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91-569: The kami enshrined at Shirayamahime Jinja are: The Shirayamahime Jinja is located at the foot of 2702 meter Mount Hakusan , a sacred mountain on the border of Ishikawa and Gifu Prefectures . The shrine consists of the "Hakusan Hongū" or Shimo-Hakusan, located at the foot of the mountain, and the "Oku-no-miya" located at the summit of the Gozengamine peak of the mountain. The origins of Shirayamahime Jinja are unknown. The mountain has been an object of worship from prehistoric times, and one of

182-413: A Shinto shrine follow a purification ritual before presenting themselves to the kami . This ritual begins with hand washing and swallowing and later spitting a small amount of water in front of the shrine to purify the body, heart, and mind. Once this is complete they turn their focus to gaining the kami's attention. The traditional method of doing this is to bow twice, clap twice and bow again, alerting

273-406: A distinction "right and wrong, good and bad" are cultural universals . The philosopher Zoroaster simplified the pantheon of early Iranian gods into two opposing forces: Ahura Mazda ( Illuminating Wisdom ) and Angra Mainyu ( Destructive Spirit ) which were in conflict. This idea developed into a religion which spawned many sects , some of which embraced an extreme dualistic belief that

364-496: A distinctive quality or virtue. These kami are celebrated regionally, and several miniature shrines ( hokora ) have been built in their honor. In many cases, people who once lived are thus revered; an example of this is Tenjin , who was Sugawara no Michizane (845–903 CE) in life. Within Shinto it is believed that the nature of life is sacred because the kami began human life. Yet people cannot perceive this divine nature, which

455-553: A divine superior spirit within: the kami . Amatsukami and Kunitsukami are categories of kami in Japanese mythology . Amatsugami is a generic term for the gods in Takamagahara or those who descended from Tenson kōrin , while Kunitsugami is a generic term for the gods who appeared on the earth ( Ashihara no Nakatsukuni ). In Japanese mythology, the acceptance of the transfer of the land ( Ashihara no Nakatsukuni ) by

546-415: A doubt occurs to the mind—that is, scorpions and serpents are poisonous. Are they good or evil, for they are existing beings? Yes, a scorpion is evil in relation to man; a serpent is evil in relation to man; but in relation to themselves they are not evil, for their poison is their weapon, and by their sting they defend themselves." Thus, evil is more of an intellectual concept than a true reality. Since God

637-492: A moral absolute). The idea was further developed in Late Antiquity by Neoplatonists , Gnostics , and Church Fathers . This development from the relative or habitual to the absolute is also evident in the terms ethics and morality both being derived from terms for "regional custom", Greek ήθος and Latin mores , respectively (see also siðr ). According to the classical definition of Augustine of Hippo , sin

728-611: A positive existence in itself and is merely the lack of good, just as darkness is the result of lack of light. In Judaism, yetzer hara is the congenital inclination to do evil, by violating the will of God. The term is drawn from the phrase "the imagination of the heart of man [is] evil" ( יֵצֶר לֵב הָאָדָם רַע ‎, yetzer lev-ha-adam ra ), which occurs twice at the beginning of the Torah. Genesis 6:5 and 8:21. The Hebrew word "yetzer" having appeared twice in Genesis occurs again at

819-457: A system justifying Japanese Imperialism where Japanese people in the colonies were seen as Amatsukami and natives were seen as Kunitsukami , however he was later censored as his position was considered too supportive of the rights of colonized peoples. One of the first recorded rituals we know of is Niiname-sai ( 新嘗祭 ) , the ceremony in which the Emperor offers newly harvested rice to

910-470: A theological concept, as an "unjustifiable reality. In common parlance, evil is 'something' that occurs in experience that ought not to be ." According to 1 Timothy 6:10 "For the love of money is the root of all of evil" In Mormonism , mortal life is viewed as a test of faith, where one's choices are central to the Plan of Salvation. See Agency (LDS Church) . Evil is that which keeps one from discovering

1001-402: Is ethics , of which there are three major branches: normative ethics concerning how we ought to behave, applied ethics concerning particular moral issues, and metaethics concerning the nature of morality itself. Every language has a word expressing good in the sense of "having the right or desirable quality" ( ἀρετή ) and bad in the sense "undesirable". A sense of moral judgment and

