Shinshukyo

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Shinshukyo

Postby GrahamB on Thu Nov 21, 2019 4:28 am

Do you like obscure Japanese religions? You do? Well you'll love this. We just released an episode about one of the Shinshukyo called Pana-Wave.

https://www.hereticspodcast.com/2019/11 ... pana-wave/

(Apologies for the mobile phone noise at the start, it doesn't last for the whole episode and I've fixed it going forward).
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Re: Shinshukyo

Postby GrahamB on Fri Nov 22, 2019 2:51 pm

My mind is constantly boggled by how much stuff he knows. 8-)
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Re: Shinshukyo

Postby greytowhite on Sat Nov 23, 2019 9:50 am

I've only scratched some of the surface of this from research into reiki. As a 6th generation Hirai Reiki practitioner I have done some research more into the Japanese side of things. The 1st symbol is connected to Omoto Kyo, the 2nd symbol is the Amitabha Buddha, the 3rd symbol is in reference to your personal soul, the 4th is the universal soul scroll of light and is seen in other Japanese "new" spiritual movements including Johrei.
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Re: Shinshukyo

Postby edededed on Tue Nov 26, 2019 11:50 pm

Most Japanese know very little about obscure Japanese religions. ;)
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Re: Shinshukyo

Postby greytowhite on Wed Nov 27, 2019 9:19 am

edededed wrote:Most Japanese know very little about obscure Japanese religions. ;)


Indeed, it's pretty rare stuff. We were given a whole load of shit info for a long time. A LOT of the local massage therapists have connections to SGI. Thankfully there are people out there who have researched this extensively.

https://www.amazon.com/This-Reiki-Trans ... 940985012/
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Re: Shinshukyo

Postby edededed on Wed Nov 27, 2019 5:07 pm

SGI is probably not the best source of information about anything (not even Nichiren-shu)...

But anyway, most Japanese are apathetic or antipathetic toward religion, meaning that they in general know even less than foreigners might.
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Re: Shinshukyo

Postby Ian C. Kuzushi on Wed Nov 27, 2019 5:24 pm

edededed wrote:SGI is probably not the best source of information about anything (not even Nichiren-shu)...

But anyway, most Japanese are apathetic or antipathetic toward religion, meaning that they in general know even less than foreigners might.


I certainly agree on the first count. As for the second, I think that this is a reasonable assessment for someone coming from a Judeo-Christian background. But, I don't think religion in different parts of the world operated universally in terms of worship, practice, or belief. I remember attending a meeting of a fishing cooperative in Wakayama prefecture a couple of years ago. It was to be held in a community building on the local shrine grounds. We had to move the location because one of the member's relatives had died a few weeks before. I asked him a few days later if he was religious (we had gotten to know each other by then and were sharing a few), and, more specifically, "Do you believe in Shinto?" He said, not really. That would have seemed like apathy to me when I was young (Catholic school, etc...), but I now think that religion has simply functioned in a far more practical form for most people in Japan since before recorded history. It's more cultural than political. Of course, you have plenty of cases of highly politicized religion, but this was generally the elites rather than the commoners, who, by the classical period if not earlier, were using various religions to suit various needs, often quite practical and this-worldly. I have quite a few friends who attend Buddhist funerals, Shinto New Years and other annual days of worship, and yet were married in a Church. Famed novelist, Endo Shusaku, derided this as what he named "the swamp" of Japanese religion. He was a Catholic. I take a slightly less cynical view of it.
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Re: Shinshukyo

Postby edededed on Wed Nov 27, 2019 6:48 pm

Thanks for your view, Ian. By apathy, I mean that in general people are not very curious to learn about religions; by antipathy, I mean that many people look at religion with suspicion. They do however follow rituals especially if these are supported by the community - they do not often look deeper and wonder "why" though, or explore out of it. In some ways this can be seen as practical; others might say it is more ritual. For example, Buddhist chanting is generally done in a way that is not easily comprehensible by the chanters, due to the strange readings and archaic writings used - this is similar to how Christian litury used to be done in Latin; in English or local languages now, it is less ritual, more emotional. Cynical people would criticize the long funerals (with many rituals following) here as "farming" the populace for as much money as they can, as unlike Christian churches Buddhists do not visit temples weekly and thus there is little chance to receive offerings on a regular basis - is this an extension of practicality? Christian-themed weddings became popular, I hear, at least in part due to a dress designer's popularization of the "white dress" (cleverly, she had people change from kimono to white dress mid-wedding - so that the kimono producers would not get angry for their losses, too - but ironically kimonos at weddings have eventually become quite rare now, so the kimono producers definitely lost a lot ultimately).

