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Ethics in Shinto

There is a word that is similar to "Ethics", and that is "Morals". Scientifically we say ethics, in education we use the term "moral education". Ethics has a more objective connotation, morals a more subjective one, but the distinction is never very clear. Three subjects were taught in the curriculum of the samurai warriors of the Edo Period, Buddhist scripture, history and poetry. Buddhist scripture stood for ethics, and poetry for the appreciation of aesthetic sentiments. But among the three Buddhism took priority. In the period when the strongest power was that of religion a study of ethics wasn't really necessary since the deities were absolute. It was enough if the people just followed the orders of the deities. When people come to reason and become free of the deities, rules for the governing of society become necessary, that is the people needed ethics.

It was the Imperial Rescript on education that determined the direction of the Japanese concept of ethics, by combining the Confucian ethics of the Edo Period with western thought as found in writers like Spencer, Rousseau and Locke, which were intro duced into Japan in the Meiji Period. Ethics was played with in the name of science and the most important morals were neglected. Freedom from the deities became related to freedom from society and especially in post-war Japan this developed into egoism. The word "ethics" is a foreign word, originally there was no such concept in Japan, therefore Shinto and ethics can not be related or go together. There is nothing in Shinto that could be called ethics. When one speaks of the goodness or badness of things or of people we often mean that something may be good or bad for someone. The decision of what may be good or bad varies case by case. Imagine a picture of an individual, a family, a society, a nation, mankind and nature (the earth) standing from left to right on a scale. In a liberal country the individual is important, in a totalitarian country the country is important. Seen from the eyes of nature man must be bad of himself. Descr iptions such as a "useful" insect or "harmful" insect are used to suit man's convenience, but even harmful insect live as best they can. Compared with them man not only kills living things in order to keep himself alive, he even hunts and fishes for fun. From the standpoint of mankind as a whole countries are badness themselves, since they are the cause of wars in which innocent people kill each other. In all countries revolutionary groups are bad. In China in the trial of the Gang of Four the privatel life of Chiang Ching was revealed and she was exposed as a perpe trator of the worst kinds of evil, but seen objectively from outside this is absurd, since had the Gang of Four come to power Hsiao Ping would most certainly have been brutally punished. Behind the history of the winners there is always a history of the loosers, but their claims tend to be suppressed and they are shown up in an inferior light.

From the viewpoint of society antisocial people are bad and their families are excluded from the group, from the viewpoint of the family the prodigal son is renounced. But the punishment of exclusion from the village group, which is now said to be feudal istic, was based on humanism, for instance those excluded could be allowed back into the group in the case of funerals or fires, no matter how antisocial their actions might have been. From the point of view of the individual what is advantageous to oneself is good and what is harmful to oneself is bad. Subject ively people have a tendency to mix what they like and dislike with good and bad. In order not to hurt people we are apr top say, "I don't like you because what you do is bad or wrong." But this is absurd because liking and disliking are on a com pletely different level from good and bad. All existing things, animate and inanimate are connected and cannot be separated, and man at the very end is part of nature and a member of mankind, the family, society and the family. No matter how much progress we make in science the brain of man, which is a part of nature, is destined never to understand nature. Science progresses limitlessly but within the range of man's understanding. Even though we can proudly boast that man is lord of creation, were he to become extinct it would not affect the earth at all, but if all the bacteria in the world ceased to exist so would man. When Confucius said in ' The Great Learning', he must have been taking the balance of things into account. For the people to survive they must live in harmony with nature but in the western philosophy of eliminating the unnecessary a time will come when we will be unnecessary and will be eliminat ed. It is too much to say that we must get along with cockroach es. But in the mind of the Japanese there is a constant desire not to harm living creatures, as shown in a verse of Issa which goes, "Don't hit it, the cicada rubs its hands and legs." I guess in the East there was never any idea of killing any living creature, even a cholera bacillus. We have to start from the humble attitude that we were given life to live in harmony with nature. Food is given us by God therfore we can not make light of it. This does not mean that nature stays as it is but that we should accept nature as it is. If people keep on arrogantly polluting the world and destroying nature we can be sure that one day nature will one day take her revenge.

