Manga at Japanese Buddhist Temple

Credit goes to the Worst Horse for finding this one first.

According to the news, a Buddhist temple in Japan called Ryohoji has turned to anime to promote the temple:

…but it went a step further at the weekend, setting up tents and opening up a temporary cafe staffed by bonnet-wearing girls sporting classic frills, one of the recent popular themes among fans of anime and costume role-playing.

The “maids” look authentic and old-fashioned in every way — save for the short length of the skirts and the fake cats’ ears on their heads.

Ironically, despite being a self-described Japanophile, I don’t like anime. I love the classic Akira, but every time a friend in college or at work has tried to introduce me to some new cool series, I found it tedious and cliched. Of course, it’s possible I just saw the wrong anime or maybe just had a bad day. This is just strictly just my opinion.

The point is that when I first read this, I thought it degraded Buddhism and was just a bunch of commercialization. A sure sign things had only declined.

But then I thought about it some more (on a different day, this post has sat in my queue for over a week), and I realized that this negative view of mine is more based on my own self-centered, limited perception of what Buddhism should be. I have an idea in my head, and I interpret reality as either fitting this view (good) or not fitting this view (bad). Worse, I haven’t even visited the temple, and only know about it through a single article and a couple pictures. So, in keeping with the Yogacara Buddhist thought, the temple, as I see it, is just a projection of my conscious.

So, then I thought about the case of Sensoji Temple, which is a place that I have visited (twice). Sensoji is famous for its huge market that has grown in front of the temple grounds for over two hundred years: the nakamise-dōri (仲見世通り). I love going through the Nakamise-Dori, seeing all the various stores sell touristy stuff, Buddhist articles and of course good snacks. The street represents to me a fascinating fusion of lay-life with Buddhism, and as I reflected on this, I realized that the temple of Ryohoji represents something very similar just with a more modern face. I may not agree with their choice of reaching to youth in Japan, but if their intentions are noble then the problem is with me, not the temple.

At the very least, it’s a fascinating cultural phenomenon. In the case of Nakamise-dori, the market has been closed in the past by the Shogunal government, only to re-open later. So, it’s likely that some Shogun or official took offense just as I did, and thought he could make things better, only to realize that it doesn’t work. Because the market is so venerable it’s more established and trendy, but maybe in the olden days it stirred up some controversy among conservatives. But as it stands today, Sensoji Temple attracts and inspires people around the world (as it has done for me, a visitor who isn’t even Japanese), so having a market there hasn’t brought about the end of the world. It’s just a reflection of how people and religion come together in a given time, place and culture.

So for Ryohoji, I wish them good luck, and I hope this new approach reaches lots of young kids and inspires them to look at Buddhism further. As for Western Buddhist converts like myself, I think this is a good time to reflect on our neo-orthodox views and see if they need re-evaluation. Never trust your interpretation of things too closely.

Namu Amida Butsu

P.S. Switched blog themes again. I didn’t like how the previous one dealt with blockquotes and such, which were difficult to read. Enjoy!