Part 19 (1/2)
XXVII
SOME RELIGIOUS CONCEPTIONS
The conceptions of the common people in regard to deity are chaotic.
They believe in local spirits who are to be wors.h.i.+ped; some of these are of human origin, and some antedate all human life. The G.o.ds of the s.h.i.+nto pantheon are ”yaoyorodzu” in number, eight thousand myriads; yet in their ”norito,” or prayer rituals, reference is made not only to the ”yaoyorodzu” who live in the air, but also to the ”yaoyorodzu”
who live on earth, and even to the ”yaoyorodzu” who live beneath the earth. If we add these together there must be at least twenty-four thousand myriads of G.o.ds. These of course include sun, moon, stars, and all the forces of nature, as well as the spirits of men. Popular Buddhism accepts the G.o.ds of s.h.i.+nto and brings in many more, wors.h.i.+ping not only the Buddha and his immediate ”rakan,” disciples, five hundred in number, but numberless abstractions of ideal qualities, such as the varieties of Kwannon (Avelokitesvara, G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses of mercy), Amida (Amitabha, the ideal of boundless light), Jizo (Ks.h.i.+tigarbha, the helper of those in trouble, lost children, and pregnant women), Emma O (Yama-raja, ruler of Buddhist h.e.l.ls), Fudo (Achala, the ”immovable,” ”unchangeable”), and many others. Popular Buddhism also wors.h.i.+ps every man dead or living who has become a ”hotoke,” that is, has attained Buddhahood and has entered Nirvana.
The G.o.ds of j.a.pan are innumerable in theory and mult.i.tudinous in practice. Not only are there G.o.ds of goodness but also G.o.ds of l.u.s.t and of evil, to whom robbers and harlots may pray for success and blessing.
In the j.a.panese pantheon there is no supreme G.o.d, such, for instance, as the Roman Jupiter, or the Greek Chronos, nor is there a thoroughgoing divine hierarchy.
According to the common view (although there is no definite thought about it), the idea seems to be that the universe with its laws and nature were already existent before the G.o.ds appeared on the scene; they created specific places, such as j.a.pan, out of already existing material. Neither in s.h.i.+nto nor in popular Buddhism is the conception formed of a primal fount of all being with its nature and laws. In this respect j.a.panese thought is like all primitive religious thought.
There is no word in the j.a.panese language corresponding to the English term ”G.o.d.” The nearest approach to it are the Confucian terms ”Jo-tei,” ”Supreme Emperor,” ”Ten,” ”Heaven,” and ”Ten-tei,” ”Heavenly Emperor”; but all of these terms are Chinese, they are therefore of late appearance in j.a.pan, and represent rather conceptions of educated and Confucian cla.s.ses than the ideas of the ma.s.ses. These terms approach closely to the idea of monotheism; but though the doctrine may be discovered lying implicit in these words and ideas it was never developed. Whether ”Heaven” was to be conceived as a person, or merely as fate, was not clearly thought out; some expressions point in one direction while others point in the other.
I may here call attention to a significant fact in the history of recent Christian work in j.a.pan. Although the serious-minded j.a.panese is first attracted to Christianity by the character of its ethical thought--so much resembling, also so much surpa.s.sing that of Confucius, it is none the less true that monotheism is another powerful source of attraction. I have been repeatedly told by Christians that the first religious satisfaction they ever experienced was upon their discovery of monotheism. How it affected Dr. Neesima, readers of his life cannot have overlooked. He is a type of mult.i.tudes. In the earlier days of Christian work many felt that they had become Christians upon rejection of polytheism and acceptance of monotheism. And in truth they were so far forth Christian, although they knew little of Christ, and felt little need of His help as a personal Saviour. The weakness of the Church in recent years is due in part, I doubt not, to the acceptance into its members.h.i.+p of numbers who were, properly speaking, monotheistic, but not in the complete sense of the term Christian. Their discovery later that more was needed than the intellectual acceptance of monotheism ere they could be considered, or even be, truly ”Christian,” has led many such ”believers” to abandon their relations with the Church. This, while on many accounts to be regretted, was nevertheless inevitable. The bare acceptance of the monotheistic idea does not secure that transformation of heart and produce that warmth of living faith which are essential elements in the altruistic life demanded of the Christian.
Nor is it difficult to understand why monotheism has proved such an attraction to the j.a.panese when we consider that through it they first recognized a unity in the universe and even in their own lives.
Nature, and human nature took on an intelligibility which they never had had under the older philosophy. History likewise was seen to have a meaning and an order, to say nothing of a purpose, which the non-Christian faiths did not themselves see and could not give to their devotees. Furthermore the monotheistic idea furnished a satisfactory background and explanation for the exact sciences. If there is but one G.o.d, who is the fount and cause of all being, it is easy to see why the truths of science should be universal and absolute, rather than local and diverse, as they would be were they subject to the jurisdiction of various local deities. The universality of nature's laws was inconceivable under polytheism. Monotheism thus found a ready access to many minds. Polytheism pure and simple is the belief of no educated j.a.panese to-day. He is a monist of some kind or other. Philosophic Buddhism always was monistic, but not monotheistic.
