Honji suijaku
Encyclopedia
The term in Japanese religious terminology refers to a theory widely accepted until the Meiji period
according to which Indian Buddhist deities choose to appear in Japan as native kami
in order to more easily convert and save the Japanese. The theory states that some kami (but not all) are in fact just local manifestations (the , literally, a "trace") of Buddhist deities, (the , literally, "original ground"). The two entities form an indivisible whole called gongen
and in theory should have equal standing, but in history this wasn't always the case. In the early Nara period
, for example, the honji was considered more important, and only later did the two come to be regarded as equals. During the late Kamakura period
it was even proposed that the kami were the original deities, and the buddhas their manifestations (see the Inverted honji suijaku section below).
The theory was never systematized, but was nonetheless very pervasive and very influential. It is considered the keystone of the shinbutsu shūgō
(harmonization of Buddhist deities and Japanese kami) edifice.
Early Buddhist monks didn't doubt the existence of kami, but saw them as inferior to their buddhas
. Hindu deities had already had the same reception: they had been thought of as non-illuminated and prisoners of samsara
. Buddhist claims of superiority encountered however resistance, and monks tried to overcome it by deliberately integrating kami in their system. Japanese Buddhists themselves wanted to somehow give the kami equal status. Several strategies to do this were developed and employed, and one of them was the honji suijaku theory.
The expression was originally developed in China and used by Tendai
Buddhists to distinguish an absolute truth from its historical manifestation, for example the eternal Buddha
from the historical Buddha, or the absolute Dharma
from its actual, historical forms, the first being the honji, the second the suijaku. The term makes its first appearance with this meaning in the Eizan Daishiden, a text believed to have been written in 825. The honji suijaku theory proper later applied it to buddhas and kami, with its first use within this context dated to 901, when the author of the Sandai Jutsuroku says that "mahasattvas (buddhas and bodhisattvas) manifest themselves at times as kings and at times as kami." It must be noted that the dichotomy was applied to deities only in Japan and not, for example, in China.
A different but equivalent explanation of the fact that Buddhist deities choose not to show themselves as they are, but manifest themselves as kami was expressed in a poetic form with the expression , which meant that to assist sentient beings, deities "dimmed their radiance and became identical to the dust of the profane world". Their brightness would otherwise be such to destroy mere mortals.
In the 10th and 11th centuries we find numerous examples of Buddhist deities and kami pairings, and the deities are usually Kannon, Yakushi, Amida
or Shaka Nyorai. The association between them was usually made after a dream or revelation made to a famous monk, later recorded in a temple's or shrine's records. By then, kami in Japan were universally understood to be the form taken by buddhas to save human beings, that is, local manifestations of universal buddhas. Around the beginning of the Kamakura period
the pairings had become solidly codified in large temples or shrines. The frequency of the practice is attested by the , or "Hanging buddhas" found in many large shrines, metal mirrors which carry in the front the effigy of the shrine's kami, and on the rear the relative Buddhist deity. The name is due to the fact that they are usually hanged from a shrine's outer wall.
As the theory gradually spread around the country, the concept of gongen
("provisional manifestation", defined as a Buddha that chooses to appear to the Japanese as a kami) evolved. One of the first examples of gongen is Hie
's famous . Under the influence of Tendai Buddhism
and Shugendō
, the gongen concept was also adapted for example to religious beliefs tied to Mount Iwaki
, a volcano, so that female kami Kuniyasutamahime became associated with Jūichimen Kannon Bosatsu (eleven-faced Kannon), kami Ōkuninushi with Yakushi Nyorai, and Kunitokotachi
no Mikoto with Amida Nyorai.
, and its use wasn't confined to just deities, but was often extended even to historical figures as Kūkai
and Shōtoku Taishi. It was claimed that these particular human beings were manifestations of kami, which in turn were manifestations of buddhas. Sometimes the deity involved wasn't even Buddhist. This could happen because the theory was never formalized, and always consisted of separate events usually based on a temple or shrine's particular beliefs. Nothing was fixed: a deity could be identified both as a honji and a suijaku in different parts of the same shrine, and different identifications could be believed to be true at the same time and place. The religious situation during the Middle Ages was therefore confused and confusing, and historians have consequently tried to concentrate on the reformers of that age with a clear way philosophy and little interest in kami questions because they are easier to understand. The theory was ultimately beneficial to the kami, which went from being considered unilluminated outsiders to actual forms assumed by important deities. The ultimate expression of this shift is Ryōbu Shintō
, in which Buddhist deities and kami are indivisible and equivalent like the two sides of a coin.
