Tokugawa Religion

Robert N. Bellah

• Publisher: Free Press
• Year: 2008
• ISBN:
  9781439119020
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

Robert N. Bellah's classic study, Tokugawa Religion does for Japan what Max Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism did for the West. One of the foremost authorities on Japanese history and culture, Bellah explains how religion in the Tokugawa period (160-1868) established the foundation for Japan's modern industrial economy and dispels two misconceptions about Japanese modernization: that it began with Admiral Perry's arrival in 1868, and that it rapidly developed because of the superb Japanese ability for imitation. In this revealing work, Bellah shows how the native doctrines of Buddhism, Confucianism and Shinto encouraged forms of logic and understanding necessary for economic development. Japan's current status as an economic superpower and industrial model for many in the West makes this groundbreaking volume even more important today than when it was first published in 1957. With a new introduction by the author.

CHAPTER VI
Shingaku and it’s Founder, Ishida Baigan

SHINGAKU IS A MOVEMENT which began when Ishida Baigan (1685-1744) hung out his shingle and gave his first public lecture in 1729. After Baigan’s death the movement grew decade by decade until by the early 19th century there were many scores of Shingaku lecture halls all over Japan. Its chief appeal was to the city classes, thousands of whom thronged its halls for over one hundred years, but it also made inroads among the peasantry and samurai. Many Japanese scholars consider it to have been one of the greatest influences on the morality of the common people in the Tokugawa Period. Its influence was spread not only through its public lectures, but through the sermons and tracts which were printed in vast numbers and very widely read, through the house codes (kakun), many of which were drawn up by Shingaku preachers, and through charitable acts which the movement undertook. In this chapter I will try to outline the religious thought and ethical teaching of Shingaku as well as its forms of organization and method of instruction. I will focus on Ishida Baigan, founder of Shingaku and perhaps its most original thinker. Familiarity with the corpus of his writings allows a more comprehensive treatment of his thought than of that of some of the later figures. His work is, of course, the basis of all later developments; the life of the founder of any important religious movement has an intrinsic interest. Following a discussion of Baigan’s life and thought there will be a discussion of the spread and development of the school in later years. Many of the most important organizational principles and teaching methods of the school were introduced after Baigan’s death and so will not be discussed until this concluding section.

Ishida Baigan¹

Ishida Baigan was born in the village of Higashi Agata in Tamba province on the 15th day of the 9th month of the year 1685. Higashi Agata was a farming village about 16 miles from Kyōto, and it was there that Baigan spent his youth engaged in work on his father’s farm. The father was a strict and upright man and seems to have made a profound impression on the growing boy. He was not the eldest son and since he could not expect to inherit, some provision for his livelihood had to be made, so he was apprenticed to a Kyōto merchant at the age of eleven, a normal age for apprenticeship to begin. Thus though of peasant extraction, Baigan had entered the merchant class. Even beginning at the bottom rung he could expect gradual promotion and, if his services were sufficiently outstanding eventual establishment of himself in an independent business. The organization of merchant houses has been discussed in Chapter II and this description may be referred to for an idea of the situation Baigan found himself in.

At the age of 15, however, Baigan left his apprenticeship in midcourse and returned to his village, for reasons that are by no means clear. Elsewhere he says, “My natural disposition was argumentative and I was from an early age disliked by friends. I was often unkind but at about 14 or 15 I suddenly came to my senses and regretted this.” Whether this sudden awareness had anything to do with his decision is not known. At any rate the step was a momentous one. Just at the point when he was becoming thoroughly indoctrinated into the chōnin life of Kyōto and beginning what might have been the most ordinary of merchant careers, he threw it all over and returned to his native village, where he was to spend the next eight years, the very crucial years from 15 to 23. In doing this he ruined his chances for a normal merchant career—as was pointed out in Chapter II, only through a normal apprenticeship could a man hope to rise. One hired as an adult, the so-called chūnen, was always under a basic handicap and could not hope for much in the way of a merchant career.

