The spirits of the dead: Christianity, Buddhism and traditional belief in Japan
by Takeda John Makoto
Anglican Theological Review
Vol. 79 No. 1 Winter 1997
Pp.27-37
Copyright by Anglican Theological Review
The Spirits of the Dead and the Meaning of Memorial Rites
One of the popular features of the Anglican Church in Japan is the memorial
service. At every Sunday eucharist, in almost every parish, the names of
the departed whose memorial day falls during the week are cited and a
memorial prayer is said. In every parish, there is a monthly memorial
service for departed members. Even irregular communicants ask the priest to
hold an annual memorial service for a departed Family member which a number
of relatives and friends attend. On every third Wednesday of the month, I
celebrate the memorial eucharist of the departed clergy of the Diocese. On
November 1 and 2, parish priests are very busy holding memorial services in
graveyards.
Behind this popular practice of the memorial service lies a traditional
belief in, or fear of, the spirits of the dead, whose presence is still
near. They are vengeful spirits, who must be soothed by the regular
offering of prayers or by those who have special spiritual power. Many
Christians, especially among the elderly, seem to desire some kind of
contact with their departed loved ones. According to traditional belief,
either thirty-three or fifty years must pass before the haunting spirit of
the dead becomes hotoke (buddha) or sorei (ancestor god) and thus finds
rest. Then the burial ceremony is completed (tomuraiage). This belief
originated neither in Buddhism nor in modem Shinto but seems to have been
inherited from ancient Japanese beliefs.
Many conscientious parish priests face the dilemma of complying with such
popular beliefs and teaching the Resurrection faith and leading funeral
rituals in accordance with Christian doctrine. Appropriate teaching about
ancestor-worship is still a matter of debate in the Japanese church.
Some honest Buddhist priests in Japan have a similar problem. One friend
who is a scholarly Buddhist cleric once told me, "Selflessness (muga),
transitoriness (mujo), emptiness (ku), nothingness (mu), such teachings of
the Buddha are wonderful. But if you are faithful to such teachings, you
cannot be the manager of a temple." For many scholars of religion, the
belief that the dead become hotoke (buddha;jobutsu means "becoming buddha")
appears strange and is unique to Japanese Buddhism. Even popular Buddhism
outside Japan has no such teaching. (In Japan, Buddhism is considered the
"funeral religion" because its priority is meeting such popular religious
beliefs.)
Ordinary Buddhist temples do have regular programs of Zen-exercise meetings
and study seminars on the teaching of Buddha and Sutra, but participants
seem few. More popular rituals and feasts are the memorials of the dead
anti the welcoming feasts of the spirits of the dead (urabon-e).
Sodo-shu, one of the Zen sects, recently released statistics about its
members' opinion about what matters most to them as Buddhists. The four
reasons most cited were: visit and worship before the grave, 31.6%; the
memorial tablet of the dead (ihai), 25.9%; the temple's principal deity
(the Buddha statue enshrined in the temple), 21.8%; and the priest, 8.2%.
Those who considered visiting the grave the most important were asked their
reason. 83.3% responded that it is the resting-place of their ancestors
(hotoke=buddha). Only 17.4% hail ever attended Zen practice, which is
ostensibly the principal duty. The discrepancy between the sect's ideal
teaching and the reality of religious practice is recognized in Japanese
Buddhism as it is in Christianity; neither is able to ignore the
(deep-rooted traditional belief in the spirits of the dead.
Characteristic features of the spirits of the dead: The fear of onryo
(avenging spirits)
Spirits are believed to be haunting and vengeful until they finally become
sorei (ancestor spirits) or hotoke (buddha), either thirty-three or fifty
years after death.
There are many Japanese legends and myths in which a hero kills the evil
ones. But the stories do not end with the righteous hero's final victory,
but with the construction of a memorial shrine and the gift of a memorial
ritual for the dead enemy he has killed. The spirits are onryo--grudging or
vengeful. Unless the defeated enemy is buried and faithfully remembered,
that spirit would return and bring unhappiness.
