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Buddhism in Crisis in Japan

July 14th, 2008 Posted in Buddhism, Society, Spirituality
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There is an article in The New York Times today on whether or not Buddhism is dying out in Japan. Buddhism has, especially in recent decades, become strongly associated with the funeral industry in Japan, something that may seem very foreign to Western converts to Buddhism.

As the article states:

When it comes to funerals, though, the Japanese have traditionally been inflexibly Buddhist — so much so that Buddhism in Japan is often called “funeral Buddhism,” a reference to the religion’s former near-monopoly on the elaborate, and lucrative, ceremonies surrounding deaths and memorial services.

But that expression also describes a religion that, by appearing to cater more to the needs of the dead than to those of the living, is losing its standing in Japanese society.

“That’s the image of funeral Buddhism: that it doesn’t meet people’s spiritual needs,” said Ryoko Mori, the chief priest at the 700-year-old Zuikoji Temple here in northern Japan. “In Islam or Christianity, they hold sermons on spiritual matters. But in Japan nowadays, very few Buddhist priests do that.”

Mr. Mori, 48, the 21st head priest of the temple, was unsure whether it would survive into the tenure of a 22nd.

“If Japanese Buddhism doesn’t act now, it will die out,” he said. “We can’t afford to wait. We have to do something.”

I have known or know a few people who have been or are Buddhist priests in Japan and this commentary echoes what they have said. Buddhism is focused around the temples for the priests there and in maintaining these temples. Since they are handed down from generation to generation for many of them, they are often a family business. Since the business end of these temples makes its money from doing funerals, over time, the temples have optimized to this. This business is now dying out as Japanese have more private funerals, funerals in funeral homes, or no funerals at all (just cremating their relatives). This business aspect has been to the detriment of teaching Buddhism, in general, to the populace. Maybe the temples have just taken it for granted but I recall the comment from Suzuki Roshi’s autobiograhy where he and a local Jodo Shinshu priest were discussing how, when they came to America, they were being asked questions (and forced to come up with answers) that never came up during 30 years of being a priest in Japan. It seems that Buddhism, as part of the basic culture historically, has not focused on the teachings and propagating them.

According to the article, part of the issue with the funeral business dying is to do with issues around deriving from World War II, as well:

He said Japanese Buddhism had been sapped of its spiritual side in great part because it had compromised itself during World War II through its close ties with Japan’s military. After Buddhist priests had glorified fallen soldiers and given them special posthumous Buddhist names, talk of pacifism sounded hollow.

Mr. Mori, the priest here, said that after the war there was a desire for increasingly lavish funerals with prestigious Buddhist names. These names — with the highest ranks traditionally given to those who have led honorable lives — are routinely purchased now, regardless of a dead person’s conduct in life.

For me, this whole thing is incredibly saddening. Along with the Tibetans and, for some people, the Thai, the Japanese are one of the nations that come to mind when people think of Buddhism in the last few hundred years. To hear that Buddhism is not doing well there is distressing but I’ve been hearing of it for a while. Stephen Covell’s Japanese Temple Buddhism is focused on much of the business of Buddhism in Japan and its effects.

I wonder what the effects of this will be within the United States. Here, Japanese Buddhism is well established in the form of the Pure Land schools through such groups as the Buddhist Churches of America and through the transplanted Zen sects. I know from my visit to a Shingon temple in Sacramento and the lack of established Tendai temples, for example, that other sects are less well established. There is still the division between the community of Buddhists who are ethnically Japanese and that of converts. The former supports some of the larger established bodies but I believe that they are shrinking over time as children leave their family faiths or otherwise fall away. The Zen groups here are largely composed of converts and come out of the Baby Boom. Up until recently, funerals have been less of a concern and I doubt if contemporary Zen masters are going to transplant Japanese funeral customs here.

I do note that when I go to Buddhist events, at least within the convert community, that Buddhism is graying heavily and that groups that there composed of 20-somethings 30 years ago are now largely composed of 50-somethings. I once asked a Tibetan group that I was with in Seattle, in one of the most vibrant areas of town, why none of the people that were outside our door (20-somethings) ever came to anything at the center and did not find Buddhism interesting or appealing. I found it disconcerting to be over 30 and to, very often, be the youngest person in the room by more than a decade.

We seem to have the dual problems of Buddhism suffering a crisis of relevance in Japan and a crisis of how to continue past its initial surge in the United States. What is the future of Buddhism in both nations? I seriously doubt if it will die out but I can easily see it becoming much less common in places if people don’t address these trends. I don’t think that Buddhism needs to grow or be oriented on growth to survive but it does need to be sustainable.

