Practice is what eastern paths are all about, that's what; try it you'll understand then.

As to Paramahansa....he was Indian, he studied under gurus in India and was an open sincere fellow..what more authenticity do you need?

namaste,

For Shinto, there are several good books out there. I would suggest A Year In The Life Of A Shinto Shrine by John K. Nelson (one of my former professors). It goes into several Shinto rituals and places them in the context of an actual community that practices them. At the beginning of the book there is some discussion of Shinto in case the reader does not know the first thing about it.

regards,

red dawn [/B][/QUOTE]

Can you talk a little about Shinto...Ancestor worship..?
What are it's major precepts?

namaste,

Well, it really depends what kind of Shinto we are talking about. It can refer to any number of folk beliefs throughout Japan. It can also mean "state" Shinto, which was the government sponsored system in place since the Meiji Restoration and continued until 1945 when Hirohito announced that he was not divine. Emperors were considered the descendents of Amaterasu, the sun goddess. The emperors were thought of as living kami.

The main focus of Shinto is a concern about "purity" and "impurity" as opposed to sin. Morally Shinto is rather ambigiuous. Kami are what are worshipped. Some translate kami as "god", but that is not a very good translation since it makes one think about divinity in a more Judeo-Christian way. Kami would be better translated "spirit", though that is still not that good of a word to use.

Some kami are similar to more "western" concepts of god, such as Amaterasu or Susanoo. Other kami though do not have much of a personality but are instead aspects of nature. Trees, mountains, waterfalls, and other natural wonders can possess kami.
People can possess them as well. Ancestors can be revered as kami. Ancestor worship is to thank those who came before and placate their spirits. An ancestor ignored or angered can pose a problem for the living.

Above all other things, Shinto is about celebrating life. Death is not seen as good, it is a sorrowful event. Dead things are considered very "impure" and one who comes into contact with death must be purified. Water is a cleansing source, as is salt which can represent sea water.

Shinto is rather complex, there are no real dogmas, there is no holy text. There are collections of Japanese myths which give the creation story of Izanagi and Izanami, and tell the story of the origin of the Imperial line. As I said though, there is no canon, such as the Bible or Quran.

To complicate things even more Shinto has become layered with Buddhism in Japan. Both faiths are tolerant so people mix and match the two. Buddhism was able to complement Shinto in many ways, and vice versa. Shinto has an aversion of death, Buddhism does not and can provide hope for enlightenment. Buddhism can be seen as life-denying, while Shinto is very much life-affirming. The two work together in Japan to fill the voids that each faith leaves.

It really is hard for me to squeeze into a few paragraphs the wide range of Shinto practices and beliefs. I hope that I have been some sort of help. If you have other questions, please ask and I will see if I can oblige your curiosity.

By the way, you are Buddhist, correct? Are you Mahayana or Theravada?

regards,

red dawn

[This message has been edited by red dawn (edited May 24, 2001).]

Sorry Doc, but I disagree with you here.

Madmordigan, some professors and academics are extremely lucid and worth reading.

I recommend "The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way" by Dr. Jay Garfield which is a translation of the Mulamadhyamakakarika by Nagarjuna (may his activity radiate in all directions). This is one of the very foundational works of Madhyamikha philosophy.

Before you attempt this one though, do an abebooks.com search and get hold of "The Buddhist Teaching of Totality" by Garma C.C. Chang

"The Heart Sutra Explained" by Donald Lopez is good as is "Self Liberation Through Seeing with Naked Awareness" by Padmasambhava and translated by John Myrddin Reynolds. There is also a translation of this one included in the "Tibetan Book of the Dead" translated by Robert Thurman.

These are a damn good start.

Avoid anything written by Christmas Humphreys, avoid it like the plague. Also, I have it on extremely good authority that "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" has absolutely nothing to do with Zen or Buddhism or genuine philosophy.

Have fun.

The books you mentioned are source translations for the most part...no problem with that but textbooks by so called profs of the eastern religions are another matter.

What is 'genuine philosophy'? LOL....
Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance is about zen in the sense that. "Zen is your everyday life."

namaste,

Also, I have it on extremely good authority that "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" has absolutely nothing to do with Zen or Buddhism or genuine philosophy.

It has very little to do with motorcycle maintenance either.

All sorts of people believe and practice crazy things which are apart from their teaching. I am not claiming he was of this position. I'm not going to read one book and take it as authoritative when others who are more familiar (in this case with Indian Philosophies) say he's not authoritative. Obviously, this gives me reason to be skeptical.

DC

Juat curious...who says he is not authoritative? And how could someone be more familiar with Indian philosophies than an Indian guru? Based on your criteria then Krishnamurti, Ramakrishna, and Ramana Maharshi must not be authorities either.

namaste,

Come on, prisig did take a shot about motorcylce maintenance. The book will not probably be a "do-it-urself" types but he did talk about maintenance...

He he, surely the book doesnt dwell into zen or buddhism, and i have met few souls who actually bought the book to get "nirvana" through motorcylces

And "genuine" philosophy, i wonder what Waning Moon was talking about there....

ohwilleke

Having read it, I agree that ZAMM has only tangential connection to Zen or Buddhism, but it has a great deal to do with genuine philosophy and indeed is fundamentally a philosophical text merely framed in a surface story.