Shinbutsu shūgō
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Shinbutsu Shūgō (神仏習合 literally "fusion of practices from both Shinto and Buddhism"?) is the Japanese syncretism of Buddhism and Shinto. When Buddhism was introduced through China in the late Yamato period (6th century), it tolerated the coexisting beliefs in Shinto, the Japanese folk religion. Buddhist temples were attached to Shinto shrines and devoted to both Kami and Buddha. In 1868 as part of the Shinbutsu Bunri, the attempt for a separation of Shinto and Buddhism during the Meiji period, temples (寺, tera) and shrines (神社, jinja) were separated, the former functioning for Buddhism, the latter for Shinto. The Okinogu temple in Okinawa is an example of one that has maintained Shinbutsu-shugo and has images of Buddha and Shinto deities.
[edit] References
- A history of Japan, R. H. P. Mason, J. G. Caiger, Tuttle Publishing; Revised edition (November 1, 1997), ISBN 0-8048-2097-X
