As humans, we are defined and described by our culture, religion and beliefs. Cultural beliefs and religion are umbrella terms that encompass the norms, institutions, and social behavior that are found in our societies. Besides, they are the laws, customs, beliefs, capabilities, habits and knowledge that governs our society. Religion is an essential phenomenon in humans since it creates an ethical framework and values in day-to-day life. The approach helps build individual values like empathy, respect, love, and harmony, hence acting as a socialization agency. Every religion has mythologies, traditions, and festivals that form part of a nation or region’s tangible and intangible heritage. In Japan, religion has played an important role in social structuring. The increased influence and development in various sectors of the economy are attributed to the Japanese religion of hard work, which is accredited to their staunch association with Buddhism. Shinto and Buddhism are the two main religions in Japan (Kitagawa,2012). Shinto is the earliest religion, and it is old as the Japanese culture. On the other hand, Buddhism was imported in the 6th century from the mainland. The two religions have co-existed relatively harmoniously in Japan. Therefore, the paper will discuss Buddhism’s background in Japan and address the impacts of the religion on Japanese culture by summing up research projects raised by other scholars.
Buddhism as a religion has played a significant role in the social structure, development and growth of various sectors of the economy in Japan. The origin and background of Buddhism can be traced back 2500 years in India, and it was later moved to Japan by the Korean diplomatic mission of Baekje, who came along with gifts like Buddha image, sacred texts and several ritual objects (De Visser,5,1928). In Korea, Buddhism had a lasting impact on the native culture. It was received well by Japan’s ruling nobles as a new state religion. As a result of its complex theories, Buddhism did not spread immediately to ordinary people. Besides, it received initial conflicts from Japan’s native religion, Shinto, but later the two religions accepted each other and were able to co-exist while complementing each other. As Buddhism continued to spread, the first permanent Japanese capital was established in Nara. The Nara capital city was modeled and designed after the Chinese capital. In the Nara capital, significant Buddhist monasteries like Todaiji were built, and they quickly gained political influence. Strong political influence was why the Japanese government moved its capital to Kyota (De Visser,10,1928). This made the Buddhism religion spread quickly in Japan. Today, almost two-thirds of Japan’s population are Buddhists. To some levels, the Buddhism religion directly affects their everyday life. For instance, most Japanese funerals are carried out in a Buddhist way; that is, families keep a small house alters as a sign of respect to ancestors.
Buddhism as a religion does not believe in god or any deity, but the Japanese believe there are supernatural figures who hinder or help individuals towards enlightenment. As a religion, Buddhism offers a spiritual way of transcending the suffering of existence. All beings are subjected to an endless cycle of birth, death and rebirth that results from individual consequences called karma. Karma is the sum of good or bad deeds accumulated over one’s life. Considering the suffering and karma element, Buddhism helps to build one’s values like empathy, respect, love and harmony, hence acts as a socialization agency. Nobody wishes to suffer because of evil deeds and actions; therefore, Buddhists tend to live a moral life to avoid suffering. The religion has completely changed the scope of the Japanese that living in harmony, peace, and respecting others is the way to avoid karma.
The endless cycle (Samsara) can only be achieved by attaining enlightenment. Achieving enlightenment is the main goal for Buddhists. The plan can only be achieved with sacrifice, hardworking and ensuring you are doing the right things in society. The enlightenment goal has triggered the Japanese to work hard, live in unity, and ensure they are giving the best in everything they do. An individual who has reached the perfect state (enlightened one) is considered to have passed into nirvana. The individual has transcendent knowledge that quenches (extinguishes) greediness, hatred, and delusion, and never again will they be subjected to rebirth. A nation or society that practices hatred, greed and delusion always stands divided, and the Buddhism norms and traditions are against these immoral. Therefore, the Japanese’s goal is to be enlightened, and this can only be achieved by blowing out hatred, greediness and delusion to become extinguished, thus not subjected to rebirth again. According to the religious traditions, the prince and the founder of Buddhism called, Siddhartha, achieved the enlightenment goal. Siddhartha Gautama was and still is the first individual to achieve enlightenment. Siddhartha Gautama was known as Buddha; he was an Indian prince who saw the poor struggle and died. Gautama realized that people’s lives were suffering. To show love and exercise the enlightenment act, Gautama renounced his riches and wealth and decided to spend his life as a poor beggar. He meditated and traveled the world, but ultimately he remained unsatisfied. He later settled on an idea called” the middle way,” which meant neither extreme wealth nor extreme asceticism was the way to enlightenment, but rather, paths of an individual’s life between two extremes. Through his deep mediation, Gautama achieved enlightenment called nirvana.
