Author Affiliations: College of France, Paris, France
關鍵詞
Ancestral Worship; Japanese Buddhism; Cultural Anthropology; Funeral Rites; Merit Transferring
摘要
In any society, funeral rites are related not only to the religious aspirations of the dead but also to the religious commitment of his family or of the social group he belonged to. That is why funeral rites reveal certain aspects of the community of a population and why they form an important subject in cultural anthropology. The purpose of this article is to examine some aspects of funeral rites in Japan compared to those in other Asian Buddhist societies. In all of these societies, when death occurs in a family, Buddhism plays far more of an active role than it does for other important occasions in the lives of its followers. For example, Japanese as well as Sinhalese have different kings of ceremonies for celebrating the birth of a child, attaining the age of puberty, becoming engaged to be married, etc., and many of the ritual elements in these ceremonies come from folk religion. Buddhism does not enter into these ceremonies and Buddhist monks have no roles to play in them. When there is a death in a Buddhist family, however, Buddhism is the main influence on the ceremonies. The participation of monks in the funeral service is indispensable. Of course, their role is not the same in every Buddhist society. The other important point is the necessity of commemorating the dead ancestors. This aspect of the religiosity of Asian people completely depends upon Buddhist teaching mixed with popular customs. In this article, the author also tries to see the difference and similitude of some rituals in these societies concerning dead ancestors.
目次
(A) Priests, Monks and Funerals 106 (B) Helping the Dead 112
