meaning of the beginning and end in buddhism

8/10/2019 Meaning of the Beginning and End in Buddhism

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Th e Mean ing of The Beginning1' and The Endt1

In Shinto and Early Japanese Buddhism

A.N. MESHCHERYAKOV

INTRODUCTION

The problem of the interdependence between Shinto and

Buddhism is of gr eat importance i n the histo ry o f Japanese

culture because

t

is closely connected w i t h many other

major issues, such as fo rmat ion of a state religion , li te ra -

ture, philosophy, development of fine ar ts and the like.

Western scholars have paid considerable attention to

the role of early Japanese Buddhism as a state religion.

Though this is indeed a ver y signi fic ant problem believe

nevertheless that the real meaning of Buddhism can be

ful ly grasped only i n a broader cul tur al context. For this

purpose t is extremely important to consider how one and

the same elementary cu lt ur al featu re manifests its el f in

life, history and man's creativeness.

For the analysis of such fundamental elements have

chosen the notions of the the beginning and the end,

which are of major importance in the semiotics of culture.

Basing my research on early Buddhist prose on the one

hand and on Shinto-oriented tex ts on the other, w i l l t r y

to show tha t the notion of the beginning i n a Shinto

int erp ret ati on and that of the end i n the Buddhist

comprehension both work as universal structure-making

patterns.

This paper embraces three fields: the existential (life

o f man), the making of plo ts (i n Buddhist prose) and the

hi st or ic al (comprehension of history).

THE EXISTENTIAL

In the exis tenti al f i eld the problem of the beginning and

the end is none other than the problem of bi rth and

ap an es e our nal of Religious Studies 1 1 1 1 9 8 4 4 3


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N

MESHCHERYAKOV

deathtt which natur ally is of the gravest significance in

any per iod i n the histo ry of mankind.

Shinto myths deal mainly wi th birth . Gods are born

fr om the parts of the body, fr om water, blood, etc. This

preoccupation wi t h bi rt h is quit e natu ral because myths are

stories about how the wor ld was developed. So Shinto

rit ual s aim at the reproduction of the i ni ti al order, customs

and manners. As has been shown, the chrono logy of the

gods' bi rths contri buted greatly t o the self-consciousness of

the society: the earlier the god was born, the greater

number of clans u j i ) considered hi m th ei r ancestor and

hence the more stable was his place in the Shinto pan-

theon. (Amaterasu is an exception-her overwhelming

importance is determined by la te r purely p ol it ic al events.

See Meshcheryakov 1978.)

The death o f the gods and thei r existence af te r

death is treated in less detail. Gods died in di ff er en t

ways, some of them calmly and others evoking cosmic

disorder. Bu t very l i t t l e can be said about how gods behave

i n the nether land (Yomi no kuni). Nevertheless we can

surely imagine that their human descendants conducted

co ll ec ti ve ceremonies i n thei r honor t o achieve the ir help

both in the present and in the future.

The death of an emperor was regarded as a cosmic

event. Ascending the throne is described as descending

from heaven and his death as ascending t o heaven (see

ManybshU, Nos. 199 and 200). The word kamuagarutt ? to

diett) consists of tw o roots- godtt and to ascendtt-and can

be in te rp re ted as to ascend t o the gods.

The death of an emperor was, moreover, apprehended

as a loss of solar li gh t and a break in time-subjects ceased

t o dist ingu ish day and nightt t (Manybsho, No. 200). A l l

governmental af fa ir s were stopped or considered to be

stopped-that also means break of time. The te nt h century

-

3

gokurakki, describing the death of Shdtoku Taishi,

says: Til lers l e f t thei r mattocks, women who pounded corn

abandoned thei r pestles. They said: 'Sun and moon are

faded.. I t was also thought that the emperor had

4 4 J a p a n e s e J o u r n a l o f R e l i g i o u s S t u d i e s 1 1 / 1 1 9 8 4


3/14

M e a n i n g o f B e g i n n i n g a n d E n d

e s c a p e d i n t o a c a v e ( s e e ManyUshU No. 1 9 9 , a n i d e a w h i c h

c l e a r l y r e s e m b l e s t h e f a m o u s m y t h of A m a t e r a s u s c o n c e a l -

m e n t i n a r o c k - c a v e . ]

