Even 'Funeral Buddhism' At Risk in Japan
From the New York Times, an account of Buddhism and funerals from the land of my birth. While the stereotype of Japanese Buddhism (for Japanese) as preoccupied with funerals is particularly strong (largely due to the Meiji ‘restoration’ and the social division of religious labor, in my opinion), it should be noted that wherever Buddhism exists, it’s central preoccupation – at least symbolically, though not in everyday practice – is always and everywhere with death.
When it comes to funerals, though, the Japanese have traditionally been inflexibly Buddhist — so much so that Buddhism in Japan is often called “funeral Buddhism,” a reference to the religion’s former near-monopoly on the elaborate, and lucrative, ceremonies surrounding deaths and memorial services.
But that expression also describes a religion that, by appearing to cater more to the needs of the dead than to those of the living, is losing its standing in Japanese society.
“That’s the image of funeral Buddhism: that it doesn’t meet people’s spiritual needs,” said Ryoko Mori, the chief priest at the 700-year-old Zuikoji Temple here in northern Japan. “In Islam or Christianity, they hold sermons on spiritual matters. But in Japan nowadays, very few Buddhist priests do that.