Japan: Swords and Butterflies - The Wise World Traveler: Becoming a Part of All that You Meet - page 261

prayers and entreaties can be inscribed. Some speak to profound human aspiration: “May I
live a just and honorable life.” Others address more worldly concerns: “May I receive good
grades on my examinations.”
Shintoism does not demand moral absolutes (no Koranic injunctions or Ten Com-
mandments). In their place it offers moral and spiritual pathways: be grateful for the bless-
ings of the gods and the benefits of ancestors; be helpful to others without expecting re-
ward; and pray that the nation may prosper and that others may live in peace.
Shinto priests perform marriage ceremonies, but they do not preside over funerals.
Death is an impurity, an affront to eternal longings. There are no Shinto cemeteries. Death
is the domain of Buddhists.
WHAT IS JAPANESE BUDDHISM?
Sometime around 480 BCE, when Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, lay dying, his dis-
ciples pressed around him, seeking reassurance, pleading for further enlightenment. [236] “I
am not a god,” he said. “Find enlightenment within your person. Be a lamp unto your-
self.” And with those words, he entered the blessed state of Nirvana (literally, blowing out;
the blowing out of desire, the source of suffering), the release of the human spirit into the
infinite, spared the pain and suffering of the endless cycle of reincarnation. Basic to the
Buddha's teachings are two principles: Kharma and Dharma . Kharma is the universal law
of cause and effect: every bad deed produces bad consequences . Dharma is duty to one-
self, to follow such pathways to enlightenment as one can find. As bad deeds multiply,
Kharma condemns the bad-deed doer to an endless round of reincarnation and suffering.
Conversely, it brings the good-deed doer to Nirvana.
Most people seek some form of immortality, some reassurance that there is life after
death. Those seeking reassurance find guidance in another version of the Buddha's death.
As he lay dying, he is said to have taken a leaf from the tree under which he lay: “Just
as this leaf has many veins and the tree from which it comes has many leaves and many
branches, so there are other pathways to salvation.” Over the centuries, the austere branch
of Buddhism has become known as Minhayana, literally the smaller vehicle, appealing to
only a few. The Buddhism of many branches is Mahayana, the greater vehicle. Japanese
Buddhism is Mahayana, with several branches and sects.
Characteristic of Mahayana is belief in Bodhisattva, an enlightened spirit worthy of
salvation who has postponed entry to Nirvana to assist others in their own salvation. Bod-
hisattvas are themselves objects of prayer; their statues surround those of the Buddha who
himself is prayed to as a god. In Japan, several forms of Buddhism proliferate. The Tendai
sect (founded in the early 800s) believes the world to be the province of demons in bodily
form that must be placated by special prayers and rituals. In contrast, the Pure Land school
of Buddhism knows the afterlife to be a paradise of joy. Prayers are offered to Amida, a