W e m u s t a d m i t t h a t B u d d hi sm d id n o t b r i n g m u c h t h a t

w a s ne w t o t h e c o n c e p t s of b i r t h of t h e J a p a n e s e , a n d t h e

i d e a of k a r m i c r e t r i b u t i o n w a s i n t e r p r e t e d m a i nl y a s r e t r i -

b u t i o n f o r d e e d s in th i s l i f e , a n d n o t a p r e v i o u s o n e. B u t

t h e B u d d h i s t c o n t r i b u t i o n t o i d e a s c o n c e r n i n g d e a t h i s q u i t e

s i g n i f i c a n t . B u d dh is m i n t r o d u c e d t h e e t h i c a l n o t i o n o f

a f t e r - d e a t h r e t r i b u t i o n b a s e d on s in a n d v i r tu e . In W o n

r y a i k i , t h e f i r s t l e n g t h y B u d d h i s t w r i t in g of a n o n - o f f ic i a l

n a t u r e in J a p a n , t h i s r e t r i b u t io n is m a n i f e s t e d a t l e a s t in

t w o w a y s : 1 r e b i r t h in h u m an o r b e s t i a l f o r m , a n d

2 )

t o r -

m e n t s ( d e l ig h t s ) in t h e w o rld o f Y a m a. ( T h e t o r m e n t s a r e

d e s c r i b e d m u c h m o r e t ho ro u gh ly .) T h e i d e a of a f t e r - d e a t h

r e t r i b u t i o n is t r a n s f o r m e d g r e a t l y in t h e l a t e r Djb

gokurak-

ki.

In W o n r y i j i k i t h e m a i n r e w a r d f o r v i r t u e

is

m a t e r i a l

b e n e f i t in t h is l i f e b u t t h e s a i n t s d e p i c t e d i n ~ J

okurakki

t e a r

t h ro u g h t h e c y c l e of l i f e a n d d e a t h a n d a s c e n d t o t h e

P u r e L a nd .

A s a w h o l e, t h e n o ti o n of d e a t h ( o r of p o s t - d e a th r e t r i -

b u t i o n ) is m o r e d e v e l o p e d in B ud d h is m t h a n in S h in t o. T h i s

c a n b e e x p l a i n e d b y t h e e t h i c o r i e n t a t i o n of B ud d hi sm ,

w h i c h t e a c h e s m a n t h e u l t i m a t e go a l of s e l f - p e r f e c t i o n . In

S h i n to , o n t h e c o n t r a r y , e v e r y b o d y is r e v e r e d b y h is

d e s c e n d a n t s r e g a r d l e s s o f hi s f a u l t s a n d m e r i t s , m e r e l y

b e c a u s e h e is a n a n c e s t o r . T h e B u d d h i s t c o m p r e h e n s i o n of

d e a t h is m o r e d e t a il e d - i t r e g a r d s m e n n o t o nly a s a n c e s-

t o r s o r d e s c e n d a n t s b u t l o o k s u po n t h e m in t h e i r s o c i a l

e n v i r o n m e n t .

I t

is

t h u s q u i t e n a t u r a l t h a t t h e S h i n to c u s t o m of

c o m m i t t i n g t o t h e e a r t h w a s g ra d u a ll y c h a n g e d t o c r e rn a -

t io n . T h e f i r s t w r i t t e n e v i d e n c e of t h i s n e w c u s t o m t r a c e s

b a c k t o 7 A.D. w h e n t h e m o nk D 6 s h d w a s c r e m a t e d

I

T h i s t a l e c a n b e f o u n d i n t h e f o l l o w i n g so urce s i n E n g li sh : P h ~ l i p p i

1968 pp. 81-86; A st o n 1978 pp. 41-50; Ka tG and Hos hino 1926 pp. 19-

23.

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A N MESHCHERYAKOV

according to his w i l l (see Shoku nihongi, Monmu 4-3-10).

In

702, 707 and 721 emperors Ji t6, Monmu, and Genmei

respective ly were cremated. Pragmatic explanations of the

spread of cremation in terms of the alleged shortage of

land (Matsunaga 1971, p.171) are not val id, in my opinion,

because in the e igh th century there was a good deal of

unused and uncultivated land, and many Shinto funerals

were also conducted in the mountains, where farming was

impossible. be lieve that Buddhist concepts of death

displaced step by step those of Shinto, wh ich led to a wide

recogn ition of Buddhist ritual. Even now funerals are

conducted largely by Buddhist priests.

