shingon's essential teachings?
- What are its major practices?
- What is meant by mikkyo or esotericism?
- Who was the founder of Tendai in Japan?
- What is the basic text, and what are the basic teachings, or Tendai?
- How were Shinto and Buddhism combined in Heian Japan?
- Give an example of a Shinto court rite kept separate from Buddhism.
- Present three examples of Heian period popular religious beliefs and practices.
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Chapter 6
- What is meant by mappo and why was the concept important?
- Summarize the main values of the samurai class.
- How would you characterize the spiritual quest of the Kamakura era?
- In Pure Land teaching, what is the role of Amida Buddha?
- What were the basic distinctive teachings of Honen?
- What were the essential distinctive teachings of Shinran?
- What was the Ikko ikki?
- Summarize the life and basic teachings of Nichiren.
- What are the Six Places of Rebirth?
- What is the fundamental appeal of Nichiren Buddhism?
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Chapter 7
- Describe the basic Zen experience as you understand it.
- What Buddhist teachings are basic to Zen?
- What are key points in the life and teaching of Eisai?
- Contrast the fundamental emphases of Rinzai and Soto Zen.
- Outline the life and formative experiences of Dogen.
- What are the essentials of Dogen's teaching?
- What is characteristic of the arts traditionally associated with Zen?
- What is the relationship of Bushido to Zen?
- Discuss the lives and perspectives of two major Zen poets.
- Why has Zen had a special appeal in the West?
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Chapter 8
- What was the religious situation during the sengoku or "country at war" period?
- Describe the arrival of Christianity in Japan, and its reception.
- Why was Christianity later persecuted?
- What social philosophy underlay the Tokugawa period?
- Briefly outline three variants of Tokugawa Confucian philosophy.
- What were the basic principles of Kokugaku, or nationalistic Shinto thought?
- What were some main features of popular philosophy in the Tokugawa era?
- Why do you think the Ise mairi, or pilgrimage, was so popular?
- Give examples of rural popular religion in the Tokugawa period.
- Do the same for urban religion.
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Chapter 9
- What were the reasons for the Meiji restoration?
- What religious ideology was used to support the Meiji restoration and Japan's modernization?
- What changes did government policy toward religion undergo in early Meiji?
- How did Shinto develop during the Meiji period?
- What opportunities did this period present Buddhism?
- What reception did Christianity have on its return in Meiji Japan?
- Why was the end of the Tokugawa and Meiji periods productive of "new religions" and sectarian Shinto?
- How was ideology concerning the Emperor expressed between 1868 and 1945?
- What was state policy toward religion during World War II?
- How did the various religions respond to it?
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Chapter 10
- What are the basic concepts and activities of Shugendo?
- How did Tenrikyo originate?
- What are Tenrikyo's basic teachings and practices?
- Describe briefly the following new religions: Konkokyo, Omoto, Seicho no Ie, World Messianity, PL Kyodan.
- What are the fundamental teachings and practices of Soka Gakkai?
- Why do you think Soka Gakkai was so successful in the postwar period?
- Summarize the other new religions of the Nichiren group: Reiyukai and Rissho Kosei Kai.
- Why do you think many of the "new new" religions tend to be based on esoteric rather than Nichiren Buddhism?
- Outline the Aum Shinrikyo crisis, and discuss the "Aum effect" on Japanese religion as a whole.
- List several common characteristics of the Japanese new religions.
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Chapter 11
- What were the policies of the postwar Occupation toward religion, and what impact did this period have on Japanese religion? Consider Buddhism, Shinto, and Christianity separately.
- What changes have the postwar period brought about for women in Buddhism?
- How has "Critical Buddhism" tried to reassess the relation of Buddhism and Japanese culture?
- In what ways has postwar Japanese religion shown continuity with the past?
- How does Japanese religion facilitate a desire for individual spiritual achievement?
- How does it support the also-present yearning for close-knit group experience?
- What does it mean to say that Japanese religion is something done, not just thought or believed?
- What is the meaning of mizuko kuyo services?
- What is the significance of New Years in Japan today, and how is it celebrated?
- What seem to be some religious or spiritual themes in contemporary Japanese popular culture, especially youth culture?