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Essay Subject: History of Japan's native-grown religion.... More...

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Paper Abstract: History of Japan's native-grown religion. Emphasis on sacredness of nature. Concept of the natural world & nature mysticism. Revival of Shinto during Meiji period & perceived connection to movement in Japan toward a militaristic nationalism. Ultranationalism & notion of Japanese inherent superiority. Government sponsored Shrine Shinto and the ancient tradition. Paper Introduction: The history of Shinto, Japan's native-grown religion that predates the arrival of both Buddhism and Confucianism there, is embedded with a sacral conception of the land. This explains the erection of community shrines that represented "the creator or early owner of the land itself," as well as at various scenic spots in regions all across Japan. Earhart notes in particular that Shinto borrowed from Buddhist tradition the mandala symbol of the universe but transformed it to give it "a typically 'this-worldly' Shinto coloring" by means of "a picture of the actual Japanese landscape." That transformation is consistent with what Earhart calls the "Shinto emphasis on the sacredness of nature." The Shinto writer Norinaga cites as the "universal principle of the world . . . that heaven and earth . . . were broug Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. 1. [xix]Ibid., 245. . Vol. That should be rationale enough for protecting the integrity of ahealthful environment; however, proponents of exploitation of the naturalenvironment have vividly demonstrated that the impulse toward derivingbenefit from it is preferable to exercising stewardship over maintainingits ecological balance. Indeed, once the little ones grow up to become productivecontributors to the society and political economy, everybody benefits.[xxi]Famine fears are "false fears,"[xxii] and growth "gives a boost toagricultural saving."[xxiii] On the other hand, environmental scares aboutwater and air degradation have "without important exception . [iv]Ibid., 26. The Two Koreas. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1996.Tsunoda, Ryusaku, de Bary, William Theodore, and Keene, Donald, eds. [xiv]Robert Aitken, The Mind of Clover: Essays in Zen Buddhist Ethics(San Franciso: North Point Press, 1984), 128. The fact that the notion of offering a personal argument forprotecting the environment reaches meaning in the modern culture is itselfa commentary on the muddle that ecological discourse has become.Industrialized societies as a group have before them the entire history ofideas regarding the position of human beings in the cosmos and asignificant scientific record of the relationship between the quality ofhuman life and the quality of the physical context in which life unfolds.There are exceptions, but basically, one quality varies directly with theother. The key to understanding theethical implications of Zen doctrine of reliance on the self for salvationis that the ecstatic experience of enlightenment is not meant to besomething felt a moment here, a moment there, in the throes of meditationaccording to an established form. [xvi]Dogen, 244. Spiritualoneness with mystical nature, however, may have to wait. Ryusaku Tsunoda, WilliamTheodore de Bary, and Donald Keene (New York: Columbia University Press,1958), 16. Earhart locates the source of Zen's attitude toward nature in thenature mysticism of Taoism, and he cites Japan's "peculiar traditioncombining aesthetic and religious appreciation of nature."[xx] To thedegree environmental degradation would represent an interference with theZen idea of simplicity, it would have to be rejected as a raison d'être forthe disciplined, meditating-and-exerting individual. Vol. [xi]Ibid. [xviii]Alan Watts, "Eco-Zen," The Philosophies of Asia (Boston:Charles E. [xxi]Julian L. Introduction toOriental Civilizations (New York: Columbia University Press, 1964), 244-5. Norinaga adds that this principle is beyond humancomprehension, which suggests that, from a perspective of the cosmos, humanresponses to the found environment, including but not limited to industrialand corporate exploitation of natural resources, are best asserted withhumility. One is led ineluctably to mistrust theview that corporate discretion is properly the sole determinant of thecharacter and impact of environmental conditions. Japanese Religion: Unity and Diversity. With exertion in the sense urged by Dogen, on theother hand, "a flower blossoms, a leaf falls."[xix] It is difficult toconclude anything about this kind of sentiment other than Zen's affinityfor nature mysticism as one of its highest and best expressions. The so-calledShrine Shinto that emerged privileged Japanese exceptionalism and dominatedmore traditional strands of Shinto tradition between 1868 and 1945.