A t the same time, however, Shinto notions and ri tuals

of b i r t h dominated.

No t only did these play a grea t ro le in

the life of man, they also gave birth to stories which were

considered by th ei r contemporaries as Buddhist.

The story found in Nihon ry8ik i Vol.

1

No. is of much

importance in this connection.

During the reign of Emperor Bidatsu, when a farmer

was working in his field, i t began raining. The farmer took

shel ter under a tree. When

i t

thundered he raised his metal

rod in fear. The thunder st ruck before him, appearing as a

boy. The farmer was about to str ike him wit h the rod but

the boy said: Please, don 't h it me. w i l l repay your kind-

ness. The farmer asked what he should do. The boy

answered tha t he would send a son to the farmer. Make

me a camphor boat, f i l l i t wi th water, put a bamboo lea f

on the water and give the boat to me. The farmer did this

and the thunder god could now ascend to heaven. La te r a

son was born to the farmer. snake was coiled tw ic e

around his head. This son accomplished miraculous deeds:

he defeated a strong prince, expelled an ev il fiend from

the Buddhist temple Gangbji, and defeated some princes

who had stopped the flow of water to the fields owned by

th is temple. He was ordained under the name of

DBjd.

In this story the snake is iden tifi ed w it h the thunder

god, wh ich is qu ite usual everywhere in the world. The

fi rs t par t of the story, dealing w it h the meeting of the

4

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Meaning o f eginning and End

farmer and the thunder god and the bi r t h of the child, is

closely connected to traditional Shinto beliefs, as can be

shown by the following arguments.

The farmer raised the metal r od ( kane no tsue ) when

t

thundered. W o n

r y U i k i

says that he did this in fear, as

i f pro tecti ng himself. Bu t as we know fro m modern folk-

tales, snakes are afraid of metal things (See Dorson 1962,

p. 118, p.121). Besides that, the word

tsue

which is tradi-

ti onal ly interpreted as a rod, is a sacred ob ject of Shinto.

According to Kojik i, Izanagi returned from the land of

Yomi and pur ifi ed himself. During the purif ica tio n, when he

flung down his tsue, a god named Tuki-taku-puna-to-no-

kami came in to existence (Phi li pp i 1968, p.68). La te r in the

historic period, this was symbolized as a pillar or stick and

was fixed by the roads. People bel ieved that t ha t god

drove away evi l spirits. We also know that the tsue as a

walking-st ick was used as a protec tor against spirits. Tsue

are also of te n used in Shinto kagura. I n Nihon

ry iki

the

tsue is cer tai nly used to safeguard the farmer from being

struck by lightning.

Making a boat for the thunder god is a ri t ua l to renew

the abilities of the thunder god which he lost on the

ground. One can easily imagine that camphor-boats appear-

ing in excavations of Yayo i and KB fu n stratas may be

exp la ined as accessories of a thunder god cult .

The appearance of a child with a snake coiled twice

around his head indicates that the child was a descendant

of the thunder god.

I n i ts most archaic form, some traces of wh ich can be

seen in the Nihon

r yU i k i

story, the appearance of a mira-

culous boy resulted from the fecundation of mother-earth

by the ra in (thunder) god.

The competit ion with

a

prince l iv ing in

a

secluded

house corresponds to the motif of the test of the hero,

wh ic h in fa ct is absolutely necessary in every folk narra-

tive. The Nihon

ry iki

story says that the boy made deep

footpr ints. In another story the snake himself, no t his

descendant, is fea tured in the same manner (Dorson 1962,

Japanese Jou rna l o f Re l i g i ous S tud i es 11 1 9 8 4

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A N MESHCHERYAKOV

p. 122 .

One can assume that deep footpri nts are ind ica tiv e

of a snake.

The rain-making function i n a highly developed agricul -

tu ra l society is transfe rred f rom the snake to his child: as

his last deed D6j6 opened the sluice gates shut by the evil

princes so that the fields of the GangEji temple were never

dry again.

