Eastern Philosophy - Part 1 - Full Documentary

mankind has long sought the answers to eternal questions who are we why are we here what do we mean by good and evil over two and a half thousand years ago in the West men such as Aristotle Plato and Socrates struggled with these problems indeed it was the Greeks who coined the word for this search philosophy [Music] the search was not confined to the west philosophy thrived in the Middle East in India in China and Japan our journey begins in the Chinese province of shantung [Music] a man who reviews the old so as to find out the new is qualified to teach others kung-fu sir known in the West as Confucius was born in what was then the state of Lu in about five five one BC his family seemed to have been from the Chinese class known as Jin's er which means son of a ruler there is no proof though that he was of royal blood according to records and his father was warrior and but I guess it would be quite a low social and rank and inner state and his father married his mother when she was sixteen years old but one Confucius was three years old his father died so this is the why Confucius said you know why he was young his family was poor Confucius appears to have been brought up in a loving family indeed the family and the love and respect shared amongst its members was to become central to Confucian philosophy as he grew to manhood Confucius entered government service it was a popular choice for a young man of his class his first job was an overseer of fields it was a responsible job in a society where agriculture was vital to the economy by the time he was 21 Confucius was chief overseer to a nobleman named Chi but just when his career was about to prosper tragedy struck the aunt who had raised him died Confucius retired from public life to mourn her mourning was not for Confucius simply an expression of private grief that someone close to you had died he regarded filial piety what he called shout in other words respect for your parents as one of the very important pillars of the way which society was set up for that reason official mourning could last for a very long period in ancient perhaps as long as three years and this meant that you often had to withdraw from many public duties and dress in particular ways throughout the whole of that period to show that you were fulfilling the proper morning rights there were quite a few debates around these issues some of his disciples and said that and the three years were too long because this would be costly and is not economic so this and the confucius said and your parents but you were born your parents cherished you for three years but as 1d there with when they died you even not to give a three years morning to them so how is the human and the you would you are to you notice that he criticized his and student Confucius use the period of mourning to ponder his future he was too blunt and honest to be a politician or a high grade civil servant Confucius answer was a stroke of genius China had no schools he would found one and become its first teacher private school and who admits the students not only from this noble and background but also from the commoners and also he admitted students was not the rich or poor and he strongly and I say propagated an idea that in education there should be no class so that is a very valuable since and you know to that to China to Chinese education and also this Lee and because it's you know for poor people and those he would a lower down his fees to as low as the butter three dry the meat so anybody anyone evil and he is willing to study and if he could you know this the presenter three piece pieces of wood dried meat then he would have become a student of his school pupils paid him according to their means those who live too far from the school to travel lived in Confucius home his first pupils were young men of about his own age they were civil servants like him but what was he to teach he wanted the education his pupils received to be both practical and moral they would learn why and how their future actions and decisions would bring benefits to the people they served Confucius expected his pupils to be familiar with certain Chinese texts rights history poetry music math and this archery and but how the math and archery were taught with which we don't know we don't have much knowledge of Confucius teaching methods parallel there's of Socrates in the West conversation between teachers and pupils often on a one-to-one basis Confucius would often give different answers to the same question one day a student asked him if he should put his newly acquired knowledge immediately into practice no I think you should first discuss what you have learnt with your father and your elder brothers later the same day another student asked him the same question yes you should immediately put what you have learnt into practice to consult with anyone else would only be wasting time a third student queried these conflicting answers confucius explained that the first student was hot-headed and needed to be held back the second student was shy and needed to be pushed forward if students disagreed with him Confucius encouraged them to argue their case the relationship was more like that between father and son than between teacher and pupil Confucius never felt that criticism and punishment were effective motivators nevertheless he expected his students to work hard his methods