Reverend Riten Tanaka

Head of temple office of the Kinpusen Shugen sect and head-priest of Rinnanin Temple (Ayabe).

Mr. Riten Tanaka is a former head priest of Kinpusen Temple. He started his practice of Shugendo when he was a child under his father’s guidance. Thanks to Mr. Riten Tanaka efforts, the pilgrimage trails of Kumano became registered as a world heritage site ( cultural heritage) by UNESCO in 2004.

Introduction:

The religious system traditionally based on shinbutsu-shugo (combinatory buddha-kami worship) and characteristic to Japan was overthrown by the ordinance to distinguish (separate) Buddhism and Shinto in 1868. Shugendo mountain-asceticism was not allowed to exist due to the State policy which established Shinto as the state religion and which assumed Ise-Jingu Grand Shrine as the top of the hierarchy. To make matters worse, a law banning Shugendo outright was introduced in 1872.

Shugendo, then seen all over Japan temporarily disappeared, and most of the Shugendo temples were deserted, destroyed or converted into Shinto shrines. Kinpusen-ji Temple became a deserted temple for some years. It was in the year of 1914 that Kinpusen-ji Temple revived its Shugendo as a Buddhist temple.

On the other hand, according to the Shrine merger law in 1906, from among 200,000 Shinto shrines, 70,000 Shinto shrines were destroyed and became owned by the national government one after another. The shrine forests were cut down, and the trees were sold to private entities. Due to our bitter experience of the past, today, I think we must reconsider not only Shintoism and Buddhism but also our tolerant and meditative environment and a culture which accepts any kind of religious standing.

In the modernisation of the Meiji era, we started to use the word “religion” which includes the values of monotheism. However, Japan already had a world of beliefs such as Shintoism and Buddhism before the concept of monotheism was introduced. I think it may be difficult to find the key which enables us to get insights into the future if we don’t reconsider the environment, culture, and beliefs fostered from generation to generation.

Our religion, with a variety of gods fostering our spiritual mind and body, is absolutely different from monotheism from the time of creation. I think that there are many remaining places which were not influenced by the western god in the Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes of the Kii Mountain Range.

Shugendo (修験道) is a religion which is practiced by Yamabushi.

If one asks what a Yamabushi is, the answer would be – Yamabushi is a mountain ascetic who practices Shugendo. One could ask what Shugendo is then again. Inevitably, this way one would spiral toward a vicious circle of Q&A.

What Shugendo truly is, is a religion leading us on the way to wakefulness through ascetic practices in the mountains. The person who practices Shugendo is called Shugenja (修験者) or Yamabushi (山伏).

What is Shugendo, then? Okay. I am going to answer with 4 viewpoints. I will let you hop, step, jump, and fly to Shugen world.. Let’s go!

1. It’s a mountain Religion.

Firstly, Shugendo is a mountain religion. It means you lie down in (submit to) the mountains and fields. The training ground for the religion is nature. Nature is like a training school.

To begin with, we have to understand that the background of Shugendo’s beliefs are deeply blended with mountainous geography. They have been worshiping and praising nature with deep respect because they believe that mountains have spiritual power since ancient time. The goal of Shugendo is to achieve spiritual enlightenment by practicing deep in the mountains beyond human abilities.

During this process we discipline ourselves and sharpen our wisdom. Especially, our practice of mountain asceticism every summer at Mt. Omine, which is called Omine-okugake, is a must for every Yamabushi of our school. This is tough asceticism. Participants are compelled to walk for 13 hours a day, no matter what happens. This is a pilgrimage of reintegration with great nature. We, Yamabushi are overwhelmed with gratitude for this opportunity. It allows us to get deeper inside of the sacred.

2: It is a practical religion.

The second aspect of Shugendo is pragmatism without being caught up in faiths of different religions.
Shugen is to get something through living activities and training in nature. By Shugen, people get some power called genriki . It is enlightenment from deities or some inspiration from your inner self. No barrier occurs between different religions. Monks and priests from different Buddhist sects or Shinto sects get together and walk the trails to have training here in this region. In this respect, the sacred sites of Shugendo are open to everyone who wants to get something. What they find depends on their way of seeking.

Shugendo is a practical religion. It is a religion where physical practice, using our bodies, takes the precedence. We practice awakening our senses all the time. This is the meaning of practical. Shugendo is not primarily concerned with teaching its dogma, such as a religious belief, by reading abstract textbooks. It is very practical. It could be viewed as a macho religion (laughs). That may be the reason why it attracts so many martial artists.

If we consider the practitioner of Shugendo as Yamabushi, we could understand why the ‘ practical’ aspect of Shugendo is so appealing. Nowadays we describe Yamabushi as 山 伏 ( in Chinese characters) but it used to be 山 臥 ( Yamabushi) .
臥 ( bushi, fusu) originally means to lie down on the ground and stay alive. So, the original understanding of kanji for Yamabushi was: a monk who lived in the fields, or mountains, while practicing asceticism. As followers of that ancient tradition we still train our bodies and minds in nature.

Shugen ( 修 験 ) is an abbreviation of Shugyo-tokken (修行得験) or Jisshu-jikken ( 実 修 実 験 ) . The detail meaning of those concepts is difficult to grasp but we could say that we practice physically with our bodies in order to obtain the spiritual power. In other words, we grasp the spiritual power (Shirushi験=awareness) through our body. This is the meaning of practice in Shugendo. We roam over hills (跋渉 Bassho) and dales (山谷 Sanya) practicing with our bodies to the limit of our abilities. Once we break through our limits we can obtain various spiritual atmospheres and powers - although we are still not heroes like Tarzan.