Story

8 1

of the eleventh century

ai

nihon hokke genki

treats the snake in a similar manner in connection w i t h his

water-br inging activit ies. In this tale a man wishes to bui ld

a pagoda but thunder destroys

t

many times. The monk

Jin'y4 promises to help that man and starts to read the

Lotus Sutra. A t tha t moment i t begins t o rai n and the

man is af rai d th at the ligh tning wi l l destroy the pagoda

once again. But the prayers have an ef fect and the thunder

god, i n the fo rm of a young man, fal ls to the ground. He is

tangled in a rope and cannot ascend to heaven. Jin'yO

orders him no t t o destroy the pagoda and to bring water

f rom the valley. The thunder god obeys the command bu t

does not br ing wate r from the valley. When he ascends t o

heaven a spring of the purest water gushes fo r th from a

rock. This story turns the irregular rain-maker in to a

permanent source of water.

Generally speaking the common Japanese Buddhist

comprehension of the snake is as a whol ly ha rmfu l crea-

ture. This at ti tu de can be traced to pre-Buddhist times,

and is not connected with the snake's rain-making function

-the snake is featured as a sexual tr ic kster . Some

examples will make this clear.

itachi fu oki

relates the tale of a stranger who used

to vis it a woman named Nuka-bime. This stranger would

appear in the evening and leave in the morning. The woman

eventua lly gives b i r t h t o a snake child. The chil d speaks to

his mother in the darkness and keeps silence when i t begins

to dawn. The mother moves him from one vessel to another

but the snake grows so rapidly that one day she has no

appropr iate vessel for him. The mother says: Judging by

your abili ties have understood that you are son of a god

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and our family cannot nourish you any longer. Go back to

your father. You should not remain here.'' The son agrees

w i th her bu t asks for a ch il d as a guide.

When his request

is re jected he goes into a rage and wi th the help of the

ligh tn ing strikes his uncle Nuka-bime's brother dead. The

mother then throws the vessel the snake had been kept in

a t him. He loses his divine abil it ies and cannot ascend to

heaven (Fudoki, pp. 78-81).

Hizen fudokr says that a man once came at night to

Otohi-himeko and l e f t at dawn. When the woman traced

him she found herself at a lake at the peak of a mountain.

She saw a snake there. He had a human body in the water

and the head o f a snake on the shore. A t t hat moment the

snake turned in to a man and invi ted Otohi-himeko to

descend to his house. Otohi-himeko's maid returned home

and to ld the story to her relatives . When they climbed the

mountain they found Otohi-himeko lying at the bottom of

the lake (Fudoki, pp. 396-397).

In Koji ki, there is a story very similar to this Hizen

fud ok i legend, but in K o j i k i the story ends at the moment

of ide nt ifi ca tio n of a stranger wit h a snake-god in the

mountain (Philippi 1968, pp. 203-204).

Buddhist stories regard relationships between snakes

and human women as harmful. Nihon ry iki 11 41 tells how

a g i r l was raped by a snake bu t cured by a magic r itual.

Nevertheless she was violated for the second time and died.

RyZIiki compiler Ky6kai ends the story in the following

way: According to the law of karmic causality, one is

reborn as a snake, horse, cow, dog, or bi rd, or fal ls in love

w i th a snake because of ev i l deeds in the past, or is reborn

i n the form of a ghostly creature.''

Most stories in Nihon ~8iki nd wit h a didactic moral

by the compiler which serves as a power fu l means for

accomodat ion of non-Buddhist stories. The moral showed

the reader how to adopt ideas which were desirable to the

author.

The appearance of this mora l is a fa c t of great sign ifi-

cance, because in Shinto t is impossible to recapitulate the

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A N M E S H C H E R Y A K O V

text, whi ch exists in Shinto only as an equal to itse lf. Even

the author of a polemical work such as

ogoshu i

(early

ninth century) is inc l ined to c i te the myth in ful l but not

to poi nt out the differences between the off ici al version

of the myth and the myth kept by his clan.

MAKING OF PLOTS

Now le t us have a look a t two very similar legends from

ihon

ry8M

(Stories 11.8 and II.12), wh ich are quite in te r-

esting for the comprehension they show of the plot making

func tion of syncret ic Shinto-Buddhist stories. In one (II.8),

a

gir l meets

a

snake who is swal lowing a frog. Moved by

the desire to save al l sen tie nt beings, the g i r l asks the

snake to set the frog free, and in exchange she promises to

marry the snake. Then in fear she goes t o the Venerable

Gy6gi (or Gyaki), but he answers that nothing can be done

and that she should have faith in the Three Treasures of

Buddhism and keep the precepts f irmly. On the appointed

day the snake appears, climbs onto the roof and drops in

f r o n t of the girl . But some crabs she had also saved earl ier

cut the snake into shreds, saving her from what Shinto

would cal l a sin. Thus Buddhist virtues pro te ct the g i r l

from evil.

