Zen Buddhism in Japan; an explosion of information!!

Sakura Blooms in Japan

Japan ~ Land of the Rising Sun; we all are pretty familiar with that phrase, right!! I can say when I hear people talk about Japan, I immediately tend to associate it with sushi, oh those oh so gorgeous "Sakuras" or cherry blossoms and then, there are just lots and lots of people. But let's look at Japan through a different lens today....let's get to the nitty gritty of its religious teachings and practices and how these things came about to be.

Early Japanese society was organized by clans. The clans were unified within a sort of confederacy with their being an 'Emperor'. Upon the passing of the 'Emperor', the courts would be moved to a new location and a new palace would be constructed to house the new successor. This practice was probably derived from the traditional religious rites of purification. The Japanese borrowed the Chinese style grid patterns of streets along with adopting the Chinese system of writing , hence the keeping of written records.  This knowledge blew my mind as I always thought the Japanese were far too superior and way too smarter 😐😐 Anyhow, this already goes on to solidify the fact there was a great deal of Chinese influence already in existence in Japan.

Though most of the Japanese people practice Shinto- which is very much connected with nature worship and also the belief in traditional souls of the ancient Japanese, Buddhism was slowly creeping up onto the scene. Let's just say Chinese Buddhism was strictly transplanted onto Japanese soil. (Bresnan 486) 

In 805 CE, a Japanese monk named Saicho was received at the courts by the Shogun- a hereditary post that controlled military power. Saicho was now ready to weave together the various strands of Buddhism along with some aspects of Shinto to create a new wave of Buddhism, called Tendai (the Japanese rendering of the name of the Chinese Monastery, Tiantai.) While the power and prestige of Tendai Buddhism grew rapidly, a rival school of Buddhism called Shingon Buddhism emerged. 

It was during the time of the Kamakura Shogunate that Japan was nearly invaded and conquered by the huge Mongol armies of Kublai Khan. Luckily, with the fortunate timing of a typhoon, Japan was able to beat back the invasion and survive. "Naturally, the Japanese interpreted the typhoon as a heaven-sent answer to their prayers; it was kami-kaze, a "divine wind." (Bresnan 488)

 

What this led to, though, is the formation of three new schools of Buddhism; Nichiren Buddhism, Pure Land Buddhism and Zen Buddhism. Closest to the traditional Tendai Buddhism was Nicheran Buddhism, named after the monk who began the movement in the thirteenth century. At odds with the usually tolerant attitude of Buddhism, he argued that all other Buddhist sects were heretical: he alone held the key to the truth of Buddha's teachings.

Unlike Nichiren, Pure Land Buddhism was founded by the monk, Honen who preached a very simple, unsophisticated doctrine. Honen taught that one can achieve salvation simply through the ceaseless invocation of the name of the loving and compassionate Buddha Amida. Let's take note that Pure Land Buddhism is also known as the most "religious" of Buddhist sects.

The seeds of Zen would reproduce two great schools; Caodao, which would be pronounced "Soto" in Japanese and Linji, which would be pronounced "Rinzai". Zen Buddhism, with its emphasis on simple virtues, self discipline, and self-reliance spoke to the heart of the warrior. A Samurai warrior was expected to always accept death before dishonor; the sword a symbol of the samurai. "The code of bushido maintained that great gentleness is evidence of great strength." (Bresnan 492) Rinzai Zen became the Buddhism of the aristocracy. Soto Zen, on the contrary, focused on sitting meditation. Dogen emphasized that "seeing into one's nature" is the very essence of Buddhism. One's nature is the Buddha-nature.

While both Soto and Rinzai were solidly grounded in the fundamentals of Zen Buddhism, they both were also different. Their difference in style was expressed in three primary ways; First was the matter of social class. Rinzai was the Zen of the aristocratic class while Soto was favored by the common people. The second concerns the place of meditation. While Rinzai and Soto held zazen in high regard, Soto emphasized the practice of zazen to a far greater degree, thus resulting in mockery by the Rinzai Zen masters for their "excessive love of sitting meditation." The favor was well returned with Soto masters chastising Rinzai for its attachment to the koan exercise: "wall-gazing" versus "koan-gazing"; "quiet illumination" versus "dynamic enlightenment." Finally, the third difference exists in the approaches to Zen; Rinzai took a dynamic, energetic approach to community for a short period while Soto monastery was more likely to attract the dedicated person who wished to make the way of the monk his own life's work.

Buddha in its natural state of meditation

 Work Cited

Bresnan, Patrick. Awakening: An Introduction to the History of Eastern Thought. Routledge, 2022.

Cartwright, Mark. “The Mongol Invasions of Japan, 1274 & 1281 CE.” World History Encyclopedia, World History Encyclopedia, 1 May 2022, https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1415/the-mongol-invasions-of-japan-1274--1281-ce/.

“Japanese Zen.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 5 Feb. 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Zen.

Mongols: Invasions of Japan 1274 and 1281 Documentary - Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FxBjEbEPX0.

“PC Wallpapers HD 1080p (59+ Images).” (59+ Images), https://getwallpapers.com/collection/pc-wallpapers-hd-1080p.

“Sakura.” Encyclopedia of Japan, https://doyouknowjapan.com/sakura/.