The purpose of the memorial rituals is to keep the dead spirits enshrined
and contained within a specific space. On certain days in the year, they
are invited to the place of the living, who welcome them warmly and after
some days send them back. Through such faithful memorials, the spirits also
bring happiness and a peaceful life to those who remember and honor them.
The structure of matsuri (festival)
This ritual memorial of the dead is the basic structure of the Japanese
matsuri (festival). The matsuri is the corporate ritual of a village
community around the community shrine. First, the arrival of the
community's patron spirits or gods is proclaimed; then offerings of
prayers, special food and rice wine are made; divine oracles and some
spiritual powers are received; finally, a concluding ceremony sends the
spirits or gods back to the other world (mountain or sea).
(The belief that the vengeful spirits could also be beneficial, becoming
protective patrons for the living who keep their memorial faithfully, is a
later development, perhaps influenced by the Buddhist idea of mercy.)
The purpose of the traditional festival (matsuri) is to re-fill the people
with ke (air, breath, spiritual power). If everyday life and work decreases
one's supply of ke, it must be renewed on special occasions, especially at
times of crisis, happiness, hard work or calamity. When ke is lost
(kegare), everyday life must pause for a period of retreat to a secluded
place (komorun = "to retire" or "to hide in a secluded place") while an
ascetic life provides purification and restoration of ke.
Ke is the spiritual power (air) of living and growing. Kegare is both
decrease of ke and also "unclean." Hence "refilling the ke" means becoming
both powerful and purified.
The first stage of matsuri is komoru: retiring or hiding in a holy place
such as a small shrine, a mountain or secluded sacred place. Then the
priest or community representative enters the holy place of the shrine and
performs a ritual of communion with the gods or spirits, receiving divine
oracles and spiritual power. He then emerges from the holy place with signs
that he has been filled with ke. This may take the form of excessive
drinking, eating, dancing, singing, wrestling, or violent noises. This is a
joyous moment and the term matsuri or "festival" is later applied only to
this stage, when the entire community celebrates its liberation and filling
with ke.
Stories and legends of the Mountain People (sanjin, yamabito, yamando)
The Japanese nation was originally made up of many local clans. By the
third or fourth century, however, the Yamato clan dominated the western
part of Japan and by the seventh century controlled the entire nation. It
established the imperial dynasty and a Japanese state.
In the process of the subjugating of local communities by the Yamato clan,
most of the invaded people surrendered and eventually intermarried with
their invaders. But some of the most respected of those invaded, men and
women of integrity, were ashamed of surrendering. Rather than insisting on
a hopeless resistance, they retired into the mountains, spending their
lives like hermits or wanderers. Such people later came to be known as the
"Mountain People" (sanjin, yamando).
These Mountain People took on a paradoxical character. They were vengeful
and bitter towards their fellow country people who had deserted them. But
on the other hand, they also had compassion for those who had surrendered
and been subjected to the Yamato clan. They observed from their hiding
places in the mountains and in time of trouble came to their aid.
People's feeling towards the Mountain People also took on an ambiguous
character. They were frightened and awed by them and would like to forget
them. But they also longed for contact with them. In an attempt to appease
the Mountain People, they brought them food and other gifts. Gradually many
local legends were created about these yamaudo, which came to be confused
with beliefs about the onryo, the vengeful spirits of the deceased.
The amalgamation of people's feeling of fear and awe towards the Mountain
People with the traditional belief in the onryo heightened the religious
sense that the mountains are a holy place, actively haunted by spirits. The
mountains are conceived as the "other world" while the village communities
on the plains are "this world."
This notion of the mountain as the dwelling place of the spirits was
heightened by another traditional belief of the rice-paddy culture: the
mountains have a supernatural power to produce water. This was the source
of the belief that those who go to the mountains for rigorous training are
endowed with a supernatural charisma.
Buddhism in Japan has developed a similar discipline in the mountains. Even
today one hears of someone who has completed the sennichi kaihogyo (the
"discipline of a thousand-day walk around the mountain") on Mr. Hiei in
Kyoto. Those who have completed it are thought to receive a special
spiritual power, so that people approach them to receive the touch of their
hand in order to share in the charisma.