The use of the honji suijaku paradigm wasn't limited to religion, but to the contrary had important consequences for society in general, culture, art and even economy. Buddhism for example proscribed fishing, hunting and even agriculture because they involved the killing of living beings (insects, moles and the like in the case of farming), but the honji suijaku concept permitted to void the prohibition. If one fished for himself, the reasoning went, he was guilty and should go to hell, however, if the catch was offered to a kami that was a known emanation of a buddha, the gesture had an obvious karmic value, and was permissible. The idea allowed the forbidding of individual, and therefore uncontrolled, economic activity. Applied as it was to all major economic activities, this interpretation of honji suijaku allowed a thorough control of population dissent.
How important the concept was can be understood also from how the idea that some local phenomenon may be somehow linked to an absolute and sacred object found extensive application in the medieval and early modern periods. It was used for example to say that temple lands in Japan were local emanations of Buddhist paradises, or that an artisan's work was one with the sacred actions of an Indian buddha.
The , or "Hachiman in priestly attire" is one of the most popular syncretic deities. The kami is shown dressed as a Buddhist priest and is considered the protector of people in general and warriors in particular. From the 8th century on, Hachiman was called Hachiman Daibosatsu, or Great Bodhisattva
Hachiman. The fact he is dressed like a Buddhist priest is probably meant to indicate the sincerity of his conversion to Buddhism. By the 13th century, other kami would also be portrayed in Buddhist robes.
theory. The common point of the tales is that, before reincarnating as tutelary kami of an area, a soul has first to be born and suffer there as a human being. The suffering is mostly caused by relationships with relatives, especially wives or husbands.
The book had great influence over literature and the arts.
shrine who was most active around 1340. In the first fascicle of the Kuji hongi gengi he argued that, in the beginning, Japan had only kami, and that only later did buddhas take over. He believed that for this reason there had been a decadence in the country's morals, but that a world where kami dominated would soon reappear. In the fifth fascicle of the same work, he compared Japan to a seed, China to a branch and India to a flower or fruit. Just like flowers that fall and return to the roots, India had come back to its roots, the kami were the honji and the buddhas their manifestations. Yoshida Kanetomo
was influenced by these ideas and brought them further, making a clean break with the past, becoming the creator of Yoshida Shintō
and bringing inverted honji suijaku to maturation.
While it is usually claimed that inverted honji suijaku was a reaction of native cults to the dominance of Buddhism, as we have seen history shows that it also came out of Buddhist intellectuals. The theory isn't per se anti-Buddhist and does not question the existence of buddhas, but simply seeks to invert the established order of importance between kami and buddhas. Why Buddhist should develop such a theory to the detriment of their own divinities is unclear, but it is possible that it was developed by shrine monks, or shasō
, who took care of the shrine part of temple-shrine complexes to enhance their status.
Meiji period
The , also known as the Meiji era, is a Japanese era which extended from September 1868 through July 1912. This period represents the first half of the Empire of Japan.- Meiji Restoration and the emperor :...
according to which Indian Buddhist deities choose to appear in Japan as native kami
Kami
is the Japanese word for the spirits, natural forces, or essence in the Shinto faith. Although the word is sometimes translated as "god" or "deity", some Shinto scholars argue that such a translation can cause a misunderstanding of the term...
in order to more easily convert and save the Japanese. The theory states that some kami (but not all) are in fact just local manifestations (the , literally, a "trace") of Buddhist deities, (the , literally, "original ground"). The two entities form an indivisible whole called gongen
Gongen
During the era of shinbutsu shūgō , in Japan a During the era of shinbutsu shūgō (religious syncretism of kami and buddhas), in Japan a During the era of shinbutsu shūgō (religious syncretism of kami and buddhas), in Japan a ( was believed to be a Japanese kami which was really just the local...
and in theory should have equal standing, but in history this wasn't always the case. In the early Nara period
Nara period
The of the history of Japan covers the years from AD 710 to 794. Empress Gemmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō . Except for 5 years , when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the capital of Japanese civilization until Emperor Kammu established a new capital, Nagaoka-kyō, in 784...