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1092-399: Is "a word, deed, or desire in opposition to the eternal law of God." Many medieval Christian theologians both broadened and narrowed the basic concept of Good and evil until it came to have several, sometimes complex definitions such as: Today the basic dichotomy often breaks down along these lines: The modern English word evil ( Old English yfel ) and its cognates such as

1183-455: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about a Japanese religious building or structure is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Kami Kami ( Japanese : 神 , [kaꜜmi] ) are the deities , divinities , spirits, mythological, spiritual, or natural phenomena that are venerated in the Shinto religion. They can be elements of

1274-474: Is a rite of passage for five-year-old boys and three- or seven-year-old girls. It is a time for these young children to personally offer thanks for the kami's protection and to pray for continued health. Many other rites of passage are practiced by Shinto believers, and there are also many other festivals. The main reason for these ceremonies is so that Shinto followers can appease the kami in order to reach magokoro . Magokoro can only be received through

1365-667: Is also the second pāramitā . Sīla is also wholehearted commitment to what is wholesome. Two aspects of sīla are essential to the training: right "performance" ( caritta ), and right "avoidance" ( varitta ). Honoring the precepts of sīla is considered a "great gift" (mahadana) to others, because it creates an atmosphere of trust, respect, and security. It means the practitioner poses no threat to another person's life, property, family, rights, or well-being. Moral instructions are included in Buddhist scriptures or handed down through tradition. Most scholars of Buddhist ethics thus rely on

1456-522: Is an ethical compass within self and relationships, rather than what is associated with the English word "morality" (i.e., obedience, a sense of obligation, and external constraint). Sīla is one of the three practices foundational to Buddhism and the non-sectarian Vipassana movement ; sīla, samādhi , and paññā as well as the Theravadin foundations of sīla , dāna , and bhavana . It

1547-465: Is attributed to the existence of free will and human agency . Some argue that evil itself is ultimately based in an ignorance of truth (i.e., human value, sanctity , divinity ). A variety of thinkers have alleged the opposite, by suggesting that evil is learned as a consequence of tyrannical social structures . In Confucianism and Taoism , there is no direct analogue to the way good and evil are opposed, although references to demonic influence

1638-468: Is common in Chinese folk religion . Confucianism's primary concern is with correct social relationships and the behavior appropriate to the learned or superior man. Evil would thus correspond to wrong behavior. Still less does it map into Taoism, in spite of the centrality of dualism in that system , but the opposite of the basic virtues of Taoism (compassion, moderation, and humility) can be inferred to be

1729-603: Is good, and upon creating creation he confirmed it by saying it is Good (Genesis 1:31) evil cannot have a true reality. Christian theology draws its concept of evil from the Old and New Testaments . The Christian Bible exercises "the dominant influence upon ideas about God and evil in the Western world." In the Old Testament, evil is understood to be an opposition to God as well as something unsuitable or inferior such as

1820-519: Is good. Spinoza assumes a quasi-mathematical style and states these further propositions which he purports to prove or demonstrate from the above definitions in part IV of his Ethics  : Friedrich Nietzsche , in a rejection of Judeo-Christian morality, addresses this in two books, Beyond Good and Evil and On the Genealogy of Morals . In these works, he states that the natural, functional, "non-good" has been socially transformed into

1911-544: Is independent from and equal with good in a dualistic sense. Within Islam, it is considered essential to believe that all comes from God , whether it is perceived as good or bad by individuals; and things that are perceived as evil or bad are either natural events (natural disasters or illnesses) or caused by humanity's free will to disobey God's orders. According to the Ahmadiyya understanding of Islam, evil does not have

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2002-509: Is non-existent and that it is a concept for the lacking of good, just as cold is the state of no heat, darkness is the state of no light, forgetfulness the lacking of memory, ignorance the lacking of knowledge. All of these are states of lacking and have no real existence. Thus, evil does not exist, and is relative to man. `Abdu'l-Bahá , son of the founder of the religion, in Some Answered Questions states: "Nevertheless,

2093-585: Is of major importance in both the Hindu epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata . However, the main emphasis in Hinduism is on bad action, rather than bad people. The Hindu holy text, the Bhagavad Gita , speaks of the balance of good and evil. When this balance goes off, divine incarnations come to help to restore this balance, as a balance must be maintained for peace and harmony in the world. In adherence to

