Buddhist spiritual caregivers in Japan

Abstract

This chapter provides an account of how Japanese Buddhist priests have adapted spiritual care to the Japanese social context since the late 1990s. The distinction between ‘spiritual care’ and ‘religious care’ has been a common strategy in this secular society. Spiritual care in Japan is thought to be something that can be provided without any reference to religion, which has enabled religious professionals, Buddhist priests among others, to enter into public spaces like hospitals as spiritual caregivers. Buddhist spiritual care discourse in Japan has been developed under the influence of Western theories or overseas Buddhism, but is also coloured by local factors, such as ancestor worship and folk Buddhist practices. The Great Earthquake of 2011 and the idea of interfaith chaplaincy encouraged Buddhist priests, who were trying to overcome long-standing criticisms of ‘funeral Buddhism,’ to reconsider their identities as religious professionals. The idea of interfaith chaplaincy appeared before them as a new role of spiritual caregivers in a ‘hyper-aged’ society.