Japanese religions and ecology

A study of Japanese Shingon Buddhist Cosmology, particular as it is represented in the Pilgrimage to 88 Temples in Shikoku. The paper describes the relationship of Shingon and the pilgrimage to Six Element theory, the Dual Mandala, the Three Mysteries, and Sokushin jōbutsu.

This article analyzes Buddhist environmentalism in Japan during the last few decades, which manifests through various discussions and forms of activism and is characterized by the use of popular Buddhist ideas such as aversion to greed, interdependence, and the universality of buddhahood. This movement gained strength after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear power plant accident, when several Buddhist organizations publicly expressed their disapproval of nuclear energy. This article argues that rather than a timeless “green Dharma” inherently close to nature, contemporary Japanese Buddhism is a “greening Dharma” that is gradually becoming engaged in environmentalism for different reasons. Although the presence of sincere religious concern and a doctrinal anchorage cannot be overlooked, a crucial role is played by Japanese Buddhism’s need to reassert its presence in the public sphere, and by the involvement of this religious tradition in global dynamics related to residual problems, cultural flows, and glocalization.

The Global Repositioning of Japanese Religions: An Integrated Approach explores how Japanese religions respond to the relativizing effects of globalization, thereby repositioning themselves as global players. Organized around concrete case studies focusing on the engagement of Japanese Buddhism, Shinto, and several new religious movements in areas such as ecology, inter-religious dialogue, and politics, this book shows that the globalization of Japanese religions cannot be explained simply in terms of worldwide institutional expansion. Rather, it is a complex phenomenon conditioned by a set of pervasive factors: changes in consciousness, the perception of affinities and resonances at the systemic and cultural levels, processes of decontextualization, and a wide range of power issues including the re-enactment of cultural chauvinism.
The author investigates these dynamics systematically with attention to broader theoretical questions, cross-cultural similarities, the definition of religion and the perils of ethnocentrism, in order to develop his Global Repositioning model, which constitutes an integrated approach to the study of Japanese religions under globalization.
An empirically-grounded and theoretically-informed study of the effects of global trends on local religions, this book will appeal to scholars and students with interests in globalization, religious studies, Japanese studies, Hawaii, sociology, anthropology, and ecology.

TABLE  OF CONTENTS
Introduction
1 Approaching Religion under Globalization
2 Religious Others at the Door: Inclusivism and Pluralism as Forms of Global Repositioning
3 Glocal Environmentalism: Unpacking the Greening of Religion in Japan
4 Meditation à la Carte: Glocal Change in Hawaiian Jōdo Shinshū
5 Global Repositionings: Risshō Kōseikai, Japan, and the World at Large
6 Towards an Integrated Approach: The Global Repositioning Model
Conclusion
Bibliography
Glossary
Index

A response to an International Association of Japanese Philosophy session panel, at the Eastern APA (American Philosophical Association) conference, on "Japanese Environmental Philosophy" on the book, 'Japanese Environmental Philosophy' edited by James McRae and Baird Callicot, published by University of Hawaii Press.  The panel presenters included James McRae, Yu Inutsuka, and Leah Kalmanson.