I n spite of the Buddhist plo t of the story the snake is

pi ct ur ed in a Shinto way. A t the gi rl 's house he comes

through the roof, wh ich indicates his sacred origin. The

following fragments from

o j i k i

show this quite clearly.

When Amaterasu was inside the sacred weaving hall

seeing to the weaving of the divine garments, her brother

Susanoo opened a hole in the roof and dropped the heaven-

ly pony through

t

(Philippi 1968 p.80).

In another f ragment the god Take-mika-duti-no-kami

sends a sword t o pac ify the land through a hole in the r oo f

of a store-house (Phi lipp i 1968, p. 168).

In these

Nihon

ry8M stor ies up \= the sky ) is

connected w it h the l if e of the snake and down wi th his

death. Snakes are immobil ized or die on

the ground in four

J a p a n e s e J o u r n a l of R el ig io us S t u d i e s

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stor ies.2

T h e p r e s e n c e o f a f r o g i n t h e

ihon

ryUi iki

s to r i es a l so

i n d i c a t e s t h e p r e - B u d d h i s t o r i g i n s o f t h e le ge nd . I n ihon

ryiliki t h e f r o g i s d e p i c t e d o n ly as a g o a l f o r f u l f i l l i n g t h e

B u d d h i s t v i r t u e o f s a vi ng a l i v i n g be in g . B u t in o t h e r

s t o r i e s t o a v o i d g iv i n g b i r t h t o a sn ak e's c h i l d a g i r l i s

a d v i s e d t o s t e p

ove r a t ub w i t h f r ogs ( S uzuk i 1951 , pp .51 -

5 2) o r p u t a f r o g i n t h e t u b w h i c h i s u se d d u r in g p a r t u r i -

t i o n ( S e k i 1 96 3, p.2 70 ). O n t h e b r o n z e d o t a k u f r o m

S a k u r a -g a - o k a t h e r e is a p i c t u r e o f a f r o g , a s n a k e an d a

h u m a n be i n g w h i c h a ls o p r o v e s t he a n t i q u i t y o f t h i s m o t i f

( T o r i go e 1975, p. 29). be l i e ve t h a t i n t he

ihon

ryijiki

s t o r y w e f i n d a f r a g m e n t o f an u n kn o w n m y t h .

T h e m e a n i n g o f t h e c r a b s i n t h e ihon rya ik i s t o r y i s

n o t c l e a r en ou gh . B u t

it

s ho uld b e p o i n t e d o u t t h a t t h e p a i r

g i r l - c r ab i s f ound i n an c i en t ka gu r a songs.3

V a r io u s f o l k t a l e s h a v e i n h e r i t e d t h i s o p p o s i t i o n b e t w e e n

s n a k e and cr ab . D o r s o n c i t e s t h e f o l l o w i n g s to r y .

A

m a n

n a m e d H a c h i r o w as p r e p a r i n g m e a l s f o r a w o o d - c u t t e r . H e

c a u g h t a t r o u t b u t l i k e d

i t

so m u c h t h a t h e a t e it h imse l f .

H e t h e n b e c a m e t h i r s t y a n d c o u l d n o t s l a k e h i s t h i r s t , s o h e

t u r n e d i n t o a s n ak e an d b u i l t a dam . T h e g o d o f K o g a g e , i n

w h o se t e r r i t o r y t h i s h ap pe ne d, d i d n o t l i k e

it

and t hus

t u r n e d i n t o a cr a b , m a k i n g a h o l e i n t h e d a m ( D o rs o n 1962 ,

pp. 126-127).

I n B u d d h i st s to r ie s w h i c h a p pe ar ed a f t e r ihon rybiki

t h e m o t i f o f g i r l a nd s na ke fa l ls i n t o f u r t h e r d e c l i n e

t h r o u g h t h e i n t r o d u c t i o n o f a B u d d h i s t m on k. I n s t o r y

2

S to r i e s

1.1 1.3,

11.8 and

11 12.

