X Международная студенческая научная конференция Студенческий научный форум - 2018

Shintoism is traditional religion in Japan. It is based on the animistic beliefs of the ancient Japanese. Objects of worship are the numerous deities and spirits of the deceased. Religion has experienced in its development a significant influence of Buddhism.

The basis of the Shinto is the deification of natural forces and phenomena and the worship of them. It is believed that many things have their own spiritual essence – Kami. Kami can exist on the Earth in a material object, and not necessarily in a one that is generally considered alive in the standard sense, for example, in a tree, a stone, a sacred place or a phenomenon of nature, and under certain conditions may be in divine dignity. Some kami are the spirits of the terrain or certain natural objects (for example, the spirit of a particular mountain), others personify global natural phenomena, such as Amaterasu Omikami, the goddess of the sun. Kami are regarded as patrons of families and clans, as well as spirits of deceased ancestors, who are considered patrons and protectors of their descendants. Shinto includes magic, totemism, faith in the effectiveness of various talismans and amulets. It is considered possible to protect against hostile kami or subjecting them to special rituals.

The main spiritual principle of Shinto is life in harmony with nature and people. According to the ideas of the Shinto, the world is a single natural environment where the Kami, the people and the souls of the dead live side by side. Kami are immortal and included in the cycle of birth and death, through which everything in the world is constantly renewed. However, the current cycle is not infinite, but exists only before the destruction of the earth, after which it will acquire other forms. In the Shinto, there is no concept of salvation, instead everyone determines his natural place in the world with his feelings, motivations and actions.

Shinto cannot be considered a dualistic religion, and there is no general strict law inherent in Abrahamic religions. The concepts of Shinto about good and evil differ significantly from European (Christian), above all, their relativity and concreteness. So, the enmity between antagonistic in nature or keeping personal grievances kami is considered natural and does not make any of the opponents undoubtedly "good", the other is certainly "bad". In ancient Shinto, good and evil were denoted by the terms yoshi and asi, the meaning of which is not the spiritual absolute, as in European morality, but only what should be avoided and what should be sought to avoid tsumi - socially blamed, harmful to people, distorting the nature of human action.

If a person acts with a sincere, open heart, perceives the world as he is, if his behavior is respectful and faultless, then he most likely does good, at least towards himself and his social group. Virtue is recognized as sympathy for others, respect for elders in terms of age and position, the ability to "live among people" - to maintain a sincere and friendly relationship with everyone who surrounds the person and makes up his society. Anger, selfishness, rivalry for the sake of rivalry, intolerance are censured. All that violates the social order, destroys the harmony of the world and interferes with the service of Kami is considered evil.

The soul of man is initially good and sinless, the world is originally good (that is correct, though not necessarily blessed), but evil, which invades from the outside, is brought by evil spirits, using human weaknesses, its temptations and unworthy thoughts. Thus, evil, in the Shinto view, is a kind of disease of the world or man. The creation of evil (that is, harm) is unnatural for a person, a person creates evil when he is deceived or subjected to self-deception, when he cannot or does not know how to feel happy living among people when his life is bad and wrong.

Since there is no absolute good and evil, only a man can distinguish one from another, and for a correct judgment he needs an adequate perception of reality ("a heart like a mirror") and an alliance with the deity. Such a state a person can achieve by living right and not committing "tsumi".

There are several versions of the origin of the Shinto: the export of this religion at the dawn of our era from the continental states (ancient China and Korea), the emergence of the Shinto directly on the Japanese islands since the times of Jomon, etc. It can be noted that animistic beliefs are typical for all known cultures at a certain stage of development , but over time, but became, only partially modified, the basis of state religion.

The formation of Shinto as a national and state religion of the Japanese is dated to the 7th-8th centuries AD. e., when the country was united under the rule of the rulers of the central region of Yamato. In the process of combining the Shinto, a system of mythology was canonized in which, at the top of the hierarchy, was the goddess of the Sun Amaterasu, declared the ancestor of the ruling imperial dynasty, and the local and clan gods took a subordinate position. The code of laws "Taihoryo" appeared in 701, approved this provision and established the jingikan - the main administrative body, which was responsible for all matters related to religious beliefs and ceremonies. An official list of state religious holidays was established.

