Shinto

Classification

• Ethnic• It is often referred to as “religion of Japan” because it is based off the

traditional belief systems of Japan. • Adherents: 4 million …3 million of these adherents are in Japan, the other 1 million are

Japanese immigrants in places such as North America and Brazil • 80% of Japanese practice both Shinto and Buddhism• Rank:15th largest religion however as Japan's population keeps

decreasing due to low birth rates, the Shinto religion is slowly shrinking in numbers.

DiffusionHearth: uncertain- It is a blended religion of other beliefs from China

and Korea. Around 6000 B.C., individual tribes/clans originally crossed over from Korea and China to Japan, taking with them their beliefs. Shinto was then derived from the nature worship, fertility cults, divination techniques, hero worship, and shamanism of such early tribes.

Core: Japan

Type of Diffusion: Originally arrived in Japan by contagious diffusion from the individual tribes from Korea and China thousands of years ago. However now the main type of diffusion is relocation diffusion. With its main practice in Japan, the other adherents worldwide are generally Japanese immigrants.

Central Beliefs

• Focuses more on ritual than beliefs. There is no founder, no creed, no major scriptures, and no religious or ethical laws.

• Shinto has no moral code so Shinto followers usually follow the code of Confucianism

• It is a very localized religion, centered around the worship of the Kami, or spirits, at a local shrine.

Central Beliefs: The Kami• Shinto is centered around the

worship of Kami or spirits. There are around 8 million Kami.

• Kami are benign spirits that sustain and protect the people.  Kami can either be natural objects, creatures, ancestors, or abstract creative forces. Kami are close to human beings and respond to human prayers.

• Shinto also has a variety of  other Kami, who are more god like, Izanagi-no-mikoto and Izanami-no-mikoto who gave birth to the Japanese people, Amaterasu Omikami, the sun goddess and chief diety. 

• Kami have a specific life-giving, harmonizing power, called musubi, and a truthful will, called makoto (also translated as sincerity).

• Buddha is seen as another of the Kami

• 1. Tradition and family- Family is seen as the preservation of tradition.  Most celebrations are in birth and marriage.

• 2. Love of Nature- Many Kami are natural objects therefore nature is sacred, and to be in nature, is to be in the presence of the Gods. 

• 3.  Physical cleanliness- the Kami do not like insincerity and disorder, followers must take baths, wash their hands, and rinse their mouths often. Also this is related to the idea of purity

• 4. "Matsuri"- followers must worship and give honor to the Kami and ancestral spirits, and fulfill their need for peace.

The Four Affirmations

Places of Worship/Shrines• Shrines and temples in which the gods are believed to

dwell. • Each shrine - dedicated to a specific Kami who has a

divine personality and responds to sincere prayers of the faithful.

• Tori (special gateway for the Gods) – entrance to shrine…marks the demarcation between the finite world and the infinite world of the Gods.

• Every small community has at least one or more shrines (jinja) maintained by a committee of prominent citizens of the community. Outside and inside the temples and/or shrines you will find a Koma-inu (guard dog). Also, it is common to find white sand which marks the territory where the Gods are.

• In the people's homes they have an alter, "Kami-dana" (Shelf of Gods), is given a central place within the home. Also, origami (Paper of the Spirits) is often seen around shrines and houses. The Kami believed to move among their shrines and to reside in a small house shaped in a box built for them at the shrine.

Death/Burial Practices• Buddhist priests usually take care of the

dead. The majority of Japanese choose to be cremated with Buddhist rites and have their ashes spread across a Buddhist cemetery. 

• Shinto believes that your soul becomes a tama (ancestral souls) and they are nourished with offerings at the kamidana in return, they are expected to bless and protect the living. After 33 years the tama is believed to lose its individual nature and to merge with the collective body of a kami.

• There are at least two Shinto cemeteries in Tokyo, but one of them is reserved for the imperial family, whose funerals are usually in Shinto form.

• Their religious texts discuss the "High Plain of Heaven" and the "Dark Land," which is an unclean land of the dead, but few details of the afterlife.

Sikhism

Khanda - double edged sword used to represent Sikhs.

Classification

• Universal religion because it has no image of god and they believe god accepts everyone.

• 23 million followers

• Ranked: 9th

Origins

Hearth: Punjab, India• Sikhism began around

1500 C.E. when Guru Nanak started teaching its values.

• Guru Gobind Singh was the last human Guru. Later however,the scriptures became the Guru at his death.

Core: Punjab, India

Diffusion• Type: relocation

• Sikhs still have the most number of people in the hearth Punjabi, India

• huge numbers in British Columbia and England as well.

• Also scattered through the Arab Emirates, east Africa,Canada, Malaysia, Iran and the United States.

Beliefs and writings

• Lines of hymns from the first poem in the Sri Guru Granth Ganab. Considered to be the epitome of all doctrine.

Places of Worship

• Gurdwaras (meaning the gateway through which the Guru could be reached)

• Any place where the Guru Granth Sahib is installed and treated with due respect can be referred to as a Gurdwara, whether it is a room in ones house of a separate building.

Sacred Places

• The Golden Temple:

Darhar Sahib- built in Punjab by the 5th Guru

Symbols

• The 5k’s • kesh-uncut hair

• karah-steel bracelet

• kanga-wooden comb

• kaccha-cotton underwear

• kirpan- sword

The Burial Process

• The body must have a blank white sheet over it, immediately after its death.

• The 5k’s remain on the body.

• Body must be cremated after the ceremony at the gurdwara

• 10 days after reading of scripture, the eldest son is presented with a turban to show that he is the head of the family now