Prepared for the international conference "Gateways of Power : 21st Century Religion and Ritual in China, Tibet, and Japan" held at the University of San Francisco on March 2, 2001.

I. Critical Overview of Traditional Japanese Buddhism as an Institution
Today in Japan, we may often encounter articles in newspapers or programs on TV about Buddhism. However, they often do not concern the teachings and practices of the tradition, but rather focus on criticisms of the present temple system. Particularly, these criticisms may focus on the fees for funerals, especially for the posthumous names (kaimyo) given the deceased. In this way, it is easy to understand why contemporary Japanese Buddhism has been dubbed "Funeral Buddhism". This term is a pejorative one which means that Japanese Buddhism's essential function has become confined to the performance of funerals and memorial services. The two basic reasons for this negative connotation are that the religion has become overly formalized and has been taken over by business concerns rather than spiritual ones.

It is difficult to determine the exact cause for this formalization as it concerns a number of complicated factors. For contemporary people, especially the young, the rituals of the funeral and memorial services appear ornate and opaque. For example, the sutras are chanted in classical Chinese (kanbun) and are selected from sources not known to the lay people. This situation is largely due to the strong institutionalization of the major sects of Japanese Buddhism during the Edo Period under the official government system of temple administration (dankaseido). This institutionalization led to the development of ornate and exclusive ceremonies. Furthermore, priests today tend to avoid explaining the meaning of the sutras and the rituals they perform. This is centrally due to the priests' education in which they have learned how to perform the rituals but are unable to understand their connection to the teachings of the denomination. This leads to a basic lack of confidence in giving teachings or instruction to the lay followers. This has led in turn to a critical situation in Japanese Buddhism where the teachings of a particular denomination are not synchronized with the rituals. For example, Jodo Shu doctrine teaches that the individual at the moment of death is immediately welcomed by Amida Buddha and led to the Pure Land. However, Jodo Shu conducts a series of memorial services (chu-in kuyo) for forty-nine days after the main funeral ceremony, which is common to all Japanese denominations. Chu-in means intermediary stage, like the Tibetan term bardo, and these services are considered important in Mahayana Buddhism in general to benefit and guide the deceased through the forty-nine day stages of death into the next life. This ritual, therefore, is in direct conflict with Pure Land doctrine. In conclusion, the result of this formalization is that most contemporary Japanese follow the practices of the Funeral Buddhism not out of belief or understanding but out of custom and superstition.

The second aspect of the temple taking on the feeling of a business is in part due to the change in Japan over the last century as it has become a modern capitalist economy. More specifically, after World War II, temples became "religious corporations" (shukyo hojin) under Japanese law. This has led to an economic formalization and institutionalization in that temples must have a board of directors, a detailed annual budget and tax declaration, and an established salary for the priest. In contemporary Japan, then, an individual temple is run by an individual priest who must provide for the material needs of his wife and children who live in the temple. In relation to this, temple donations (fuse) which traditionally were determined by the members themselves and given as material goods, like rice, have become today fees paid in cash. This formalization reflects the marginalization of the temple in modern Japan and has led to decreased personal contact and mutual trust among the lay followers and the temple. This lack of trust has been fueled by the image of modern priests as conspicuous consumers, driving nice cars and wearing designer suits. Consequently, lay followers have begun to request the itemization and cost breakdown of funerals and other temple services.

