Learning Buddhism in Japan

nyouyaku · 21 Sep 2011

Hi, I hope this is the appropriate thread to place this, if not, please feel free to move it to the appropriate thread. I am interested in studying Japanese Buddhist philosophies and trying out various meditation practices. I am wondering how difficult it would be to study Madhyamika and Yogacara philosophies in Japanese? I am also looking to try doing meditation sessions and doing 10 day retreats or something of this sort when I go back to Japan. I am aware that in Japan, one does not have to take the pratikmosha vows of the vinaya and thus do not have to live a celibate monastic life as one would in other countries. Another thing I am wanting to know is how difficult it is to learn Shingon Buddhism, and if they admit foreigners to learn Japanese Vajrayana and if they are willing to bestow foreigners the abhishekas to enter the mandala of the respective dieties so that one could do the generation stage practices of the appropriate dieties?

Mike Cash · 21 Sep 2011

Since it is held that all living things have "Buddha spirit" I have found that temples tend to be quite welcoming places regardless of whether one is a foreigner...or even a Buddhist. It strikes me that the upshot of all living things having Buddha spirit would be a viewpoint of there being two kinds of people in the world: 1)Buddhists and 2)Buddhists who don't yet realize they're Buddhists. So why make a distinction between "Japanese" and "non-Japanese"? At any rate, I have always been made to feel quite welcome at temples here and can't imagine that they would discriminate.

As to how difficult it would be to study philosophies in Japanese...wouldn't that sort of depend mostly on your Japanese?

You may already know this, but I'll point it out anyway: For the vast majority of Japanese Buddhists, the religion has atrophied down to little more than paying a bunch of money to a temple when a relative dies and the number of people who could tell you much of anything about the teachings/practices of Buddhism outside of funerary rites is quite small.

nyouyaku · 15 Oct 2011

Mike Cash said:
Since it is held that all living things have "Buddha spirit" I have found that temples tend to be quite welcoming places regardless of whether one is a foreigner...or even a Buddhist. It strikes me that the upshot of all living things having Buddha spirit would be a viewpoint of there being two kinds of people in the world: 1)Buddhists and 2)Buddhists who don't yet realize they're Buddhists. So why make a distinction between "Japanese" and "non-Japanese"? At any rate, I have always been made to feel quite welcome at temples here and can't imagine that they would discriminate.

As to how difficult it would be to study philosophies in Japanese...wouldn't that sort of depend mostly on your Japanese?

You may already know this, but I'll point it out anyway: For the vast majority of Japanese Buddhists, the religion has atrophied down to little more than paying a bunch of money to a temple when a relative dies and the number of people who could tell you much of anything about the teachings/practices of Buddhism outside of funerary rites is quite small.

Yes, I am aware that the average Japanese laity do not have a thorough philosophical understanding of Buddhism just as many of us in the west who were raised "Christian" know very little of the Bible. I am also aware how difficult it is to live as a vegetarian in Japan without making some compromises. I remember having had to compromise on being a vegetarian and settled on being a peskatarian.

johnnyG · 16 Oct 2011

Do you read Japanese?

Try this place--well-known & important in Buddhism, and they take visitors at certain times thru the year for intensive sessions (besides visitors on a daily basis).

窶愬陳債?ｽRﾂ窶佚･ﾂ湘ｦﾅｽ窶ｺ

Mike Cash · 16 Oct 2011

johnnyG said:
Do you read Japanese?

Try this place--well-known & important in Buddhism, and they take visitors at certain times thru the year for intensive sessions (besides visitors on a daily basis).

東香山大乗寺

外国人のおかたも歓迎します。

.........

Learning Buddhism in Japan

nyouyaku

先輩

Mike Cash

骨も命も皆此の土地に埋めよう

nyouyaku

先輩

johnnyG

Sempai

Mike Cash

骨も命も皆此の土地に埋めよう

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