On Tuesday the 20th of June Jenny Raper presented
this introductory paper for the Spiritual Reading Group at the Carmelite
Library on the ancient Japanese religion of Shinto.
Our ancient forebears, all
over the world, seemed to have had the same understanding about the universe
and their special place in it. The
question we now ask is 'is the DNA of humans designed to include spiritual
beliefs and longings?' Three scholars,
each one of them standing outside the theological arguments and influential in
their own time in the debates tell us the following:
Frederic Myers, a pioneer in
psychical research in the 19th century in England is quoted by
William James, the American pioneer psychologist and brother of Henry James.
“First
consider what are the facts. There
exists around us a spiritual universe, and that universe is in actual relation
with the material. From the spiritual
universe comes the energy which maintains the material; the energy which makes
the life of each individual spirit. Our
spirits are supported by a perpetual indrawal of this energy, and the vigour of
that indrawal is perpetually changing, much as the vigour of absorption of
material nutriment changes from hour to hour.”
Joseph Campbell, the American
mythologist, came to say that all the great myths, 'regardless of origin or
time of creation shared a common pattern.
He believed in the 'psychic unity of mankind'. He wrote in 2000:
“God
is a metaphor for a mystery that transcends all human categories of thought,
even the categories of being and non-being.”
He argued
“Whether
it is putting you in touch with the mystery that's the ground of your own
being.” (Depends on how much you want to
think about it!)
Karen Armstrong, who calls
herself a religious historian, not a theologian, writes the following in the
introduction to her book The Case for God (2009). She quotes Martin
Heidegger (1899-1976)
“'Being', a fundamental energy that supports
and animates everything that exists.
Being is transcendent...From the documents of later Neolithic and
pastoral societies, we know that Being rather than a being was
revered as the ultimate sacred power. ….Certain objects became eloquent symbols
of the power of Being... a stone or a rock (frequent symbols of the sacred)
expressed the stability and durability of Being; the moon, its power of endless
renewal; the sky, its towering transcendence.
None of these symbols was worshipped for in itself. People did not bow down and worship a
rock..., the rock was simply a focus to the mysterious essence of life. Being bound all things together, humans,
animals, plants, insects, stars and birds all shared the divine life that
sustained the entire cosmos.
People
felt it natural to imagine a race of spiritual beings of a higher nature than
themselves that they called 'gods'.
….unseen forces at work in the world – wind, heat, emotion and air –
these were often identified with gods.
The
sacred place was one of the earliest and most ubiquitous symbols of the
divine. ….it brought heaven and earth
together and where the divine potency seemed particularly effective. …...imagining this fructifying, sacred energy
welling up like a spring... people settled close to these places so as to live
as closely as possible to the wellspring of Being.
There
was no gulf separating the gods from the rest of the cosmos, everything had
emerged from the same sacred stuff. All
beings shared the same predicament and had to participate in a ceaseless battle
against the destructive lethargy of chaos.”
An up-to-date description of
Shinto comes from a Shinto priest (The Essence of Shinto Tokyo
2000) who writes:
“The
essence of Shinto is found in our relationship and interdependence with Kami.
… Shinto is the path through which we seek to realise ourselves fully as human
beings by acquiring the noble characteristics of Kami. This is
open to all men and women, but first we must become attuned to the spirit of
Kami, which, in itself, is identical to Shinto.”
Ko-Shinto – the way of
spirits was the ancient form of
Shinto practised in the period known as the Jomon Period from C11000-300 BCE. The
Japanese people followed this nature-based religion without any doctrine or
creeds because they had no written texts. A pantheon of goddesses and gods – kami
- were everywhere in their creation myths and they believed that every natural
feature was imbued with spirits – kami- which were to be
worshipped and attended to at certain times and for celebrations. Kami had both good and evil powers; just
as nature is both creative and destructive and life brings both harmony and
conflict, war and peace.
The
Japanese had no writing system prior to the introduction of the Chinese texts. The first record of Japan comes from the
Chinese dynastic histories, (C56CE). The earliest known examples of Japanese
writing, dating back to the 5th and 6th Centuries A.D., are proper
names inscribed with Chinese characters on a sacred mirror and a sword. We have had to rely on Chinese and Korean
observations and much later (circa 712CE) Records of Ancient Matters and
the Chronicles of Japan (circa 720 CE), written by Japanese
scholars.
So,
we are left with writings that are far from reliable, but which attempt to
provide an historic background Some of
the Chinese and Korean observations though are
helpful in gaining an insight into Japanese life and culture, albeit
seen from another cultural point of view.
Helpfully,
the Chinese describe the country – 'The people of Wa live on mountainous
islands in the ocean.” (De Bary p. 5).
So, we can understand why precious natural features to the Japanese are
water – the ocean, rivers and springs; the mountains and the sky, in
particular, the sun. These natural
elements are the foundation of the ancient myths that underpin Shinto. Scholars have discovered that Shinto is an
amalgam of several ancient forms of religion – shamanistic and animistic
practices which seem to stem from the mainland, and other very local beliefs
and practices which are related to place . The Chinese also observed, with
interest, that women in Japan seemed to be equal to men in the way they lived,
worked and practised Shinto.
For
these ancient Japanese people, living on islands (around 6,800 of them) shaped
their spiritual beliefs and practices.
As hunter gathers they took much of their food from the sea and
thousands of rivers; they took natural vegetation and it is believed they grew
some small crops; hunting for animals such as deer, hares, boars and eating
birds such as pheasant. Their world was
full of potential disasters though, tsunami, earthquakes and typhoons which
caused flooding. Japan's natural environment provided the people with rich
sustenance, and thus the people felt they were instruments of the kami
who worked through them in whatever they did.