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    I happened upon your blog googling the article today. You ask some interesting questions and just wanted to comment. First, you did not mention Soka Gakkai when talking about American Buddhist groups. I think you are missing something if you don't count Soka Gakkai as one of the many modern Buddhist movements in Japan and one of the most successful spearheads of Japanese Buddhism in the US. They do not have the problems of separation between Japanese and Americans in the American organization, and I would suggest that it has to do with the evangelical (bodhisattva) attitude encouraged by the organization. I am ambivalent about that organization, but they have introduced Buddhism on a real personal level to more people in America than probably every other Buddhist sect combined. And not just to liberal upper class whites - go to a Soka Gakkai meeting in the US and you will see the full spectrum of America. I know very well the background of Soka Gakkai, having grown up with it (I am no longer associated with them but respect the organization for what it is). I know its controversial foundation in the teachings of a controversial monk, etc. etc., but if you don't consider it as part of the Buddhist movement, you may need to check what you know about them and what your understanding of Mahayana Buddhism is. As far as the state of Buddhism in Japan, I would argue that one of the biggest blows to Japanese Buddhism was dispensing with the requirement of celibacy among the religious. This can be traced back to a few early trends - the growth of lay monks (they seem to have been very influential in places like Mt. Koya) in the medieval period which seems to have contributed to the emergence of the Jodo Shinshu acceptance of marriage for its priests. The blood line succession issues in that sect illustrate the problems that can arise when a religious order founded on celibacy no longer a requires it - the Buddha knew what he was doing when he required his disciples to take up the life of homelessness with celibacy. Of course, it would be unfair to lay the blame for the end of celibacy among the Japanese Buddhist religious on Jodo Shinshu - the laws enacted by Nobunaga and the Tokugawa shogunate did their part to crystalize Buddhist institutions by allowing for the the transfer of temples to children, prohibiting transfer of sectarian allegiances, curtailing of missionary work and proselytizing, etc. Basically, they wanted to remove the sectarian heat from Buddhism, and in doing so, I would argue the spirit was inflicted with a death blow. We are just now seeing the result of centuries of regulation and persecution on the Buddhist establishment. The laws created a captive audience for blood line temples and the clergy got lazy, plain and simple- running the temple became like taking on the family dentistry practice. Yawn. The Meiji Restoration and subsequent imposition of state Shinto also took its toll.
    In the US, I think we will be going into a period of self reflection - if Buddhism is going to take hold and grow, its not going to be propelled forward by new converts - its going to be built by people born into families that converted to Buddhism. The view of Buddhism in a new convert and a person born into it are universes apart. I do hope that Buddhism takes root in America. We need it. And not the new agey hokey Buddhism - we need the real thing. In the very least, we need a taste of the Buddhist pardigm to challenge American/Western assumptions about life and provoke further development - this secular/materialist outlook is taking the meaning out of life, and the fundamental protestant Christianity is too rigid to serve a fertile ground.
    Sorry for being long winded and volunteering more than my fair share of opinions.
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    I am only familiar with the basics about Soka Gakkai. It isn't my cup of tea (nor are the Pure Land sects though I am fortunate to be well acquainted with members of those). The controvery around Soka Gakkai (and the bad experiences of some people that I know) have definitely steered me away but I'm not inclined that way anyway. My own background is as a tantric practitioner through Tibetan Vajrayana and, only in the last couple of years, Japanese traditions. I'm definitely much more on the "meditation and ritual practices" end of Buddhism.

    Generally, where I am in Berkeley, we have various sorts of Chan and Zen of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean origins. We also have quite a few practitioners with local Tibetan Buddhist centers and then we have the more ethnically oriented Buddhist churches because of the large extant Japanese descended population. This is pretty much the case up in Seattle where I am from. I can't recall ever meeting a Soka Gakkai member at any open Dharma events I've attended here or in Seattle, which may lead to some invisibility from my own point of view.
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    When I was regularly attending a sangha I was by far the youngest too and I'm 32. I think for many of the younger generations they are happy to just read books, meditate alone, listen to Dharma talks and have their online sanghas.

    I don't know if either is right or better but the times they are a changing indeed.
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    I think that is two bad. There are a number of reasons why "sangha" is one of the three jewels but I think community is an important part of things. Of course, I say this as someone who occasionally goes to a local zen sangha because my tradition of practice has no sanghas here.
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    If you look back through Onishi's oeuvre you'll find that he has no great interest in Buddhism (he did write a piece back in 1996 on a Temple in Brooklyn). He does, however, have an interest in vaguely leftish, "modernizing" pro-western critiques of what he sees as silliness and backwardness in Japanese culture. He is basically selling a 21st century variety of journalistic orientalism.

    There might be some truth to some of the things that Onishi has to say - but the fact is that he seems to *want* Buddhism to die out, and is simply trying to hurry the process along a little by peddling a very depressing assessment of the current situation.

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