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Japan Buddhism
Buddhism, which originated in India, was introduced
into Japan
in the sixth century A.D. from Korea and China. Buddhism
introduced
ideas into Japanese culture that have become inseparable
from the
Japanese worldview: the concept of rebirth, ideas of
karmic
causation, and an emphasis on the unity of experience. It
gained
the patronage of the ruling class, which supported the
building of
temples and production of Buddhist art
(see Cultural Developments and the Establishment of Buddhism
, ch. 1). In the early
centuries
of Buddhism in Japan, scholarly esoteric sects were
popular, and
the Buddhist influence was limited mainly to the upper
class. From
the late Heian period (A.D. 794-1185) through the Kamakura
period
(1185-1333), Pure Land (Jodo) and Nichiren Shoshu sects,
which had
much wider appeal, spread throughout all classes of
society
(see The Flourishing of Buddhism
, ch. 1). These sects stressed
experience and faith, promising salvation in a future
world. Zen
Buddhism, which encourages the attainment of enlightenment
through
meditation and an austere life-style, had wide appeal
among the
bushi, or samurai--the warrior class--who had come
to have
great political power
(see The Rise of the Military Class
, ch. 1).
Under the sponsorship of the ruling military class, Zen
had a major
impact on Japanese aesthetics. In addition, as Japan
scholar Robert
N. Bellah has argued, Buddhist sects popular among
commoners in the
Tokugawa period encouraged values such as hard work and
delayed
rewards, which, like Protestantism in Europe, helped lay
the
ideological foundation for Japan's industrial success.
Buddhist funerary and ancestral rites are pervasive in
Japan.
Although regular attendance at Buddhist temples is rare,
partly
because many Buddhist sects do not observe community
worship, there
were in 1991 nearly 75,000 temples and 204,000 clergy.
Buddhist as
well as Shinto priests marry, and often sons inherit the
responsibility for their father's parish at his death. The
Nichiren
school, based on belief in the Lotus Sutra and its
doctrine
of universal salvation, was the largest sect in Japan in
1991, with
24,450,257 members. Its wide appeal is based on the broad
range of
religious and social thought and the lay activities it
incorporates.
Data as of January 1994
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