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November 12, 2008

Dear editor(s)

In regard to the article online at

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/14/wo...a/14japan.html entitled, "In Japan, Buddhism May Be Dying Out."

I must say, as a life long Buddhist from the US, who has now lived in Japan for the past 4 years, there could be nothing further from the truth.

Buddhism in Japan is defiantly not dieing out. Buddhism is alive and flourishing in Japan!

I have been to Soka Gakkai ([SGI] the largest lay Buddhist organization in the world, with millions of members in Japan alone) meetings all over Japan.

The article claims, "…interest in Buddhism is declining in urban areas." This has been disproven by the large growth of SGI members in both urban and rural areas, where new community centers are opening all the time.

For the 3 years I lived in Sendai (two hours north east of Tokyo by bullet train), the 10th largest city in Japan, I have been to international meetings with groups of people from many countries practicing Buddhism in Japan.

I have been asked to speak or perform at 7 different SGI community centers through out Sendai in front of audiences ranging from 100s of people to smaller gathering of just a hand full of people. I have also participated in a number of group, Buddhist, discussion meetings in people's homes all over Sendai. On top of that, I organized a monthly English Buddhist study meeting in Sendai that kept increasing in monthly participation.

I also had two opportunities to travel to the Itoh Peninsula (south of Tokyo) to take part in the annual English-speaking, Buddhist 2-day seminars, which takes place every October. Each time I went, I met English-speaking, Buddhist members who live all over Japan, who have had similar experiences I've had in Sendai.

I also have been to many large and small SGI Buddhist meetings throughout Tokyo, in Hachioji City, Shinanomachi City and in other areas of metropolitan Tokyo. In all these meetings there was a large participation from not only young and old Japanese people, but from people from all over the world, who are now living in Japan, or who were just visiting Japan.

After living in Sendai, I recently moved to Niigata (which is a smaller city than Sendai) but I have seen the same active participation of SGI members in Buddhist meetings in people's homes and at the many community centers I've visited in Niigata City, Nagaoka City, Sanjo City and Shibata City.

Elsewhere, in both Sendai and Niigata, I have had the opportunity to speak at gathering of junior high school and high school members of the SGI, where hundreds of young people were gathered to study and practice Buddhism very enthusiastically.

I have many SGI friends from around the world, who are now living in even more remote places in Japan than I have lived, like Aomori, who share with me the great participation they are witnessing of young and old Buddhist practitioners in many Buddhist prayer, study and discussion activities in their areas.

This article misses the main point that priesthoods in Japan are dieing out due to the incredible growth of Buddhist lay organizations in Japan and this is a very welcome thing to the growth of Buddhism in Japan and to the great evolution of Buddhism in Japan.

Buddhism was never meant to be horded by one class or caste of society. The most famous Buddhist teacher in Japanese history, Nichiren (1222-1282), although a monk, didn't have a temple, yet he had loyal follows all over Japan, whom he met on his two exiles, first on the Izu Peninsula, and then on the Island of Sado (off of Niigata). He also converted many followers to his form of Buddhism on his journeys from Kamakura, the Shogun capital at the time, to the main seat of Buddhism for many centuries, Mt. Hiei in Kyoto, where he studied in the top Buddhist sutra libraries at Enryaku-ji Temple.

Shakyamuni, the historical Buddha of India also had no formal temple for most of his 50 years of teaching Buddhism. He traveled all over what is now India and Nepal on foot. He conducted outdoor seminars, meditation retreats, and question and answer sessions at Eagle Peak and in the bamboo grove, among other places.

The institutionalization of Buddhism into professional clergy, who hide away in temples and monasteries and are removed from everyday life, is reminiscent of one branch of Buddhism (Theravada), which has been labeled by its critics, Hinayana (meaning lesser vehicle). The other branch of Buddhism, Mahayana (meaning greater vehicle) is a branch of Buddhism, which believes Buddhism should be an active part of the practitioners' daily lives.

In this article, Norimitsu Onishi, states the statistics:

"In 1999, 62 percent still held funerals at home or in temples, while 30 percent chose funeral homes, according to the Consumers' Association. But in 2007, the preferences were reversed, with 28 percent selecting funerals at home or in temples, and 61 percent opting for funeral homes."

However, he may not be aware of what has contributed to this drastic change. In 1999, the Nichiren Shoshu Priesthood, which enjoyed the greatest growth of any sect in Japan after World War II (thanks to its affiliation with the Soka Gakkai) decided to excommunicate the 10 million plus Soka Gakkai members. Since then, those millions of SGI members in Japan and around the world have discovered that having priests be involved in funerals is a useless formality, which has no basis in the Buddhist sutras.

Over the past 9 years, since what we in the SGI now call our "independence day" from the Nichiren Shoshu's form of "funeral Buddhism," the SGI has not seen any decline in participation in our activities. We have seen the same growth that has been occurring since our organization was founded before World War II.

If the interviewed chief priest, from the article, Giju Sakamoto of Chorakuji in Akita, went down the street to one of the local Akita SGI Community Centers, he would see that Buddhism is still flourishing in his area as well.

In the Lotus Sutra, which is the preeminent text of many sects of Buddhism in Japan, the historical Buddha (Shakyamuni) states, "In the beginning, I made a vow to make all people equal to me, with no distinctions."

Priesthoods have been formalities that have existed long before Buddhism came into existence. They are a product of caste and feudalistic societies-a formality that Buddhism should have shaken a long time ago, in order to live up to Shakyamuni's vow.

In Buddhism, all people are Buddhas and there should be no distinctions between priests and laity, nor between male of female priest or male or female lay persons (perhaps this is why the first person to attain enlightenment in the Lotus Sutra was a women [the dragon king's daughter]).

The growth of lay Buddhist organizations in Japan, along with the development of the printing press, universal literacy, and now the internet has superannuated the need for professional religious people in Buddhism or in any other religion.

Historically, the priesthood's role in Buddhism has been to copy, transcribe, and translate Buddhist texts and to interpret them for the illiterate public.

This was needed in a feudalistic society, where most people were illiterate and most people worked all day and they only had one day each week (if that) to get involved in religions activities.

Devoid of a legitimate purpose by the above-mentioned developments of society, we have seen priesthoods in many religions fall into decadence. The death of "funeral Buddhism" in Japan will hopefully start a wave of the death of priesthoods in all religions, which are no longer needed in our modern world. This will hopefully be the awakening of religions to their true purpose, which is the spiritual enhancement of lay people's everyday lives and the betterment of society.


Timothy Harada

www.tvc-16.com

Timothy Harada's new all original band, "Southern California Sunshine" does an incredible debut performance at the Jozenji Jazz Fest.

Watch Timothy live and unplugged in a living room show in Sendai, Japan.

Another great video of Timothy's new all original band's debut at the Jozenji Street Jazz Festival.

Watch as the Japanese blogs start to pick up on daDoodz performances in Sendai