Buddhism Has Changed Japanese Society

Shinto religion of indigenous people of Japan means "the way of God". In Shinto, God is called God and means "highest" or "holy". Several gods are thought to be in paradise, but others are thought to be in the form of animals in various places like humans, skies, rocks, and even fountains . God is not really personal, and segregation of sex is more important than ever. Their roles and features are interchangeable (Anesaki 19-21). The most serious misbehavior is to contact all impurities such as blood, disease, and corpse.

Buddhism shares Japanese religious landscapes with Shinto, and Shinto is a Japanese religion with the reverence of various gods, ancestors and emperors. It is often difficult to distinguish between the end of Buddhism and the beginning of Shinto, and many Japanese combine them in some way. Japanese religious history is one of the struggles between two religions, each religion is related to the political situation at different times. Today, Japanese Buddhism is classified into four types: Traditional schools like Tendai and Shinto keeping the tradition of strong priests, Zen schools that have a monaster but also influence a few amateurs, A pure land school, a monk, but a non-professional and independent priest is popular, like the pure land, the tradition of Soka Gakkai made in Japan is a pious Buddhist form that is not a monastery.

During the visit by the Korean special envoy, Buddhism first touched Japanese society at 552 CE. The colorful Buddhist robe worn by a special envoy left a deep impression on Japanese nobility. Buddhism during this period was a blend of the idea of ​​China and India mainly in the trade of Silk Road. When a Japanese nobleman met the Buddhism for the first time, they were very interested, but it was not generally believed that it would be acceptable for Japanese culture. There are controversies among several influential families resisting changes to existing Shinto. But Buddhism is adaptive. The spread of Buddhism can be traced back to many countries and its principles can be linked to the beliefs of these countries before being contacted by Buddhism. The concrete form of Japanese Buddhism is the Zen school. The word Zen is used to represent Buddhism in a form that links meditation with discovery of nature.