Japanese Religion: The eBook
by Robert Ellwood
Japanese Religion Online:
Questions for Study and Discussion
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Chapter 1
- What reasons do you have for studying Japanese religion?
- How can studying the religion help us to understand the political and economic institutions of a society?
- Give examples of how Japanese religion is expressed in Japanese culture.
- How can Japanese religion be said to represent several "layers" "stacked up"?
- What does the Japanese language tell us about the history of the culture?
- How would you define religion, as descriptive of a certain segment of human culture? How well would your definition apply to religion in Japan?
- Explain the meaning of Joachim Wach's theoretical, practical, and sociological forms of religious expression. Give examples from Japan.
- Explain art, ethics, and history as forms of religious expression. Again give examples from Japan.
- Do you think the Japanese way of thinking about religion is really different from the western? Why or why not?
- . Find a haiku poem which, in your mind, expresses something important about the Japanese approach to religion or spirituality.
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Chapter 2
- What does the Daijosai tell you about one aspect of religion in Japan?
- Summarize the structures of ordinary Shinto worship.
- Explain the main message of Kegon Buddhism.
- Why are mandalas important to Shingon?
- What is the basic worldview of Tendai?
- What seems to you to be the inner experience of Pure Land Buddhism?
- What is the nature of Nichiren Buddhism's appeal?
- What is unique about the Zen approach to Buddhism?
- Why was Christianity popular, and then persecuted, in Japan?
- What are some common features of the "new religions" of Japan?
- What does Jizo tell us about Japanese popular religion?
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Chapter 3
- What does the Daijosai tell you about one aspect of religion in Japan?
- Summarize the structures of ordinary Shinto worship.
- Explain the main message of Kegon Buddhism.
- Why are mandalas important to Shingon?
- What is the basic worldview of Tendai?
- What seems to you to be the inner experience of Pure Land Buddhism?
- What is the nature of Nichiren Buddhism's appeal?
- What is unique about the Zen approach to Buddhism?
- Why was Christianity popular, and then persecuted, in Japan?
- What are some common features of the "new religions" of Japan?
- What does Jizo tell us about Japanese popular religion?
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Chapter 4
- How do you explain the meaning of the word Shinto, both literally and religiously?
- What is the meaning of kami?
- What is the is the significance of the Grand Shrine of Ise? Of Inari shrines and Tenjin shrines?
- Discuss the relation of Shinto to Japanese history, especially 1868-1945.
- What are the central values of Shinto?
- How is Shinto worship typically conducted?
- Why is the "practical" form of religious expression to important to Shinto?
- How does Shinto express the sociological bases of religion?
- Discussion the meaning of polytheism and relate it to Shinto.
- Relate purity vs. pollution to Shinto.
- Summarize the core Shinto myth, as presented in the Kojiki and Nihonshoki.
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Interlude
- Outline the traditional tale of the Buddha's life. What is the significance of this narrative?
- What is the significance of the four sights the Buddha saw?
- Explain the meaning of the Four Noble Truths in your own words.
- Do the same for the Eightfold Path.
- And for the Three Refuges or Three Jewels.
- What are the essentials of Mahayana Buddhism? What do you believe Mahayana thinkers were really trying to get at?
- Explain the cosmic buddhas and bodhisattvas of Mahayana Buddhism.
- How does Yogacara or "Mind Only " Buddhism explain the universe, and your own life?
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Chapter 5
- Describe the relation of the imperial and Fujiwara houses in Heian times.
- Articulate the overall values of the Heian court and its culture.
- Summarize the essentials of Shingon.
- Explain the religious meaning of esotericism, or Mikkyo in Japan.
- Summarize the essentials of Tendai.
- Describe the main themes of the Lotus Sutra.
- Explain the role of art in Heian Buddhism.
- Interpret the meaning of great and little tradition in religion, giving examples both from Japan and
from your own country.
- 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."
- Summarize the role of popular Confucianism and Taoism in Heian society.
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Chapter 6
- Why does salvation through faith make religion accessible to a very wide range of people?