2184-494: Is one of three sections of the Noble Eightfold Path , and is a code of conduct that embraces a commitment to harmony and self-restraint with the principal motivation being nonviolence , or freedom from causing harm. It has been variously described as virtue , moral discipline and precept . Sīla is an internal, aware, and intentional ethical behavior, according to one's commitment to the path of liberation. It

2275-426: Is potentially observed and passed onto future generations. The second affirmation is to have a love of nature. Nature objects are worshipped as sacred because the kami inhabit them. Therefore, to be in contact with nature means to be in contact with the gods. The third affirmation is to maintain physical cleanliness. Followers of Shinto take baths, wash their hands, and rinse out their mouths often. The last affirmation

2366-545: Is something external to them, because they project their shadow onto others. Jung interpreted the story of Jesus as an account of God facing his own shadow. In 2007, Philip Zimbardo suggested that people may act in evil ways as a result of a collective identity . This hypothesis, based on his previous experience from the Stanford prison experiment , was published in the book The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil . The Baháʼí Faith asserts that evil

2457-563: Is sometimes unclear whether kami refers to a single or multiple entities. When a singular concept is needed, -kami ( 神 ) is used as a suffix . The reduplicated term generally used to refer to multiple kami is kamigami . While Shinto has no founder, no overarching doctrine, and no religious texts, the Kojiki (Records of Ancient Matters), written in 712 CE, and the Nihon Shoki (Chronicles of Japan), written in 720 CE, contain

2548-456: Is that necessarily makes a thing valuable, or in what the source of value consists. One attempt to define goodness describes it as a property of the world with Platonic idealism . According to this claim, to talk about the good is to talk about something real that exists in the object itself, independent of the perception of it. Plato advocated this view, in his expression that there is such a thing as an eternal realm of forms or ideas, and that

2639-422: Is that the good is based on the natural love, bonding, and affection that begins at the earliest stages of personal development; another is that goodness is a product of knowing truth . Differing views also exist as to why evil might arise. Many religious and philosophical traditions claim that evil behavior is an aberration that results from the imperfect human condition (e.g. " The Fall of Man "). Sometimes, evil

2730-483: Is the mythological figure Amaterasu -ōmikami, the sun goddess of the Shinto pantheon. Although these kami can be considered deities, they are not necessarily considered omnipotent or omniscient , and like the Greek Gods , they had flawed personalities and were quite capable of ignoble acts. In the myths of Amaterasu, for example, she could see the events of the human world, but had to use divination rituals to see

2821-497: Is to practice matsuri , which is the worship and honor given to the kami and ancestral spirits. Shinto followers also believe that the kami are the ones who can either grant blessings or curses to a person. Shinto believers desire to appease the evil kami to "stay on their good side", and also to please the good kami . In addition to practicing the four affirmations daily, Shinto believers also wear omamori to aid them in remaining pure and protected. Mamori are charms that keep

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2912-587: The Engi-shiki ( 延喜式 , literally, Procedures of the Engi Era ) was promulgated in fifty volumes. This, the first formal codification of Shinto rites and norito (liturgies and prayers) to survive, became the basis for all subsequent Shinto liturgical practice and efforts. It listed all of the 2,861 Shinto shrines existing at the time, and the 3,131 official-recognized and enshrined kami . The number of kami has grown and far exceeded this figure through

3003-478: The Three Holy Mountains of Japan. Although there is no documentary evidence, the shrine claims that it was first established by the legendary Kofun period Emperor Sujin (reigned 97 BC – 30 BC) and was rebuilt in 716 by Empress Genshō . The shugendō monk Taichō is said to have been the first person to reach the summit in 717, and to have built a chapel there. However, the first appearance of

3094-494: The dualistic antagonistic opposite of good , in which good should prevail and evil should be defeated. Evil is often used to denote profound immorality . Evil has also been described as a supernatural force. Definitions of evil vary, as does the analysis of its motives. However, elements that are commonly associated with evil involve unbalanced behavior involving expediency , selfishness , ignorance , or negligence . The principal study of good and evil (or morality)

3185-483: The kami themselves, is forever changing in definition and scope. As the needs of the people have shifted, so too have the domains and roles of the various kami . Some examples of this are related to health, such as the kami of smallpox whose role was expanded to include all contagious diseases, or the kami of boils and growths who has also come to preside over cancers and cancer treatments . In ancient animistic Japanese belief, kami were understood as simply

