EEE-LECTURE ON JAPAN
(Vous devez aider les gens à apprendre du Japon.)
According to a survey top 9 least-religious countries are as follows:
No. 1…Sweden
No. 2…Vietnam
No. 3…Denmark
No. 4…Norway
No. 5…Japan
No. 6…Czech
No. 7…Finland
No. 8…France
No. 9…South Korea
http://www.kirainet.com/english/the-least-religious-countries/
Of course, this is an example of nonsense data based on prejudice and ignorance.
But, its implication cannot be neglected, if non-religious implicates advancement of science in the society without any adherence to superstition.
So, I like to help those who love Japan.
SECTION I: THE EMPEROR SHOWA (Showa Ten-nou)
Though respectfully, “Hirohito” in Wikipedia has about 60 entries for different languages in the world, while “Jyunichiro Koizumi,” being so popular as a former prime minister of Japan, has about 50 different-language entries.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hirohito
In Japanese His Majesty the Emperor is called “Ten-nou Heika.”
Every Japanese knows that the Emperor Showa (born in 1901), meaning the Emperor of the Showa Era – between 1926 and 1989), has a personal name “Hirohito” which however nobody uses, in most cases, to mean him in daily conversations or a discussion with a reverence.
So, when we hear the English expression “Hirohito” or even “Emperor Hirohito,” we feel usually uncomfortable.
(There are 171,000 hits for “Showa Ten-nou” but only 5,700 hits for “Ten-nou Hirohito” and 3,460 hits for “Hirihito Ten-nou” as results of Internet search mostly in the Japanese domains using Kanji letters.)
Nonetheless, the Emperor is called simply “Ten-nou” when referring to the function or position or otherwise in historical context, say, in a discussion or writing.
The Kanji (originally Chinese) letter “Ten” means heaven; the Kanji letter “Nou” or “Kou (as a standard sound)” means the first great king.
(http://shimo.exblog.jp/4848937/ )
However, all other emperors in the world, including ones who ever existed in China in the past, are called “Kou-tei” in Japanese.
The Kanji letter “Tei” means a god since this letter originally means a table on which tributes to a god are placed.
Anyway, when Japanese started to call their ruler “Ten-nou” instead of “Oh (meaning a king who is supposed to obey the emperor, specifically the Chinese Emperor)” unlike other Asian tribes and races around ancient China 1,300 years ago, Japan did not any more rely on China in terms of politics and military affair.
Before and during WWII, the Emperor Showa presided over the supreme meeting (Privy Council) with top political leaders of the Empire of Japan as shown below.
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%94%BB%E5%83%8F:Privy_Council_%28Japan%29.jpg
The Emperor Showa held the supreme command of the whole Imperial Military as shown below in a picture taken on the Battle Ship “Musashi,” a sister ship of the world largest warship “Yamato,” both of which were equipped with the world mightiest 45cm cannons to destroy any European or American battleships before WWII.
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%94%BB%E5%83%8F:Hiro-Hito_on_Musashi.jpg
The so blessed eldest son of the Emperor Showa is the present Emperor of Japan (the Emperor of the Heisei Era).
But, His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince of Japan has no sons yet but one daughter.
The younger brother of His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince of Japan has a son.
This is one of the most controversial issues to the nation state of Japan.
But, Japan is not the U.K. You must not talk about the Imperial Family of Japan as if you were talking about the British Royal family one member of which was surely Princess Diana who died in Paris in 1997.
Anyway, if you are an A-student, an A-postgraduate student, an A-associate professor, or an A-professor majoring in Japanese or Japan, the above issue is the first and the last thing you have to understand in your study of Japanese and Japan.
SECTION II: JAPANESE BUDDHISM
Compared with sacred Japanese Buddhist monks who ever appeared in the Japanese history, the Dalai Lama does not look holy at all, since he was using an expensive jet plane and an expensive hotel while visiting Japan often to collect money.
Even all the Popes in Rome do not look holy at all, since they travel like a Roman Emperor and live in an expensive building keeping various works of art above price.