Hiking into mountains, praising deities and buddhas, submerging into waterfalls, and esoteric meditation are all typical Shugendo practices. They are all aspects of practical training with our physical bodies. They are not reason based but rather an actual experience through our bodies and five senses. We repeat these tough ascetic practices with open spiritual eyes in our mind. This is the way of Shugendo. The only way we become a real practitioner, beyond human knowledge, who obtains great power of nature is to obtain supernatural power through deities. Once achieved they are finally called Shugenja (修験者), those with the force. It is worth mentioning that Yamabushi practices are not limited to the mountains. Shugenja who had obtained spiritual power in mountains operate various activities in the community they live in, such as: Goma prayer, health and community services and many other activities fitting the needs of the people. Being active for the sake of others is truly the important task for Shugenja.

3. It is a Syncretisation of Shinto with Buddhism.

Third-of-all, Shugendo is a syncretisation of Ancient Shinto with Buddhism. In the foundational animism of Japan, divinities in nature, gods, non human-beings, 'nature' and humans exist in concentric circles. This can be contrasted to theistic beliefs where God's ultimate existence lies outside of these concentric circles. Comparing it to a family - father would be Buddhism, mother Shintoism, and Shugendo their baby. You might think that it is like a strange love between a vampire and a human girl. But it is not a forbidden love story for Shugendo! It is more like a chemistry between religions. The more you learn mountain asceticism, the more deeply you understand what syncretisation and shinbutsu-shugo are.

4. Shugendo is a doctrine for lay people.

I want to point out that the most important feature of Shugendo is that it is a religion for ubasoku (「優婆塞」= lay people). In Buddhism, the male monks are called Biku ( 「 比 丘 」 ) , the female monks are called Bikuni (「比丘尼」).
In contrast, the practitioners who are lay (non-monastic) are called Ubasoku (「優婆塞」= male lay practitioners), Ubai/Ubasoka (「優婆夷」= female lay practitioners). The primary significance of Shugendo originates in a doctrine where lay people as well as monks and priests can dedicate their lives to practice. The doctrine of Shugendo does not discriminate whether you are a lay person or a priest. The establishment of Shugendo had an important effect on lay society opening doors for common people to participate proactively in religious activities as equal practitioners.

En No Gyoja ( 「 役 行 者 」 ) , is considered a founding father of Shugendo. He never received ordination during his life. As a lay person he was called 'En No Ubasoku'. Nowadays we chant the mantra which praises him with word 'Ubasoku'. We greatly value lay components in Shugendo. We are being taught that we should get out from the inner part of the temple and contribute as ordinary people in lay society. That is what is important in Shugendo.

Shugendo is a religion for ordinary lay people, and they are the operators. Shugendo is a religion which has not been bounded by a religious doctrine or theory, but it is a teaching which has been standing for people's pure devotion. Shugendo is the most typical Japanese religion. Within Shugendo, people have been worshiping Gods and Buddha as respectable beings without discrimination. Not only Shugendo, but also the other religions treat deities the same way. From ancient times, Shugendo has been worshiping both Gods and Buddha. I think that is the origin of Japanese religion. And mountain worship which had already existed before the dissemination of Shinto and Buddhism had organized the base of Shugendo. If you watch the animated movie "Mononoke- hime" directed by Hayao Miyazaki, you may be able to grasp some understanding of the Japanese conception for the mountains.

From ancient times, mountain people believed in a Mountain Deity who ruled animals and forests in deep mountains. Not only them but the people who engaged in rice cultivation believed in the Mountain Deity as the guardian of agriculture. They enshrined the mountain deity in a small hall at the foot of mountains. Thereafter, some people started to confine themselves in the mountains to engage in ascetic practices. The most typical practitioner was Ozunu En who played an important role as the founder of Shugendo. His main achievement was to combine Shugendo with Mikkyo, which was systemized by Saicho and Kukai years later. During that time people believed that mountain ascetic practitioners, called Shugenja ( 「 修 験 者 」 ) had special abilities achieved through austere training. Still today, Shugenja regard the mountain as another world where ancestors’ spirits live. They treat the sacred place with great respect. There are holy existences in the mountains. Shugenja have been searching for them by going into the mountains to connect with them and practice getting the power (genriki) from them. Shugenja also started to organize pilgrimages which let people visit Sacred Mountains. Theses pilgrimages soon became popular.

I think this view perceives mountains differently than what is commonly held in the West. In my humble opinion, Westerners nowadays do not have a religion which looks up to the mountain as a deity. For example, in the Magic Mountain written by Thomas Mann, the movies of 'The Lord of the Rings' or the Harry Potter Series, we can see that the mountains are regarded as the places where devils live. Western societies associate themselves with Judaism, Christianity, or Islam as well as other monotheistic religions that do not understand concept of 'Yao Yorozu No Kami' (eight million divinities). There is no Nature Divinity in Christian religion. God had created the nature, but God does not exist in their nature. God is always an absolute being above the nature.

The religion of Yamabushi had been ordained with Syncretization of old mountain religion with Japanese Shinto and Buddhism, Taoism, Zoroasturian, Yin Yang philosophy etc from all across the world. Shugendo has been connecting deeply with these basic concepts. That is why I say that Shugendo is the most representative Japanese religion based on religious wisdom.

 —ubasoku |  what is shugendo?