3276-541: The kami to secure their blessing for a bountiful harvest. A yearly festival, Niiname-sai, is also performed when a new Emperor comes to power , in which case it is called Daijō-sai ( 大嘗祭 ) . In the ceremony, the Emperor offers crops from the new harvest to the kami , including rice, fish, fruits, soup, and stew. The Emperor first feasts with the deities, then the guests. The feast could go on for some time; for example, Emperor Shōwa 's feast spanned two days. Visitors to

3367-456: The kami to their presence and desire to commune with them. During the last bow, the supplicant offers words of gratitude and praise to the kami ; if they are offering a prayer for aid they will also state their name and address. After the prayer and/or worship they repeat the two bows, two claps and a final bow in conclusion. Shinto practitioners also worship at home. This is done at a kamidana (household shrine), on which an ofuda with

3458-411: The kami . Ceremonies and festivals are long and complex because they need to be perfect to satisfy the kami . If the kami are not pleased with these ceremonies, they will not grant a Shinto believer magokoro . Good and evil In philosophy , religion , and psychology , " good and evil " is a common dichotomy . In religions with Manichaean and Abrahamic influence, evil is perceived as

3549-515: The material world should be shunned and the spiritual world should be embraced. Gnostic ideas influenced many ancient religions which teach that gnosis (variously interpreted as enlightenment, salvation , emancipation or 'oneness with God' ) may be reached by practising philanthropy to the point of personal poverty, sexual abstinence (as far as possible for hearers , total for initiates ) and diligently searching for wisdom by helping others. Similarly, in ancient Egypt , there were

3640-515: The sun , mountains , rivers , trees , and rocks ; some animals ; and ancestral spirits . Included within the designation of ancestral spirits are spirits of the ancestors of the Imperial House of Japan , but also ancestors of noble families as well as the spirits of the ancestors of all people, which when they died were believed to be the guardians of their descendants. There are other spirits designated as kami as well. For example,

3731-402: The "wilderness". Social and political strife have played a key role in the development of new sorts of kami , specifically the goryō-shin (the sacred spirit kami ). Goryō are the vengeful spirits of the dead whose lives were cut short, but they were calmed by the devotion of Shinto followers and are now believed to punish those who do not honor the kami . The pantheon of kami , like

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3822-704: The Chronicles, and many of them have not survived. The Chronicles of Japan cites certain passages (e.g., "Ichi Sho Saying" and "Aru Hon Yun" in most volumes of the Nihon Shoki), but the original recorded documents have been lost in later generations. Tsu is a case particle in Old Japanese , meaning "god of heaven" or "god of the country" in modern Japanese. Sometimes written "Amatsugami" or "Kunitsugami. Amatsugami are also called Tenjin, and Kunitsukami are called Chigi ( 地祇 ) . Some people believe that

3913-720: The German Übel and Dutch euvel are widely considered to come from a Proto-Germanic reconstructed form of *ubilaz , comparable to the Hittite huwapp- ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European form *wap- and suffixed zero-grade form *up-elo- . Other later Germanic forms include Middle English evel , ifel , ufel , Old Frisian evel (adjective and noun), Old Saxon ubil , Old High German ubil , and Gothic ubils . The nature of being good has been given many treatments; one

4004-695: The Kunitsugami to the Amatsu deities led by Ninigi is described as Kuni Yuzuri . It is thought that the deity worshipped by the people of the region ( Emishi , Hayato , etc.) who were pacified by the Yamato Kingship became the Kunitsugami, and the deity worshipped by the imperial family and powerful clans of the Yamato Kingship became the Amatsukami. Many of the original traditions of the Kunitsugami were altered when they were incorporated into

4095-553: The affairs of humans. The ancient animistic spirituality of Japan was the beginning of modern Shinto, which became a formal spiritual institution later, in an effort to preserve the traditional beliefs from the encroachment of imported religious ideas. As a result, the nature of what can be called kami is very general and encompasses many different concepts and phenomena. Some of the objects or phenomena designated as kami are qualities of growth, fertility, and production; natural phenomena like wind and thunder ; natural objects like

