Whether it is in the location of their sanctuaries, in the hypnotic design of their Zen garden or even in the materials used for their sacred sites, Nature is present everywhere in Japanese spirituality.
And this, since a very long time.
When the first Buddhist missionaries arrived in the 6th century, they discovered islands where the cult of the spirits of nature was omnipresent. Far from opposing the two religions, it brought them closer. Even today the Japanese still share their beliefs between Buddhism, which has become the state religion, and Shinto, the ancestral cult of spirits.
From the film: « Wonders of Men – Japan, Daitoku-Ji Temple »
Direction: Véronique Legendre & Alexis Barbier-Bouvet
Production: ZED & ARTE France
4 Comments
Similar to Surrealism. The spirituality of the Japanese. Behind nature. Deep🟡🧿
Similar to african spirituality. Nature is god
from India may god bless all
This is a myth. I travelled all over Japan but sadly didn’t see the reverence towards nature. First there’s no wilderness left in Japan. There are hardly any old growth trees left. Most mountains are mono crop tree farms of cedar and pine. There are tons of dams everywhere. Japan loves concrete and lines it’s rivers and ports with it. The new tsunami walls surrounding small port towns are stadium size. There’s little organic agriculture. If you go to the countryside, they use roundup weed killer and chemical fertilizer. The country is ran on fossil fuels. Very little renewables. So much plastic wrapping on foods. If you go to the shrines and temples, people are praying for help for themselves and their families not for nature. If you ask, there is little ecological knowledge.