Tag - buddhism

 
 

BUDDHISM

Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Beyond Omotenashi
Feb 14, 2018
Rowdy tourists and grumpy monks of Mount Koya could do with a dose of Kukai's wisdom
Could the lessons of the sacred founder buried on Mount Koya bring harmony between foreign visitors and their local hosts?
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Jan 20, 2018
On the adulteration of Japan's oldest religion
Primitive Shinto is one of the loveliest religions in the world. It's beautiful in its simplicity — defenseless too, as it proved, against the nativists and nationalists who warped it into 18th-, 19th- and 20th-century xenophobia.
Japan Times
JAPAN / IN PICTURES
Jan 1, 2018
The annual rites of passage into the new year
On Sunday, people across Japan marked the passing of 2017 and the arrival of the new year at temples and shrines, both big and small.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Dec 17, 2017
A modern answer to your home prayers
With its white latticed facade, shiny walls of glass and monochrome interior lighting, passers-by could be forgiven for assuming that Wakabayashi Butsugu is a fashion flagship or contemporary interiors store.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Sep 25, 2017
High tech, IT and robots are at forefront of Japan's funeral industry boom
From a sutra-chanting humanoid robot to automated cemeteries, technological innovation is changing how Japanese deal with funerary rituals.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 2, 2017
Sougo: A next-generation take on temple cooking
It's a dilemma faced by all practitioners of traditional arts and crafts. To keep their heritage alive, should they rigorously adhere to time-honored practices? Or bend a few rules and innovate? Chef Daisuke Nomura chose the second route. Sougo, his excellent restaurant in the heart of Roppongi, is the result.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 16, 2017
Pepper the robot to don Buddhist robe for its new funeral services role
SoftBank Group Corp.'s humanoid robot Pepper has taken on various roles since its mass-market debut in 2015.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 8, 2017
Buddhist hells are frighteningly human
Popularly known as Genshin (942-1017), the high-ranking Buddhist prelate Eshin Sozu was said to have been born following his devout mother's prayers to the Kannon of Takaoji Temple in Taima, Nara Prefecture.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 17, 2017
Sri Lanka's firebrand monk invokes Muslim menace
Galagoda Atte Gnanasara is Sri Lanka's notorious rabble-rousing monk — leader of the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), a radical nationalist religious organization.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 23, 2017
Kaikei: the name behind the gods
Kamakura Period (1185-1333) Buddhist sculptures often come down to us under the individual names of makers (when known) though they were often fashioned in workshops by multiple hands. A significant 13th-century work would employ a dozen or so team members and assistants and draw on multiple specialists.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 24, 2017
Kyoto-based Buddhist group struggles with decline in temples and priests
A Kyoto-based Buddhist group with the largest number of followers in Japan is boosting its support to its member temples in other prefectures amid a shortage of incoming chief priests and a decline in danka (financial supporters).
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Apr 22, 2017
Monk-run Tokyo bar proffers drinks even as it teaches Buddhism
Drinking at your neighborhood bar would appear to be inconsistent with a Buddhist's quest for clarity of mind and enlightenment.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 14, 2017
Among the monks: Dipping a toe in Zen at Shinshoji Temple
When was the last time you sat in silence, without fretting about the things you ought to be doing or gazing at a screen of any kind? When was the last time you didn't think anything at all?
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 3, 2017
Struggling Buddhist temples turn to tours to boost finances
A Tokyo-based firm offering tours at temples in Tokyo and Kyoto, where visitors can transcribe Buddhist sutras and meditate in a zazen seated position, says the attraction is proving popular among tourists.
Japan Times
JAPAN / AT A GLANCE
Jan 5, 2017
A new year, a new prayer, and hopefully luck
New Year's Day is not just the first day of the year in this country — it has a special meaning.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2017
2017 rings in across Japan as shrine, temple throngs pray for good year
As people across Japan celebrated the turn of the year, they flocked to shrines and temples Sunday morning for their traditional hatsumode pilgrimage to make a fresh start on New Year's Day.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Nov 1, 2016
Marriage-shy Japanese turning to temple priests for help with matchmaking
Although traditionally seen as conductors of funerals or memorial services, some Buddhist monks in Japan are carving out a new niche as matchmakers for singles looking to marry.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 20, 2016
The Grand Sengai Exhibition: Spirit of Zen Assembled
Oct. 1-Nov. 13
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Aug 27, 2016
Demythologizing Pure Land Buddhism
The bulk of "Demythologizing Pure Land Buddhism" is a collection of essays by Rijin Yasuda (1900-1982), a Shin Buddhist thinker in the modernizing tradition of Kiyozawa Manshi (1863-1903). Yasuda "taught a conception of Amida and the Pure Land that made them existential realities in the present," as translator Paul B. Watt puts it in his introduction: The Pure Land for Yasuda was not a cosmic bliss dimension but rather "that place where sentient beings discover their true identity as the Tathagata."
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Jul 16, 2016
'Zen's sudden awakening to the truth beyond reason, beyond language'
Rabbi Zusia tramped through his native Poland — this admittedly is an odd way of introducing a story about Zen — collecting money to ransom Jews unjustly imprisoned, victims of the rampant anti-Semitism then prevailing. At a wayside inn he saw birds in a cage. Zusia, simple soul that he was, promptly freed the birds.

Longform

When trying to trace your lineage in Japan, the "koseki" is the most important form of document you'll encounter.
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