<Positionality as a Buddhist>
My family has been a parishioner for a long time (one of the representatives of the believers in the temple), and I am the eldest daughter, so eventually I will be in a position to inherit the grave of my parents. I have also participated in certain ceremonies on several occasions.

Japanese people are said to have little faith overall. It is said that many young people do not even know what their religion is. When they died, they were cremated and held a funeral. And they go to graves (many people don’t), but usually few people go to temple events other than that. In addition, we also visit Shinto shrines during the New Year holidays. Furthermore, the gods enshrined at shrines differ depending on the shrine, like nature gods, and many different gods are enshrined in the same shrine. In addition, we nationally celebrate Christmas.
In this way, Japan as a whole has little recognition of its own religion, and in other words, it can be said that it is tolerant of other religions. This seems to be related to the fact that much of the Buddhism that was originally transmitted to Japan is Mahayana Buddhism (which accepts all people) with less strict precepts, unlike Hinayana Buddhism with stricter precepts such as Tibetan Buddhism.

Another thing that surprised me in this research was the percentage of the Japanese religious population. When I attended the funerals of my acquaintances in Japan, more than 95% of the funerals were Buddhist, so it was a big discovery for me to learn that the majority of the funerals were of Shinto believers. (Shintoists = 51%, Buddhists = 45%, Christians = 1.5%) (Religious Statistics Survey, Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan)

Having lived in such a religious environment in Japan, I reconsider more and was beaten when I read “Paper 2: Religion, the public sphere and higher education” by Professor Craig Calhoun in “Religion in Britain: Challenges for Higher Education”

First of all, I was surprised that within Christianity there is a hierarchy depending on the denomination. Buddhism or Shinto in Japan has differences in teachings and denomination, but it is simply a difference of denomination and there is no hierarchy. All religions are treated equally, so it is unthinkable that there is superiority or inferiority between religion and denomination. I couldn’t even imagine that there was a hierarchy there. Furthermore, in Japan, the law of separation of politics and religion has been enacted, officially, it is considered morally wrong for religion to be involved in politics. (Although one of the opposition parties has religious backing, they have no real political power because they are an opposition party) Religion does not interfere in politics in Japan.

Knowing that there are system differences and hierarchies within Christianity, furthermore, referring to some articles about Buddhism in Faith of Shades of Noir (p35-36 Social Justice/ Buddhism and Queerness. P56-57 I WAS A BUDDHIST FOR SEVEN YEARS), I was very surprised by the difference between the Japanese Buddhist and religious systems and the Buddhist system described in the article, especially the big difference in the system and way of thinking related to money.

In particular, Buddhism in Japan, which was mentioned in “I WAS A BUDDHIST FOR SEVEN YEARS”, is not very common in Japan, where it collects excessive amounts of money, organizes meditation events and travels. Even if there is, it is an inexpensive event within the bounds of common sense, such as Zen meditation and temple lodging. For example, donations are usually within the normal range, such as donations for temple repairs, funerals, and annual events. For this reason, in Japan, Buddhism that demands excessively large donations, sell expensive items, or holds seminars and events are recognized as fraudulent new religious groups that just use the name of Buddhism, and such things would never happen in a normal Buddhism. This is the same for Shinto, and for that reason, there may not be much recognition that religion is capitalized compared to other countries.
Furthermore, this case study said that there was a class system among the Buddhists in their Center, but in Japanese Buddhism, there is a class for monks, but there is no class for believers. And the rank of a monk is raised according to the number of years of training, not by donating money. Therefore, I thought that this case study example might not be a proper Buddhist group, but a fraudulent group that imitate Buddhism. In Japan, this type of religious group is often recognized as a fraud in general.

In addition, Buddhism usually has its own temples, and Buddhist doctrines are not practised at facilities such as Buddhist centres. So, I thought that this kind of Buddhist system in The UK might come from the small number of Buddhists in the UK.

In terms of gender in faith, in Japanese Buddhism, when Buddhism was first introduced from Baekje (currently South Korea) (in AD 562), female monks (bhikkuni) existed, and the widows of samurai worshipped their husbands. In order to enshrine her husband, it was often seen that she entered the Buddhist priesthood and became a nun after her husband’s death. Therefore, the existence of female monks is not uncommon in Japan, and although there are few now, there used to be temples with only nuns all over Japan. However, in some countries, such as other Asian countries such as Thailand and Indonesia, the existence of bhikkuni is still prohibited.

<Question>
The question that came to my mind here is how can I make use of what I learned this time in my educational activities?

By reading this essay this time, I think I was able to sort out various things that I had vaguely grasped up until now, such as issues between categories and denomination, issues between religion and politics, the relationship between religion and money, and I was able to absorb new knowledge. And I could find out that each religion that was previously categorized within me is subdivided into various denominations and organizations, sometimes hierarchical, and depending on the region, it is sometimes capitalized more than a necessary evil.

I feel that knowing about these various religions itself has changed my way of thinking about each of the religions mentioned here. What I gained from this experience was that even within each religion there is diversity, and first of all, as knowledge, I was able to know that there is such a state. And I believe that this knowledge will lead to the first step in being able to maintain an impartial perspective when facing students as a teacher. In addition, each of these precepts has its own claim depending on various standpoints such as gender, economy, and politics. Therefore, I think that the second step is to try to understand the position and way of each doctrine after acquiring the correct knowledge. And as the third step, and what I think is the most important thing is to maintain respect for each other’s religions. And by keeping in mind the backgrounds of students and staff, we are able to avoid behavior that causes mis-facilitation and discrimination, as happened to Aalimah in “Case Study – Faith” (2015), Shades of Noir.

However, at the same time, I feel that although it is easy to write like this, if I actually encounter a situation like this case study, I might not have enough experience to facilitate the discussion in a fair and correct direction. I reconsider through this study in this blog Faith, I hope that I can start from the place where I have the correct understanding and awareness of Faith.

Bibliography

‘Religion in Britain: Challenges for Higher Education.’ Stimulus paper, (2015), Modood & Calhoun

Higher Power: Religion, Faith, Spirituality & Belief”, Shades of Noir

“Case Study – Faith” (2015), Shades of Noir

“宗教統計調査, 第2表__全国社寺教会等宗教団体・教師・信者数” (“Religious Statistics Survey, Table 2 __Number of Religious Groups, Teachers, and Believers in Shrines and Temples and Churches Nationwide”), (2022) Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan