Instructions for Life in the new millennium from the Dalai Lama: Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk. When you lose, don't lose the lesson. Follow the three Rs: respect for self, respect for others, responsibility for all your actions. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly. Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship. When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it. Spend some time alone every day. Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll be able to enjoy it a second time. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don't bring up the past. Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve immortality. Be gentle with the earth. Once a year, go someplace you've never been before. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it. Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon. Information regarding related links will be forthcoming.

Religion of the Month
As an Interfaith Community we honor all paths to the One Divine Presence...Living Religions of our time. These articles are incomplete yet give the seeker a beginning exploration and understanding of the fundamental truths of the spiritual life as seen from different perspectives.

RELIGION OF THE MONTH - SHINTO

"Harmonizing with the Natural World"


            Shinto is Japan's unique religious path, although the people of Japan have embraced other religions.  Shinto means the "way of the divine." (Shin - divine being and do - way).  It developed as the organization of the indigenous religions of the country closely tied to nature and the unseen world. People in Japan often combine practices from several religions, as each offers something different.  The life of a person is located in the vast cosmic setting into which we are born, where we live and within which our lives find any meaning.  Natural Religion is the spontaneous awareness of the Divine and we are to live in the natural flow.

                Shinto has no founder and no sacred literature.  It began as the local natural religion of agricultural communities and had no name until Buddhism arrived in the 6th century CE.  To distinguish it from the foreign one, it was labeled "Shinto."  The three principles of Shinto are: affinity with natural beauty, harmony with the spirits, and purification rituals. Many traditional religions begin with the awe and power of the natural beauty of places.  Japan has always been a country of exquisite beauty.  The people lived so harmoniously with this beauty in their islands that there was no separate word for "nature" until the late 19th century when Western ideas came to Japan.

                In Shinto, lives are organized around the turn of the seasons and the kami.  Mount Fuji, greatest of the volcanic peak which formed the islands, was honored as the sacred embodiment of the divine creativity that thrust the land up from the sea. The ocean and rising sun were loved as the earthly expressions of the sacred purity and brightness at the heart of life.  Pilgrims still climb Mount Fuji seeking purification and good fortune.  The sacred is both immanent and transcendent.  In primeval ages, before the earth was formed, a great spirit arose and deity gave birth to the kami, the spirits.  Kami is the essence that manifests in many places.  It is a quality and not an image. It is that which invokes wonder and awe in us. The kami harmonize heaven and earth and guide the solar system and the cosmos. They reside in beautiful places and manifest as the elements. The kami are invoked by the Shinto priests to bless people, places and events.

                The shrines in Japan are built to recognize and honor the kami of a place. There are about 80,000 Shinto shrines in Japan.  At one time every community had its own kami and dedicated shrine.  There is no idol or symbol in the sacred center of the shrine, although a mirror or sacred stone may be placed there.

                Purification is another important principle of Shinto.  In traditional Shinto there is no concept of sin.  We are born innocent and pure.  However, our behaviors can accumulate impurities that must be cleansed.  The quality of impurity or misfortune is called tsumi. It can arise through unkind interaction between humans or between humans and the environment or through natural catastrophes. One is to pay attention to problems as they arise and cleanse them. The kami in nature can cleanse these tsumi. There are also ritual forms of purification.  Wood from a sacred tree, water, and prayers are important purifiers.  One of the most powerful purification rites is the misogi ceremony. The cleansing power of water is most powerful.  In the misogi ceremony, a person may stand under a waterfall, letting its force hit the shoulders and carry impurities and tensions away.  There are preliminary rites before one goes into the waterfall because the waterfall itself is kami. This ceremony is done with the help of a priest and afterwards, the person spends time in meditation and prayer to calm the soul and unify oneself with the kami.  The misogi ceremony is designed to restore one's natural purity and sense of mission in life.

                Modern Shintoists explain their path as a universal natural religion today.  A Shinto shrine was built in Stockton, CA, offering ritual ways of experiencing one's connection with nature and learning to see the divine in the midst of life. Today's followers, enjoy the many seasonal holidays, of which New Year's is the biggest.  During December there is a ceremonial housecleaning, the placing of bamboo and pine "trees" at doorways to homes and offices and even bars to welcome the kami.  People dress in traditional kimonos and on December 31st there is a national day of purification.  On New Year's Day, people go out to see the firs sunrise of the year and visit a shrine as well as family and friends.  On January 20th, those who ae 20 years old are recognized as full-fledged adults and on November 15, children who are three, five or seven (considered delicate ages) are taken to a shrine to ask for the protection of the kami.  On February 3, the end of winter,  people throw beans to toss out bad fortune and invite good. The priests shoot arrows to break the power of misfortune. A month-long spring festival is held from March to April, with purification rites and prayers for a successful planting season. The month of June is devoted to rites to protect the crops.  Fall brings thanksgiving rites for the harvest and the first fruits are offered to the kami and the great celebrating in the streets. Rituals are an important part of life and the Shinto festivals bring meaning to the great cycle of life with devotion to the kami that permeate all of life.

                Shintoism has a great deal to teach us about living in the natural world, respecting the essence of Spirit in those places, to make us mindful of problems that rise in us and give us tools to cleanse ourselves back to our own natural state.  It also teaches us to celebrate life and the great cycle of the seasons that we, as humans, are also a part of.  Shintoism can be practiced along with all other religions.