Funerary Rites as a Social Good

• In Event: Buddhism beyond Temple Walls: The Everyday Engagements of Japanese Buddhists

Abstract

Funerary rites have long been recognized as the economic and social bedrock of Japanese temple Buddhism. Although often critiqued by scholars and in popular media as being representative of the decline of Japanese Buddhism, a number of recent studies have shown that continued attention to funerary practices has the potential to shed light on localized temple realities and the various ways the Buddhist teachings are adapted at the ground level to meet practitioners’ needs. In addition to providing emotional support for the bereaved, sustained ethnographic research reveals funerary rites provide a backdrop for priests to engage temple members in ways that are beneficial to individuals, temples, and the whole of Japanese society. Drawing upon two years of ethnographic research among rural Buddhist communities in Hokkaido, this paper elucidates the specific and detailed ways in which Buddhist priests provide comfort and social support in the context of quotidian temple activities while also encouraging temple members to take a more active role in services and events offered at the temple. Moreover, this reexamination of traditional Buddhist activities suggests novel explanations for the place of temple Buddhism and mortuary rites in contemporary Japanese society.

Author

• Daniel G. Friedrich, McMaster University