inspired loyalty and affection even his most troublesome pupil Josiah came to regard him as the greatest man who ever lived within a few short years the reputation of the school and of Confucius spread throughout China the first concept of his philosophy was Ren goodness doctrine there is no agreement and what if we can use these single definition what but from my personal view and I would think this then contain two dimensions why we could say then is the virtua is a virtual or is the most important virtue and in this case you probably could translate then as the humanity and benevolence and economies or goodness so this day and that is and we take this Confucian understand that this gen as a virtual is essential to to being human so if you want to be fully human you master ah possess possess this this virtual Ram manifested itself in the way a person lived his life being sympathetic to the sufferings of others it is only a man of Ren who knows how to love people and how to hate people how should a man cultivate Ren to achieve Ren one must begin by loving others this is a philosophical precept common to all major religions Confucius listed five virtues respect Magnum unity sincerity diligence and kindness by these five virtues he said evil a person who could practice these five virtues than this I would have no fault and he would a you notice and the totally transform his own character however there was a flipside to this it often meant that there were situations where you felt that to be virtuous you would actually have to contradict your ruler to speak out against some evil act and this could often make your own position very awkward this proved to be a problem for Confucius himself one of the reasons he often did not get sufficient promotion in this in the civil service system in ancient China was that he kept selling unwelcome truths to the rulers who didn't wish to hear they were acting wrongly but on the other hand he would argue that if you wish to follow the path of virtue correctly then a true scholar a true gentleman had no alternative but to point these transgressions out Confucius Illustrated the meaning of ran by drawing a distinction between two different types of men the first type was called a Sai Ram a low evil person the second type was called Jin sir the man of virtue Confucius set out the nine factors that should guide the conduct of the Jin sir when he sees he sees clearly and distinctly without prejudice when he listens he hears everything that is said without twisting the speaker's words when he looks at this world his face is kind and sympathetic when you observe his manners you see that he is always respectful when he speaks he is serious when he is in doubt he asks questions when he is angry he considers the consequences before he acts when he sees the chance for gain he always considers the right and wrong of his actions in contrast to the Jinzo the Asura ramp is arrogant lacking dignity and materialistic Confucius didn't expect the Jinzo to be a saint he should merely do his best in everyday situations in this way he merited honor Confucius certainly excluded most government servants of his day from this category for Confucius education meant gathering knowledge not only about the world but also about oneself when he looks into himself and his conduct and he finds nothing to be ashamed of what is there for him to be anxious about Confucius third concept was Dao or the way in Chinese the word simply means path for Confucius it meant the way a person traveled through life were his actions selfish or for the benefit of all to know Dao is not as good as - love it - love it is not as good as to practice it to practice it though is difficult life's tasks are never finished to confucius this was not a problem it was the work itself that was important not its completion he conceded that few managed to live the perfect life there are sprouting crops which never come to ear there are others which having come to ear never ripen into grain the same is true with man as it is with corn one of the problems is that each man's task is different there is no doubt that is right for everyone each man's path will be determined by his interests and abilities what is important is that each man pursue his own way with virtue and the honest to himself a man must cultivate a sense of moderation this will prevent him from acting rashly moderation certainly is one of very important virtues for Confucius and many occasions and the Confucius demonstrate our very moderator an attitude toward himself because it's quite a few people and compared him and as to be a Sun the moon of the sage of the person of virtue the men of virtue and Confucius and you know there were these egregious that easily and he all said you know he's the man and this result is that you notice the and the unit knowledge but he started very very hard and he took the ancient sages as his and model and he studied them he pursued as a way of them so that is the he became he became the teacher why he became a teacher the father confused why his moderation is so important because these he believed moderation is one of the key qualities for a gentleman fortunes and with others and these the and the person would not be coded tinz all gentlemen over the years Confucius school prospered lessons were often held in local parks many of its students went on to attain high ranking posts within the government during this time