- What were the dominant values of the samurai?
- What is the "Original Vow" of Amida Buddha?
- What is a Buddhist Pure Land?"
- Why was the "choice" of faith in Amida's vow important to Honen?
- How did Shinran's Jodo Shinshu differ from Honen's Jodo-shu?
- How would you interpret Shinran's character?
- How and why did Pure Land Buddhism become politically important?
- How would you characterize Nichiran's personality?
- What were Nichiren's fundamental qeustions and how did he resolve them?
- How did Nichiren combine religion and nationalism?
- Describe the six places of rebirth, and interpret the significance of each.
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Chapter 7
- What would you say is the essence of Zen experience?
- What is a koan and what is its purpose?
- If Zen is "a special transmission outside the scriptures," why is there so much formality connected
with it?
- Describe the life and work of Eisai.
- What was Dogen's greatest concern?
- Why did Zen appeal especially to the samurai class?
- What do all the Zen-related arts have in common?
- What is Bushido and how would you characterize its relation to Zen?
- Try writing a few haiku.
- Give your interpretation of the course of Hakuin's life.
- Why did Zen appeal to many in the "Beat Generation"?
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Chapter 8
- During the Sengoku ("Country at War") period, why was there are revival of Shinto and what were
its characteristics?
- What was Oda Nobunaga's attitude toward religion?
- Why did many Japanese initially accept Christianity in the sixteenth century?
- Why did Japan's leaders later turn against Christianity?
- What kind of influence did the Dutch have on Japan?
- What was Buddhism like during the Tokugawa period, both institutionally and on the popular level?
- Discuss the main themes of Tokugawa Confucianism, distinguishing between diffrent schools and
authorities.
- What was the message of popular Confucian teachers?
- What were the major objectives of Kokugaku Shinto thinkers?
- What was the role of Ise in Tokugawa Japan?
- Describe village-level popular religion in this era
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Chapter 9
- What religious and philosophical ideologies lay behind the Meiji Restoration?
- Why was support for the imperial office important to the Meiji reformers?
- What and why was the popular response to the bakumatsu period?
- How the Meiji government attempt to use Shinto?
- Why was its religious policy so uncertain at first?
- Why did the spiritual role of the emperor become the main focus of nationalism?
- What happened to Buddhism in the Meiji period?
- Discuss the reintroduction and role of Christianity in Meiji Japan.
- How did the extreme nationalists justify the use of violence at home and abroad?
- Discuss the basic philosophy of the Kokutai no hongi. How and why did it criticize western
individualism?
- Discuss the role of Shinto, Buddhism, and Christianity during the Pacific War.
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Chapter 10
- What does Shugendo tell us about the deep structures of Japanese religion, and about Japanese popular religion?
- How would you interpet the origin of Tenrikyo in terms of its time and place?
- Why do you think many of the founders of new religions were women?
- Why did Deguchi Nao and Omoto have such a strongly apocalyptic outlook?
- Why did Omoto lead to several other new religion's?
- Why were the "older" new religions of Buddhist background based on Nichiren Buddhism?
- Why do you think the "new new" religions of Buddhist background tend to be based instead on esoteric Buddhism?
- How would you summarize general characteristics of the new religions in your own words?
- How would you epitomize their appeal in a few words?
- What are some deep-level reasons why you think religion persists in the modern world?
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Chapter 11
- Why was the imperial institution kept at Japan's surrender in 1945?
- How did the occupation change – and not change – Japanese religion?
- What are religious constituents of the furusato theme?
- Why would modern people undergo rigorous yamabushi training?
- When and why does the group aspect of religion maintain tradition?
- Discuss the situation of Christianity in contemporary Japan.
- How does one worship at a Shinto shrine, and what does this worship mean to Japanese today?
- Why does pilgrimage seem to be gaining in popularity today?
- How is New Year's celebrated in Japan?
- How does "the ultimate in the ordinary" theme maintain traditionalism?
- How do you assess the meaning of the new Japanese popular culture and its world influence?
- How would you see the situation of religion in Japan now?