Baigan, however, may not have been worrying very much about his career, but rather, as the above quotation indicates, he may have been concerned with his own inner problems. In these years spent at home, perhaps in response to his inner need, he became interested in Shinto. The Ise priests, who at that time had built up throughout the country a large organization of societies for the Ise pilgrimage, were especially successful in Kyōto and neighboring areas and it is most likely that Baigan was influenced by them. At any rate, when Baigan returned to Kyōto at the age of 23 it was not with the intention of reviving his career as a marchant but with the express purpose of propagating Shintō.

He took service with a certain Kuroyanagi house in the upper city, probably as a chūnen, but his real interest was in preaching Shintō. Listeners were few and so he took to patrolling the city ringing a bell in order to attract them. His desire was to become a model of the human way. Seeing that his first efforts were rather unsuccessful he turned to study. He would take a book with him when going on an errand and read it if he had a spare moment. In the mornings he arose before others were awake and read near the window; in the evenings he read after others were in bed. In spite of his devotion to study he did not neglect his master’s business in the least. His intention in study was not to amass knowledge for its own sake but to cultivate his person so that he would be an example for all men.

He continued to work in the Kuroyanagi house for a number of years, becoming a trusted employee and an especially close friend of the master’s mother during her lifetime. Eventually he was made a bantō or chief clerk, his job being probably to supervise the chūnen. All through these years he continued to study and develop his ideas.

When he was 35 or 36 he began to feel that he had mastered the theoretical knowledge of the nature (sei, Chinese hsing), but in spite of his intellectual certainty, his feelings were still assailed with doubts. In order to correct this he sought a teacher who could help him allay all doubts. Though he searched widely for several years he could find no one suitable until finally he had an interview with an old teacher by the name of Oguri Ryuōn. Ryōun had been a high official to a daimyō but for some reason had resigned and retired to Kyōto as a teacher. He was learned in the Sung nature philosophy (seiri, Chinese hsing li) and was adept in Buddhist and Taoist teachings as well. Baigan was profoundly impressed by his interview with him, decided to become his follower, and from that time forward devoted himself exhaustively to the practice of contemplation (kuju). When about a year and a half had passed in this way Baigan had his first experience of enlightenment. At that time he was about 40 and was called to his home village as his mother was sick.

It was in the first third of the first month, while nursing his mother, he opened a door and suddenly the doubts of former years scattered. The way of Yao and Shun is only filial piety and brotherliness (kōtei, Chinese hsiao-t’i). Fish swim in water and birds fly in the sky. The Way is clear above and below. Knowing the nature (sei) to be the parent of heaven and earth and of all tilings, he greatly rejoiced.²

When he returned to Kyōto he discussed this experience with his teacher. Ryōun felt apparently that it was only a partial illumination. Baigan and the nature were still separate. He was still “observing” nature. If he would know the truth it was that “there must be the nature but without the eye.” Having progressed thus far Baigan devoted himself even more assiduously to meditation and continued it intensely for more than a year longer. At last his efforts were rewarded.

Late one night he lay down exhausted and was unaware of the break of day. He heard the cry of a sparrow in the woods behind where he was lying. Then within his body it was like the serenity of a great sea, a cloudless sky. He felt the cry of that sparrow like a cormorant dividing and entering the water, in the serenity of a great sea.³

After that there was not a difference between his self and his nature.

This experience had a profound and determining effect on Baigan. It brought him great happiness.

If there were a person who wished to draw my extreme happiness, he would have to draw a person suddenly opened, forgetting to move his hands or lift his feet.⁴

It brought him an entirely new feeling of self-confidence and freedom from doubt. From now on he could accept every situation without wavering and could face the world head-on. It brought him a strong desire to help others attain the happiness and certainty which he now enjoyed. Twenty years of seeking had borne fruit. He had found his heaven and earth and now he was ready to help others do the same.

