The Buddhism and the Shinto’s: the spiritual symbiosis from Japan

The mystery of the oriental world always attracted the imagination and the interest of the occident, which watches fascinated toward the temples, the traditions and the east cultures. Japan, that kept its doors closed to the external societies for centuries, often was the base of the European stories and myths. In 1638, Japan enters in the era of the economy with the closed gates, that will be preserved for more than 200 years. But in the 19th Century, because of the International context of the World Wars, the external politic of Japan starts to change.


The Japanese spirituality was often a source of stories. The fights between samurais, their style of dressing, the power of sacrifice and the Asian sense of duty are legendary. Honor, responsibility and duty are the rules of the Asian world. Their religions, deeply rooted in tradition, have an unique spirituality.

The principles of the religion from Japan are the Buddhism and the Shinto, but most Japanese combine, through the syncretism, the learning of the two religions with the normal life. The quotidian and the religion are deeply interfering, marking every step of the Asian existence. The religion has become another level of the normal life, and the rituals of the two parts interfered and almost became the same.



The Buddhism: the awake of the prophet

Buddha really existed! The mythological character with a biography presented by Asvaghosha in Buddhacarita (the eldest story of the prophet’s life) abundant in fantastic and legendary elements, was Gautama Buddha, who lived between 623-543 BC, according to the Buddhist tradition from Birmania and Thailand, 560-480 BC according to the modern historians. The Buddhists think that the prince Gautama Siddhartha was born in Lumbini and was brought up in Kapilavastu, near the actual frontier between India and Nepal. According to the tradition, the Buddha’s father was the leader of a tribal formation called Sakya.

The prophet gets his “awake” (bodhi can be translated as “Illumination”) at the age of 35, becoming known as “Buddha” (the illuminated) or “Gautama Buddha”. Encouraged by the god Brahma, Buddha spends 45 years teaching about dharma and founds the Buddhism. Gautama Buddha died when he was about 80 years old, cause of disease.

The Buddhism spread in the entire Indian subcontinent and in the closed countries like Sri lanka during five centuries, after the death of Buddha. In the next two millenniums, it diffused in Asia and in all the other continents. The Japanese Buddhism is called east - Asian.



The Shinto: the foundation of the Japanese spirituality

The Shinto represents the eldest Japanese fundament. The Japanese religious fundament had three historical stages. The first, “the beginnings”, comprise the period until the 6th century before Christ, and represents the old Shinto. The second period, during since the 6th century BC until the 17th century AC is characterized by the fusion with the Buddhism. The third period, since the 17th century until present, corresponds to the period of solidification of Shinto, when it was declared national religion.

The roots of Shinto are deeply buried in time, probably somewhere in the Stone Age. The Shinto divines the Kami, the equipollent of the gods, the divinities, but it can simply mean a spiritual presence.