Temples and Shrines

[mycolumbus]

The first places my Japanese friends took me in Japan were temples and shrines. But if I asked questions about what I was seeing there, they laughed and changed the subject. This made religion seem very mysterious until I found out that they didn't know the answers! I sympathise with them for that.

Japanese religion is confusing and there seem to be 2 main reason for that.

1. There are so many different Buddhist sects, which created far too many different Buddhist images.
2. The other is that there was a marriage between Buddhism and Shinto for a long time. This even makes it hard to tell the difference between a shrine and a temple sometimes.

Christian friends are surprised that Japanese people are able to believe in two religions at once. I explain that Shinto teaches peple reverence for the divinity of all things in nature, while Buddhism gives people answers to their questions about human morality and life after death.

So the 2 religions are complementary.

[ozzfest]

It's very interesting visiting shrines and temples and I think the most popular ones are in Kyoto