Japanese religion

Japanese religion system is different from other countries as we learned in class. In Japan, we can worship both Buddhism and Shinto at the same time. Most people go to Shrine 1 month after their babies are born to pray their babies will grow up wholesomely. However, most people go to temple when their relatives die. Actually, my family has both Buddhist home alter and Shinto home alter in my house. I live with my paternal grandmother, and we have a Buddhist home alter for grandmother’s ancestors and her husband. We watched a film about Shinto in class, so I’d like to introduce how is the habits of people who worship Buddhism.

Buddhist home alter

My grandmother worships “Jodo Sinshu” (True Pure Land Buddhism) which is a school of Pure Land Buddhism. The patriarch of True Pure Land Buddhism is called “Shinran”. He inherited the wisdom of his master, “Hounen” (法然) in Kamakura period (later 12c~ 14c), and disciples of Shinran found a religious community.

The main temple of True Pure Land Buddhism is “Hongan-ji”(本願寺) which is in Kyoto. (This site also introduces about True Pure Land Buddhism, so if you are interested in it, please check it out.)

This picture shows one of the rooms in this temple. It is named "Gan no ma"(The room of Goose), and it is Japanese national treasure. You can see flying geese on the slinding door.

So, what people who worship Buddhism do in daily life?
My grandmother always preys in front of the home alter twice a day. She preys before she has a breakfast and dinner. I think it means people respect deceased so they should precede deceased. When she opens the home alter in every morning, she puts 4 cups and flower. One of 4 cups is big and others are small. In the big cup and one of small cup, we pour Japanese tea, and in other small cups, we pour water. After she put those things, she burns a candle and incense stick. Then, she preys to deceased. She does the same thing before she eats dinner every day. Moreover, every time we boil rice, we put it on the home alter at first. (We also put it on the Shinto home alter too.)
I asked my grandmother what she preys every day. It depends on person what they prey, but in my grandmother’s case, she thank to and deceased at first. Then, she asks them to protect her children and all of relatives. Finally, she reads part of sutra. She told me that she thought it was better to read whole sutra, but she didn’t do so because she wasn’t strong believer of Busshism. Therefore, she just thank and prey to deceased.

We have the custom called “Meinichi”(命日) which is the anniversary of one’s death. Japanese people often visit a grave on the day. In addition, the chief priest at a Buddhist temple comes to my house to prey on the day every month. For example, my grandfather died 23rd, so the chief priest comes to my house 23rd every month. People always put their hands together when they prey. I heard the meaning from the priest. In Buddhism, right hand is holy, and left hand is dirty. (I think it also includes the meaning that Buddha and deceased are holy, and human beings are dirty.) By putting hands together, we can meet deceased, the priest told me. Therefore, priests always use their right hands when they put something on the alter and they don’t show their left side to alter.

We have a big event, Bon festival, from 13th to 15th in August to hold a memorial service for the spirits of deceased. It is said that the spirits of dead persons come back to home in this period so we clean up alter and set out fruits, vegetables and alcohol as offerings. We usually go to the grave on 13th to pick up the spirit of ancestor, and visit grave again on 15th to send the spirit. It is common that relatives gather and have lunch together.