Probably
the most sacred sites for these early residents of Japan were the mountains where
great rocks and great forests were to be found.
These natural wonders were filled with kami and the most sacred
mountains, rocks, caverns and forest trees were set aside by specially knotted
ropes (made from plants) and with simple gateways or square arches to designate
their separateness from the secular life of the people. These places became known as 'shrines' and
the 'gates' are known as tor ii. Probably certain men and women acted as
shamans at these shrines offering simple rituals for the people – we know that
ritual washing was vital to any Shinto practice for purification purposes.
Modern Shinto practice is to wash the hands and mouths before a shrine.
What
is unsure is the question of sorcery or witchcraft to deal with evil kami or
demons. The Chinese visitors noted that
a certain empress was a witch and practised sorcery. There is also no evidence
of sacrifices, such as existed in other ancient religious practices.
We
know that certain life events, such as birth, illness and death were all
unclean in some way. People tainted by
these events could go to their local sacred 'shrine' and carry out cleansing
rituals using water and prayers to the local kami. In ancient times a shaman or priest was
not required for these rituals. Japan's
natural environment provided the people with rich sustenance, and they believed
they were instruments of the kami who worked through them in whatever
they did. What we would call 'religion'
was, for these people, about living and practising simultaneously.
The Kami are not necessarily good – they have both good and
evil powers. They understood that the
forces of nature are both constructive and destructive and life brings both
harmony and conflict; war and peace.
Evil spirits are known as oni
and are responsible for a variety of human problems. Because of the oneness of all things,
(nothing is one thing or the other) they can be ambivalent. For example, the oni fox
spirit, is closely related to the rice god, Inari, who is popular and
charitable. The god Susano after being
expelled from heaven, became a positive figure who slayed a dragon and saved a
maiden in distress. The misfortunes
attributed to Oni are seen as temporary disruption of the natural
order of things and not simple evil forces. (The Sacred East, ed, C.
Scott Littleton.1966)
Ancient Shinto was closely
connected with a system of clans and local Kami found around
their lands. “Each person was born with a kami originating in the
three creator Kami who transformed themselves and created all
phenomena in the universe.” (The Essence of Shinto)
Out of this ancient world
came a pantheon of Gods and Goddesses. The most important of these is Amaterasu
(The person who makes the Heavens shine– the Sun Goddess and divine ancestor of
the imperial family. She was the daughter of the Izagani-no-mikoto (August
Male) who descended from Heaven to procreate with his wife and sister
Izanami-no-mikoto and create the islands of Japan and then a series of gods and
goddesses. Amaterasu was born from her
father's left eye, Tsukiyomi, the moon god was born from his right and the god
of storms, Susano (Raging Male) emerged from his nose. Amaterasu was given sovereignty over heaven
and earth. She sent her grandson, to
earth bearing the three sacred symbols – a sacred mirror, a magical sword and a
wonderful, green fertility jewel.
Her grandson (Jimmu – tenno)
is believed to have been the first ruler of Japan and right up until the end of
World War II, the Emperors and Empresses of Japan were considered to be in
direct line to Jimmu and so divine. They
are holders of the sacred
symbols and only the Emperor
or his maiden daughter or niece, can officiate at the most sacred shrine to
Amaterasu at Ise. The inner shrine is
designed in the ancient
style of a rice-barn and is
situated within a compound that only designated people can enter. It is rebuilt every 20 years to exact design
and using the exact timbers as the original by builders from the ancient
families who have rebuilt the Shrine for generations. Within the inner shrine
the sacred mirror of the Goddess is held.
An outer shrine is dedicated to the rice goddess. The grounds around
this shrine are spread with many special stones of differing colours and sizes
for different areas. The gardens are
designed to reflect the natural environment surrounding the shrine and the
forests outside the walls of the shrine are considered to be most sacred and
few are allowed to enter them.
There is evidence that around
the 3rd century CE, ideas about the afterlife were more defined –
some legends claim that the dead go to a place called yomi that is very
like the Greek Hades and which is separated from the earth by a river. Later myths speak of resurrection and
descriptions of the heavenly place.
Shinto tends to be negative about death, which is a source of pollution
called kegare. However after death many special individuals are
enshrined after death, for example the Emperor Ojin (200-312 CE) was enshrined
as the Hachiman the God of War.
It is difficult to describe Ko-Shinto
because (apart from traditional practices and beliefs) the records we have come
down to us as reports from other cultures. However, because some reports are
detailed they do show curiosity and wonder of some aspects of the beliefs and
practices of the ancient Japanese. The
courts of China and the Korean Kingdoms were remote from the Japanese islands,
but archaeology shows that there was seepage of beliefs and customs from the
mainland before the formal visits of court envoys. Evidence of hydrology, rice growing and thus
a gradual changing of how people actually lived, exists now.
“Shinto,
however, certainly has its own way of thinking and feeling as well as its own
distinctive world view that cannot be adequately contained within the western
concept of religion. Underneath an array
of expressions that ostensibly have no pattern, Shinto is filled with a world
of faith.” The Essence of Shinto Motohisa Yamakage, Tokyo 2000.
References:
Japanese Religions, Michiko Yusa
The Essence of Japan Motohisa Yamakage
The Sacred East ed. C ScottLittleton London 1999
Sources of Japanese Tradition. Compiled by
Theodore de Bary, Donald Keen, George Tanabe, Paul Varley. New York 2001
No comments:
Post a Comment