How do Japanese shrines work? What do normie Japanese think of them? Are they 'serious' religious institutions or just cool heritage things?

*bow*
*clap*
*clap*

they are headed by the extended imperial clan, basically it's one of their functions kind of like the public engagements of the british royals, but you don't see them, they only appear for very special occasion
there are a few important shrines, japanese think of them as protected national cultural symbols, they are not a religious institution but rather a by gone cultural remnant

it has to do with transitional era during the meiji when they tried to reintroduce shinto when it has been the religion of the very noble, as in the less than 1% of the japanese
most of the samurai and peasants were buddhists, but during meiji they wanted something more "native" even though japanese has been buddhist for about 1000 years, shinto was never a people's religion so it can't be some mass phenomenon

>>213386014
So are they basically like wishing wells in western countries? Throw coin in, make a wish, simple as?

>>213386089
yes but there are gods there, the shrines are home of the gods

its a boomer thing

What is the point of organized religion?
Why can't I just make my own creed at home for free without needing to spend money and time to visit "holy sites" and somehow feel slightly less of an insecure cuck?

>>213386014
> shinto when it has been the religion of the very noble, as in the less than 1% of the japanese
That’s just State Shinto right? As they tried to emulate and transform their unorganised folk religion rites and rituals into one package during the same time as their modenisation.

> most of the samurai and peasants were buddhists
>shinto was never a people's religion so it can't be some mass phenomenon
I thought buddhism in Japan was like buddhism in China, where everyone has a shrine to the buddha/bodhisattvas but also pray to immortals/spirits/gods. Japan has a term for Shinto and Buddhist syncretism, Shinbutsu-shūgō. State Shinto is a modern religion and attempted organisation of the existing but syncretised native practices of the japanese since everyone practices syncretically (except for priests and stuff)

>>213385868 (OP)
The ones running the shrines are serious about it. However, you must understand the typical East Asian mindset. Just because they're serious about something, doesn't necessarily mean they believe in it. East Asians will do stuff because of FOMO and societal expectations. They will put effort into it and do it well. Westerners would classify it as agnosticism.

I heard Westoids don't teach ethics in publicly funded schools so they need Geebus to tell them not to steal o algo

>>213386541
>What is the point of organized religion?
To control people and form some kind of national/international identity/dependence outside of race of culture. Basically grim reasons

>>213386541
Your home doesn't have cute shinto maidens.

Almost all Japanese people are not religious.

But then early morning I always see some people praying at shrines.

I don't know if they are sincerely worshipping gods or trying to hold on to some sort of tradition that gives their life meaning?

>>213387270
That’s why westoids need organized religion to keep everyone’s thoughts and ethics the same if not they revert to animals.

>>213386014
>>213386089
I heard it described that Shinto isn't so much a religion in Japan as much as just a way of life. It's just part of being Japanese

>>213386541
To control people. Organised religion grant political legitimacy to rulers

>>213387513
Depends on your definition of religion, I think it’s a religion like how greco-roman paganism is a religion before dying out.

>>213387513
it's polytheistic pantheon, it was very much a religion, at least in the old pagan sense, but buddhists don't do that so after many many centuries it was distilled into "a way of life", like what japanese person wouldn't know amaterasu or hachiman or izanagi, these are not just philosophical characters, they are myth creating deities, it's just become cultural instead of spiritual

>>213387513
I heard like 90% identify a bit with both and they are not paradoxical to one another. Generally people like shintoism more when they are young and Buddhism more when they are old.

>>213386541
I think we should return to shamanism

>>213387513
I read that Japanese are born shintoists but die as buddhists.

>>213387727
Shamans often use a medium religion. I think it might be basically required if they aren't mystic hermits.

>>213387711
In Dynastic China it used to be the same thing, people grow up in folk religion and the three teachings, buddhism, taoism, and confucianism, leaning into which one they prefer. I think there’s a saying about people being more buddhist in bad times, confucian in good times, taoist in old age.

>>213387864
daoism requires a lot of training and reading and the tradition is to be a lay about,
confucianism was the state cultural prerogative, it's not a religion, respecting elders isn't a religious dogma, it's a given in a class conscious society, it's just very fashionable to be a filial son
buddhist is for the esoteric, generally replacing shamanism and more esoteric daoism, the first emperor used daoist priests for immortality pills, wu ze tian of tang used buddhist scriptures for immortality, it's a hobby for the very elite, otherwise only the orphans or second sons have the time to go into temples, most people know about buddhism but rarely are they practicing

>>213388060
as buddhism gained more acceptance for the common people since the precepts are quite simple you don't have to be literate it became more popular than daoism
this is how folk heroes like guan yu became buddhist guardians, not daoist immortals

>>213386963
Looks like brazilian beliefs desu

>>213388060
I’m not talking about the priests/scholar officials/monks. I’m talking about the layman common folk, they’d pray to all immortals/bodhisattvas/gods, but their philosophies lean more on one of the three.

