Where the Dead Pause, and the Japanese Say Goodbye: A Journey (25 page)

Prince Sh
toku is also credited with writing and introducing the Seventeen-Article Constitution, which emphasized the moral code that all courtiers were to follow and which made clear that the emperor was the supreme ruler of Japan. He instituted a court ranking system, based on merit, in which officials wore different-colored caps to indicate their status: purple being the highest and black the lowest. The constitution included the declaration that all Japanese should revere the three treasures: the Buddha, his teaching (dharma), and the Buddhist community (sangha). Here we have the clearest, most explicit statement that Buddhism was now the state religion of Japan.

However, in a move that continues to resonate in Japan today, Prince Sh
toku did not eradicate Shint
. In 607, he issued the following edict in the name of Empress Suiko: “Now in our reign, how can one give up the respect and prayers to the
kamis
[native gods] in the Pure Land and on the earth? Hence, all of my attendants should make up their minds to rightly worship the
kamis
in the Pure Land and the kamis on the earth.”

The Buddha did not stress belief only in himself as a god; his teachings emphasize a method to escape the pain of existence. And as a result, there is nothing that truly prevents the Japanese from following the Buddhist sect of their choosing while also celebrating the gods associated with their local Shint
shrine. Though there have been tensions throughout history, for the most part the eight
million gods and demons of the Shint
pantheon have comfortably shared the sacred space in Japan occupied by the Buddha and his many attendants.

V. ZEN

Japan was forever changed by Buddhism, but Buddhism was also transformed by Japan. Following Prince Sh
toku’s lead, generations of emperors built temple after temple, the construction sites reaching out farther and farther from the capital, in a bid to help unify Japan and consolidate the Yamato clan’s power. Some temples grew powerful and wealthy and became concentrated centers of learning where the young challenged the old, and Buddhism, as a discipline, developed in complexity.

In the thirteenth century, a boy was born to a low-ranking noble family. His name was D
gen. Both of his parents died when he was young, but the death of his mother when he was seven particularly affected him. Relatives then took him in and saw to his education. At twelve, D
gen went to the monastery on Mount Hiei, located today about twenty miles from
saka.

In time, D
gen started to wonder, If the Buddha claimed that all humans were born with a bodhisattva nature, then why did people have to memorize sutras or answer koans? At that time, these were among the many methods monks used to try to become enlightened. Why, in fact, did anyone have to struggle to become enlightened in the first place? D
gen also seems to have been frustrated by the bureaucracy on Mount Hiei, which controlled a monk’s advancement, often favoring connections over merit. Dissatisfied by the responses he received from his elders, D
gen ultimately went to China in search of answers. Eventually he met with a monk named Ti
ntóng Rújing, who taught him the form of Buddhism we know
of today as S
t
Zen. Like D
gen, Rújing too deplored the excesses of the most corrupt temples, claiming that all one had to do to be a Buddhist was to “cast off the mind and the body.” And the best way to do this, said Rújing, was to meditate.