yan kong wrote:oushi wrote:Maybe that's what killed Zen in Japan... It I a common phenomena that number of precepts and commandments increases with time, no matter what religion or tradition we look at.
Ethics? I would say a lack of them or at least a disregard for them would be what killed it.
Buddhism in Japan isn't dead. I'd say it is in decline, sure, but not dead yet.
I used to think it was the lack of attention to precepts that initiated the decline, but then when I saw how often corrupted Buddhism is elsewhere in the world, Japan's problems in many ways seem minor.
The priests usually marry and drink in public. Okay, but that's nothing compared to the stuff you hear about in the apparently Vinaya-strict parts of the Buddhist world.
No, it was extreme rationalization and secularization that had people drop interest in Buddhism. Bear in mind before WWII some Chinese monks were commenting on how healthy Buddhism in Japan seemed, in contrast to their traditions which were in rapid decline and full of critical problems.