In this modern age where self education is lauded negation of self might be considered funny and old-fashioned, and on it own is difficult to practice anyway, but successful practice results in many advantages to the self. Examples of this kind of thought can be found in the following verse, "Throw yourself into the river and you will float to the surface." Again in the book of Yoin Bunsho by Yamamoto Tsunetomo there is the verse, "When I think about things without egoism wisdom strangely appears." If man is burdened by misfortune that is because he has forgotten to respect and pray to nature.

The argument that Shinto is bad because it was the spiritual cause of World War ll is often accepted among intellectuals. If that were the case then the Japanese people must be considered bad since the belief in Shinto is fundamental to the nature of the Japanese people. This is the same argument as was quoted above, that if man is bad for nature it is better that he was extinct. The basic belief in Shinto is that everything that exists has a meaning and therefore can not be evaluated on the basis of good and bad. But in actual fact, in the agricultural society which Shinto has as its base, the most important aspect is that of the rural community. In contrast to the life style of the hunters and gatherers the agricultural society must irrigate and plough as a group. Of course even hunters and gatherers may find it advantageous to work as a group but one can still exist as an individual or within a small group such as that of a family. But in an agricultural society this wouldn't work. One person can not construct an irrigation system. The planting of seedlings is restricted to a certain time and must be done by many hands before that time is passed. Accordingly it is wrong to violate the order of a regional community, right to keep one. Experience over a long time is the main teacher and importance is attached to precedence among elders. The pecking order is decided without question. We are farmers to our marrow and are constant ly in fear of being exluded from the group. Passive acceptance of bullying among children is a case in point. Since exclusion from community life threatens everyday life one automatically tries not to violate any of the rules of the community.

The community has always been considered more important than the individual members of it as can be seen in the legend of "Obasute-yama" (The Mountain where the old were abandoned), a place where old members of the community were left to die on a mountain because they were of no more use to the community, regardless of the will of their children, the individual. In this community social education upheld this ideal as right and just. The present Japanese company structure is based on the "nenko-joretsu" system (the situation where a person is promoted on account of age), indicating that the community system has been introduced into it without changes even though here and there cracks can be seen in village consciousness. In the regional area of urban societies village consciousness remains in the community causing conflict and antagonism between the older and younger generations in the community, the latter seem to be more superior on account of their rationality. This conflict can be seen in all walks of life. The father is derided for being old fashioned and is consequently treated with disdain. The exper ience and wisdom of age was essential in an agricultural society but in the modern technological age speed of thinking and new ideas are paramount. Sin and filth are bad, but not in a funda mental sense. Just as a person becomes dirty if he doesn't take a bath or dust can collect in a house without one being conscious of it, the dirt comes into existence without it being consciously perceived, whereas sin is committed consciously. There are two types of sin, the heavenly one and the earthly one, and examples of heavenly ones are given in the "Engishi". These are the deeds of Susanoo no Mikoto, what we call in modern times sins, crimes or disturbances in farming communities, usurping rice fields, the violation of holy places, taking lives. Worldly crimes are such as those which all refer to complication in human relations such as incest, disease and confusion. When there is sin and filth disasters are inevitable, and sin and filth is alwasy related to them, but these were not clearly differentiated in the minds of people in ancient times. Dirt accumulates naturally just as dust does, if people are left to go their own ways they commit crimes and sin unconsciously. Interpretated thus the death of Izanami was filth, the sins of Susanoo crimes that lead to natural disasters.

For the people to be saved from this kind of misfortune the "Oharrai" must be performed by people conscious of their own transgivings. This should be performed not only by the indivi dual but by the whole nation, the universe. According to the "Misogibarai" (purification) of Izanagi three deities, including Amaterasu Omikami, were born. Amaterasu hid in a cave "Amano Iwayado" on account of the gravity of the sins committed by Susanoo. Susanoo atoned for his sins in Chikurano Okido and was expelled from the kingdom. Thus purification means redemption from sin and filth, a return to the original state of things, the praying for a new life and its development. Buying and selling is summed up in the payment of money. The belief that if one carries out the wishes of one's ancestors, the ancestor deity releases us from our sins and purifies us is consistent with the book of Oharai kotoba. In this sense we can say that man's life begins and ends with purification.