The Buddhist discipline which mingled with traditional Japanese belief in
the spirits and in the mountain as a holy place did not arise during the
first stage of its introduction to Japan from China and Korea. That initial
(Nara) stage, dated to the sixth or seventh century, was centered in the
city of Nara, which is located on a plain, and was primarily scholastic in
its form.
Ninth-century Heian Buddhism, on the other hand, was esoteric in its
perspective and its centers were in the mountains. It was represented by
two mountain temples: that on Mr. Hiei founded by Saicho (the Tendai sect)
and on Mr. Koya by Kunai (the Shingon sect).
(A third movement, Kamakura Buddhism, occurred in the twelfth century and
is represented by three sects: the Jodo sect introduced by Honen, the Shin
sect by Shinran, and the Sodo sect by Dogen.)
Heian Buddhism, with its center in the mountains, was well-indigenized in
the life of the common people. It stimulated people's imaginations about
the haunting vengeful spirits in the mountains, blending with the newly
introduced divine figures of Buddhism such as the image of Hudo
(Acalanatha, god of fire with an angry face, the guardian god of the
temple). This esoteric Buddhism had the greatest influence on traditional
religious belief and created Buddhist-Shinto syncretic religion in Japan.
The traditional spiritual discipline in the mountains was blended with
Buddhism. Once back among the people, the one who undertook the discipline
was seen as a trustworthy person with spiritual power to soothe the
avenging spirits of the dead and other healing gifts, mediating between the
dead and the living.
Among such spiritual ascetics were "wandering charismatics." They were
known by various titles (yugyo, hijiri, gyo-ja, shugo-ja, angya-so among
others). While their exercises were undertaken alone, they wandered through
the people's world, committing themselves to the liberation (salvation) of
the common people in this world. They played the role of spiritual advisor
to the people who would not regard themselves as having attained nirvana or
the state of blessedness. Their role as followers of the way to search for
truth marks them as permanently imperfect, perpetually performing spiritual
disciplines on the way. Because of this status as mediators, they were more
respected and trusted, more relied upon by the common people than the
priests of the official Buddhist hierarchy in the major temples under the
established structure.[1]
Wandering charismatic ascetics and the belief in Bosatsu (Bodhisattva)
Ordinary people in Japan often exhibit a popular devotion to Bosatsu
(Bodhisattva); indeed, this is the most popular piety of the Japanese
people. Bosatsu is understood to be wandering in the world of the common
people. He is the seeker of the truth, remaining in this world,
accompanying the unsaved and sharing their pain. "The people are sick, so
Bodhisattva is sick" (Yuima-kyo). He is willing to accept imperfection,
even though worthy to be perfect with Buddha.
Bodhisattva is one of the lower deities in Buddhism, the image of the
imperfect saint who has not attained nirvana fully, a seeker and wanderer
in this people's world. (Hence the figure of Bosatsu is depicted with a
walking cane in his hand.) He co-exists with Nyorai (Tathagata), the image
of the truth, the highest image who has now acquired the discipline and is
now in nirvana. He is the symbol of the highest deity; but he is not able
to become an intimate figure for ordinary people. Kukai (the Shingon sect)
attempted to teach the doctrine of mystical union with Dainichi-Nyorai
(Maha-Vairocana), who includes and unifies all the deities in himself. But
this teaching was not widely accepted by ordinary Japanese people; they
preferred Bosatsu or characters like him (Kannon, Inari, Amida and others).
While people are identified by their own official religion, they also have
their unofficial religion or private, unorganized piety. Generally, they
are more attached to the latter. Bosatsu belongs in the tradition of the
wandering ascetics; both belong to the reverse side of traditional Japanese
religion. This popular piety is also related to the traditional belief in
the wandering spirits and the Mountain People.
The mission and ministry of the wandering charismatic ascetics (gyo-ja or
shugyou-ja)
The gyo-ja usually came from among the common people, but after completing
their discipline, they were to separate themselves from their home village
and go from place to place working for the welfare of the poor and humble.
