During your trip in Japan, many people will hear about the shrine, the shrine, and many people will think that this and the temple are the same thing is just two names, so for the gods encountered to make a wish or buy and buy the imperial guard, but do not know that it is possible to enter the wrong temple to worship the wrong god, buy the wrong amulet, so embarrassing is not it? The following is a picture to inform them of the differences between them.
Torii remembers that seeing that Torii is a shrine is absolutely not wrong. Shrines are the indigenous religions of Japan (equivalent to our Taoism), and shrines are where the gods of Shinto religion live. Japanese Shintoism belongs to the polytheistic sect, they believe that everything in the world can be a god, such as the sun moon river, the emperor, the shogun, and even foxes, frogs, cats have shrines dedicated to them, so Japan's Shintoism has the saying of "eight million gods", Hinduism is basically this kind of polytheistic worship, the objects of worship are many and varied, so the Japanese believe that everything in nature is respectable.
What does Torii look like? Okay, let's look at the diagram:
Schematic diagram of the Torii Gate
Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine
This is also torii, Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine, many people will go to worship, remember that this is a shrine, not a temple. Built in the 8th century, Fushimi Inari Taisha shrine is the most important of the 9,000 shrines dedicated to inari (the god of rice, Japanese rice sake, and prosperity, the equivalent of our god of wealth). Merchants came to God to pray for success and wealth. When praying, don't chant bodhisattva blessings, how to pray to you later.
Jingu is a branch of the shrine, and if the object of worship is the ancestor of the Japanese imperial family, or someone who has a considerable relationship with the imperial family, it is called "jingu". Because of the relationship between the object of worship and the imperial family, the scale and planning of the shrine are usually much larger than those of ordinary shrines, and they are also more grand and well organized. Fortunately, there are not many shrines, mainly there are not many royal people, mainly including:
Ise Jingu Shrine (Mie Prefecture) – Dedicated to the god Amaterasu: Considered the ancestral god of the Emperor, the Japanese general clan god
Meiji Jingu Shrine (Tokyo) – Dedicated to Emperor Meiji: The establishment of a new Government in Meiji
Heian Shrine (Kyoto Prefecture) – Dedicated to Emperor Huanwu: Moved to Heian Kyo in 794 Emperor Takaaki: Emperor Meiji and his father
Kashihara Jingu (Nara Prefecture) – Emperor Shenwu: The true ancestor of all emperors (it cannot be ruled out whether it is Xu Fu or not).
It is generally only called "Jingu", that is, "Ise Jingu". The official name of Ise Jingu Shrine is "Jingu" and is mainly dedicated to the spiritual leaders of Japan. The shrine is the emperor's home temple. Therefore, to be called a shrine, it must be approved by the emperor.
Ise Jingu Shrine
Japanese temples are different from shrines in that there are no torii gates at the entrance, and the "temple" offers offerings to "Buddhist" deities such as Shakyamuni, Avalokiteshvara, Rulai, etc. Believers can visit with incense, and there are monks in the temple, and sometimes tombstones can be seen. There is a certain discrepancy between Japanese Buddhist culture and our definition of Buddhism on our side, and many Japanese temples carry the function of operating cemeteries. Permission is required to operate cemeteries in Japan, and temple cemeteries are among them the "expensive" ones. So don't be too surprised to see the cemetery in the temple.
Temples in Japan basically maintain the temple system of the Tang Dynasty:
Buddha statues also make a difference
Kyoto Izumi-ji Temple During the Southern Song Dynasty, Yang Guifei Guanyin
Japanese (left) and Chinese (right) protector statues
1. Shrines and shrines
Since the shrine is a relatively large shrine, the way of worship is similar to that of a shrine.
●: There is a torii gate at the entrance of the shrine, which is the symbol of the shrine, and seeing the torii gate means that the living area of the gods has arrived. Before the torii gate, you can bow slightly, a bit like praying to the gods that you are going to go in to worship, and after passing through the torii gate, you will enter the place under the jurisdiction of the gods, and you need to behave with special caution.
●: Inside the shrine, there is a small pond with a spoon on it, called the "Temizusha Shrine", which worships the deity Maeji and cleanses the body, representing respect for the gods.
This has a specific process:
(1) Take a spoon in your right hand and hold water, and wash your left hand first;
(2) Scoop the water with a spoon in your left hand and wash your right hand;
(3) Take a spoon in your right hand and pour water on your left hand and rinse your mouth with water from your left hand. Never directly to the spoon;
(4) Stand the spoon upright, let the remaining water in the spoon flow from top to bottom, wash the handle, and put the spoon back in place.
The above four steps, not four times scooping water, can only use the same scoop of water in the same spoon, which is different from the domestic, remember to remember!
The road from the torii gate to the worship hall is called "Sango", and you can walk on both sides of the path as close as possible, and the gods are walking in the middle of the path. In addition, the eaves of the shrine and the torii gate are usually hung with straw woven "ropes", and the trees and stones inside the shrine are sometimes surrounded by ropes, which remind people that these places are places where the gods live and should not be approached or touched at will.
Don't touch your hands to take pictures, this is God's use!
：
(1) Wrap the bag at your feet and bow to the gods;
(2) Throw money into "Sai Qian Xiang" (sesame oil money box) as quietly as possible, usually throwing a five-yuan coin, because the Japanese pronunciation of five yuan is very similar to the Japanese pronunciation of "Fate". If there is no five yuan, it does not matter how much money is invested, the focus is on sincerity;
(3) If there is a ringing bell on the cash box, it can be rung once or three times at this time, which is said to be calling the gods;
(4) Then, salute twice, clap your hands twice, fold your hands to make a wish, and salute once. The mantra is "2 Gifts 2 Beats 1 Gift"
Sai Qian Xiang
2. Temple
●Before entering the main gate of the temple: Salute the palm of the main hall.
●Before visiting:
If you have a teemokine club, the way you wash your hands and rinse your mouth is no different from that of a shrine. If there is a bell tower next to the temple, you cannot ring the bell arbitrarily.
●Visits:
This is no different from China, because it is all a system. The biggest difference between Japanese temples and shrine worship is that there is no need to clap your hands.
These are the steps to distinguish between shrines, shrines, and temples, and how to worship shrines and temples.