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RELIGION LIBRARY

Shinto

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Sacred Narratives

The deities (kami) Izanagi and Izanami gave birth to all things, including the Japanese islands, and also to three major Japanese gods. One of these is Amaterasu, the sun goddess. The emperors of Japan, and all of the Japanese people, are believed to be descendents of these kami.

Ultimate Reality and Divine Beings

Ultimate reality in Shinto includes the chaos from which the kami emerged, but the focus of the ultimate in relationship to humanity is earth. Certain kami gave birth to the earthly realm and everything in it. Kami can occupy natural objects such as mountains, rivers, or trees. They can also occupy sacred areas and, more rarely, human beings.

Human Nature and the Purpose of Existence

Humans are part of the natural realm, which is sacred. Pollution does occur through normal acts such as contact with things that threaten life, for example: death, blood, or disease. This is unavoidable and constitutes no "sin." Pollution is washed away regularly through acts of purification. Thus one's purpose is to maintain the pure and natural state of existence.

Suffering and the Problem of Evil

In Shinto, the ideas closest to the western notion of evil are pollution and impurity, and these are addressed through rituals of purification. Suffering is not regarded as a form of punishment for human behavior, but, rather, as a natural element of human experience. Shinto deities are equally capable of being gentle and loving, or awesome and terrifying.

Afterlife and Salvation

There is an old saying in Japan: "born Shinto, die Buddhist." Before Buddhism, it was believed that all who died went to a vast hellish underworld from which there is no escape. Buddhism introduced the idea of rewards and punishments in the afterlife, and death and salvation in the afterlife came to be regarded as Buddhist matters.

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