, for example, the honji was considered more important, and only later did the two come to be regarded as equals. During the late Kamakura period
Kamakura period
The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura Shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo....
it was even proposed that the kami were the original deities, and the buddhas their manifestations (see the Inverted honji suijaku section below).
The theory was never systematized, but was nonetheless very pervasive and very influential. It is considered the keystone of the shinbutsu shūgō
Shinbutsu Shugo
, literally "syncretism of kami and buddhas" is the syncretism of Buddhism and kami worship which was Japan's religion until the Meiji period...
(harmonization of Buddhist deities and Japanese kami) edifice.
Origin and history of the theory
Buddhahood
In Buddhism, buddhahood is the state of perfect enlightenment attained by a buddha .In Buddhism, the term buddha usually refers to one who has become enlightened...
. Hindu deities had already had the same reception: they had been thought of as non-illuminated and prisoners of samsara
Samsara
thumb|right|200px|Traditional Tibetan painting or [[Thanka]] showing the [[wheel of life]] and realms of saṃsāraSaṅsāra or Saṃsāra , , literally meaning "continuous flow", is the cycle of birth, life, death, rebirth or reincarnation within Hinduism, Buddhism, Bön, Jainism, Sikhism, and other...
. Buddhist claims of superiority encountered however resistance, and monks tried to overcome it by deliberately integrating kami in their system. Japanese Buddhists themselves wanted to somehow give the kami equal status. Several strategies to do this were developed and employed, and one of them was the honji suijaku theory.
The expression was originally developed in China and used by Tendai
Tendai
is a Japanese school of Mahayana Buddhism, a descendant of the Chinese Tiantai or Lotus Sutra school.Chappell frames the relevance of Tendai for a universal Buddhism:- History :...
Buddhists to distinguish an absolute truth from its historical manifestation, for example the eternal Buddha
Buddha
In Buddhism, buddhahood is the state of perfect enlightenment attained by a buddha .In Buddhism, the term buddha usually refers to one who has become enlightened...
from the historical Buddha, or the absolute Dharma
Dharma
Dharma means Law or Natural Law and is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion. In the context of Hinduism, it refers to one's personal obligations, calling and duties, and a Hindu's dharma is affected by the person's age, caste, class, occupation, and gender...
from its actual, historical forms, the first being the honji, the second the suijaku. The term makes its first appearance with this meaning in the Eizan Daishiden, a text believed to have been written in 825. The honji suijaku theory proper later applied it to buddhas and kami, with its first use within this context dated to 901, when the author of the Sandai Jutsuroku says that "mahasattvas (buddhas and bodhisattvas) manifest themselves at times as kings and at times as kami." It must be noted that the dichotomy was applied to deities only in Japan and not, for example, in China.
A different but equivalent explanation of the fact that Buddhist deities choose not to show themselves as they are, but manifest themselves as kami was expressed in a poetic form with the expression , which meant that to assist sentient beings, deities "dimmed their radiance and became identical to the dust of the profane world". Their brightness would otherwise be such to destroy mere mortals.
In the 10th and 11th centuries we find numerous examples of Buddhist deities and kami pairings, and the deities are usually Kannon, Yakushi, Amida
Amitabha
Amitābha is a celestial buddha described in the scriptures of the Mahāyāna school of Buddhism...
or Shaka Nyorai. The association between them was usually made after a dream or revelation made to a famous monk, later recorded in a temple's or shrine's records. By then, kami in Japan were universally understood to be the form taken by buddhas to save human beings, that is, local manifestations of universal buddhas. Around the beginning of the Kamakura period
Kamakura period
The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura Shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo....
the pairings had become solidly codified in large temples or shrines. The frequency of the practice is attested by the , or "Hanging buddhas" found in many large shrines, metal mirrors which carry in the front the effigy of the shrine's kami, and on the rear the relative Buddhist deity. The name is due to the fact that they are usually hanged from a shrine's outer wall.