These issues have crystallized around the posthumous name (kaimyo) given to the deceased. The kaimyo are a type of Buddhist name given to believers, traditionally in this life after devout followers take vows to honor the practice of the tradition. However, kaimyo eventually became part of the funeral system and a way for families to mark their social status through longer and more elaborate kaimyo. Once again, we can see how ritual has become detached from doctrine in the institutionalization of Japanese Buddhism. In the contemporary age, partly out of conspicuous consumption on the lay followers part and partly out of a method to gain increased income on the temples part, the kaimyo have become highly marketed items. They can be given freely, cost as little as $100 or go as high as $10,000. In some cases, temples will provide a list of samples and costs. As a result there has been a backlash against this practice from followers who feel the social pressure to buy expensive kaimyo and religious officials who are disgusted by the marketing of ritual practices. However, due to the institutionalization of the kaimyo and the inertia of consumer society this practice continues.
In conclusion, the monetization of Japanese Buddhism is more prominent in urban areas and somewhat less so in rural areas where traditional communities still remain. Priests in rural areas also must often gain other employment since declining rural populations make the temple economically unviable. However, the formalized nature of Japanese "Funeral Buddhism" is a much more pervasive situation. Amongst both traditional rural folk and modernized urbans, Buddhism exists largely as a custom of ancestor worship through grave visits and home altar worship as well as serving as the central means of dealing with the deceased. Buddhism also survives in the form of tourist temples, such as the great temples of Nara, Kyoto and Kamakura, and scholastic institutions, such as my own Taisho University and Jodo Shu Research Institute. In all of these forms, especially in the core form of the funeral, we can see that most people have no thought or feeling for the teachings and their meaning for everyday life.

II. The Transformative Potential of Ritual
From both a traditional doctrinal Buddhist standpoint and a modern rational standpoint, Japanese Buddhism is in a critical situation. It does not reflect the core insight of the Buddha, nor does it meet the changing needs of modern society. In this way, Japanese Buddhism can considered either already dead or in a process of dying. However, if we look at this situation from a folklore or anthropological studies standpoint, this somewhat less than rational situation is a quite natural expression of the common people's religiosity. This religiosity reflects both aspects of the traditional in formalized ancestor worship and the modern in the market like system of Funeral Buddhism.

Buddhism has found its unique form of expression in Japan as ancestor worship. This is a feature that transcends all the doctrinal diversity of Japan's many Buddhist sects and unites them as a single, common tradition. Funerals, memorial services, grave visits and home altar worship are the actual practice of most Japanese Buddhists, and they offer experiential and natural modes of religious worship. Therefore, although the rituals surrounding these practices appear to contradict the arduous doctrinal accomplishments of each sect, they perhaps provide a more authentic experience of religiosity, beyond the philosophy of doctrines. In times of need and crisis, almost all Japanese (secular or not) find themselves falling back on these modes of practice. In this way, these rituals still hold great potential as a vehicle for fulfilling Japanese spiritual needs as well as teaching them the deeper meanings of Buddhism. Particularly for modern urban Japanese, many of whom characterize themselves as secular, these rituals can provide a real means of spiritual grounding in a materialistic society which is extremely alienating and disconnected.

How then can this latent potential of the rituals of Funeral Buddhism be awakened to better serve the needs of modern Japan and to overcome the problems of formalization and monetization? Attempts have already been made both in Jodo Shu and in other sects to modernize and to make more readily understandable the rituals of funerals and memorial services. For example, the sutras have been translated from classical Chinese into contemporary Japanese. However, these innovations have not struck an emotional chord with followers. It is my contention that these rituals are transformed when formalization is replaced by sincerity on the part of the temple, specifically the priest. What seems to be the essential difference between a meaningful and an empty ritual is not whether it has been modernized or not but rather whether the priest who performs it is truly sincere or not. When a priest understands the meaning of the ritual himself, can synchronize this understanding with performance of the ritual and then impart some of this meaning to the lay followers, the ritual becomes what is was essentially created for - a deep experience of the truth of the teachings. Unfortunately, this can often not be the case these days . This is fundamentally due to the outmoded and inappropriate methods of developing young priests in Japan, as mentioned earlier. Without going further into this complex issue, the cultivation of priests is a central concern amongst all sects in Japan today. In conclusion, I would like to put forth that well trained and committed priests would have the depth and confidence to not only attend to the basic religious needs of the people but to also develop new meaningful forms of ritual as well as teachings that confront pressing modern issues.