4186-456: The analogue of evil in it. Pyrrhonism holds that good and evil do not exist by nature, meaning that good and evil do not exist within the things themselves. All judgments of good and evil are relative to the one doing the judging. Benedict de Spinoza states: 1. By good, I understand that which we certainly know is useful to us. 2. By evil, on the contrary I understand that which we certainly know hinders us from possessing anything that

4277-573: The arts of maintaining the connection between the kami and the people. In addition to these festivals, ceremonies marking rites of passage are also performed within the shrines. Two such ceremonies are the birth of a child and the Shichi-Go-San. When a child is born they are brought to a shrine so that they can be initiated as a new believer and the kami can bless them and their future life. The Shichi-Go-San (the Seven-Five-Three)

4368-459: The basic meanings of κακός and ἀγαθός are "bad, cowardly" and "good, brave, capable", and their absolute sense emerges only around 400 BC, with pre-Socratic philosophy , in particular Democritus . Morality in this absolute sense solidifies in the dialogues of Plato , together with the emergence of monotheistic thought (notably in Euthyphro , which ponders the concept of piety ( τὸ ὅσιον ) as

4459-427: The concepts of Ma'at , the principle of justice, order, and cohesion, and Isfet , the principle of chaos, disorder, and decay, with the former being the power and principles which society sought to embody where the latter was such that undermined society. This correspondence can also be seen reflected in ancient Mesopotamian religion as well in the conflict between Marduk and Tiamat . In Western civilisation ,

4550-452: The core principle of spiritual evolution, the Sikh idea of evil changes depending on one's position on the path to liberation. At the beginning stages of spiritual growth, good and evil may seem neatly separated. However, once one's spirit evolves to the point where it sees most clearly, the idea of evil vanishes and the truth is revealed. In his writings Guru Arjan explains that, because God is

4641-576: The country. However, this prosperity came to an end with the Kaga ikki in 1455. During this rebellion, the shrine lost its estates and revenues and in 1480 the shrine, which was located on the banks of the Tedori River at the time, was destroyed by fire. It remained in ruins for over a century. The shrine was restored by Maeda Toshiie , daimyō of Kaga Domain under the Tokugawa shogunate in

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4732-454: The decline of the popularity of slavery across cultures is the work of descriptive ethics , while advising that slavery be avoided is normative. Meta-ethics is the study of the fundamental questions concerning the nature and origins of the good and the evil, including inquiry into the nature of good and evil, as well as the meaning of evaluative language. In this respect, meta-ethics is not necessarily tied to investigations into how others see

4823-408: The divine forces of nature. Worshippers in ancient Japan revered kami of nature which exhibited a particular beauty and power such as ghosts , the ocean, the sun, waterfalls , mountains, boulders, animals, trees, grasses, rice paddies, thunder , echoes , foxes and fox spirits , and Asian dragons . They strongly believed the spirits or resident kami deserved respect. In 927 CE,

4914-502: The earliest record of Japanese creation myths. The Kojiki also includes descriptions of various kami . In the ancient traditions there were five defining characteristics of kami : Kami are an ever-changing concept, but their presence in Japanese life has remained constant. The kami's earliest roles were as earth-based spirits, assisting the early hunter-gatherer groups in their daily lives. They were worshipped as gods of

5005-656: The early Edo period , and continued to grow and prosper with the patronage of the Maeda clan until the Meiji Restoration . During the Meiji period era of State Shinto , the shrine was designated as a National shrine, 2nd rank ( 国幣中社 , kokuhei-chūsha ) under the Modern system of ranked Shinto shrines . [REDACTED] Media related to Shirayamahime-jinja at Wikimedia Commons This article relating to Shinto

5096-464: The earth (mountains) and sea. As the cultivation of rice became increasingly important and predominant in Japan, the kami's identity shifted to more sustaining roles that were directly involved in the growth of crops; roles such as rain, earth, and rice. This relationship between early Japanese people and the kami was manifested in rituals and ceremonies meant to entreat the kami to grow and protect

5187-482: The end of the Torah: "I knew their devisings that they do". Thus from beginning to end the heart's "yetzer" is continually bent on evil, a profoundly pessimistic view of the human being. However, the Torah which began with blessing anticipates future blessing which will come as a result of God circumcising the heart in the latter days. The yetzer hara is man's misuse of things the physical body needs to survive. Thus,