Buddhism has contributed a lot to the Japanese culture; considering the four noble truths of the religion, the Buddhists want to work hard to try and stop suffering. These four noble truths include; suffering, the origin of suffering, cessation of suffering, and ways to cessation suffering (Earhart & Byron,2014). The first noble truth is suffering; everyone is subjected to suffering, which is part of the world. Buddhism is based on the cycle of samsara (birth, life, death, and rebirth), which means individuals will experience suffering in life at one point in time. Day-to-day activities and deeds expose individuals to suffering. Although most individuals accept the suffering because they feel there is nothing they can do about it. On the contrary, Buddhists believe that working hard and doing the right things in society try to stop suffering. The Japanese reciprocate the Buddhist mentality and confidence of working hard to avoid suffering. The Japanese culture is working hard and being productive every day. Besides, they believe in doing small things that matter in their life since they make them happy. Through Buddhism, the Japanese have created a strong work ethic in every citizen, confirmed by looking at how the country functions and how their economy has grown. There are various principles put forward in the Japanese working world, and they include hard work and long hours, formal workplaces, Nomikai, group harmony, open-plan offices and Ho-Ren-Su. Japanese are not only hard workers, but also they work long hours. Across Japan, individuals work 80 to 100 hours monthly, and in most cases, overtime hours are not paid. Japanese have developed the culture of working hard and long hours to avoid suffering and poverty. The Japanese have a term, Karoshi which means “death by overwork” this is not a big deal since it happens most frequently in the country, and by law, work is recognized as the cause of death.
The second noble truth is the origin or causes of suffering. In Buddhism religion, individuals should understand the source or cause of their suffering and find a way of moving forward and leaving the problem behind. According to Buddha, most sufferings and issues are caused by desires or the tendency to crave things. For instance, an individual can desire to drive a good car, though he does not have the money. Buddhism religion helps the Japanese understand that being dissatisfied with cravings, things, or life causes suffering. The Buddhists believe that individuals should avoid hatred, ignorance, and desires to avoid suffering. If they can avoid immoral behavior and work hard, they can be free from samsara and find enlightenment in their lives. Japanese have core values that control their morals, including thinking of others, showing compassion, doing their best, respecting others, working together, and not giving up. These core values enable the Japanese to believe in themselves and work morally right even after realizing the suffering’s causes or origin.
The third noble truth is the cessation of suffering. The Buddhists believe that suffering can come to an end, and they recognize there are ways to implement or initiate to stop one’s suffering and move away from the act since by doing this, they get closer to achieving enlightenment. Buddhism as a religion in Japan helps to teach the Japanese that individuals should not be focused, crave, desire or admire many things in life because their desires or enjoyments will not last for long. Therefore, the Japanese try to stop craving and desiring, concentrating on working to end the suffering. The Japanese society emphasizes working in group harmony and a workplace called Wa (Robertson, 34,1987). The concept is to ensure everyone is happy, but not only focusing on themselves while desiring to have more that would not last forever. Japanese culture believes that the society’s or group’s needs are more important than an individual’s desires and cravings (Ellwood et al.,2016). This is because people or groups can compromise and ensure everyone’s needs are met. The culture creates a peaceful and enabling environment where people and groups work together in harmony while cooperating, thus accomplishing the set goals within the stipulated time. Doing your best to avoid inconveniences to others is another Japanese culture. The culture enables the Japanese to be loyal at their workplace, hence working hardtop avoid inconvenience. That is why most Japanese do not stay at home sick or take holidays unless it is an emergency. If they engage in such activities of lazing around, they feel like disrupting those around them, which opposes their group harmony culture that strives for them. Probably, this is the main reason why the Japanese work hard with long hours -since they are afraid of causing inconveniences for their colleagues and people around them. In most cases, the Japanese feel guilty about taking time off since they consider it selfish.