Empowered with some charism by their discipline, they went from village to
village and helped those in trouble. There were reports of false gyo-ja,
who appeared on the scene and cheated the people with their fake magic.
Gyo-ja sometimes led insurrections of the village people at times of
oppression by the village rulers or when heavy taxation or forced labor
demanded by landlords became unbearable. If the insurrection failed, the
leader could be arrested as an instigator and was often put to death. The
people, however, would remember him and erect a memorial grave.
During the tenth century, especially at times and places of turmoil, a
strange custom arose among some of the gyo-ja of attempting to bury
themselves alive (dochuu nyuujo, "trader-earth voluntary-death").
Monument graves (tsuka) belonging to gyo-ja can still be found in the
countryside, especially in the northern part of the Japanese mainland.
Legends recall that a solitary gyoja was buried alive for the salvation of
the people of the village, especially for those who suffered in time of
famine, epidemic or flood. This was usually done by the gyo-ja themselves,
entering a cave and remaining in it until death. Sometimes gyo-ja were
caught by the people and forced to be buried alive. They were often
despised as vagrant beggars and treated by the poor people of the village
as scapegoats for their suffering. Yet after their death by forced
sacrifice, the people would build the memorial grave and commemorate them.
Such gyo-ja were usually from poor families, prisoners, beggars,
lower-class warriors' second sons, who themselves experienced life at its
hardest.
Other kinds of gyo-ja or shugyo-ja were active in the religious life of the
common people in caring for their spiritual needs. They co-existed with the
official religion, of which the people were nominally members. But those
religions, the major sects ofth their large temples and organized
hierarchy, represented the public side of religion, imposed by the rulers
and accepted by the people only superficially. In their private life, they
retained another secret religion on which they could rely: that of the
wandering shu-gyo-ja.
Self-satisfied religion and the idolization of imperfect faith: Kanzo
Uchimura (1861-1930) and Toson Shimazaki (1872-1943)
Two characteristics about the reception of Protestant Christianity in Japan
around the time of the Meiji Restoration (1870) should be noted. The first
is that it was mainly of interest to, and accepted by, the intellectuals of
the time--members of the Samurai (Warrior) class. They were members of the
ruling class, and had an austere, simple, honest and "puritanical" spirit.
Second, those Samurai interested in Christianity were the ones who had
failed to achieve positions of leadership in the new imperial government.
They were excluded from the Samurai circles that carried out the reform and
as political allies with the Emperor built the new nation. Hence they
sought other means of reform through the newly accessible Western
knowledge. For that reason they approached the missionaries.
Kanzo Uchimura was one of them. The founder of the Mukyokai (Non-church)
Movement, he was a typical Samurai Christian. He proclaimed his love of
"the two J's": Jesus and Japan. He had a vision of a Japan reformed by
faith in Jesus. He was a nationalist, but as a teacher at the First High
School he refused to pay obeisance to the Emperor and was forced to resign.
As a Christian, he was a man of integrity. Widely respected in Japan beyond
the circle of the Christian community, as an eminent teacher he held
himself aloof and was often considered lacking in tolerance, hardly
approachable by ordinary Christians.
There were other types of intellectuals than the Samurai who also accepted
Christianity: they were writers, poets, novelists and other literary
persons. Toson Shimazaki was one of them. Both Uchimura and Shimazaki were
intellectuals who converted to Christianity, but they took very different
paths.
Well-known as a poet and novelist, Shimazaki was baptized in a Presbyterian
Church in Tokyo while studying at Meijigakuin, a Methodist school. He is
the author of a poem--his own adaptation of Phoebe H. Brown's hymn, "I Love
To Steal a While Away," translated into Japanese by Masahisa Uemura in 1888
and still found in the Japanese Hymnal. Let us compare Shimazaki's poem
with the original. Brown's hymn reads as follows:
I love to steal away
From every cumbering care,
And spend the hours of setting day
In humble, grateful prayer.
I love in solitude to shed
The penitential tear,
And all His promises to plead,
Where none but God can hear.