I can introduce here a few important Japanese Buddhist monks that established the spiritual foundation of the Japanese Civilization:
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Kukai
Kukai (774-835) was a Japanese Buddhist monk who founded the Shingon sect. This great scholar's activities extended beyond the domain of the purely religious, including the building of roads, irrigation canals, and temples…
This was the first attempt by a Japanese to organize the existing mass of teachings, including both Confucianism and Taoism, before proceeding to an exposé of his own sect.
The first stage is the animal life of uncontrolled passions unguided by religious ideas. Superior to it by but one step is Confucianism, which preaches secular values but is not really a religion. One step higher is Taoism (or according to some, Brahmanism), in which one aspires to heaven but remains ignorant of the nature of it. Stages four and five are two Hinayana stages, in which there is but partial understanding and where extinction in nirvana is the highest aspiration.
Kukai considered the altruism of Mahayana superior to this. The sixth stage is that of Pseudo-Mahayana, which aims at discovering the nature of existence through the investigation of its characteristics (the Hosso sect is an example). At this stage there is compassion for those still in ignorance. The seventh, eighth, and ninth stages are represented, respectively, by Sanron and its elimination of all false conceptions, the universality of Tendai (one moment contains eternity; a sesame seed may hold a mountain), and Kegon with its doctrine of interdependence and convertibility. The tenth stage of religious consciousness is, of course, Shingon and its mysteries.
http://www.answers.com/Kukai?cat=entertainment
Kūya
(903-72)
The earliest Japanese monk to spread the practice of the nembutsu, or oral invocation of the name of Amitābha Buddha, among the common people. Widely admired for his devotion to the practice and his willingness to live outside the élite circles within Buddhist temples, he became the precursor of an entire class of religious wanderers called nembutsu hijiri, or ‘wandering sages of the nembutsu’.
http://www.answers.com/topic/kuya
Ippen (Yugyō Shōnin)
(1239-89)
Founder of the Jishū (literally, ‘time school’) of Japanese Pure Land Buddhism. His sobriquet, Yugyō Shōnin, means ‘wandering holy man’, and accurately reflects his homeless lifestyle...
After that, he continued to distribute his amulets and encourage people to recite the name even if they did not believe. Ippen travelled with a group of disciples, both male and female, and they became known for their performance of the odori nembutsu, or ‘dancing nembutsu’, in which he and his followers would dance while chanting Amitābha's name. Spectators frequently reported miraculous occurrences during these performances, such as the appearance of purple flower-like clouds in the sky. Because he travelled with a mixed group, Ippen was very concerned with issues of morality, and he had his followers carry a set of blocks wherever they went, with which they would construct a wall between the men and the women at night when they slept…
http://www.answers.com/Ippen
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You may refer to the table of the progress of Japanese Buddhism as below shown:
http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/history/jap_timeline.htm
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That is all for today.
But, remember that before the eras of Japanese Emperors there had been living of people on the Japanese islands for more than 35 thousand years which were not documented but are confirmed in various archaeological sites.
Also, remember that since a samurai clan established the first samurai regime in the early 12th century to control all over Japan, Japanese Emperors have virtually neither commanded military nor collected taxes on his own initiatives to date.
And, once, say around 1200 years ago, Buddhism was Japan’s national religion as Emperors believed in Buddhism though Shinto has been another national religion all time.
So, again, that is all for today.
(In Japan, these consecutive holidays from late April to early May are a time for change in climate.
It is getting warmer and warmer until the rainy season comes with June.
So under the bright sun rays, young people get well tanned.
From a Siberian-type white to an Indonesian-type brown, their skin change in this season to get prepared for the real, hot-hot red summer.
[Give power to the Tibetan people so as to have them gain independence from China and learn Japanese Buddhism, if Olympic Games are for real held in Beijing this summer as incumbent Prime Minister of Japan Mr. Yasuo Fukuda so wishes.]
But, before you are getting high in spirit and emotion with the midday altitude of the sun getting higher, you had better listen to the sound suitable for a tranquil spring night, though I am not a Christian at all officially like Jesus Christ and his followers as they were all pure and true ancient Judaists.
***!!! HERE DESCRIPTIONS OMITTED FOR SAFETY OF XP OS !!!***
Mar 4:30 And he said, Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what comparison shall we compare it?