As the theory gradually spread around the country, the concept of gongen
Gongen
During the era of shinbutsu shūgō , in Japan a During the era of shinbutsu shūgō (religious syncretism of kami and buddhas), in Japan a During the era of shinbutsu shūgō (religious syncretism of kami and buddhas), in Japan a ( was believed to be a Japanese kami which was really just the local...
("provisional manifestation", defined as a Buddha that chooses to appear to the Japanese as a kami) evolved. One of the first examples of gongen is Hie
Hie
Hie may refer to:* Hie , an Old English pronoun*Hie Shrine, a Shinto shrine located in Tokyo, JapanHIE is an abbreviation:*Highlands and Islands Enterprise*Hypoxic Ischaemic Encephalopathy*Health information exchange...
's famous . Under the influence of Tendai Buddhism
Tendai
is a Japanese school of Mahayana Buddhism, a descendant of the Chinese Tiantai or Lotus Sutra school.Chappell frames the relevance of Tendai for a universal Buddhism:- History :...
and Shugendō
Shugendo
is a highly syncretic Buddhic religion or sect and mystical-spiritual tradition which originated in pre-Feudal Japan, in which enlightenment is equated with attaining oneness with the . This perception of experiential "awakening" is obtained through the understanding of the relationship between...
, the gongen concept was also adapted for example to religious beliefs tied to Mount Iwaki
Mount Iwaki
is a stratovolcano located in western Aomori Prefecture, Tohoku, Japan. It is also referred to as Tsugaru-Fuji from its shape. the mountain is listed as one of the 100 Famous Japanese Mountains in a book composed in 1964 by mountaineer/author Kyūya Fukada...
, a volcano, so that female kami Kuniyasutamahime became associated with Jūichimen Kannon Bosatsu (eleven-faced Kannon), kami Ōkuninushi with Yakushi Nyorai, and Kunitokotachi
Kunitokotachi
In Japanese mythology, is one of the two gods born from "something like a reed that arose from the soil" when the earth was chaotic. In the Nihon Shoki, he is named "Kuni-toko-tachi no mikoto" and is the first of the first three divinities born after heaven and earth were born out of chaos, and...
no Mikoto with Amida Nyorai.
The practice of honji suijaku
The honji suijaku paradigm remained a defining feature of Japanese religious life up to the end of the Edo periodEdo period
The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....
, and its use wasn't confined to just deities, but was often extended even to historical figures as Kūkai
Kukai
Kūkai , also known posthumously as , 774–835, was a Japanese monk, civil servant, scholar, poet, and artist, founder of the Shingon or "True Word" school of Buddhism. Shingon followers usually refer to him by the honorific titles of and ....
and Shōtoku Taishi. It was claimed that these particular human beings were manifestations of kami, which in turn were manifestations of buddhas. Sometimes the deity involved wasn't even Buddhist. This could happen because the theory was never formalized, and always consisted of separate events usually based on a temple or shrine's particular beliefs. Nothing was fixed: a deity could be identified both as a honji and a suijaku in different parts of the same shrine, and different identifications could be believed to be true at the same time and place. The religious situation during the Middle Ages was therefore confused and confusing, and historians have consequently tried to concentrate on the reformers of that age with a clear way philosophy and little interest in kami questions because they are easier to understand. The theory was ultimately beneficial to the kami, which went from being considered unilluminated outsiders to actual forms assumed by important deities. The ultimate expression of this shift is Ryōbu Shintō
Shinto sects and schools
, the folk religion of Japan, developed a diversity of schools and sects, outbranching from the original Ko Shintō since Buddhism was introduced into Japan in the sixth century.-Early period Shinto schools and groups:...
, in which Buddhist deities and kami are indivisible and equivalent like the two sides of a coin.
The use of the honji suijaku paradigm wasn't limited to religion, but to the contrary had important consequences for society in general, culture, art and even economy. Buddhism for example proscribed fishing, hunting and even agriculture because they involved the killing of living beings (insects, moles and the like in the case of farming), but the honji suijaku concept permitted to void the prohibition. If one fished for himself, the reasoning went, he was guilty and should go to hell, however, if the catch was offered to a kami that was a known emanation of a buddha, the gesture had an obvious karmic value, and was permissible. The idea allowed the forbidding of individual, and therefore uncontrolled, economic activity. Applied as it was to all major economic activities, this interpretation of honji suijaku allowed a thorough control of population dissent.