the arts were blossoming in China the aristocracy constructed vast and expensive palaces and gardens the theatre too flourished actors dancers and musicians were all well-paid and highly respected because war was an ever-present threat young men were encouraged to practice archery competitions were held they were team events so if one member of the team performed badly he could do so without losing face this was and still is important to the Chinese Confucius encouraged his students to participate in these competitions he believed the body to be just as important as the mind banquets were also popular amongst the Chinese and we know that Confucius and his students enjoyed feasting drinking and music there was nothing ascetic about Confucius philosophy following the Dao didn't mean a man had to renounce the pleasures of this life and the computer said that you know this the the enjoyment not just only come from this dance me singing and music but also come from your personal and belief and personal virtues if a virtual person even in a very very difficult situation and say without enough food to eat without a property close to you where even that that is the situation he would still feel unhappy and joyful Confucius was undoubtedly proud of his students success but he often yearned to return to government service himself RunAs often saw Confucius advice but were reluctant to employ him his advice could be unpopular but the happiness of the people over the happiness of yourself Confucius found that his most noble asset in a sense the conviction that he had to tell the truth about what was going on in any particular state regardless of the consequences for his own career also held him back in his longest held deepest desire to become an official he was always well respected it appeared on the other hand rulers would often prefer to have someone more compliant and less trouble actually serving them at court rather than someone who continuously was telling them they had to rethink their own personal behavior as well as the way in which they were running the state Confucius was once asked why he wasn't in government every citizen who acts properly with dignity knowledge and honor is truly in government some time when he was in his fifties Confucius was given the government post in his home state of Lu as a member of the Council of State computers and was given the number of this becoming the posts in his political career about four and four half years and the first poster he was appointed was this a magistrate of Tom the and one he was the 50 or 51 years old and it was said and the and in one year the he managed to resist this tongue very well so this can become a Motor City and for the rest of this the whole country so because he was so successful he was promoted to be the minister of the Public Works the in this position and the Confucian well in charge da for the public works like this agricultural and these matters and the public release the you know this road building and you know other matters and then he was given another important job this Minister of Justice so as the Minister of Justice he would have preside the court and our secretly charge and that in today's term and he would a judge that the cases important cases himself and he said he was very very successful in this case because it's and he's he dealing with these different cases and quick and this uncracked confucius believed he could have great influence they would turn Luo into the perfect state a model for the rest of China from the writings of Confucius and his students known as the lung you or the Analects we can see why the philosopher was not always popular with his political masters Confucius was once asked to name the essentials of a good government the three most important things are enough food enough arms and the confidence of all the people his master asked him which of the three he would give up if forced to do so the arms the bows and arrows and war chariots his master pressed him further which of the other two would he give up the food after all for as long as we have known death has come to every man but a government without the confidence of the people is lost at some stage in his life Confucius had married and had a son as well as his work at court and fuschia spent as much time as he could with his son and grandchildren he also continued to teach in government the problems were the same as before the ruler of Liu followed Confucius advice only when it suited him by now Confucius was an old man his mind must have been turning towards death but what do we know of Confucius religious beliefs famously once when Confucius was asked by one of his disciples about what he thought about the spirit world Confucius answered there's enough going on here and on earth don't worry about the spirits some people I think wrongly have interpreted this meaning that Confucius didn't believe in the spirit world and this is why people have sometimes claimed that Confucianism is simply a philosophy without any religious underpinnings what seems a more likely interpretation of Confucius a statement though is that he did believe as was traditional in ancient China in a very powerful spirit world it's just that it was not the business of people on earth to try and poke too far into the world that they would find out more about after they had passed passed away and died he believed therefore that there was a strong religious