The General Picture, Japan

On the whole, Japanese Buddhism still maintains its strength in the intelligentsia and the rural population. Zen is associated with the culture preserved among the highly cultured people, is the spiritual strength of the nation, and has a strong appeal to the intellectuals and the modern Western mind. For the rural people, the popular sects of Amida and the Lotus offer stronger appeal, especially the Shin sect which has the greatest number of adherents. Superstitious beliefs and practices are also widely accepted. As a characteristic of Japanese modernity, the many new religions have emerged to meet the modern religious needs of the middle class.

Movements have grown among the Buddhists tdwards cooperation and unification, and lay Buddhists have taken a more active part in religious activities. This has resulted in the organization of the Japan Chapter of the World Federation of Buddhists, the All Japan Young Buddhist Federation, and the Japan Buddhist Women's Association. Representatives have been sent by the different sects to observe conditions, practices and activities in other Buddhist countries. There are many universities, colleges and schools operated or supported by Buddhist sects. Research activities have been conducted actively in universities and research institutions such as the Nippon Buddhist Research Association and the Japanese Association of Indian and Buddhist Studies, by scholars using modern methods, on the whole field of Buddhist literature in Sanskrit, Pali, Tibetan, Mongolian and Chinese. Studies in the Indian Buddhist sources and international contacts have also inspired a strong urge to return to original Buddhism.

Statistically, with a Buddhist population of approximately 75 million, or about 85 percent of the whole population, and with about 80,000 Buddhist temples attended by 200,000 priests, Japan is rightly called a Buddhist country. Through the variety of Buddhist movements and efforts toward a revival, Japan of the postwar period has thus experienced Buddhist vitality in various ways. There has grown a deepened religious concern through works of Buddhist scholars devoted to the reinterpretation of Buddhist ideas. There have been increased Buddhist social and political roles through lay people taking a more active part in Buddhist organizations. With the coming of the new-born sects, there has been a reawakening to the Buddhist social ideal to make up for the faded social ethics of the old traditional sects, and a starting on a new course of the development of political power. So far, the energies of the Japanese Buddhists have been directed 'not so much to the revival of the Buddhist culture as to the attempt to preserve and consolidate it amidst the essentially alien and hostile environment of modern life.?

Internationally, Japan's great contribution to the progress of Buddhism cannot be underestimated. Through the works both of the Japanese and of the Western scholars, the message of the Buddha has been carried to the West. There, in the light of modern studies, the interest has been ever increasing, both in the doctrine and in the practice, especially in Zen psychology and meditation. If a special form of the religion called Western Buddhism is ever developing in the West, it is Japanese Buddhism that has made a great contribution to the process of the development. And it is this contribution that, as a repayment, has helped to keep for Japan a dignified and respected place in the realm of international relations.

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