Shinto

Shinto (神道, Shintō^?) or kami-no-michi is the indigenous spirituality of Japan and the Japanese people. It is a set of practices, to be carried out diligently, to establish a connection between present day Japan and its ancient past. Shinto practices were first recorded and codified in the written historical records of the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki in the 7th and 8th century. Still, these earliest Japanese writings do not refer to a unified “Shinto religion”, but rather to disorganized folklore, history, and mythology. Shinto today is a term that applies to public shrines suited to various purposes such as war memorials, harvest festivals, romance, and historical monuments, as well as various sectarian organizations. Practitioners express their diverse beliefs through a standard language and practice, adopting a similar style in dress and ritual, dating from around the time of the Nara and Heian Periods.

The word Shinto (“Way of the Gods”) was adopted from the written Chinese (神道, shén dào), combining two kanji: “shin” (神^?), meaning kami; and “tō” (道^?), or “do” meaning a philosophical path or study (originally from the Chinese word tao). Kami are defined in English as “spirits”, “essences” or “deities”, that are associated with many understood formats; in some cases being human-like, in others being animistic, and others being associated with more abstract “natural” forces in the world (mountains, rivers, lightning, wind, waves, trees, rocks). Kami and people are not separate; they exist within the same world and share its interrelated complexity.

There are currently 119 million official practitioners of Shinto in Japan, although a person who practices any manner of Shinto rituals may be so counted. The vast majority of Japanese people who take part in Shinto rituals also practice Buddhist ancestor worship. However, unlike many monotheistic religious practices, Shinto and Buddhism typically do not require professing faith to be a believer or a practitioner, and as such it is difficult to query for exact figures based on self-identification of belief within Japan. Due to the syncretic nature of Shinto and Buddhism, most “life” events are handled by Shinto and “death” or “afterlife” events are handled by Buddhism—for example, it is typical in Japan to register or celebrate a birth at a Shinto shrine, while funeral arrangements are generally dictated by Buddhist tradition—although the division is not exclusive.

Source: Wikipedia

Ten Precepts Of Shinto

i) Do not transgress the will of the gods.

ii) Do not forget your obligations to ancestors.

iii) Do not offend by violating the decrees of the State.

iv) Do not forget the profound goodness of the, gods, through which calamity and misfortunes are averted and sickness is healed.

v) Do not forget that the world is one great family.

vi) Do not forget the limitations of your own person.

vii) Do not become angry even though others become angry.

viii) Do not be sluggish in your work.

ix) Do not bring blame to the teaching.

x) Do not be carried away by foreign teachings.

Shinto Sayings

The heart of the person before you is a mirror. See there your own form.

Even the wishes of an ant reach to heaven.

Leave the things of this world and come to me daily with pure bodies and pure hearts.

A single sincere prayer moves heaven. You will surely realise the divine presence through sincere prayer.

Where you have sincerity, there also is virtue. Sincerity is a witness to truth. Sincerity is the mother of knowledge. Sincerity is a single virtue that binds Divinity and man in one.

Retribution for good or ill is as sure as the shadow after substance.

To do good is to be pure. To commit evil is to be impure.

To admit a fault is the beginning of righteousness.

The first and surest means to enter into communion with the Divine is sincerity. If you pray to a deity with sincerity, you will surely feel the divine presence.

Common Shinto Prayer

Our eyes may see some uncleanliness, but let not our mind see things that are not clean. Our ears may hear some uncleanliness, but let not our mind hear things that are not clean.