How important the concept was can be understood also from how the idea that some local phenomenon may be somehow linked to an absolute and sacred object found extensive application in the medieval and early modern periods. It was used for example to say that temple lands in Japan were local emanations of Buddhist paradises, or that an artisan's work was one with the sacred actions of an Indian buddha.
The honji suijaku in religious art
The honji suijaku paradigm found wide application in religious art with the or . The (see image above), shows Buddhist deities together with their kami counterparts, while the show only Buddhist deities, and the show only kami.The , or "Hachiman in priestly attire" is one of the most popular syncretic deities. The kami is shown dressed as a Buddhist priest and is considered the protector of people in general and warriors in particular. From the 8th century on, Hachiman was called Hachiman Daibosatsu, or Great Bodhisattva
Bodhisattva
In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is either an enlightened existence or an enlightenment-being or, given the variant Sanskrit spelling satva rather than sattva, "heroic-minded one for enlightenment ." The Pali term has sometimes been translated as "wisdom-being," although in modern publications, and...
Hachiman. The fact he is dressed like a Buddhist priest is probably meant to indicate the sincerity of his conversion to Buddhism. By the 13th century, other kami would also be portrayed in Buddhist robes.
Shintōshū
The Shintōshū is a book in ten volumes believed to date from the Nanboku-chō period (1336–1392). It illustrates with tales about various shrines the honji suijakuHonji suijaku
The term in Japanese religious terminology refers to a theory widely accepted until the Meiji period according to which Indian Buddhist deities choose to appear in Japan as native kami in order to more easily convert and save the Japanese...
theory. The common point of the tales is that, before reincarnating as tutelary kami of an area, a soul has first to be born and suffer there as a human being. The suffering is mostly caused by relationships with relatives, especially wives or husbands.
The book had great influence over literature and the arts.
Inverted honji suijaku
The dominant interpretation of the buddha-kami relationship came to be questioned by what modern scholars call the or paradigm, a theology that reversed the original theory and gave the most importance to the kami. Supporters of the theory believed that, while those who have achieved buddhahood have acquired enlightenment, a kami shines of his own light. The doctrine was first developed once again by Tendai monks, and its first full formulation is attributed to Jihen, a monk tied to the great IseIse Shrine
is a Shinto shrine dedicated to goddess Amaterasu-ōmikami, located in the city of Ise in Mie prefecture, Japan. Officially known simply as , Ise Jingū is in fact a shrine complex composed of a large number of Shinto shrines centered on two main shrines, and ....
shrine who was most active around 1340. In the first fascicle of the Kuji hongi gengi he argued that, in the beginning, Japan had only kami, and that only later did buddhas take over. He believed that for this reason there had been a decadence in the country's morals, but that a world where kami dominated would soon reappear. In the fifth fascicle of the same work, he compared Japan to a seed, China to a branch and India to a flower or fruit. Just like flowers that fall and return to the roots, India had come back to its roots, the kami were the honji and the buddhas their manifestations. Yoshida Kanetomo
Yoshida Kanetomo
was an Japanese Shinto priest in the Momoyama period. He was a seminal figure in the evolution of a coherent descriptive and interpretive schema of Shinto ritual and mythology.-Career:...
was influenced by these ideas and brought them further, making a clean break with the past, becoming the creator of Yoshida Shintō
Yoshida Shintō
also frequently referred to as was a prominent sect of Shintō that arose during the Sengoku Period through the teachings and work of Yoshida Kanetomo. The sect was originally an effort to organize Shintō teachings into a coherent structure in order to assert its authority vis-a-vis Buddhism...
and bringing inverted honji suijaku to maturation.
While it is usually claimed that inverted honji suijaku was a reaction of native cults to the dominance of Buddhism, as we have seen history shows that it also came out of Buddhist intellectuals. The theory isn't per se anti-Buddhist and does not question the existence of buddhas, but simply seeks to invert the established order of importance between kami and buddhas. Why Buddhist should develop such a theory to the detriment of their own divinities is unclear, but it is possible that it was developed by shrine monks, or shasō
Shaso
-Awards:14th Hochi Film Award* Best Director - Toshio Masuda* Best Supporting Actress - Hideko Yoshida...
, who took care of the shrine part of temple-shrine complexes to enhance their status.