{"id":1061,"date":"2008-07-15T09:00:19","date_gmt":"2008-07-15T13:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/?p=1061"},"modified":"2008-07-15T09:01:33","modified_gmt":"2008-07-15T13:01:33","slug":"the-buddha-vanishes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/?p=1061","title":{"rendered":"The Buddha Vanishes?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Buddha\"<\/p>\n

It is a headline seemingly so odd that, upon reading it, one’s first thought is that it must be incorrect: “In Japan, Buddhism May Be Dying Out.”<\/a><\/p>\n

The New York Times<\/em> reported on this<\/a>, noting that, in funerary matters,<\/p>\n

the Japanese have traditionally been inflexibly Buddhist \u2014 so much so that Buddhism in Japan is often called \u201cfuneral Buddhism,\u201d a reference to the religion\u2019s former near-monopoly on the elaborate, and lucrative, ceremonies surrounding deaths and memorial services.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the image of funeral Buddhism: that it doesn\u2019t meet people\u2019s spiritual needs,\u201d said Ryoko Mori, the chief priest at the 700-year-old Zuikoji Temple here in northern Japan. \u201cIn Islam or Christianity, they hold sermons on spiritual matters. But in Japan nowadays, very few Buddhist priests do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Mori, 48, the 21st head priest of the temple, was unsure whether it would survive into the tenure of a 22nd.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Japanese Buddhism doesn\u2019t act now, it will die out,\u201d he said. \u201cWe can\u2019t afford to wait. We have to do something.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The piece adds that<\/p>\n

Not only has the number of temples in Japan been dipping \u2014 to 85,994 in 2006, from 86,586 in 2000, according to the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs \u2014 but membership at many temples has fallen.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In a distant way, it reminds me of the way Roman Catholic churches have been threatened with closing in Harlem, due to declining numbers.<\/p>\n

I’m curious where this story is going, what the upshot will be, and if there will be any sort of ripple effect in Asian Buddhism from this development.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is a headline seemingly so odd that, upon reading it, one’s first thought is that it must be incorrect: “In Japan, Buddhism May Be Dying Out.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[46,58],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1061"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1061\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}