[vii]Ultranationalism in Japan can be associated with suggestions by Norinaga ofthe inherent superiority of Japanese to Confucian and Buddhist cultures."Our Imperial Land," Norinaga writes, "is superior to the rest of the worldin its possession of the correct transmission of the ancient Way,"[viii] astatement that could be used to rationalize all manner of imperialism inthe sense of conquest. Tuttle Co., Inc., 1995. Byron. Now thismay seem to contradict the notion of engagement with the world by means ofwhat Dogen calls exertion: "[T]he exertion of a day is the seed of allBuddhas, it is the exertion of all Buddhas. Introduction to Oriental Civilizations. At the extreme, such proponents deny the existenceof ecological crises. [viii]Norinaga, 23. New York: Random House, 1995.Norinaga, Motoori. Ed. . [xxiv]Ibid., 257. The pointis that human beings have no special claim on the benefits of the world asthey find it. However, Earhart stresses a distinction between state-sponsored Shrine Shinto and the more ancient tradition. [xv]Dogen, "Exertion," Sources of Japanese Tradition, Vol. Unfettered market forces will check their ownexcesses and be the best antidote to any supposed crises in such areas asoverpopulation. Endnotes BibliographyAitken, Robert. One need not put a religious construction on the Creation to see thatobliterating or befouling an ecosystem is specifically and programmaticallycounter to the creative principle. Attention to andstewardship of good ecosystems function as a corrective and may help keephonest the efforts of for-profit exploitation of the environment. Vol. [xx]Earhart, 1 2. "Elevated Incidence of Childhood Leukemia in Woburn, Massachusetts: NIEHS Superfund Basic Research Program Searches for Causes." Environmental Health Perspectives 1 3 (September 1995): 93-8.Earnhart, H. The core value is to "respondgenerously to others," where "others" refers not only to fellow humanbeings but also to "such humble beings as bushes and grasses," which arepart of the symbiotic structure of life on Earth. The aggressiveness with which Japan pursued aPacific conquest in the first decades of the 2 th century, specificallycolonizing Korea in order to exploit its natural resources,[ix] appears tofly in the face of the notion that Shinto ever had anything to do withnature mysticism. Durant, Jia Chen, Harold F. Ryusaku Tsunoda, William Theodore deBary, and Donald Keene. What arguments do Shinto and Zen offer for protecting the environment?What are your own arguments?[i][ii] The Shinto writer Norinaga cites as the "universal principle of theworld . . [iii]Motoori Norinaga, "The True Tradition of the Sun Goddess,"Sources of Japanese Tradition, Vol. Hemond, and William G. San Francisco: North Point Press, 1984.Cumings, Bruce. . 41-7.----------------------- [i]Ryusaku Tsunoda, William Theodore de Bary, and Donald Keene, eds."Zen Buddhism," Sources of Japanese Tradition, Vol. Simon, The Ultimate Resource 2 (Princeton, N. [xvii]Aitken, 136-7. . Boston: Charles E. [vii]Earhart 158-9. [xxii]Ibid., 26 . earth and sky, body and mind, object andsubject, the four elements, and five compounds."[xvi] Thusexertion/engagement is conceived as a projection of tranquillity and activeinsight as experienced by way of meditation. were brought into existence by thecreative spirits of two deities."[iii] The universal principle of the worldis therefore also the creative principle, i.e., not a destructive orexploitative principle. 1. "The Shinto Revival." Sources of Japanese Tradition. That is consistent with the Buddhist notion oftranscending or disregarding sense experience, including the physical senseof self, for the mental life experience. Using the example ofclover as a "being" that belongs to the cycle of nourishment of the soil,being cut from time to time, putting down roots, and bringing forth leavesand flowers, Aitken urges the creative, nurturant principle of lifeexperience.[xvii] What does not project tranquillity and insight would be seen as anabdication of one's duty as a human being and to the whole of the cosmos.Yet as Watts says, when contrasting modern humanity's tendencies with theideas of Zen, the preference is to experience the cosmos in a way thatprivileges man's "phony sense of identity . New York: Columbia University Press, 1964. Rather, meditation that yieldstranquillity and active insight is conceived as "a whole way of life."[xii]Implicit here is self-discipline, "bodily as well as mental, moral as wellas intellectual."[xiii] Aitken formulates the idea as the Buddha'sinjunction "to bring forth (literally, give birth to) the clear and puremind that does not live upon object of the senses."