T h e mo t i f o f a s na ke p e n e t ra t i n g t h ro u g h

the roo f o f a house is p reserved i n fo l k ta l es even today , bu t the de -

ta i l s o f h is a r r i v a l on t h e r o o f a re p i c tu re d v e r y p ra g ma t i c a ll y . A c -

co rd ing to one s to ry (Sek i 1963 , pp .

139-142)

a g i r l b e ca m e

ll

because

a snake was t rapped i n the roo f o f he r house when i t was tha tched .

3.

Fo r these songs see N iho n ko te n bunga ku zenshu, Vo l . 25, pp.70-71.

A c c o rd i n g t o K o j i k i , E mp e ro r b j i n sa ng a s on g to Y a -g a p a -y e -p ime i n

w h i c h a c ra b is me n t i o n e d b e fo re t h e i r ma r r i a g e . P h i l i p p i b e l i e v e s t h a t

perhaps, c ra b was served a t the feast (p .277), bu t

1

b e l i e v e t h a t t h e

c rab he re i s c l ea r l y a sexua l symbo l .

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A N M E S H C H E R Y A K O V

X X I X .

40

o f K o r u a ku m o n o g a t a r i sh a young monk dreams

t h a t h e s l e p t w i t h a b e a u t i f u l g i r l . W h e n h e a w ak en s h e

sees a dead snake nea r him. In th is s to ry w e see a to ta l

d e c l i n e o f a n o r i g i n a l st o r y : w e n o w h a v e n o t a m a l e s na ke

b u t a f e m a l e snake; n o t a g i r l b u t a mon k; t h e d e a t h n o t o f

a human be ing bu t o f an an ima l .

N ih on r y b i k i

I

i s a ls o v e r y i n t e r e s t i n g f r o m t h e p e r -

s p e c t i v e o f p l o t i n s y n c re t i c Sh in to -Bu d d h i s t s to r ie s . Sou nd s

r e s e m b l in g f lu t es , k o t o s an d th u n d e r a r e h e a r d f r o m t h e

seashore. t i s f o u n d t h a t t h e sou nd s w e r e u t t e r e d by a

c a m p h o r l o g w h i c h h ad b e e n s t r u c k b y l ig h t n i n g . T h e l o g

w a s t r a n s p o r t e d b y c a r t t o t h e C o u r t a n d B u d d h i s t i m a g e s

w e r e m a d e f r o m i t . 4

t i s a p p a re n t f r o m K o j i k i , N i h o n s ho ki, t h e f u d o k i a n d

m o d e r n e t h n o g r a p h i c a l o b s e r v a ti o n s t h a t t h e k o t o i s a

s a c re d i n s t r u m e n t t o Sh in to a nd wa s u s e d d u r i n g sh am a nis-

t i c t r an ce s. S uch r i t e s a re d e p i c te d i n K o j i k i ( P h i l i p p i

1968, pp. 257-258). One pre ced ed th e campaign aga ins t

t h e

Ku m a s o t r i b e . Em p e ro r Ch Oa i p la y e d th e k o to . Ta k e s i - u t i -

n o -s u ku n e wa s a p p o in te d s a n iwa , t o s e ek t h e d i v i n e w i l l ,

and the empress was th e d iv ine r . The empress became

possessed and said : Th e re i s a land i n the wes t . .

.

I

w i l l

n o w g i v e t h i s c o u n t r y t o y o u r hands. B u t t h e e m p e ro r d i d

n o t b e l i e v e t h e s e w o r d s b e c a u s e t h e r e w a s n o l a n d t o t h e

wes t . He pushed th e ko to away. The de i ty was en raged and

s a i d t h a t t h e e m p e ro r w o u l d n o t r u l e th i s k in gd om . T h e

s a n i w a a sk ed h i m t o p l a y t h e k o t o a g a i n a n d t h e e m p e ro r

d id so re lu c ta n t l y . Su d d en ly t h e s ou nd s to p p ed a n d wh e n

th e y ra i s e d th e l i g h t s t h e y s aw th a t t h e e m p e ro r was d ead.

A f t e r s om e t i m e h a d pa ss ed t h e d i v i n a t i o n w a s r e p e a t e d

a n d th e wo rd s o f t h e g o d s we re f o u n d u n c h a n g e d .