element I think in everyday human life but the people shouldn't seek to delve too far into the mysteries of it on another occasion another student asked a cicada and how to understand death and how to serve as a spirits Confucius replied and if you cannot understand their life how can you understand their death if you cannot serve humans how can you separate so this is a icing this is the quite a characteristic of Confucius thinking so and if will the spiritual world and human world they are religious and all this integral and acted so if you can't live your life properly now you can't understand the countries that you know to deserve and sacrifice to the spiritual spirits properly Confucius continued to serve in the government and watched with pride as his ex students put his philosophy into practice throughout China Confucius died in 479 BC many of his former students came to his funeral some even stayed behind to observe the 3-year period of mourning near to his grave the devotion he inspire was summed up by one of his students uro from the birth of mankind until now there has never been a man equal to Confucius [Music] Menza known as men she's born a century after Confucius death it was he who ensured that Confucius teachings would not be lost to future generations in the century after Confucius is death no one scholar took on board all his beliefs and made them an organized and unified belief system instead various competing schools took aspects of what he had said for instance about filial devotion or about loyalty to the ruler and made that the aspect of some rather more specific philosophies one of the good effects of this though was that there were various contending philosophies which argued points with each other and made the intellectual climate in China during that time very rich at school men sheis had his first encounter with Confucianism he was at once inspired to carry on the Confucian tradition what I want most to do is to study how I can best be like Confucius unlike Confucius mensches enjoyed lecturing to large audiences he was noted for his sharp wit when dealing with others he was also fond of luxury and material comforts but both men shared a love of learning and valued honesty and directness having absorbed Confucius ideals mensches set about putting them into practice like his hero he travelled around China giving advice to the various state rulers although mencius is regarded as the second greatest sage of Confucian thought after only Confucius himself the two are very different in personality Confucius was always a bit downtrodden in his life he never quite got of what he really aspired which was to serve as an official at court mencius by contrast was a rather different sort of character he was in some ways similar to a public intellectual today whose main job was actually traveling around with a very luxurious entourage and giving advice to rulers you might call him a sort of philosophical consultant to various rulers in kingdoms around China to that extent he probably wouldn't have wanted an official post because it would have tied him down and PLAs he even reduced his lifestyle from what he was able to do in his traveling teacher role on one occasion in the state of Lang he gained an audience with King Kwai the King asked him what he had to say that would be a profit to him what makes your Majesty think he must speak about profit on the contrary I have come to offer you some advice about virtue and humanity that has nothing to do with your idea of profit another time Aruna asked him why the GA and Jo empires had fallen because they lost the hearts of the people men chess was concerned that Confucius teachings were being twisted one area of disagreement was over the nature of man men chess and Confucius were in agreement deep at heart all men are sympathetic to others Mencius is driving philosophy led him to argue that because human beings were basically good they could be regulated in such a way that they would not have to be heavily controlled by the state if the state carried out the right policies there was at least one of the philosophers shinza who followed in the Confucian tradition but was in some ways far more pessimistic about human nature he believed that unless the state was very strong then human nature would make people more inclined to follow their own interests rather than the good of society as a whole for that reason sometimes Mencius has been characterized as the left-wing aspect of them of Confucian philosophy and shinza as the right-wing aspect also worth noting is another philosopher han feza who is the founder of what's known as legal authority when Tevan further than shinza and was rejected the ideas of Confucianism arguing that the state itself was the most important thing and to some extent individual desires and individual rights really didn't matter as long as the state kept itself strong and able to resist outside attack for that reason his philosophy has often been regarded by Confucians as cynical and in some way damaging to greater public wealth and morals mensches died in 289 BC at the age of 84 by then he had ensured the continuing influence of Confucianism in China he is still known there as the second stage it's not an exaggeration to say that in the same way that perhaps judeo-christian thought as well as the thought of ancient Greece underlines the whole intellectual and cultural legacy of the West similarly