Japanese Religion: The eBook

Japanese Religion Online:
Questions for Study and Discussion

  1. Chapter 1

    1. What reasons do you have for studying Japanese religion?
    2. How can studying the religion help us to understand the political and economic institutions of a society?
    3. Give examples of how Japanese religion is expressed in Japanese culture.
    4. How can Japanese religion be said to represent several "layers" "stacked up"?
    5. What does the Japanese language tell us about the history of the culture?
    6. How would you define religion, as descriptive of a certain segment of human culture? How well would your definition apply to religion in Japan?
    7. Explain the meaning of Joachim Wach's theoretical, practical, and sociological forms of religious expression. Give examples from Japan.
    8. Explain art, ethics, and history as forms of religious expression. Again give examples from Japan.
    9. Do you think the Japanese way of thinking about religion is really different from the western? Why or why not?
    10. . Find a haiku poem which, in your mind, expresses something important about the Japanese approach to religion or spirituality.
  2. Chapter 2

    1. What does the Daijosai tell you about one aspect of religion in Japan?
    2. Summarize the structures of ordinary Shinto worship.
    3. Explain the main message of Kegon Buddhism.
    4. Why are mandalas important to Shingon?
    5. What is the basic worldview of Tendai?
    6. What seems to you to be the inner experience of Pure Land Buddhism?
    7. What is the nature of Nichiren Buddhism's appeal?
    8. What is unique about the Zen approach to Buddhism?
    9. Why was Christianity popular, and then persecuted, in Japan?
    10. What are some common features of the "new religions" of Japan?
    11. What does Jizo tell us about Japanese popular religion?
  3. Chapter 3

    1. What does the Daijosai tell you about one aspect of religion in Japan?
    2. Summarize the structures of ordinary Shinto worship.
    3. Explain the main message of Kegon Buddhism.
    4. Why are mandalas important to Shingon?
    5. What is the basic worldview of Tendai?
    6. What seems to you to be the inner experience of Pure Land Buddhism?
    7. What is the nature of Nichiren Buddhism's appeal?
    8. What is unique about the Zen approach to Buddhism?
    9. Why was Christianity popular, and then persecuted, in Japan?
    10. What are some common features of the "new religions" of Japan?
    11. What does Jizo tell us about Japanese popular religion?
  4. Chapter 4

    1. How do you explain the meaning of the word Shinto, both literally and religiously?
    2. What is the meaning of kami?
    3. What is the is the significance of the Grand Shrine of Ise? Of Inari shrines and Tenjin shrines?
    4. Discuss the relation of Shinto to Japanese history, especially 1868-1945.
    5. What are the central values of Shinto?
    6. How is Shinto worship typically conducted?
    7. Why is the "practical" form of religious expression to important to Shinto?
    8. How does Shinto express the sociological bases of religion?
    9. Discussion the meaning of polytheism and relate it to Shinto.
    10. Relate purity vs. pollution to Shinto.
    11. Summarize the core Shinto myth, as presented in the Kojiki and Nihonshoki.
  5. Interlude

    1. Outline the traditional tale of the Buddha's life. What is the significance of this narrative?
    2. What is the significance of the four sights the Buddha saw?
    3. Explain the meaning of the Four Noble Truths in your own words.
    4. Do the same for the Eightfold Path.
    5. And for the Three Refuges or Three Jewels.
    6. What are the essentials of Mahayana Buddhism? What do you believe Mahayana thinkers were really trying to get at?
    7. Explain the cosmic buddhas and bodhisattvas of Mahayana Buddhism.
    8. How does Yogacara or "Mind Only " Buddhism explain the universe, and your own life?
  6. Chapter 5

    1. Describe the relation of the imperial and Fujiwara houses in Heian times.
    2. Articulate the overall values of the Heian court and its culture.
    3. Summarize the essentials of Shingon.
    4. Explain the religious meaning of esotericism, or Mikkyo in Japan.
    5. Summarize the essentials of Tendai.
    6. Describe the main themes of the Lotus Sutra.
    7. Explain the role of art in Heian Buddhism.
    8. Interpret the meaning of great and little tradition in religion, giving examples both from Japan and from your own country.
    9. Discuss a) the assimilation of Shinto and Buddhism in Heian Japan, and b) the significance of those court rituals in which Shinto was ostensibly kept "pure."
    10. Summarize the role of popular Confucianism and Taoism in Heian society.
  7. Chapter 6