I love to think on mercies past,
And future good implore,
And all my cares and sorrows cast
On him whom I adore.
I love, by faith, to take a view
Of brighter scenes in heaven;
The prospect doth my strength renew,
While here by tempests driven.
Thus, while life's toilsome day is o'er
May its departing ray
Be calm as this impressive hour
And lead to endless day.
Japanese translation Shimazaki's poem
In evening quietly In evening quietly
To pray To dream
From worldly cares From worldly cares
For a while steal away. For a while steal away.
None but God None but loving yon
Who hears, Who knows,
Prostrate under a tree's shade Retiring under the flowers'
shade
Repent my sin. Wept because of my love.
On mercies past On dreams past
I keep on reflecting, Reflecting,
Of the coming future Love is sin,
For happiness I pray. Sin is love.
Cries and sorrows Prayers and works:
Unto my God From this my sin,
To commend: Into a happy garden
That is joy. I will go.
Pressed down in body, With you loving,
Of this evening hour Hand in hand
The indescribable scene, Even into dark hell
How can I forget? I will rush.
The works of the world
When I finish one day,
At the time of my dying
May I he as calm as this.
Idolization of imperfect faith
The newly introduced Christianity stimulated the realization of the
individual self as a sinful person. But in many cases, this
self-understanding of being a sinful person did not lead to the desire and
hope for liberation or salvation from the state of sinfulness. Instead,
people were satisfied to remain in a state of sin, even romanticizing the
sinful self. Hence being a sinner became an ambiguous and narcissistic
condition. Shimazaki's modified translation of Brown's hymn is a typical
expression of this state of mind.
In his work, "to pray" becomes "to dream," "God" becomes "loving you" and
"sin" is transformed into "love" and viewed in a pleasurable light. This
attitude might be traced to the influence of the traditional Japanese
feelings of mujo and hakanasa ("transitoriness" and "self-pity") as they
appear in the work of classic Japanese poets. But it is more likely to
reflect the people's traditional piety towards Bohatsu (Bodhisattva).
Shimazaki's Christian faith, as we encounter it in his poem, is rather a
corrupted form of the traditional Bosatsu-piety-piety towards the eternal
seeker for the truth in this world, the imperfect spiritual ascetic on the
way.
Uchimura is much respected by Japanese Christians as a great example of
Christian faith, but he is also considered unapproachable by the ordinary
Christian. Many superficial Christians, especially those Japanese Anglicans
best described as "lukewarm" in their faith, seem more attracted by
Shimazaki's version of a Christian lifestyle.
But the traditional piety towards Bohatsu has been kept in an uncorrupted
form by people less marked by intellectual ability, in-eluding victims of
poverty, oppression and discrimination. The majority of Japanese who were
converted to Christianity, representing as they do the intellectual,
well-educated and those of higher social status, hardly endured the misery
of those identified with Bohatsu-piety.
If we compare the features of the ordinary Christian Church in Japan with
Christianity in Korea, where it is growing rapidly and exhibits an
enthusiastic sense of mission and solidarity with the people, we find the
Japanese church more likely to be rather quiet, less enthusiastic (with few
fundamentalists and charismatics among its number), comfortable with its
minority status, and enjoying a comfortable but closed family-style
fellowship. The Nippon Sei Ko Kei (Anglican Church of Japan) might be said
to reflect an ethos closer to that of Shimazaki's acceptance of
imperfection than the more rigorous, and less attainable, perspective of
Uchimura. Perhaps this is the problem of Japanese Christian spirituality
which we are now called to overcome.
1 Zen Buddhism and the life and teaching of Shinran are popularly
identified as typical Japanese Buddhism. Both belong to the third, or
Kamakura, stage of Buddhism in Japan, and both have a refined doctrine and
spirituality. Many Christians find them attractive, and especially Catholic
priests and monks frequently participate in Zen exercises. Generally
speaking, Zen and Shinran's teaching and personality attract well-educated,
sophisticated people and hardly represent the piety of the common people in
Japan.