Consequences of The Separation Policy
The campaign ultimately failed to destroy Buddhism's influence on the Japanese, who still needed funerals, graves and ancestral rites, all services traditionally provided by Buddhism. The state's first attempt to influence religious life therefore resulted in failure. In 1873 the government admitted that the effort to elevate Shinto above Buddhism had failed.
The Meiji government's policies however caused the diffusion of the idea that Shinto was the true religion of the Japanese, finally revealed after remaining for a long time hidden behind Buddhism. In recent years, however, many historians have come to believe that the syncretism of kami and buddhas was just as authentically Japanese.
The Japanese government was also successful in creating the impression that Shinto and Buddhism in Japan are completely independent religions. Most Japanese today are unaware that some of their customary religious practices cannot be understood outside the context of the syncretism of kami and Buddhas. In discussing some Japanese Buddhist temples dedicated to the cult of kami Inari, Shinto scholar Karen Smyers comments:
Recent scholarship has shown the term to be highly problematic – its current content is largely a political construction of the Meiji period. The surprise of many of my informants regarding the existence of Buddhist Inari temples shows the success of the government's attempt to create separate conceptual categories regarding sites and certain identities, although practice remains multiple and nonexclusive.In any case, in less than two decades Buddhism had not only had recovered, but had modernized itself, becoming once more a significant force. This led to the coexistence of Shinto and Buddhism as we see it today.
Read more about this topic: Shinbutsu Bunri
Famous quotes containing the words consequences of, consequences, separation and/or policy:
“If you are prepared to accept the consequences of your dreams ... then you must still regard America today with the same naive enthusiasm as the generations that discovered the New World.”
—Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)
“There is a delicate balance of putting yourself last and not being a doormat and thinking of yourself first and not coming off as selfish, arrogant, or bossy. We spend the majority of our lives attempting to perfect this balance. When we are successful, we have many close, healthy relationships. When we are unsuccessful, we suffer the natural consequences of damaged and sometimes broken relationships. Children are just beginning their journey on this important life lesson.”
—Cindy L. Teachey. “Building Lifelong Relationships—School Age Programs at Work,” Child Care Exchange (January 1994)
“Like sleep disturbances, some worries at separation can be expected in the second year. If you accept this, then you will avoid reacting to this anxiety as if it’s your fault. A mother who feels guilty will appear anxious to the child, as if to affirm the child’s anxiety. By contrast, a parent who understands that separation anxiety is normal is more likely to react in a way that soothes and reassures the child.”
—Cathy Rindner Tempelsman (20th century)
“In the field of world policy I would dedicate this Nation to the policy of the Good Neighbor—the neighbor who resolutely respects himself and, because he does, respects the rights of others—the neighbor who respects his obligations and respects the sanctity of his agreements in and with a world of neighbors.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)