I consider Confucianism a religion because of their heaven worship, it used to be a separate element during the zhou dynasty but it’s practice got subsumed into confucianism and its morality system. There are shrines to heaven at confucian temples after all to pray at.

>>213388169
taoism and folk religion are confusing since taoism and confucianism were derived from folk religion but taoists sometimes help administrate chinese temples and recognise the gods. You can tell the difference since there’d be more taoist and yin-yang symbolism on the temples and they’d present the three pure ones or a few immortals within the temple.

>>213387755
I don’t think so. I have an uncle in a village he owns and practices as a shaman but the only gods he have shrined are chinese ones, no taoist or buddhist ones

>>213387755
Yes but not usually organised religion

>>213388169
Also guan yu was originally a hungry ghost to be worshipped. He also became a deity in taoism

>>213388322
Spirit not deity*

>>213388060
> daoism requires a lot of training and reading and the tradition is to be a lay about
I can’t comment much on taoism but I don’t think you needed a lot of training in the beginning, only when it became more religious as it adopted more religious elements till the 500s to become a religious institution, but the training is to become a priests of sorts, you’re sayung can you be christian if you haven’t undergone the proper training to be a priest? And their tradition is to align oneself with the way, with nature, to chieve it is to improve one’s mind and physical body, to experiment with concoctions

>>213385868 (OP)
Nowadays All of Japanese know

Japanese God is Origin of World God

https://youtu.be/IpBUEBkNW28?si=d4kNAibbRpnd9NIg

https://youtu.be/tOefUwsXips?si=i9PFgk1I3UWtsq4c

https://youtu.be/PtkdcLozVD4?si=lk6J4BicpAiNlOA_

confucianism technically had no gods, they got looped in daoism because of the influx of indian gods and immortals, in its non-syncretic form confucianism is only a philosophy of society as all Confucius wanted was to move away from shamanistic practices and superstitions, this is why it was adopted by the imperial government since it outright is antithesis to folk traditions

Anyways my point is that you can’t categorise some people groups into practicing mainly one religion as people like to practice multiple religions at once without feeling the need to identify oneself as solely part of one religion.

>>213388437
you need a lot of free time to be a daoist, not congruent to a simple farmer

>>213388267
Not really, avg brazilian unironically believes in God

>>213388497
Before I think of an answer, what do you consider being a taoist? A hermit in the monastery up in the mountains studying text?

>>213388556
I've always thought that no one believes in god truthfully

>>213388491
I feel that's the way spirituality should be approached

>>213388575
in terms of asking a random passerby what they think daoism means
a sufficient answer can only be achieved by reading at least some works

say you went back to imperial china and spoke to a regular farmer, or rather where could you find someone who says they are 法师

>>213388575
>>213388669
also we have to talk about religiosity and practices

chinese people still practice very daoist traditions like seeking auspices and fengshui but that doesn't make them daoist, same thing with westerners wearing a cross necklace

>>213388470
Confucianism evolved over time just like Christianity and incorporated various religious elements. Philosophies sometimes turn into religions, and Heaven worship was incorporated early on and Confucius did talk about placating Heaven a lot. Confucianism was adopted as the ‘state religion’ as it provided a moral, bureaucratic, and ritual framework that reinforced imperial authority, it didn’t replace the shamanistic and folk religion though those still exist, but yes I think it mostly moved away the government from those practices, secularizing the government to some degree. I don’t think it ever got looped in with taoism every but it interchanged a lot of info between each other early on so lines may be skewed.

>>213388669
So would you say the same for buddhism, ask what the average person what buddhism means and have they read the canon? Okay, if many people don’t identify oneself as a taoist, many still followed, believed, and practiced taoist rituals, taoist cosmology without identifying as one. So I guess if the question if the average person is taoist, it depends on how we define what it means to be taoist.

>>213388957
Okay, I understand now that’s what you don’t consider being a taoist. We disagree on that.

>>213388288
That's a medium religion. Shared symbols of metaphysics and reality. Shared language for complex concepts. Rituals based in lore of cool characters for the slower followers.

>>213389227
Oh, okay. I thought medium religion meant something else.

>>213389044
one thing about canon i don't agree with is that the different buddhist schools developed their dogma based on the illiteracy of the masses, being able to achieve nirvana through medication or even through repetition or mastery of task, cooking, folding paper, planting rice, or just being a good person like budai
buddhist monks tried very hard to distill the religion to the masses, all the esoteric theraveda was simplified so even the simplest peasant can understand
this makes buddhist much more widely accepted, people can say nianfo much easier than say reciting laozi or zhuangzi

>>213389293
>medication
meditation

>>213389267
I meant medium as in like "stone, wood, canvas, digital code..." like the material with which you work your craft

>>213386014
Every single thing in this post is wrong

Especially as folk shinto very often went against what the imperial family believed

And by folk shinto i mean country wise organised cults

>>213385868 (OP)
It's considered instagrammable object for female tourists

>>213389975
How are the Japanese combatting the snow bunny migration?

>>213385868 (OP)
It's just a stage of Anime.

>>213390972
i love anime