His intention was fixed and he moved slowly in the direction of carrying it out. When he was forty-three he left the service of the Kuroyanagi family and began to lecture privately in various homes. In 1729 Oguri Ryōun died at the age of 60 and it is perhaps not entirely coincidental that it was also in 1729 that Baigan, age 45, at last took up a permanent residence and for the first time opened a lecture hall. Posting his famous notice before his house,

On a certain month, and a certain day, there will be a lecture. There is no admission charge and even though uninitiated, persons who wish to may listen freely.⁵

he began to lecture, and month in, month out, continued to do so until the time of his death.

At first the attendance was very small and at times though there was only a close friend present, he sat face to face with him and lectured. One night only one pupil appeared.

This pupil said, “Tonight there is no other audience and since it would trouble you to lecture just for me, please rest tonight.”

Our teacher replied, “When I began to lecture, expecting to face only the reading stand, I was satisfied if there was an audience of one,” and he lectured.⁶

These incidents indicate the intensity of Baigan’s conviction and his unwavering determination to carry through his intention no matter what discouragements arose.

Gradually his attendance increased and he began to lecture in various parts of Kyōto and often also in Ōsaka. Disciples began slowly to collect themselves. His audience was largely of the merchant class and the lectures were timed so as not to interfere with business. He lectured every morning and every other evening. For his disciples and those especially interested he held three meetings a month in which a mutual questioning took place. Baigan addressed questions to his pupils and also answered their inquiries.

Though he encouraged his disciples to know the nature through the practice of meditation (kufu or seiza) at first they were dubious as to whether it could be done. One of his pupils, Saitō Zemmon, was convinced and rigorously practised mediation. One night he unexpectedly heard the sound of a drum and suddenly knew the nature. The other disciples still doubted until Kimura Shigemitsu while covering shōji one winter suddenly knew his nature. After that many believed and attained knowledge.

Baigan developed the lecture, the question and answer meeting and the practice of meditation as three methods for his teaching, each useful for a somewhat different purpose. They remained the three basic teaching methods of Shingaku throughout its history.

He also began the acts of charity which became a characteristic of the movement by such deeds as taking food to a village which had burned down in the dead of winter, and organizing the distribution of alms in a period of widespread distress.

At the age of 55 he published his first book, Toimondō, literally “City and Country Dialogues.” It was composed on the basis of rough drafts he made in reply to inquiries from people from day to day, and contains most of what we know of his philosophy. His only other book, Seikaron, literally “Essay on Household Management,” was published in 1744, the last year of his life. As the title implies, it is concerned with concrete injunctions on prudent and ethical behavior.

On the 23d of the 9th month of the year 1744 Baigan ate a stew containing some large mushrooms. That night he fell ill of indigestion and never rose on the 24th. He died at about noon of that day in his home, being in his 60th year. He was buried at Toribe-yama southeast of Kyōto.

After his death the things which remained in his house were only three boxes of books, the drafts of his replies to the daily questions of people, his reading stand, his desk, his inkstone, his clothes and the utensils of his daily use.⁷

The above chronicle gives the bare bones of Baigan’s life. It will now be necessary to fill it out with a description of his character, of the society in which he lived and of the reaction of that society to this new religious teacher.

Baigan himself gives us an interesting summary of his character and its development, the beginning of which we have already quoted:

Our teacher said, “My natural disposition was argumentative and I was from an early age disliked by friends. I was often unkind but at about 14 or 15 I suddenly came to my senses a...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Religion and Industrial Society in Japan
• An Outline of Japanese Social Structure in the Tokugawa Period
• Japanese Religion A General View
• Religion and the Polity
• Religion and the Economy
• Shingaku and it’s Founder Ishida Baigan
• Conclusion
• A Memoir of Our Teacher Ishida
• List of Chinese and Japanese Words
• List of Chinese and Japanese Names
• Index