T h e d i v i n a t i o n o f Jing: K c 9 5 w a s c o n d u c t e d u n de r t h e

s am e c o n d i t i o n s - th e d i v i n e r b e c a m e p os se ss ed w h i l e l i s t e n -

4 A s imi l a r l egen d i s f ound In

Nihon shoki

i n t h e e n t r y f o r K in m e i

1 41 51 7 A c c o r d i n g t o t h i s s t o r y a v o i c e t h a t e c h o e d l i k e t h u n d e r w a s

h e a r d r e c i t i n g B u d d h is t c h a n t s

T h e Nihon shoki v e r s i o n d o e s n o t s a y

t h a t t h e l o g w a s s t r u c k by l i gh t ni n g

5 2 J a p a n e s e J o u r n a l o f R e l i g i o u s S t u d i e s 1 1 1 1 9 8 4


11/14

Meaning

o f

Beginning and End

ing to the sounds of the koto (Phi lipp i 1968, pp.260-291,

Aston 1978, p. 225).

The ko to is also fea tu red as a shamanistic instrument

i n a non-o ffi cia l version of the famous my th about the con-

cealment of Amaterasu i n the cave. Ame-no-Uzume ent iced

the goddess by a dance accompanied by koto music. One of

the possible ways to wr i te the word koto i n Japanese

consists of th ree ideograms: god-command-koto. There

were koto players i n the Jingikan who, w i th f l ut e players,

took pa rt i n Shinto ceremonies.

Now le t us ret urn to the Nihon r y s i k i story about the

log cited above.

t

is said th at the sounds of the l og re-

sembled thunder. According to Nihon shoki, camphor trees

were produced by Susanoo (the storm god) from his brows

for ship-building (As ton 1978, p.58). I n Nihon

ry iki

1.3,

mentioned above, the snake (=thunder god) asks the farmer

to make a boa t fo r him from a camphor-tree so tha t he

could return to the sky.

The thi rteenth century GukanshU says tha t when in the

reign of K inmei Buddhist statues were t hrown int o the

canal, the Emperor's residence was set on fire by lightning.

Then a radiance was seen in the sea which was produced

by a log from a camphor tree. Kimmei commanded Buddhist

images to be made from i t (Brown and Ishida 1979, p.262).

The Karano ship was also made from camphor (Fudoki,

pp.483-484). The K o j i k i and Nihon shoki story says that the

ship was used to br in g wa ter f or the imperia l table. When

the ship became diiapidated

i t

was util ized as firewood to

boil thick sea brine down to salt and from the parts left

over f rom the burning a koto was made, the sound of which

cou ld be heard f ro m a fa r (Phi lipp i 1968, pp. 322-323).

The close connection between camphor trees and the

ko to can be seen i n a Hizen fudoki story

in which a koto

th at was set verti call y on the top of a hi ll turned in to a

camphor tree (Fudoki, pp. 390-391).

Thus we find a fixed set of motifs: thunder god,

camphor tree (ship), koto. The fi rs t two parts of thi s tr ia d

are preserved i n the Nihon

ry iki

story, whil e the t hi rd one

J a p a n e s e J o u r n a l o f Rel i g i ous S tud i es 11 1 1984


12/14

N MESHCHERYAKOV

is transformed in to Buddhis t images. The sentence about

the sounds of flute, koto and thunder seems to be a remi-

niscence, but it s origin is half forgotten.

Taking the

ybiki

stories mentioned above into consid-

eration, we can arrive at an important conclusion concern-

ing the making of plots. Shinto stories adopted by Japanese

Buddhism were alt ered mainly in th ei r endings, by the

substitution of new Buddhist elements for the last part of

the original story. The beginnings of the stories are more

stable and contain Shinto beli efs more fully.

HISTORICAL CONSCIOUSNESS

The rapid spread in the Heian period of Amidist ideas at

the existential level, and eschatological socio-historic

notions (f ix ed in l i t erat ure, Buddhist writings, and his tor i c

works such as r kishi monogatari) proves that the whole

sum of the not ion of the end (death, post-death re tr ibu-

tion, eschatology) greatl y influenced the l at er development

of Japanese Buddhism and culture.

