Culture of Secrecy in Japanese Religion

Question: Discuss about the Culture of Secrecy in Japanese Religion. Answer: Introduction: Buddhism is a religion found by Gautama Buddha whose religious philosophy is present in the first sermon of Buddha near Varanasi. The essence of the teachings surrounds four Noble Truths and Eightfold Path. The beliefs include; the world is full of suffering, suffering results from human desires, the path of salvation comes through renunciation of desires, and the fact that salvation can be attained simply by following the Eightfold Path. The religion is prevalent in the Indian subcontinent which bases on spiritualism rather than religious teachings. The religion has four major branches beginning with Theravada Buddhism which serves as the oldest form that emphasizes on the difference between the monks authority and that of the lay people. Besides, it reserves and conserves the traditions in prayer and meditation towards enlightenment and is present in countries such as Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Myanmar. The second branch involves the Mahayana Buddhism that is the second in age which does not put efforts on the monks authority but rather bases on compassion and the belief that all beings can reach the level of Buddha through self sanctification (Andreasen 2014). The religion is present in Japan, Korea, china, and Vietnam predominantly. Thirdly is the Tibetan Buddhism under the leadership of Dalai Lama who were exiled to India upon Chinese occupation of Tibet. The religion is based on the Mahayana teachings which seek followers to return to Tibet. Zen Buddhism is the last branch which serves as a combination of Mahayana Buddhism and the Taoism with its root in China. The religion teaches its followers on the concept of everyone being a Buddha and that everyone has the potential of reaching the level through the Zen practice. Culture and Belief of Buddhism Buddhism is a growing religion with over 480 million people around the world subscribing to the religion. The religion works on the belief that individuals ought to achieve spiritual awakening termed as Nirvana that comes through ethical and moral living and through meditation activities. In this case, a large population of the people ascribed to the religion spends considerable time in self-reflection to relieve themselves from life issues. Buddhism believes that human suffering results from human desires who in the process of satisfying their wants invite trouble to their lives. However, the religion uses its Four Noble Truths to counter the suffering in human lives. The followers believe in reincarnation which is the foundation of the idea of consciousness where it is reborn when one dies. As a result, many people experience several cycles of life, death, and finally rebirth in different forms hence no return to earth in the same entity one left. After undergoing the several cycles, individuals who forego the desires of the world achieve nirvana characterized by the state of peace. In this case, one becomes freed from suffering, desire, and the complete cycle of rebirth. Besides, the religion has eightfold path of wisdom which it uses to get individuals into spiritualism. The categories include: following the right belief, thought, speech, action, means of livelihood, meditation practices, right efforts, and the correct remembrance or memory. Following the eightfold aspect enables individuals within the religion to reach their ultimate goals in life to the point of Nirvana. At this point, one experiences eternal peace and frees oneself from worldly pleasures and the cycle of birth and death. Therefore, it is a balance between the worldly pleasures and spiritualism where individuals observe the teachings of the religion. The Eightfold Path contains the five Precepts which provide a series of training guides to be adhered to by the Buddhists. Breaking the rules leads to a review of the lessons to understand ways of avoiding future contradiction to the law (Coleman 2016). The five precepts include understanding the training to avoid taking away the life of living creatures. The second aspect involves the training to avoid taking things not given without permission. Besides, it involves undertaking training to avoid sensual misconduct, and the training to refrain from false speech (Van Gordon Shonin Griffiths and Singh, 2015). Lastly, it involves the training to abstain from substances leading to intoxication that can cause immoral practices. Furthermore, the religion recognizes the Law of Karma where they believe man to be the maker of his own destiny. In this respect, if one does good acts throughout his life, one would be reborn in a higher form of life until the cycle of birth is over (Fogelin 2015). By so doing, one has the mandate to control own acts so as to avert tragedies in future life by remaining good at all times. On the other hand, individuals engaging in evil acts end up in suffering where their actions replicate in their future lives and affect them adversely. Thus, the religion encourages people to observe the middle path that strains no one by doing good at all times. Moreover, the religions culture focuses on the importance of sanctity of life and relying on the aspect of love, compassion, and a preserve of living creatures by staying free from any acts that hurt other living creatures. Besides, it preaches on the need for equality for all men as evidenced in the opposition of the Caste System as the low-class individuals turned to the religion when they were mistreated by the upper class individuals (Safran 2013). On the other hand, the religion condemns animal sacrifice as it contravenes the preserve of living creatures according to its belief. However, the religion neither recognizes nor denies the existence of God. People following the religion are