I do know some religious Buddhists in Japan - though they generally remain very quiet about it (except the SGI folks around election times). Incidentally I am quite curious about Catholics in Japan, including some prominent folks, as they hardly ever mention it!
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Re: Shinshukyo

Postby greytowhite on Fri Nov 29, 2019 1:40 pm

edededed wrote:SGI is probably not the best source of information about anything (not even Nichiren-shu)...

But anyway, most Japanese are apathetic or antipathetic toward religion, meaning that they in general know even less than foreigners might.


Indeed, that's why I prefaced it with a lot of us get fed a load of shit. I avoided that one thankfully. Indeed, I've found that many people who grew up in Asia have less knowledge of their traditional culture than your average Sinophile or Weeaboo.
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Re: Shinshukyo

Postby edededed on Fri Nov 29, 2019 7:38 pm

Weeaboo - new word for me!

But yeah, without a reason to seek cultural knowledge, most won't do it. The media in general (in Asia) is focused anyway on money, famous people, gourmet, and travel, so that is what most people know about.
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Re: Shinshukyo

Postby Ian C. Kuzushi on Fri Nov 29, 2019 8:22 pm

While I agree that academics or even smart hobbyists will might have a broader and deeper understanding of the history and culture in many respects, I feel that the Japanese (and from what I have seen Chinese and Vietnamese) media and popular culture puts a decent amount of time, money, and effort into all sorts of historical and cultural pursuits. There are tons of popular jidai-geki (like the hugely expensive annual Taiga Drama on NHK!), popular manga and anime, and other shows that tie in historical factoids, characters, and events. The amount of money spent on religious and historical travel is also considerable.

Americans are at least as ignorant of their own past as the Japanese, I'd venture to say.
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Re: Shinshukyo

Postby edededed on Mon Dec 02, 2019 7:24 pm

History - yes, especially since Japanese history (and geography) is a big part of much of the many examinations from elementary school onwards. As it starts so young, people seem to remember very well in general!

Jidai-geki seem more popular with the old than the young, though. Strangely Korean historical dramas seem more popular with the young there than Japanese historical dramas.
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Re: Shinshukyo

Postby Ian C. Kuzushi on Mon Dec 02, 2019 9:06 pm

edededed wrote:History - yes, especially since Japanese history (and geography) is a big part of much of the many examinations from elementary school onwards. As it starts so young, people seem to remember very well in general!

Jidai-geki seem more popular with the old than the young, though. Strangely Korean historical dramas seem more popular with the young there than Japanese historical dramas.


Wow! That is really interesting. Do you think that is tied into the popularity of K-pop and K-dramas? I was never very into pop culture, and am even less so now that my time in Japan is generally spent with professionals and scholars rather than other students. So, I have lost the already weak bead I had on popular culture aside from what I read in the news and pick up from students here in Chicago.
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Re: Shinshukyo

Postby edededed on Mon Dec 02, 2019 9:25 pm

My feeling is that k-dramas are quite common on TV, so there is also more choice compared to jidai-geki. They probably feel newer and thus more fun than the stuffy old Taiga dramas, etc. K-pop seems more niche than K-dramas to me. Many women in their 30s-50s or so seem to enjoy K-dramas. You can also see the difference in foreign language learners - if I remember correctly, Korean is most popular for women, while it is quite low for men. (Korean language classes are typically full of women, with maybe one man.)

Definitely true that your experiences in Japan are probably quite different from mine!
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