Japan’s most dangerous monastery
Posted: March 31, 2010 | Author: Doug | Filed under: Buddhism, Japan, Shinto, Taoism | Leave a comment »Since I am doing a double-post today, I wanted to post an article that talks about Japan’s most dangerous monastery. This seems related to the Shugendo mountain ascetics found in Japanese religion, who combine an eclectic mix of Taoism, tantric Buddhism and other beliefs. Shugendo beliefs are frequently confused with Buddhist ones by Westerners, but they have little in common other than the fact that Buddhist elements are frequently borrowed in Shugendo. According the article, the main figure is something called Zao Gongen, which this link explains in detail as well as explaining the history of Shugendo nicely.
Some interesting reading material for the day. Enjoy!
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