5278-420: The evil kami from striking a human with sickness or causing disaster to befall them. The kami are both worshipped and respected within the religion of Shinto. The goal of life to Shinto believers is to obtain magokoro , a pure sincere heart, which can only be granted by the kami . As a result, Shinto followers are taught that humankind should venerate both the living and the nonliving, because both possess

5369-432: The examination of Buddhist scriptures , and the use of anthropological evidence from traditional Buddhist societies, to justify claims about the nature of Buddhist ethics. In Hinduism the concept of dharma or righteousness clearly divides the world into good and evil, and clearly explains that wars have to be waged sometimes to establish and protect dharma; this war is called Dharmayuddha . This division of good and evil

5460-565: The first question by researching the world by use of social science, and examining the preferences that people assert. However, one may answer the second question by use of reasoning, introspection, prescription, and generalization. The former kind of method of analysis is called " descriptive ", because it attempts to describe what people actually view as good or evil; while the latter is called " normative ", because it tries to actively prohibit evils and cherish goods. These descriptive and normative approaches can be complementary. For example, tracking

5551-480: The following generations as there are over 2,446,000 individual kami enshrined in Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine alone. Kami are the central objects of worship for the Shinto belief. The best English translation of kami is 'spirits', but this is an over-simplification of a complex concept - kami can be elements of the landscape or forces of nature. Kami are believed to have influence over the forces of nature and over

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5642-406: The future. There are considered to be three main variations of kami : Amatsukami ( 天津神 , the heavenly deities) , Kunitsukami ( 国津神 , the gods of the earthly realm) , and ya-o-yorozu no kami ( 八百万の神 , countless kami) . (" 八百万 " literally means eight million, but idiomatically it expresses "uncountably many" and "all-around"—like many East Asian cultures, the Japanese often use

5733-418: The gods of heaven and earth" and conveys a sense of reverence and commitment. The origins of the term can be traced back to ancient Chinese classical texts, where the expression " 天地 " (Tenchi) and " 神明 " (Shinmei) were often used together to refer to the gods of heaven and earth, or to the gods and the universe as a whole. However, there are also instances where the expression was used to refer specifically to

5824-407: The gods of heaven and earth. In Japan, the term 天地神明 has been in use for centuries and is often associated with the image of the numerous gods and deities that have been worshipped in Japanese folklore and mythology. Susanoo-no-Mikoto , who was cast out of Takamagahara, and his descendants, such as Ōkuninushi , are considered to be Kunitsugami. Ogasawara Shozo  [ ja ] proposed

5915-595: The good inclination is "born" and able to control his behavior. Moreover, the rabbis have stated: "The greater the man, the greater his [evil] inclination." Buddhist ethics are traditionally based on what Buddhists view as the enlightened perspective of the Buddha , or other enlightened beings such as Bodhisattvas . The Indian term for ethics or morality used in Buddhism is Śīla or sīla ( Pāli ). Śīla in Buddhism

6006-419: The good, or of asserting what is good. A satisfying formulation of goodness is valuable because it might allow one to construct a good life or society by reliable processes of deduction, elaboration, or prioritization. One could answer the ancient question, "How should we then live?" among many other important related questions. It has long been thought that this question can best be answered by examining what it

6097-489: The greatest of the ideas and the essence of being was goodness, or The good. The good was defined by many ancient Greeks and other ancient philosophers as a perfect and eternal idea, or blueprint. The good is the right relation between all that exists, and this exists in the mind of the Divine, or some heavenly realm. The good is the harmony of a just political community, love, friendship, the ordered human soul of virtues , and

6188-520: The guardian spirits of the land, occupations, and skills; spirits of Japanese heroes, men of outstanding deeds or virtues, and those who have contributed to civilization, culture, and human welfare; those who have died for the state or the community; and the pitiable dead. Not only spirits superior to man can be considered kami ; spirits that are considered pitiable or weak have also been considered kami in Shinto. The concept of kami has been changed and refined since ancient times, although anything that

6279-543: The harvest. These rituals also became a symbol of power and strength for the early Emperors. There is a strong tradition of myth-histories in the Shinto faith; one such myth details the appearance of the first emperor, grandson of the Sun Goddess Amaterasu . In this myth, when Amaterasu sent her grandson to earth to rule, she gave him five rice grains, which had been grown in the fields of heaven ( Takamagahara ). This rice made it possible for him to transform

