Shinto And Buddhism Similarities

How different between Buddhism and Shintoism?

Almost all Japanese think that Japan has no religion. In fact, it basically has two religions: Buddhism and Shintoism. However, Buddhism and Shintoism really adjust Japanese culture and life style, so Japanese usually are not conscious of these religions in their everyday life. Moreover, Japan intermingled Buddhism and Shintoism in the past, so many Japanese may do not know the differences exactly. However, Buddhism and Shintoism completely different in several areas: origins, concepts, and buildings. One of the differences between Buddhism and Shintoism are their origins. Buddhism was propagated in Japan in the middle 6th century. Buddhism originated in northern India in the 5th century B.C.E.

Religions mostly worship a god, but the Buddha is not a god. The Buddha is just an admirable man in Buddhism. Buddhists believe that people who train ascetic practices and follow the Buddha can live better in their next life. In addition, Buddhism has Buddhist scriptures, on which were recorded the teachings of Buddha. On the other hand, there are eight million gods in Shintoism. Ancient Japanese believe that gods dwell in all nature and things such as the sun, mountains, thunders, foxes, rice, even rest rooms. Each god has different characters and roles and they are not perfect. The teaching of Shintoism is that the world is formed by many gods, and they sometimes makes mistake like us. Moreover, Shintoism has no scripture because there is no founder in Shintoism. Ancient Japanese just worship nature and thank gods for a rich harvest and their living. Therefore, Buddhism and Shintoism are different in

Buddhism has temples which are dedicated to idol of the Buddha, and Buddhist priests live there. The purpose of temple is that Buddhists and Buddhist priests train ascetic practices. Buddhist priests’ work is preaching sermons to worshipers. Additionally, temples have graves, so Buddhist priests hold a service for departed souls. On the contrary, Shintoism has shrines, which are dedicated to gods. The purpose of shrine is that gods rest there and worshipers pray to gods. Shrines have a tori, which is a red gate to a shrine. A torii divide into the holy precinct and human world. There are no idols of gods in Shinto because gods dwell in nature. Furthermore, room of gods is remained in concealment, so usually people cannot see inside the room. A Shrine is a place living Shinto priests and gods, so almost all shrines are built near nature. There are no scripture in Shintoism, so Shinto priests do not preach a sermon to worshipers. It is needless to say that Shintoism has many gods, so each shrine dedicate to different gods. Therefore, temples and shrines have different purpose. To sum up, there are many differences between Buddhism and Shintoism. At first, Shintoism had established itself in Japan. Shintoism was polytheistic folk religion, so Japanese do not care when the Buddha was added to eight million gods in the past. Therefore, Japanese magnanimously received Buddhism. Today, Buddhism and Shintoism are