Confucius and also his followers such as mensches have really shaped the 2,000 plus years of Chinese history since they lived their beliefs first of all in ethics as the most important means of organizing a state but also the importance of hierarchy and setting things in the right order to ensure social stability have been very much the driving arguments behind every Chinese imperial dynasty even in the 20th century when the imperial dynasty had fallen and the republic and then the Communists took over the new thinkers who came along such as Chiang kai-shek and Mao Zedong even though they regarded themselves correctly as very much aspects of the modern side of China was still very heavily shaped by the Confucian beliefs that they had taken on board at school when they were younger and you can see this perhaps in the way in which they set themselves up as rulers in China when they eventually got to power [Music] shinto unlike most major religions has no known founder its roots lie deep in Japanese history Shinto is very much the religion of prehistoric Japan it's based in ideas that come from the period before we have recorded history so for instance it's very much connected with nature worship and also the belief in the traditional souls of the ancient Japanese in addition it's very much creative it's very much connected with ideas of avoiding ritual pollution and therefore washing in water becomes a very regular part of Shinto ceremonies from the most ancient times up to the present days in effect also one of the additional beliefs in it is the idea of shamanism you know in other words the idea that a particular holy person can take on board the spirit of a particular God or deity and that that spirit will speak through their mouths and that shamanistic tradition has remained very much part of Shinto again into the present day Shinto is the way of the Gods these deities or comi oversee the whole of human life they are infinite in number and may include spirits and family ancestors as well as gods and goddesses as with most of the major religions of East Asia Shinto regards the ancestors of its worshipers is a very important part of its belief system it's believed that if one has ancestors who are treated well and given proper respect after they're dead then in the other world they will look after you and look out for your interests ancestors which are not treated well which may be neglected can often come back as vengeful spirits which may cause your you and your family harm therefore it's very important to keep reverence for your ancestors as part of your religious belief system in Shinto the chief deity is the sun goddess amaterasu her name means she who makes the heaven shine a great shrine that he said is the most sacred in Japan every 20 years the ISA ginger as it is known is torn down and rebuilt the same families have been responsible for this act of renewal for the past 13 centuries the tearing down rebuilding of shrines is a custom known as shaking in seungu in Japanese and it takes place most notably every 20 years the Great shrine that sa the reason for this is that as far back as the seventh century AD the Emperor Tim rule declared that it was important to make sure that the home for the gods at the shrine was kept fresh and unpolluted in effect the important thing is not the building but the location of the shrine according to an ancient myth there was a divine being named izanagi no Makoto whose name means the August mail he descended to earth and married his sister he's an army no Makoto the August female their union produced the islands and make up the Japanese archipelago and several deities Izanami died from burns whilst giving birth to the fire God izanagi failed to bring her back from the land of the dead and purified himself by bathing in a sacred River as he wiped the water from his left eye Amaterasu was born from his right eye came the moon god tsuki oniy you could broadly speaking divided the deities or kami in Shinto into two categories the deities of heaven and the deities of earth amongst the most notable apart from Amaterasu are some of the ancient heroes of Japanese mythology one of those is Susannah or who famously the he River Slough an eighth headed dragon also notable are other gods who deal with good qualities such as learning education and also the harvests which of course were an important part of the agricultural economy of ancient Japan sometimes mortals may be elevated to the ranks of the commie generally human beings were turned into gods in Shinto are originally heroes or sometimes heroines who have carried out great deeds as a result of this they would often be some kind of memorial put up to them which would as time went on slowly see them rising to divine status on rare occasions you would actually find that a living being was created at God during his lifetime and that would in fact happen generally to the Japanese Emperor but in other cases it's generally someone who is known either for great skill in warfare for learning or for other meritorious qualities which would allow them slowly to be changed into gods one example is the god of learning pending who was originally a scholar of the 9th century AD and now has over the centuries being transmuted into God for alongside the good dirties are the demons these Ani are mostly invisible others are animal spirits that can possess humans they live both on earth and in a subterranean hell