| Title | : | Shinto: The Way Home: 21 (Dimensions of Asian Spirituality) : Kasulis, Thomas P. |
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| ISBN | : | - |
| Format Type | : | Kindle , Hardcover , Paperback , Audiobook & More |
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As a philosopher of religion, he first analyzes the experiential aspect of Shinto spirituality underlying its various ideas and practices. Second, as a historian of Japanese thought, he sketches several major developments in Shinto doctrines and institutions from prehistory to the present, showing how its interactions with Buddhism, Confucianism, and nationalism influenced its expression in different times and contexts. In Shinto’s idiosyncratic history, Kasulis finds the explicit interplay between two forms of spirituality: the "existential" and the "essentialist." Although the dynamic between the two is particularly striking and accessible in the study of Shinto, he concludes that a similar dynamic may be found in the history of other religions as well.
Two decades ago, Kasulis’ Zen Action/Zen Person brought an innovative understanding to the ideas and practices of Zen Buddhism, an understanding influential in the ensuing decades of philosophical Zen studies. Shinto: The Way Home promises to do the same for future Shinto studies.
Shinto: The Way Home: 21 (Dimensions of Asian Spirituality) : Kasulis, Thomas P. Reviews
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Shinto: The Way Home would appear to be aimed at the serious student rather than the casual reader who merely wants to understand a little about a different way of life. It explores the history of Shinto from prehistory to the current day, and goes into much detail about "feeling Shinto" the ways in which it is possible to regard and practice Shinto.I was a little disappointed that the book did not really address all the ways in which Shinto permeates Japanese life, though it does relate a typical visit to a Shinto shrine. The book does thoroughly discuss Shinto philosophy however, and explains the interesting fact that although the Western world regards Shinto as a religion, the Japanese generally don't. It also explains in detail how a philosophy essentially based upon an appreciation of life, beauty, and mystery could be distorted by the state into a force that drove Japan to declare bloody war on the rest of the world.I purchased this book as part of my research for a short story, needing to know how the Shinto way is practiced and what its beliefs are. Fairly soon I realised that S:TWH was not going to be the best text for that particular role, but I persevered a few pages at a time (I didn't find it an easy read!), and came out at the far side feeling pleased that I had read it. I learned a lot.
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good service thank you
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Having lived in Japan for almost two decades now, I got this book to learn about the primary "religion" of my host country.I like the author's objective approach, and how he was able to establish the difference between existential and essential Shintoism, by exploring and analyzing how they evolved throughout the history of this nation.I would recommend this book to anybody interested in Japan and the Japanese people. I would also recommend this book to anybody interested in religion and spirituality.I rated it five stars because it gave me a better understanding of the way the Japanese people think and behave through the "religion" that has been part and parcel of their culture and their history.
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I generally expect books like these on the subject of Anthropology to be either dry and merely informative on one hand or dim witted and missing big, important points on the other. This book was neither!The author, not content with describing surface characteristics of Shinto or describing it in classical religious studies terminology that is biased towards religions such as Christianity and Islam, spends a great deal of time developing terminology and concepts that are unique to Shinto and these types of primitive religions.Not only does he delve into the very psychology of religion, he discusses the oft neglected relationship between intellectuals who invent ideology and folk beliefs that are simply passed down over the generations.The most important thing to get from the book for a Westerner is essentialist/existentialist "split" the author talks about (though he later says the two forms overlap considerably), especially since the former is vastly dominant in Western/Abrahamic religions.Overall, well written and easy to read (he goes over things and refers back to previous chapters to keep continuity) and highly recommended for anyone into Japanese history, world religions/anthropology or the psychology and nature of religion.
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I found this book to be mildly disappointing. If you are looking for a general, historical overview of the development of Japanese religion (without much central focus on Shinto), this book would be for you. The author manages to submerge the actual discussion of the Shinto religion into a background of the historical development of its relationship to Buddhism and Confucianism. This history is important, but for those looking for direct detailed information about Shinto beliefs, rituals, kami, (in short, Shinto itself) I would look elsewhere. Some important historical context is learned from this book, but it does not succeed much in portraying a vivid descriptive account of the Shinto faith. Kasulis' theory of the "existential vs. essentialist" approach of religion I found wholly uninteresting; either he is defining terms too finely or choosing the wrong terms to label them. I could recommend this book only of background historical, contextual importance only,