Thinking Confucianists were also monistic. But neither philosophic Buddhism nor Confucianism emphasized their monistic elements; they did not realize the importance to popular thought of monistic conceptions.
But possessing these ideas, and being now in contact with aggressive Christian monotheism, they are beginning to emphasize this truth.
As j.a.pan has had no adequate conception of G.o.d, her conception of man has been of necessity defective. Indeed, the cause of her inadequate conception of G.o.d is due in large measure to her inadequate conception of man, which we have seen to be a necessary consequence of the primitive communal order. Since, however, we have already given considerable attention to j.a.pan's inadequate conception of man, we need do no more than refer to it in this connection.
Corresponding to her imperfect doctrines of G.o.d and of man is her doctrine of sin. That the j.a.panese sense of sin is slight is a fact generally admitted. This is the universal experience of the missionary. Many j.a.panese with whom I have conversed seem to have no consciousness of it whatever. Indeed, it is a difficult matter to speak of to the j.a.panese, not only because of the etiquette involved, but for the deeper reason of the deficiency of the language. There exists no term in j.a.panese which corresponds to the Christian word ”sin.” To tell a man he is a sinner without stopping to explain what one means would be an insult, for he is not conscious of having broken any of the laws of the land. Yet too much stress must not be laid on this argument from the language, for the Buddhistic vocabulary furnishes a number of terms which refer to the crime of transgressing not the laws of the land, but those of Buddha.
In s.h.i.+nto, sin is little, if anything, more than physical impurity.
Although Buddhism brought a higher conception of religion for the initiated few, it gave no help to the ignorant mult.i.tudes, rather it riveted their superst.i.tions upon them. It spoke of law indeed, and l.u.s.t and sin; and of dreadful punishments for sin; but when it explained sin it made its nature too shallow, being merely the result of mental confusion; salvation, then, became simply intellectual enlightenment; it also made the consequences of sin too remote and the escape from them too easy. The doctrine of ”Don,” suddenness of salvation, the many external and entirely formal rites, short pilgrimages to famous shrines, the visiting of some neighboring temple having miniature models of all the other efficacious shrines throughout the land, the wearing of charms, the buying of ”o fuda,”
and even the single utterance of certain magic prayers, were taught to be quite enough for the salvation of the common man from the worst of sins. Where release is so easily obtained, the estimate of the heinousness of sin is correspondingly slight. How different was the consciousness of sin and the conception of its nature developed by the Jewish wors.h.i.+p with its system of sin offerings! Life for life.
Whatever we may think of the efficacy of offering an animal as an expiation for sin, it certainly contributed far more toward deepening the sense of sin than the rites in common practice among the Buddhists. So far as I know, human or animal sacrifice has never been known in j.a.pan.
In response to the not unlikely criticism that sacrifice is the result of profound sense of sin and not its cause, I reply that it is both.
The profound sense is the experience of the few at the beginning; the practice educates the mult.i.tudes and begets that feeling in the nation.
Ceremonial purification is an old rite in j.a.pan. In this connection we naturally think of the ”Chozu-bachi” which may be found before every s.h.i.+nto shrine, containing the ”holy water” with which to rinse the mouth and wash the hands. Pilgrims and wors.h.i.+pers invariably make use of this water, wiping their hands on the towels provided for the purpose by the faithful. To our eyes, few customs in j.a.pan are more conducive to the spread of impurity and infectious disease than this rite of ceremonial purification. No better means could be devised for the wide dissemination of the skin diseases which are so common. The reformed religion of New j.a.pan--whether Buddhist, s.h.i.+nto, or Christian--could do few better services for the people at large than by entering on a crusade against this religious rite. It could and should preach the doctrine that sin and defilement of the hearts are not removed by such an easy method as the rite implies and the ma.s.ses believe. If retained as a symbol, the purification rite should at least be reformed as a practice.
Whether the use of purificatory water is to be traced to the sense of moral or spiritual sin is doubtful to my mind; in view of the general nature of primitive s.h.i.+nto. The interpretation given the system by W.E. Griffis, in his volume on the ”Religions of j.a.pan,” is suggestive, but in view of all the facts does not seem conclusive.