called Jigoku in Shinto there is no clear division between good and evil all matter is thought to possess rough and gentle characteristics so Ani a rather ambivalent characters for instance Inari is the benevolent god of the rice harvest but his messenger is the Fox spirit one of the most malicious of the Ani it's important to understand that many of the gods who emerged in Shinto originally came from the agricultural communities that primitive Japan started with and the god of the harvest for instance Inari is part of that Pantheon as a result of that the animal spirits are often the animals who would have been seen as part of Japan's wildlife during that period and the Fox in particular who is the messenger of Inari he's regarded as a very ambivalent sort of figure he's often felt to in fact not necessarily be male but female and symbolize the with the female force in life as opposed to the male force and particularly female sexuality while female sexuality like male sexuality is not necessarily God desire good or bad it can clearly be regarded in traditional mythology as a rather slippery area where one has to watch one's feet if one's not going to be tricked up and that kind of playfulness is often the difficulty in knowing whether a fox spirit means you good or ill in traditional mythology we have already mentioned the Magnificent shrine dedicated to Amaterasu at ISA such shrines or ginger dedicated to various kami are scattered across Japan many natural features such as Mount Fuji are also considered to be sacred to climb it is seen as an act of worship the ginger serve as the focus of many rituals the important thing about shrines is that they are a sacred location which may or may not have a building on them in the earliest times the so called shrines would in fact perhaps have just been a small pile of rocks at a particularly sacred place the main purpose of the ceremonies that take place at these shrines are to remove are to remove ritual impurity or pollution that's the basic principle at the base of Shinto the kind of ceremonies that you would see traditionally at these shrines might be of three main types one that is notable is where small paper streamers may be waved over something that is ritually impure by the priests to purify it in another case people may be enjoined to avoid particular words that may cause some form of ritual pollution and the other very important way in which pollution can be removed at a shrine is via what's called illustration in other words ritual washing in water which remains a very important part of tient as ceremonies today the earliest ginger was simple outdoor altars structures were later built around them at the end of the fifth century Buddhism was introduced into Japan at first there was a bit of a consumer competition between bitter Buddhism and Shinto in the early years of its introduction into Japan and perhaps for the best part of several centuries Buddhism because it was very colourful it had a lot of public ceremonies and was a very public kind of religion found itself perhaps overwhelming them from the more personalised and retiring ceremonies of Shinto however Shinto never actually faded away it was still very much there as part of the Japanese folk religions and one of the things that you see during the hundreds of years after the fifth century is the mixing of Buddhist and Shinto traditions so for instance one of the reasons why Shinto becomes much more ritualized and formalized is that was trying to fight back against the much more formal traditions of Buddhism and find a place for itself in what you might call the religious market of the time modern ginger come in many shapes and sizes small ones stand on the rooftops of high-rise buildings whilst the Meiji Jingu in Tokyo is a vast complex wherever possible they stand amid trees and gardens the worshiper passes through the torii the threshold separating the secular world from that of the Gods torn strips of paper called gohei symbolize the presence of the kami the next stage is ritual purification of the hands and mouth with water the shrine is made up of two elements there is the sanctuary or honden which holds the image of the kami entry - this is normally restricted to the priests the other element is the oratory or hidin in the oratory or hi then the public part of the shrine the regular Shinto ceremonies would take place from the point of view of an ordinary worshiper what this would mean is that you would walk in through the gate you might first of all purify yourself by washing your hands using a traditional wooden ladle and then you might next sacrifice a coin as a symbol of sacrifice to the spirits of the temple you would then go forward and make the ritual vows which consists quite often of bowing forward twice and then clapping once and then bowing once you would then go on to the ceremony itself in which the priests would take part in which you would be ritually purified often using sucky traditional Japanese wine and then after that these ceremonies would continue more informally at the end of the at the end of the ceremony the priests receive payment from groups of worshipers who manage each local shrine there are two ranks of priests head priests or Gucci and canoe Shi the priest has duties which in some ways are similar to the duties of a parish priest you might say in the Christian tradition of the West so for instance when people are suffering misfortunes