My Religion Is Animism

There is a column of religious views in a profile on Facebook. I filled Animism in that column. Of course it's kind of a joke, but a little bit serious.

My parents, who don't have strong faith, are sponsors of Buddhist temple of Honganji sect in Jodoshinshu party at least and our family's funerals are done with Buddhist rites, as usual as most families in Japan.

I often visit to Buddhist temples of any parties. Especially My wife and I are going on a pilgrimage of Kamakura 33 Kannons now, so we had been to many Buddhist temples in Kamakura. I feel great awe in front of a Buddhist statue.

I have an affinity with the thought of Buddhism and my view of life is influenced by it. I feel closer to Theravada Buddhism, which transmits original thought of Buddha, than Jodoshinsyu, which was established by Shinran.

But I'm not sure that I’m a Buddhist. I myself don't belong to any society of Buddhist, and don't believe in reincarnation or Buddhist paradise. I have a great respect for Buddha as a human being, but I don't believe in the existence of Amitaabha or Mahaavairocana.

On the other hand I often pray for Shinto Shrine. When I clap my hands in front of the shrine, I feel spiritual purity.

But I don't think of myself as a Shinto follower. I don't belong to any society of modern Shinto. I like Japanese traditional and folk faith, but I’m not interested in modern Shinto as a religious society at all. I refuge modern Shinto, because it is related closely to the jingoism before World War Two in Japan.

I might be an agnostic, because I don't believe in Buddha and God. But an agnostic is the person who gets suspicious about the existence of God in the society where monotheistic religion, for example Christianity, is dominant. In Japan I have no chance to think of monotheistic God, so I've never think of the problem whether God exist. I might not be an agnostic.

Many of my friends say that they don’t believe in Buddha or God but feel the power of universe. I asked one of my friends, who are a Christian, if such existence is like God, and he denied that completely. Christian God has a character, and is different from the abstract existence of universe.

It's said that most Japanese people don't have any religion. It's true that they don't belong to any religious society, but they have religious sense. For example recently going to sacred places, named as "power spot", is in fashion now. This is a kind of religious sense of Japanese people.

If I express the faith for the power of universe or nature, which is common in Japanese, I find only the word "Animism".

It's a kind of self-deprecating joke that I filled Animism in the column of religion on Facebook. It's true that we don't a civilized religion like Christianity and Islam, but I can't express the religious sense as any other word but "Animism".