deemed to be peaceful so as to maintain ethical practices in line with achieving spiritual nirvana. In this respect, individuals always remain in the right mind while selecting the right actions that match the culture of the religion. For instance, individuals follow the law to avoid the pitfalls of corruption and other activities contravening the rule of law (Paulsen 2014). The culture is therefore a reflection of spiritualism rather than teachings towards goodwill as individuals practice the culture and internalize the practices. Followers of the religion do not worship any deities but rather worship and pray for the sole purpose of their inner peace. Consequently, a considerable time is spent on the spiritual nirvana towards purification and holy living. Most of the Buddhist celebrations and holidays are based on the lunar calendar which is celebrated at different times depending on the group of Buddhist and the country of origin. The holidays include Magha Puja day, Obervance day, Kathina ceremony, Dhamma day, Elephant festival, Festival of Floating Bowls, and Ancestor day (Scheid and Teeuwen 2015). In the temple, individuals are accepted in casual dress, sometimes asked to remove shoes, and remaining in the temple only at the end of a meditation (Lewis, 2014). Besides, cameras and other devices for reporting are not allowed in the place of worship unless approved by the priest. The priest leads a service and the faithful address them as Reverend, Roshi, or Lama. Food in Buddhism Buddhism is guided by their beliefs which advocate for the preserve of living things, and in this regard advice on killing animals as wrong. In this case, many Buddhists prefer vegetarianism. However, some cultures within the religion allow eating of fish. On the other hand, Buddhism disregards the use of alcohol as it distorts the normal state of the mind which can lead to unethical acts (Flood 2013). In this case, it only recommends for use of drinks for nourishment, eating of vegetables over meat, fruit over sugar, and chewing between meals as opposed to heavy eating. Therefore, eating of bland or plain food is advised in the religion. Besides, food is donated to monks as a way of cultivating generosity spirit and sharing. Early Monks depended on alms food donated by the supporters and anything offered was to be taken with gratitude despite the nature of the meal. Fish and meat could be served as long as the animal is not killed for the monks specifically (Sivaraksa 2015). However, followers in the religion from Chinese and Vietnam consume meat fish and eggs while rejecting pungent spices such as onions and garlic. Moreover, the sect advices on following daily schedules for meal where breakfast is served at 8:45, lunch at 1pm and dinner at 6pm. The schedule allows one to plan and control appetite and take meals at an appropriate time and with a proper nutrition value (de St. Maurice 2015). At the same time, people are encouraged to eat meals with their families as opposed to eating in restaurants. Individuals are encouraged to eat after meditation when persons are relaxed, calm, and composed which aids in the digestion process of food. Therefore, the religion holds special practices during meals which have to be taken after meditation. Food is essential in the Buddhist religion where the decision to remain vegetarians varies from one group to the other. Therefore, the decision to eat meat resides with individuals as long as the procedures are followed and one is not directly involved in killing a creature (Kwon and Tamang 2015). However, those opposed to meat consumption choose to follow the vegetarian diets and avoid alcoholic drinks for refreshment. Eating of vegetables is widely encouraged among the people in a family setup not only for religious purposes but also for health needs. Buddhism is a religion that has existed over time. The religion base on the spirituality aspect of meditation where people are encouraged to remain ethical and do well at all times so as to have the same replicated in their lives. A special consideration is placed on eating vegetables essential for vegetarians as opposed to meat. The religion has special ways of worship that build not only the holistic aspect of their followers but also cares for the health of their followers. Reference List Andreasen, E., 2014.Popular Buddhism in Japan: Buddhist Religion Culture. Routledge. Brown, J.W., 2016. Buddhism in a Dark Age: Cambodian Monks under Pol Pot by Ian Harris. de St. Maurice, G., 2015. Cuisine and Empire: Cooking in World History: By Rachel Laudan. Flood, G., 2013.The Truth Within: A History of Inwardness in Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism. OUP Oxford. Fogelin, L., 2015.An archaeological history of Indian Buddhism. Oxford University Press, USA. Kwon, D.Y. and Tamang, J.P., 2015. Religious ethnic foods.Journal of Ethnic Foods,2(2), pp.45-46. Lewis, T. ed., 2014.Buddhists: Understanding Buddhism Through the Lives of Practitioners. John Wiley Sons. Paulsen, R.H., 2014. Book Review: Crossroads in Psychoanalysis, Buddhism, and Mindfulness: The Word and the Breath.Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association,62(6), pp.1170-1175. Safran, J.D., 2013. Psychoanalysis and Buddhism as cultural institutions.Crossroads in Psychoanalysis, Buddhism, and Mindfulness: The Word and the Breath, p.187. Scheid, B. and Teeuwen, M., 2015.The culture of secrecy in Japanese religion. Routledge. Coleman, G., 2016.A handbook of Tibetan culture: A guide to Tibetan centres and resources throughout the world. Random House. Sivaraksa, S., 2015.Conflict, culture, change: Engaged Buddhism in a globalizing world. Simon and Schuster. Van Gordon, W., Shonin, E., Griffiths, M.D. and Singh, N.N., 2015. There is only one mindfulness: Why science and Buddhism need to work together.Mindfulness,6(1), pp.49-56.