The following text is an article published on the webpage of the
Monastery of Antaiji, in Japan.
The link is: http://www.antaiji.dogen.de/eng-index_f-blau.html
"Aum Shinrikyo" is the name of a Japanese cult that released sarin
nerve gas in the Tokyo subway on March 20th 1995, and thus killed 12.
Several others were killed before in smaller incidents. Although the
cult worshipped Hindu God Shiva and the belief in Doomsday was
crucial for the sarin attack, "Aum" is generally considered a form of
Buddhism. A blend of Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana teachings was
at the center of its doctrine. The cult, now under the name "Aleph",
still exists today, but it has much less followers than ten years
ago, when more than 10.000 people in Japan (and about 30.000 in
Russia) were followers of the cult, many of them graduates of elite
universities in their twenties or early thirties. They were looking
for something Japanese society couldn't offer them, spiritual
liberation. The attacks ten years ago proved to most of them and the
rest of Japan that they had been looking in the wrong spot for
their "liberation".
The question remains, though, why these gifted young people didn't
take refuge in traditional Japanese Buddhism in the first place, as
it is represented by the Tendai or Shingon, Jodo or Zen schools?
Shouldn't we expect that these schools offered a more authentic form
of Buddhism and a more reliable gateway to what the Buddha called
liberation?
In this sense, the attacks of 1995 did not only put the doctrine of
the cult itself into question, but also that of all existing Japanese
Buddhist schools. Buddhism is a religion that has to offer liberation
to all sentient beings - it is not a funeral business. But that is
exactly what Japanese today think about most of Japanese Buddhism: It
is a business, not a religion. You visit a temple to take care of the
family grave, not to hear the resident priest preach the Dharma. And
the thought to become a Buddhist practioner in one of the traditional
schools in order to reflect on one's own life and seek for true
liberation wouldn't even occur to most Japanese.
During the next months, I want to examine how Japanese Buddhism,
especially the Zen school (Rinzai and Soto) reacted to this challenge
and what answers were given. Because if Japanese Buddhism can not
respond to the spiritual demands of the young Japanese, it has to
take responsibilty for these young people drifting towards new cults,
and will also be responsible if an attack like that ten years ago
happens again.
to be continued ... (Muho)
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~-->
What would our lives be like without music, dance, and theater?
Donate or volunteer in the arts today at Network for Good!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/WwRTUD/SOnJAA/i1hLAA/S27xlB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->
Noble Eightfold Path: Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action,
Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, Right Concentration, Right Livelihood
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZenForum/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
