The History of Buddhist Thought c27.32

c27.32

The history of the schools of Japan represents the stages of doctrinal development, but all this had little significance for the laity. Modern popular Buddhism shows three general tendencies. There is the form which has combined with the shamanistic superstitions of the people, their belief in spirits and demons, and the use of spells and amulets, especially in the Shingon sect. Another group holds the belief in Amida (Amitābha) and rebirth in his Pure Land. The higher clergy of this sect consist of the aristocracy and the most cultured class of Japanese society. The third tendency is that of mystic contemplation. “In this sect Shamanism is rejected in principle, as well as the belief in any saving power. Everyone can and must by himself reach the knowledge of the truth through contemplation . . . In medieval Japan the warrior aristocracy joined this sect, as lovers of the beautiful and at the same time as men who admired the concentration and self-denial of the contemplative mystic.” ² It was thus, in form at least, a return to the earliest Buddhism.