they might expect the priest to carry out ceremonies which will help restore their good fortune there's a well-known case in the early 1970s of a building in Japan where far too many people were committing suicide from the top and a priest was basically brought in to carry out a ceremony which would stop the spirits as it was thought from encouraging people to commit these sorts of Acts more generally there are also particular ages in people's lives which since Shinto considers to be richly unlucky the age of 33 for women and 42 for men and during those years of age people may be in particular concern to be in contact with their priests to make sure they take part in the correct rituals to ensure continued good luck Shinto worship is a very personal matter one exception is the Matsuri or shrine festival at the festival the main business at hand is making invitations to the gods so you would make those invitations set up offerings to them and then finally when the offerings had been accepted by them the participants in the ceremony would then be able to take part in a ceremonial feast so the offerings may consist of things like Sukkot traditional Japanese wine also fish cakes rice cakes and other food offerings to to be thankful for the harvest for instance in addition many of these things that we think of as traditional Japanese art forms for instance traditional nor theatre in fact started as part of the religious ceremonies at the shrines and still continued today to have a very strong religious influence on their development the planting and harvesting of the rice are also important causes for celebration rice has always traditionally been a very important part of the Japanese diet from the early days and therefore it's always been important to give thanks to the spirits who have ensured a successful harvest to show the importance of the rice harvest the imperial family will generally make a very public show of being first of all the first family to plant rice seedlings and then to be the first publicly to accept the harvest this then gives a cue for celebrations of the rice festival all around Japan which would take place in public ceremonies at shrines nationally Shinto priests officiated weddings although these are held at hotels or wedding palaces rather than in ginger Japanese funerals though are usually conducted by Buddhist priests this is because Buddhism is thought to bear the soul into the next life there are many shinto base sects in japan perhaps the most famous of these is the ten Riku Penry cure is one of the best-known and most popular sets that is based on Shinto beliefs although in some ways it's very unusual it was founded in the 19th century in 1838 by a woman rather unusually a Buddhist nun named Yama Miki she was known to have seen various trances that gave her the vision of what she called a personal God and this is one of the unusual things intended to cure but it's almost monotheistic almost in the Western sense which is unusual in the Shinto tradition it also has a very strong social element then the recur believes it's very important to do public service and make sure well that things like public welfare and looked after as part of a religious beliefs in addition it's also very personal faith it's not hard to pick up and its teachings are easy to absorb this explains the fact that today in Japan perhaps some two million people are followers of tenderly cure and it's a very well-known religious and public institution in Japan the Second World War had a profound effect on Shinto which had been the state religion since 1871 in 1945 Emperor Hirohito formally renounced all claims to divinity and the state no longer has any involvement in religious affairs after 1945 when the Americans occupied Japan in the wake of the Second World War one of the important changes they made was to democratize Japan by imposing a new constitution on it and also making a public declaration that the emperor could no longer could be considered to be a god this in some way removed the divine status of the emperor in Japanese society but Japan still remains a profoundly religious Society in many ways unlike most Western societies however the traditional elements of Japanese religion Buddhism Shinto and also in later years Christianity still exists together very much in people's lives and therefore on regular occasions around the year you'll find that Shinto shrines are packed with worshipers still taking part in their religious ceremonies the fact that the emperor is no longer regarded as a god has not been any kind of major bar in the canoeing development of religious belief in Japan despite all this Shinto continues to flourish and to coexist peacefully alongside Buddhism amid the affluence and bustle of modern Japan people still turn for help to the commie [Music] [Music] [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Documentary Base

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Keywords: Documentary, Documentaries. History, religion, shinto, shintoism, buddhism, hinduism, confucianism, judaism, islam, history of religion, spiritual, full documentary, history

Id: RppWBVxUtc8

Length: 47min 34sec (2854 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 09 2019

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Links to the part two and part three:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=TED5Pt6JKqQ

https://youtube.com/watch?v=tbCfjhHeJ1g