The fourth noble truth is ways to cessation suffering. These are ways, plans, and strategies that individuals should develop to end suffering. According to Buddha, doing the right things like following the teachings and meditating upon them will help end suffering. The Buddhists engage in many things like working hard, doing good deeds to others, respecting the elders, giving back to the less fortunate in the society, and avoiding inconveniences by staying loyal and honest (Ellwood et al.,2016). In Buddhism, people live in the middle ways. Middle ways are two extreme paths of poverty and luxury. To find ways to end suffering, the Japanese have incorporated some specific plans and mechanisms into their work ethics and work environments to ensure everything moves smoothly and everyone in the society works together. For instance, the strategy of Kaizen, that is, making or considering the bad points, looks better. In other words, Kaizen is the process of improving and changing for the better. If there is a problem in the working environment, then fix it and ensure the issue does not resurface again. In the first place, you have to learn from what caused the problem and change it forever. The Japanese culture is to be efficient in everything you do to avoid waste of resources, time, and suffering. However, this cannot be accomplished by working long hours or painful hardworking to ensure everything works perfectly at all times. Still, the Japanese culture allows individuals to take time and step back, meditate, and evaluate what they have done. The Japanese make sure that they are not just working for long hours, but they are working well and smart, thus ensuring efficiency in the workplace. In most cases, they are looking for ways to be innovative and more efficient in what they do. The most exciting thing with the Kaizen strategy is that evaluating efficiency in the workplace is not done after the work but rather during the work. This enables the Japanese to quickly make changes before it is too late. Kaizen saves time and energy. The Japanese culture is based on being productive every day and ensuring that its people do small things that contribute to their success. This makes them happy, fulfilled and contented through contributing to society.
In conclusion, Buddhism religion has significantly contributed to the Japanese culture. Religion has played a significant role in the social structure, development and growth of various sectors of the economy in Japan. Although the religion does not believe in God or any deity, the Buddhists believe there are supernatural figures who hinder or help individuals towards enlightenment. As a religion, Buddhism offers a spiritual way of transcending the suffering of existence. Based on the four noble truths of the religion, Buddhism has transformed and sharpened the Japanese culture. These four noble truths include; suffering, the origin of suffering, cessation of suffering, and ways to cessation suffering. Suffering is the first noble truth, and everyone is subjected to suffering, and that is part of the world. Buddhism’s tradition believes in suffering has triggered the Japanese to work hard and long hours to avoid suffering. The Japanese culture believes in working hard and doing the right things in society to stop suffering. The Buddhist mentality and confidence in working hard to avoid suffering are reciprocated in the Japanese culture. They do not only work hard, but they also ensure they work smart and enhance efficiency at the workplace. Through the cessation of suffering, the Japanese culture has developed procedures and plans such as Kaizen to help improve efficiency in working.
References
De Visser, Marinus Willem. Ancient Buddhism in Japan. Vol. 3. Brill Archive, 1928. https://books.google.co.ke/bookshl=en&lr=&id=zbkUAAAAIAAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=buddhism+in+japan&ots=MRoyfQxaY0&sig=fxi0kOb8hnXmvmHHWjT7sPlCTPk&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=buddhism%20in%20japan&f=false
Earhart, H. Byron. “Japanese religion: Unity and diversity.” (2004).
Ellwood, Robert, and Richard Pilgrim. Japanese religion: A cultural perspective. Routledge, 2016. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315507132
Kitagawa, Joseph Mitsuo. “On understanding Japanese religion.” On Understanding Japanese Religion. Princeton University Press, 2021. https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9780691224237/pdf
Robertson, Roland. “Globalization and societal modernization: a note on Japan and Japanese religion.” Sociological Analysis 47 (1987): 35-42. https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/3711650.pdfcasa_token=7gKiNONJEzAAAAAA:ObgDuJnh3Z–zwg9i-5LzwivCfoUqcKaoLJxOPwJG9Olu985KMxGev07UfW8q4bewj1xqa_mroKkyOuQEqMKuG1lBkyPctkcF3swpxYPTE4aUDWCODMHA
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