May the Deceased Get Enlightenment! An Aspect of the Enculturation of Buddhism in Japan

Abstract

Although the problem of interpreting death has existed throughout the whole history of Buddhism in Japanese society, resurfacing at various times and creating a whirl of agitation, the end result has always been the further enculturation of Buddhism in Japan. In 1985 and 1985, the journal Dend6n-kiyo published two Special Issues for the Problem of Customs and Popular Beliefs in which several scholars jointly urged the necessity of exploiting new dimensions of their traditional theology (sbkgaku).' Honganji is one of the biggest sects of the Jodo-shin (or simply Shin) school founded by Shinran (1173-1262). Their well-established doctrines are based on the Hongan (the Original Vow of Amida Buddha) and the practice of Nembutsu (the chanting of the name of Amida Buddha) that together form the center of their spiritual faith and universal teaching. The most striking feature of the elite of the Jodoshin tradition is their contemptuous attitude toward popular beliefs, which are by nature part of folk religion and sometimes superstitious. They think that faith in Amida Buddha and Nembutsu is sufficient to relieve life's various crises and to instill happiness. Prayers for worldly benefits, magical rites, exorcism, and the many other popular religious ideas and rites represent to them nothing more than the weakness of being human. Man needs no recourse to such practices as salvation is to be found in exclusive faith in Amida Buddha. Their insistence on this kind of puritanical faith has gradually led them to