”One of the most remarkable features of s.h.i.+nto” he writes, ”was the emphasis laid on cleanliness. Pollution was calamity, defilement was sin, and physical purity at least was holiness. Everything that could in any way soil the body or clothing was looked upon with abhorrence and detestation.”[CE] The number of specifications given in this connection is worthy of careful perusal. But it is a strange nemesis of history that the sense of physical pollution should develop a religious rite fitted to become the very means for the dissemination of physical pollution and disease.
j.a.panese personal cleanliness is often connected in the descriptions of foreigners with ceremonial purification, but the facts are much exaggerated. In contrast to nearly if not quite all non-Christian peoples, the j.a.panese are certainly astonis.h.i.+ngly cleanly in their habits. But it is wholly unnecessary to exaggerate the facts. The ”tatami,” or straw-mats, an inch or more in thickness, give to the room an appearance of cleanliness which usually belies the truth. The mult.i.tudes of fleas that infest the normal j.a.panese home are convincing proof of the real state of the ”tatami.” There are those who declare that a j.a.panese crowd has the least offensive odor of any people in the world. One writer goes so far as to state that not only is there no unpleasant odor whatever, but that there is even a pleasant intimation of lavender about their exhalations. This exactly contradicts my experience. Not to mention the offensive oil with which all women anoint their hair to give it l.u.s.ter and stiffness, the j.a.panese habit of wearing heavy cotton wadded clothing, with little or no underwear, produces the inevitable result in the atmosphere of any closed room. In cold weather I always find it necessary to throw open all the doors and windows of my study or parlor, after Bible cla.s.ses of students or even after the visits of cultured and well-to-do guests. That the j.a.panese bathe so frequently is certainly an interesting fact and a valuable feature of their civilization; it indicates no little degree of cleanliness; but for that, their clothing would become even more disagreeable than it is, and the evil effect upon themselves of wearing soiled garments would be much greater. In point of fact, their frequent baths do not wholly remove the need of change in clothing. To a j.a.panese the size of the weekly wash of a foreigner seems extravagant.
As to the frequent bathing, its cleanliness is exaggerated by Western thought, for instead of supplying fresh water for each person, the j.a.panese public baths consist usually of a large tank used by mult.i.tudes in common. Clean water is allowed for the face, but the main tank is supplied with clean hot water only once each day. In k.u.mamoto, schoolgirls living with us invariably asked permission to go to the bath early in the day that they might have the first use of the water. They said that by night it was so foul they could not bear to use it. Each hotel has its own private bath for guests; this is usually heated in the afternoon, and the guests take their baths from four o'clock on until midnight, the waiting girls of the hotel using it last. My only experience with public baths has been mentioned already. At first glance the conditions were rea.s.suring, for a large stream of hot water was running in constantly, and the water in the tank itself was quite transparent. But on entering I was surprised, not to say horrified, to see floating along the margin of the tank and on the bottom of it suggestive proofs of previous bathers. On inquiry I learned that the tank was never washed out, nor the water entirely discharged at a single time; the natural overflow along the edge of the tank being considered sufficient. In the interest of accuracy it is desirable to add that New j.a.pan is making progress in the matter of public baths. In some of the larger cities, I am told, provision is sometimes made for entirely fresh water for each bather in separate bathrooms.
In view of these facts--as unpleasant to mention as they are essential to a faithful description of the habits of the people--it is clear that the ”horror of physical impurity” has not been, and is not now, so great as some would have us believe. Whatever may have been the condition in ancient times, it would be difficult to believe that the rite of ceremonial purification could arise out of the present practices and habits of thought. One may venture the inquiry whether the custom of using the ”purificatory water” may not have been introduced from abroad.
But whatever be the present thought of the people, on the general subject of sin, it may be shown to be due to the prevailing system of ideas, moral and religious, rather than to the inherent racial character. In an interesting article by Mr. G. Takahas.h.i.+ on the ”Past, Present, and Future of Christianity in j.a.pan” I find the statement that the preaching of the monks who came to j.a.pan in the sixteenth century was of such a nature as to produce a very deep consciousness of sin among the converts. ”The Christians or martyrs repeatedly cried out 'we miserable sinners,' 'Christ died for us,' etc., as their letters abundantly prove. It was because of this that their consciences were aroused by the burning words of Christ, and kept awake by means of contrition and confession.” Among modern Christians the sense of sin is much more clear and p.r.o.nounced than among the unconverted. Individual instances of extreme consciousness of sin are not unknown, especially under the earlier Protestant preaching. If the Christians of the last decade have less sense of sin, it is due to the changed character of recent preaching, in consequence of the changed conception of Christianity widely accepted in Protestant lands. Who will undertake to say that Christians in New England of the nineteenth century have the same oppressive sense of sin that was customary in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries? The sense of sin is due more to the character of the dominant religious ideas of the age than to brain structure or to race nature. I cannot agree with Mr.
Takahas.h.i.+ that ”To be religious one needs a Semitic tinge of mind.” It is not a question of mind, of race nature, but of dominant ideas.