[xiv] By that logic,self-reliance does not mean as it were living off the land but ratherliving independently of it. And if that is thecase, the notion that such an individual would casually participate invigorous corporate attempts to harm the environment seems absurd. "Eco-Zen." The Philosophies of Asia. Norinagaadvocates focusing on the good. "The True Tradition of the Sun Goddess." Sources of Japanese Tradition. The Zen concept of protecting the environment must begin with the factthat the Buddha's great enlightenment came while he was meditating under abanyan tree.[x] The link to nature is important to understand because thedominant dynamic of Zen is an emphasis on "self-understanding and self-reliance"[xi] as the basis for salvation. "The Shinto Revival," Sources of Japanese Tradition, Vol. Ed. . Tuttle Co., Inc., 1995), 44. A Civil Action. Ryusaku Tsunoda, William Theodore de Bary, and Donald Keene. [ii]H. New York: Columbia University Press, 1958.Simon, Julian L. In that regard, Aitkendescribes the active pursuit of "ecologically sound" day-to-day businesspractices as a strategy for trying to live in the contemporary worldaccording to Zen patterns of thought. 1, ed. Thilly,"Elevated Incidence of Childhood Leukemia in Woburn, Massachusetts: NIEHSSuperfund Basic Research Program Searches for Causes," Environmental HealthPerspectives 1 3 (September 1995): 93ff. Indeed, Norinaga specifically states that human intelligence "hasis limits and there are many things it cannot fathom."[iv] The Shinto conception of the natural world verges on nature mysticism;Earhart describes it as pantheistic.[v] In any case the creative principleis in the background of the characterization of the world's fauna asmiracles: "Birds and insects fly in the sky, plants and trees bloom andbear fruit -- they are all wonderful."[vi] Rocks and trees may be devoid offeelings, but they remain a part of the creative principle; autumn leavesmay exert a charm that may be enjoyed by all (except a Buddhist monk whosemain aim is to transcend the influence of all earthly phenomena). Earhart discusses the complex attempt to revive Shinto during theMeiji period and the gradual movement in Japan toward a militaristicnationalism that was characterized, incorrectly, as Shinto. New York: Foreign Policy Association, 1984.Dogen. J.:Princeton University Press, 1996), 525, et passim. 1-5.Watts, Alan. [xiii]Ibid., 233. [xxiii]Ibid., 363. . 1 (New York:Columbia University Press, 1958), 226. . And if scares about water and airdegradation are indeed without merit, how is it that corporate entitieshave repeatedly engaged in a pattern of covering up their agency inintroducing contaminants into natural ecosystems?[xxv] If a "green"ecosystem is exploited out of existence, whatever the exploiters or theirenvironmental counterparts do, they cannot put things back they way theywere. that heaven and earth . [v]Earhart, 112. The Ultimate Resource 2. Rather, they are part of the world and, depending on how theyfunction in it can find good or evil in all the things in it. "Exertion." Sources of Japanese Tradition. [vi]Norinaga, 21. By this exertion Buddhahood isrealized, and those who do not make an exertion when exertion is possibleare those who hate Buddha."[xv] It is this exertion, a positive engagementwith the world with the object of tranquillity in mind, that "sustains thesun, the moon, and the stars . By that logic, too, it would beethically impossible from the Zen standpoint to deliberately engage inexploitation of the sensory world in the form of the ecosystem. [ix]Bruce Cumings, The Two Koreas, (New York: Foreign PolicyAssociation, 1984), 25. For example, Simon argues that in a modern, technology-driven society, it would be impossible for the world to contain too manypeople. [x]Ryusaku Tsunoda, Simon, William Theodore de Bary, and Donald Keene,eds. turnedout to be without merit, and many of them have been revealed as not simplya function of ignorance but of fraud."[xxiv] What this attitude fails to account for is the core question ofquality of life. The Mind of Clover: Essays in Zen Buddhist Ethics. 1, ed.Ryusaku Tsunoda, William Theodore deBary, and Donald Keene. Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1982.Harr, Jonathan. [xxv]Jonathan Harr, A Civil Action (New York: Random House, 1995),passim; John L. 243-5.Durant, John L., Chen, Jia, Hemond, Harold F., and Thilly, William G. . Assuming overpopulation (for example) would not lead tofamine, this attitude overlooks whether women think that multiple birthsand multiple-child households enhance a their quality of life and thefinancial picture of a family. Byron Earnhart, Japanese Religion: Unity and Diversity, 3rd ed.(Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1982), 11 . 1. locked up in a bag of skinand confronted with a world, an external, alien, foreign world that is notus."[xviii] The result is a sense of entitlement that leads to subjectionof the natural world rather than a positive effort of cooperation andintegration with it. 3rd ed. 1 (New York: ColumbiaUniversity Press, 1958), 1. [xii]Ibid., 229. . If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.