difference between shinto and buddhism

Shinto, the indigenous religion of Japan, emphasizes nature to a considerable degree, a distinguishing feature of the faith. Buddhism offers a far more cerebral and philosophical approach, as well as pathways for personal psychological development. Unlike Shinto, Buddhism is not indigenous to Japan and is in fact a foreign religion that simply became entrenched there. In Japan, the two religions often fuse and their temples are found in close proximity to one another.

They are not considered mutually exclusive or conflicting; they are both integral to Japanese identity, social norms, and culture. Shinto places of worship are often referred to as shrines, although that translation is weak in the sense that in English, a shrine can convey a ritualistic altar to a dead person. Although Shinto does include ancestral worship as part of its core features, a Shinto shrine is simply a specific place that is deemed sacred space.

To mark that space as sacred, several human constructions are placed, including the tori (gate), often painted orange. Often, there will be two pillars or statues topped with foxes, as symbolic guardians of the sacred space. The architecture in both Shinto and Buddhism serves as a means to distinguish the sacred from the non-sacred areas, encouraging the visitor to leave behind the cares and worries of daily life when entering the space.

The most Shinto shrines include only tori as well as special adornments for trees, to mark them as sacred spaces too. Shinto shrines always abut nature, even when they happen to be located in a modern city, which built up around it. In fact, more important Shinto shrines will include elaborate architectural elements including indoor spaces for worship. These tend to have a few distinguishing elements, including a bell. The use of sound is important to both Buddhism and Shinto; with the former relying more on chanting.

Both Buddhism and Shinto places of worship may have public ablution areas, where an individual worshipper may symbolically cleanse before conducting the prayers. In Kobe, Japan, there is a Shinto shrine called Ikuta Jinja, and in Kyoto, one called Fushimi Inari (Sakata, 2008). Each of these shrines are different, but they share in common the core, important elements of Shinto sacred architecture. Ikuta shrine is a good example of Shinto architecture because it abuts a forested area of what is now a major metropolitan area.

The location of the shrine predated the city of Kobe by many centuries, and the shrine now creates a natural sanctuary zone in the middle of the city. It serves as a means for city dwellers to reconnect with nature, revealing the link between Shinto and the natural world. The shrine contains some water elements, showing the importance of natural elements like wood, stone, and water to Shinto architectural design.

A casual visitor might focus on the grandiose gateway, neglecting to notice the smaller details of the shrine that are actually more important for conveying the Shinto worldview. The grand tori/gaetway is larger than many Shinto shrines, as it has been well-endowed with imperial funding over the centuries and has therefore become a signifier of the way politics and religion become entwined in all cultures. In Ikuta Jinja's case, the main gateway is actually comprised of several smaller gateways, which make up the whole.

The stacked gateways grow wider at the top. The top-heavy feature is common in Shinto tori design, although many tori are simple wooden structures lacking the type of adornment seen here. This tori appears as if it blossomed out of the ground, its bottom thinner part like the stem of a flower, the umbrella-like top enveloping the layers beneath.

As with the other architectural elements at Ikuta Jinjia, the main gate is constructed of wood as with most Shinto shrines, because using natural materials is central to reflecting the core tenets of the faith. Cypress wood tends to be the most common, because it is indigenous to the region ("Shinto Shrines," 2009). As with most Shinto shrines, the color orange, which contrasts with the green of the natural surroundings.

The use of orange signals to the visitor that one is entering a sacred dimension, which is at once separate from but also integrated with the rest of the area. Passing through the tori, visitors then behold a series of other architectural elements and public spaces. A walkway guides the supplicant to the main shrine area, a building in some ways more humble than the tori but larger and with the capacity to hold visitors inside, unlike the gate, which is simply a gate with no interior elements at all.

The shrine's interior elements are, however, closed to the general public. It is reserved for the priests or open only on ceremonial occasions. Visitors instead stop at an open area under the awnings of the building but still on a porch-like part of the structure. The main hall is called a honden, the interior worship area the haiden, and the most sacred inner sanctum is called the heiden. Often the heiden is separated from the other two ("Shinto Shrines," 2009).

The use of different, layered gateways shows how the religion takes care to carve out sacred spaces, and even sacred zones within sacred spaces, mirroring the hierarchies in the natural world. At Fushimi Inari, the concept of layered gateways is taken to an extreme, as a walkway of about 10,000 tori gates, all painted orange, lead the visitor up the mountain.

The strategic placement of the tori pathway shows how important nature is to the Shinto religion, as the visitor is encouraged to walk in nature away from the worship hall, which at Fushimi Inari, remains quite large. Buddhist temples also abound in Japan, including Todai-ji and Kotoku-in. Todai-ji is located in Nara, one of the most important centers of culture and learning in Japan and one of Japan's former capitals. Constructed in the 8th century, Todai-ji was once the main Buddhist temple of Japan.

Unlike Shinto shrines, the Buddhist temples usually do not have orange-painted tori or fox guardian statues, but both Shinto and Buddhist places of worship often have other guardian deities called komainu, which are more like lions. As with Shinto shrines, Buddhist temples in Japan tend to have a main worship hall. In Buddhist temples, the main worship hall is called the Daibutsuden. Both Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines have layered inner dimensions, with inner sanctums off limits to all but the most sacred people serving in the religion -- priests.

Women are not allowed in the inner circles of either faith, reflecting the patriarchal society. Unlike Shinto shrines, which are dedicated to the celebration of nature and nature spirits, Buddhism includes large statues made of wood or metal in the form of Buddha and Buddhist deities. Buddha is not a god, and the deities are simply aspects of Buddha, but worshippers may appear to be praying to the spirits themselves. Many Buddhist temples like Todai-ji are large and sprawling complexes, but many are more humble.

The size of Todai-ji reflects its central importance as a hub of learning and political power in medieval Japan. Likewise, the size of the wooden Buddha statue at Todai-ji represents the power of Buddhism in Japanese history and politics. The Buddha inside Todai-ji might be the largest in Japan but in Kamakura, the largest outdoor Buddha and largest bronze Buddha sits.

Unlike Todai-ji, where the architecture of the main hall of worship is impressive, and also houses the Buddha, in the case of Kamakura, the giant bronze Buddha is situated in the outer courtyard and completely obscures the actual temple. Locating the Buddha outside of the central hall of worship serves several symbolic functions, the most notable being an affirmation that Buddhism is a practice available to all people. The Buddha is not cordoned off, segregated from the outside world. He is available as a representative of ideal human achievement.

As with a Shinto shrine, the Buddha is also situated near to nature, but nature is not central to Buddhist worship in and of itself. Nature serves a function in Buddhist worship insofar as it can direct the mind to concentrate, but unlike Shinto, there are no nature spirits in Buddhist doctrine.

The Buddha at Todai-ji and the Buddha at Kamakura are both seated in meditation but they don different poses, with the latter having his eyes closed and both his hands placed together in the lap, palms facing upwards with thumbs touching. The Buddha at Todai-ji also has his eyes closed and sits cross-legged, but his right hand faces.