    1. Why does salvation through faith make religion accessible to a very wide range of people?
    2. What were the dominant values of the samurai?
    3. What is the "Original Vow" of Amida Buddha?
    4. What is a Buddhist Pure Land?"
    5. Why was the "choice" of faith in Amida's vow important to Honen?
    6. How did Shinran's Jodo Shinshu differ from Honen's Jodo-shu?
    7. How would you interpret Shinran's character?
    8. How and why did Pure Land Buddhism become politically important?
    9. How would you characterize Nichiran's personality?
    10. What were Nichiren's fundamental qeustions and how did he resolve them?
    11. How did Nichiren combine religion and nationalism?
    12. Describe the six places of rebirth, and interpret the significance of each.
  8. Chapter 7

    1. What would you say is the essence of Zen experience?
    2. What is a koan and what is its purpose?
    3. If Zen is "a special transmission outside the scriptures," why is there so much formality connected with it?
    4. Describe the life and work of Eisai.
    5. What was Dogen's greatest concern?
    6. Why did Zen appeal especially to the samurai class?
    7. What do all the Zen-related arts have in common?
    8. What is Bushido and how would you characterize its relation to Zen?
    9. Try writing a few haiku.
    10. Give your interpretation of the course of Hakuin's life.
    11. Why did Zen appeal to many in the "Beat Generation"?
  9. Chapter 8

    1. During the Sengoku ("Country at War") period, why was there are revival of Shinto and what were its characteristics?
    2. What was Oda Nobunaga's attitude toward religion?
    3. Why did many Japanese initially accept Christianity in the sixteenth century?
    4. Why did Japan's leaders later turn against Christianity?
    5. What kind of influence did the Dutch have on Japan?
    6. What was Buddhism like during the Tokugawa period, both institutionally and on the popular level?
    7. Discuss the main themes of Tokugawa Confucianism, distinguishing between diffrent schools and authorities.
    8. What was the message of popular Confucian teachers?
    9. What were the major objectives of Kokugaku Shinto thinkers?
    10. What was the role of Ise in Tokugawa Japan?
    11. Describe village-level popular religion in this era
  10. Chapter 9

    1. What religious and philosophical ideologies lay behind the Meiji Restoration?
    2. Why was support for the imperial office important to the Meiji reformers?
    3. What and why was the popular response to the bakumatsu period?
    4. How the Meiji government attempt to use Shinto?
    5. Why was its religious policy so uncertain at first?
    6. Why did the spiritual role of the emperor become the main focus of nationalism?
    7. What happened to Buddhism in the Meiji period?
    8. Discuss the reintroduction and role of Christianity in Meiji Japan.
    9. How did the extreme nationalists justify the use of violence at home and abroad?
    10. Discuss the basic philosophy of the Kokutai no hongi. How and why did it criticize western individualism?
    11. Discuss the role of Shinto, Buddhism, and Christianity during the Pacific War.
  11. Chapter 10

    1. What does Shugendo tell us about the deep structures of Japanese religion, and about Japanese popular religion?
    2. How would you interpet the origin of Tenrikyo in terms of its time and place?
    3. Why do you think many of the founders of new religions were women?
    4. Why did Deguchi Nao and Omoto have such a strongly apocalyptic outlook?
    5. Why did Omoto lead to several other new religion's?
    6. Why were the "older" new religions of Buddhist background based on Nichiren Buddhism?
    7. Why do you think the "new new" religions of Buddhist background tend to be based instead on esoteric Buddhism?
    8. How would you summarize general characteristics of the new religions in your own words?
    9. How would you epitomize their appeal in a few words?
    10. What are some deep-level reasons why you think religion persists in the modern world?
  12. Chapter 11

    1. Why was the imperial institution kept at Japan's surrender in 1945?
    2. How did the occupation change – and not change – Japanese religion?
    3. What are religious constituents of the furusato theme?
    4. Why would modern people undergo rigorous yamabushi training?
    5. When and why does the group aspect of religion maintain tradition?
    6. Discuss the situation of Christianity in contemporary Japan.
    7. How does one worship at a Shinto shrine, and what does this worship mean to Japanese today?
    8. Why does pilgrimage seem to be gaining in popularity today?
    9. How is New Year's celebrated in Japan?
    10. How does "the ultimate in the ordinary" theme maintain traditionalism?
    11. How do you assess the meaning of the new Japanese popular culture and its world influence?
    12. How would you see the situation of religion in Japan now?

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