Uh no. I just hung out with a real Japanese lady for the weekend. We talked a lot of religion, both western and eastern. She laughed heartly when I explained monotheism.
The short version is: everything you think you know about eastern religion, chuck it now. It's all different, and a Japanese person will laugh at you when you open your mouth about it.
Yes, Buddhism had come to Japan before the Heian period.
Shintoism doesn't talk of "a while", things just 'are'. In Shintoism Sai became a kami after he died in the Heian period.
The Buddhism that is practiced in Japan is quite different from any other. The fact that they talk of Heaven (in the translation) doesn't mean they believe in it.
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timeasmymeasure
Re: The End
Date: 2010-09-01 09:18 pm (UTC)The short version is: everything you think you know about eastern religion, chuck it now. It's all different, and a Japanese person will laugh at you when you open your mouth about it.
Yes, Buddhism had come to Japan before the Heian period.
Shintoism doesn't talk of "a while", things just 'are'. In Shintoism Sai became a kami after he died in the Heian period.
The Buddhism that is practiced in Japan is quite different from any other.
The fact that they talk of Heaven (in the translation) doesn't mean they believe in it.
I just dunno.