Empress Gammay ordered to compile a set of myths of all nationalities living on the Japanese islands. On this order in 712 the chronicle of "Records about the deeds of antiquity" is created, and in 720 - "Annals of Japan". These mythological arches became the main texts in Shinto, some similarity of sacred scripture. When they were compiled, the mythology was somewhat corrected in the spirit of the national unification of all the Japanese and the justification of the power of the ruling dynasty. In 947 the "Enghisika" code appeared, containing a detailed exposition of the ritual part of the state shinto - the order of rituals, necessary accessories for them, lists of gods for each temple, texts of prayers. Finally, in 1087, the official list of state churches supported by the imperial house was approved. The state temples were divided into three groups: the first consisted of seven sanctuaries directly connected with the gods of the imperial dynasty, the second - seven temples having the greatest significance from the point of view of history and mythology, the third - eight temples of the most influential clan and local gods.

Already the initial unification of Shinto in a single nation-wide religion occurred under the strong influence of Buddhism, which penetrated into Japan in the 6th-7th centuries. Since Buddhism was very popular with the Japanese aristocracy, everything was done to prevent interreligious conflicts. At first Kami were declared patrons of Buddhism, later some Kami became associated with Buddhist saints. In the end, there was an idea that Kami, like people, might need salvation, which is achieved in accordance with the Buddhist canons.

On the territory of Shinto temple complexes, Buddhist temples began to be located, where appropriate rituals were held, Buddhist sutras were read directly in Shinto shrines. Especially the influence of Buddhism began to manifest itself from the IX century, when Buddhism became the state religion of Japan. At that time, many elements of the Buddhist cult were transferred to Shinto. In the sanctuaries of the Shinto images of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas began to appear, new holidays began to be celebrated, details of rituals, ritual objects, architectural features of the churches were borrowed. There were mixed Shinto-Buddhist teachings, such as sanno-shinto and ryo-shinto, who view Kami as manifestations of the Buddhist Vairochana - "the buddha that pervades the whole universe", that is, the buddhas are primary, and the kami are their Japanese incarnations.

Ideologically, the influence of Buddhism was manifested in the fact that the concept of achieving harmony with the Kami through purification appeared in the Shinto, which meant the elimination of all superfluous, all-encompassing, all that prevents a person from perceiving the world around him as he really is. The heart of a man who has been purified, like a mirror, reflects the world in all its manifestations and becomes the heart of the Kami. A person with a divine heart lives in harmony with the world and gods, and a country where people seek purification is prosperous. At the same time, with the traditional attitude to rituals for the Shinto, real action was put on the first place, and not ostentatious religious zeal and prayers.

Shinto is a deeply national Japanese religion and in a sense personifies the Japanese nation, its customs, character and culture. The centuries-old cultivation of the Shinto as the main ideological system and the source of rituals has led to the fact that nowadays a significant part of the Japanese perceive rituals, holidays, traditions, attitudes, the rules of the Shinto as not elements of a religious cult, but cultural traditions of their people. This situation creates a paradoxical situation: on the one hand, literally the whole life of Japan, all its traditions are permeated with Shinto, on the other - only a few of the Japanese consider themselves to be adherents of the Shinto.

But despite the fact that Shinto is a deeply national religion, there are a small number of followers of this religion outside of Japan. They are scattered all over the world, and mostly come from Japan or simply ethnic Japanese. At the same time, there are a number of ethnic non-Japanese living outside of Japan who profess the Shinto. In recent decades, even a few Shinto priests of non-Japanese, the most famous of which Koichi Barrysh. The main difficulties for the followers of the Shinto outside of Japan are the absence of temples (sanctuaries) and the extremely conservative foundations of religion itself.

Literature :

1. https://ru.wikipedia.org

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