In this connection the stories in the r kishi monogatari

sub-genre are of par ticula r interest. I n these works the

Shinto concept of the beginnings of the world and legiti-

macy of the ru li ng house prevails. As time passes more and

more Buddhist ideas are inserted in the comprehension of

history, so that in it s concept of the f utu re Buddhism

prac ti ca ll y excludes Shinto. Even much later, when Shinto

theology was developed,

t

could not produce models of the

fut ure invariably through the in ter pre tat ion of myths.

Though this may seem somewhat paradoxical, folktales,

historic views and life styles are isomorphous to one and

th e same pattern. Japanese emperors began th ei r l i f e and

re ign from Shinto ceremonies and ended, beginning w i th

Emperor Tenmu, by ceremonies of Buddhist origin (curing

by dharani invocations, becoming a monk, cremation). Thus

the Shinto preoccupation with the beginning of the world

and the i n i t ia l stages of various processes, on the one

hand, and the Buddhist concentration on eschatology and

the fi na l stages of processes, on the other, inf luenced many

4 J a p a n e s e J o u r n a l o f R e l i g i o u s S t u d i e s 1 1 / 1 1 9 8 4


13/14

Meaning o f Beginn ing and End

c u l t u r a l p h e n o m e n a , s u c h a s p lo t- m a k in g , l i f e s t y l e s , c o n -

c e p t s of h i s t o r y a n d t h e li ke .

A t f i r s t s i g h t t h e r e e x i s t s n o m o r e c o n t r a s t t ha n

b e t w e e n t h e g lo ry of t h e e m p e r o r a nd t h e p oo r p e a s a n t o r

p e t t y o f f i c ia l w ho a r e t h e r e a l c r e a t o r s of f o l kt a le s . B u t a s

I h a v e t r i e d t o s h o w in t h i s p a p e r , t h e i r co m p r e h e n s i on of

t h e w or ld a n d t h e w o r ld 's c o m p re h e ns i on o f t h e m a r e

s im p l y v a r i a n t s of o n e a n d t h e s a m e m e n t a l p a t t e r n . T h e r e -

f o r e w e c a n c la im t h a t a ll t h e s e m e n a r e r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s of

J a p a n e s e m e d i e v a l c u l t u r e .

CONCLUSION

M e d i e v a l J a p a n f o r m e d a s y n c r e t i c S h in to - B ud d hi st p a t t e r n

of t i m e w h i c h i n f lu e n c e d g r e a t l y d i f f e r e n t s p h e r e s of i n t el -

l e c t u a l a c t i v i t i e s . A s r e s u l t t h e c y c l e of S h i n t o a g r i c ul -

t u r a l t i m e w a s s t r a i g h t e n e d a n d c o n c e p t of l in e a r t i m e

c a m e i n t o e x i s t e n c e . B u t f o r a r e s e a r c h e r of h u m a n i ta r i a n

p r ob l em s a n o t h e r f a c t i s m o r e i m p o r ta n t . T h e n e w c o n c e p t

of t i m e c o n t r i b u t e d g r e a t l y t o t h e f o r m i n g of t h e in div i-

dua l . I t i s w e l l k n o w n t h a t in S h i n t o t h e i n d i v id u a l i s of n o

v a l u e a n d p a t t e r n s of be h a v i o r a r e c o l l e c t i v e . J a p a n e s e

B u dd hi sm a c c e n t u a t e d t h e e nd of a l l p h e n o m e n a a n d i t

m a d e p o ss ib l e t o e v a l u a t e t h e in d iv i du a l b e c a u s e o nly t h e

t r a n s i e n t c a n b e c o n s i d e r e d t h e u ni qu e. O n l y c u l t u r e of

l i n e a r t i m e c o u ld p r o d u c e t h e f ol lo w in g s t a t e m e n t ( K e e n e

1967, p. 7):

If m a n w e r e n e v e r t o f a d e a w a y l i k e t h e d e w s of

A d a s hi o, n e v e r t o v a n i s h l i k e t h e s m o k e o v e r T o r ib e -

y a m a , b u t l i n g er e d o n f o r e v e r in t h e w o r ld , h ow t h in g s

w o u ld l o s e t h e i r p o w e r t o m o v e us.

Jap an ese Jo u r n a l o f R e l i g i ou s S tu d i es

11 1 984


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A.N. MESHCHERYAKOV

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Ko j i k i .

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1 9 8 4

meaning of the beginning and end in buddhism

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