6370-408: The interconnecting energy of the universe, and are considered exemplary of what humanity should strive towards. Kami are believed to be "hidden" from this world, and inhabit a complementary existence that mirrors our own: shinkai ( 神界 , "the world of the kami") . To be in harmony with the awe-inspiring aspects of nature is to be conscious of kannagara no michi ( 随神の道 or 惟神の道 , "the way of

6461-497: The kami created, on their own; therefore, magokoro ( 真心 ) , or purification, is necessary in order to see the divine nature. This purification can only be granted by the kami . In order to please the kami and earn magokoro , Shinto followers are taught to uphold the four affirmations of Shinto. The first affirmation is to hold fast to tradition and the family. Family is seen as the main mechanism by which traditions are preserved. For instance, in marriage or birth, tradition

6552-548: The kami") . Kami is the Japanese word for a deity, divinity, or spirit. It has been used to describe mind , God, Supreme Being, one of the Shinto deities, an effigy , a principle , and anything that is worshipped. Although deity is the common interpretation of kami , some Shinto scholars argue that such a translation can cause a misunderstanding of the term. Some etymological suggestions are: Because Japanese does not normally distinguish grammatical number in nouns (most do not have singular and plural forms), it

6643-580: The landscape, forces of nature, beings and the qualities that these beings express, and/or the spirits of venerated dead people. Many kami are considered the ancient ancestors of entire clans (some ancestors became kami upon their death if they were able to embody the values and virtues of kami in life). Traditionally, great leaders like the Emperor could be or became kami . In Shinto, kami are not separate from nature, but are of nature, possessing positive and negative, and good and evil characteristics. They are manifestations of musubi ( 結び ) ,

6734-799: The leader of the fallen angels Satan . In the New Testament the Greek word poneros is used to indicate unsuitability, while kakos is used to refer to opposition to God in the human realm. Officially, the Catholic Church extracts its understanding of evil from its canonical antiquity and the Dominican theologian, Thomas Aquinas , who in Summa Theologica defines evil as the absence or privation of good. French-American theologian Henri Blocher describes evil, when viewed as

6825-498: The mind and lead one astray from the prosecution of righteous action. These are: One who gives in to the temptations of the Five Thieves is known as " Manmukh ", or someone who lives selfishly and without virtue. Inversely, the " Gurmukh , who thrive in their reverence toward divine knowledge, rise above vice via the practice of the high virtues of Sikhism. These are: In the originally Persian religion of Zoroastrianism ,

6916-408: The name of their protector or ancestral kami is positioned. Their protector kami is determined by their or their ancestors' relationship to the kami . Ascetic practices, shrine rituals and ceremonies, and Japanese festivals are the most public ways that Shinto devotees celebrate and offer adoration for the kami . Kami are celebrated during their distinct festivals that usually take place at

7007-531: The names "Tenjin Chigi ( 天神地祇 ) " and "Jingi ( 神祇 ) " are derived from the Chinese classics. The different theory that the concept is completely different and different from the Japanese one has been presented. Another similar concept is Tenchi Shinmei ( 天地神明 ) . 天地神明 (Tenchi-Shinmei) is a Japanese four-character idiom that refers to the gods of heaven and earth. It is used in expressions such as "I swear by

7098-426: The nature of God. It is believed that one must choose not to be evil to return to God. Christian Science believes that evil arises from a misunderstanding of the goodness of nature, which is understood as being inherently perfect if viewed from the correct (spiritual) perspective. Misunderstanding God's reality leads to incorrect choices, which are termed evil. This has led to the rejection of any separate power being

7189-460: The need for food becomes gluttony due to the yetzer hara . The need for procreation becomes promiscuity, and so on. The yetzer hara could thus be best described as one's baser instincts. It is not understood as a demonic force. According to the Talmudic tractate Avot de-Rabbi Natan , a boy's evil inclination is greater than his good inclination until he turns 13 ( bar mitzvah ), at which point

7280-426: The number 8, representing the cardinal and ordinal directions, to symbolize ubiquity.) These classifications of kami are not considered strictly divided, due to the fluid and shifting nature of kami , but are instead held as guidelines for grouping them. The ancestors of a particular family can also be worshipped as kami . In this sense, these kami are worshipped not because of their godly powers, but because of

