What caused the decline of Buddhism in Japan?
Upvote:0
Japanese Buddhism was somewhat corrupt and deeply unpopular with many ordinary people who considered it exploitative and parasitic. As well as being of foreign origin, it was also associated with
- The doctrine of non-violence which included a ban on the eating of 4 legged creatures. By contrast, successful Western countries ate meat, drank milk, and gloried in technological militarism. Furthermore, they were Nationalistic. Shinto did not have much intellectual leadership and could be interpreted as Nationalistic and concerned with the cult of the Emperor- as a unifying factor. By contrast, some Buddhist sects could have allied militarily with rebellious Provincial aristocracies.
It wasn't till the Nineteen Twenties and Thirties that an ultra-Nationalistic Buddhism could boast of strong intellectual leadership. Thus the initial phase of modernization was in a context where religious voices were marginalized.
A rigid Caste system including an 'Untouchable' caste. However, it was clear that the rigid division between the Samurai/bakufu military government and the peasants led to low agricultural productivity. The 'peasant sage' Ninomiya showed how productivity could be increased by encouraging peasant rationality and cooperation. It is notable that Ninomiya Sontoku was able to persuade the local Buddhist priest to take up fishing to provide cheap protein to the people. The other class which had been greatly alienated was the merchant class (considered even lower than farmers) which had woken up to the fact that 'Western learning', especially in things like Medicine, was greatly superior to the traditional product.
Buddhism was associated with certain superstitious practices as well as wealthy people squandering their capital on religion in the hope of getting reborn as a divine being. The wealth it had accumulated over centuries made it a target for hatred and violence.
Japan was only able to get on to the gold standard thanks to reparations received from China after a successful war. This naturally reinforced the rejection of Buddhism as a non-violent religion which kept a Nation poor and dispirited. India and China were on their knees, while Japan had commenced its rise to equality with the West.
More post
- 📝 Why did the Sassanid and the Eastern Roman Empire fail to make a lasting peace?
- 📝 Did a US Territory Gaining Statehood by Itself Bestow Citizenship to Anyone Who Was Present?
- 📝 Why was Africa never really colonized?
- 📝 Italian History from 1870-1913: Why did Italy have such a hard time becoming a "Great Power" like Germany?
- 📝 Toyotomi Hideyoshi threatened to exterminate all Japanese foxes unless he heard from the god Inari. What was the aftermath (if any)?
- 📝 How to understand the geography of Napoleon's military campaigns?
- 📝 Was there an increased interest in 'the spirit world' in the aftermath of the First World War?
- 📝 Why is this Latin text black but the Latin numerals are red?
- 📝 What is the single longest Presidential Campaign run in the United States?
- 📝 Does Bob Hope hold the record for headlining the most USO tours?
- 📝 Is there any evidence of armies enrolling women in fighting roles in significant number in antiquity or the middle ages?
- 📝 What is Russia's official reason for invading Crimea?
- 📝 Journeys from Gujarat in India to Dare es Salaam in what was then, Tanganyika in 1925 and 1948
- 📝 When modern time measurement first appeared and who invented it?
- 📝 Why are some New Kingdom dates quotes in pairs two years apart?
- 📝 Are there any secular accounts of the Sadduccees?
- 📝 Did the people who jumped from the World Trade Center during 9/11 lose their life insurance policy due to committing suicide?
- 📝 How exactly were the titles of the Roman emperors passed on to their heirs
- 📝 Why did Europeans and Asian countries develop much faster than African countries
- 📝 Did the German people actually know Joseph Goebbels as the "Minister of Propaganda"?
- 📝 Where can I find an explanation of the variations in style of Egyptian hieroglyphs?
- 📝 What are the earliest written accounts of Sub-Saharan Africa from the outside?
- 📝 What were General Johnston's options during the Atlanta campaign?
- 📝 Penalty for patricide in Ancient Rome
- 📝 Why do minor political parties in the US receive so few votes?
- 📝 When and why have the Neo-nazi view of Slavic peoples changed?
- 📝 Has feudalism been a programmed event for nations in the past?
- 📝 Did any relatives of Fritz Haber (the inventor of poison gas) die in the gas chambers?
- 📝 Popularity of knight-robbery in the 15th century in Germany, Poland and Silesia
- 📝 What happened to insurance companies after the 9/11 attacks?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 What caused the decline of Buddhism in Japan?
- 📝 What caused the decline of the Spanish empire?
- 📝 What caused the decline in support for the Protectionist Party of Australia?
- 📝 What are the factors that caused the new world civilizations to be less technologically advanced than the old world?
- 📝 At what point was the Byzantine Empire's decline irreversible?
- 📝 Were there any Germans in Japan after the surrender of Germany in May, 1945 and if so, what happened to them?
- 📝 Japan is known for being isolationist, so what cultivated its history of interventionism in the 20th century?
- 📝 What caused the imposition of strict celibacy for Catholic priests during the 11th century?
- 📝 What caused the 1979 Iranian revolution to become Islamic?
- 📝 What factors permitted Buddhism to be successful in Japan but Christianity less so?
- 📝 What were the factors that caused the world to move away from the Gold Standard in the 20th century?
- 📝 What role did the Ancient Samurai heritage play on Modern Japan during WW2?
- 📝 What can be considered to be the single most important reason for the decline of muslim Golden Age?
- 📝 What wiped the Buddhism traces from Kerala History?
- 📝 What were the effects of Bushido on Japan after the Meiji Restoration?
- 📝 What were the causes of decline of Babylonian numeric system?
- 📝 How can we explain the decline of Buddhism in India around the 12th century?
- 📝 What caused the turning point in Hundred Years' War?
- 📝 What caused women to lose their access to resources and become a part of men's possessions with the start of the agriculture era?
- 📝 What were factors that led to a decline in bond yields during World War II given that the opposite should have happened?
- 📝 What caused the long lasting of peace in during the Heian Period?
- 📝 What deaths were caused by weapons deployed during a war long after the war has ended?
- 📝 What caused scientific and cultural decline of East Roman (Byzantine) Empire?
- 📝 What were the factors that caused debtors' prison to disappear in most parts of the world in the 20th century?
- 📝 To what extent was the Cold War caused by post World War 2 economics?
- 📝 What caused the Mule Shoe salient?
- 📝 What was the main purpose in Japan trying to capture the Dutch East Indies oil fields intact?
- 📝 How was Pre-Samurai Japan structured ? What part did solders and warriors play in the yayoi culture and how did the Yamato state wage war ?
- 📝 What caused the shift from annexation of territory, to colonization of territory?
- 📝 What did the Russian ambassador to Japan do during his trip to London?