7371-463: The path towards goodness. It is possible to treat the essential theories of value by the use of a philosophical and academic approach. In properly analyzing theories of value, everyday beliefs are not only carefully catalogued and described , but also rigorously analyzed and judged . There are at least two basic ways of presenting a theory of value, based on two different kinds of questions: The two questions are subtly different. One may answer

7462-525: The priests to learn them. The priesthood was traditionally hereditary. Some shrines have drawn their priests from the same families for over a hundred generations. It is not uncommon for the clergy to be female priestesses. The priests ( kannushi ) may be assisted by miko , young unmarried women acting as shrine maidens. Neither priests nor priestesses live as ascetics; in fact, it is common for them to be married, and they are not traditionally expected to meditate. Rather, they are considered specialists in

7553-470: The religious concept of evil by the " slave mentality " of the masses, who resent their "masters", the strong. He also critiques morality by saying that many who consider themselves to be moral are simply acting out of cowardice – wanting to do evil but afraid of the repercussions. Carl Jung , in his book Answer to Job and elsewhere, depicted evil as the dark side of the Devil . People tend to believe evil

7644-622: The right relation to the Divine and to Nature. The characters in Plato's dialogues mention the many virtues of a philosopher, or a lover of wisdom. A theist is a person who believes that the Supreme Being exists or gods exist ( monotheism or polytheism ). A theist may, therefore, claim that the universe has a purpose and value according to the will of such creator (s) that lies partially beyond human understanding. For instance, Thomas Aquinas —a proponent of this view—believed he had proven

7735-557: The shrine in historical documentation is an entry date 853 in the Nihon Montoku Tennō Jitsuroku , in which it was granted third court rank. At some point in the mid- Heian period , the shrine came to be regarded as the ichinomiya of the province. During the Kamakura and early Muromachi periods the shrine prospered greatly as in collaboration with Zen Buddhism , Hakusan shrines were established at many locations around

7826-517: The shrines dedicated to their worship. Many festivals involve believers, who are usually intoxicated, parading, sometimes running, toward the shrine while carrying mikoshi (portable shrines) as the community gathers for the festival ceremony. Yamamoto Guji, the high priest at the Tsubaki Grand Shrine , explains that this practice honors the kami because "it is in the festival, the matsuri, the greatest celebration of life can be seen in

7917-411: The source of all things, what we believe to be evil must too come from God. And because God is ultimately a source of absolute good, nothing truly evil can originate from God. Nevertheless, Sikhism, like many other religions, does incorporate a list of "vices" from which suffering, corruption, and abject negativity arise. These are known as the Five Thieves , called such due to their propensity to cloud

8008-465: The source of evil, or of God as being the source of evil; instead, the appearance of evil is the result of a mistaken concept of good. Christian Scientists argue that even the most evil person does not pursue evil for its own sake, but from the mistaken viewpoint that he or she will achieve some kind of good thereby. There is no concept of absolute evil in Islam , as a fundamental universal principle that

8099-524: The world is a battle ground between the God Ahura Mazda (also called Ormazd ) and the malignant spirit Angra Mainyu (also called Ahriman ). The final resolution of the struggle between good and evil was supposed to occur on a D ay of Judgement , in which all beings that have lived will be led across a bridge of fire, and those who are evil will be cast down forever. In Afghan belief, angels ( yazata ) and saints are beings sent to help us achieve

8190-540: The world of Shinto and it is the people of the community who attend festivals as groups, as a whole village who are seeking to unlock the human potential as children of kami". During the New Year Festival, families purify and clean their houses in preparation for the upcoming year. Offerings are also made to the ancestors so that they will bless the family in the future year. Shinto ceremonies are so long and complex that in some shrines it can take ten years for

8281-564: Was considered to be kami by ancient people will still be considered kami in modern Shinto . Even within modern Shinto, there are no clearly defined criteria for what should or should not be worshipped as kami. The difference between modern Shinto and the ancient animistic religions is mainly a refinement of the kami -concept, rather than a difference in definitions. Although the ancient designations are still adhered to, in modern Shinto many priests also consider kami to be anthropomorphic spirits, with nobility and authority. One such example

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