assignment

SHINTO

IT IS THE LAST DAY of the three-day Sanja Festival in Asakusa, a historic precinct in Tokyo. The climax of the festival is the wild parading of mikoshi, portable shrines carrying the "essence" of the patron deities of the vari- ous neighborhoods and merchant groups.' As one of the most popular annual festivals in Tokyo, the Sanja Festival attracts upward of half a million spectators and participants during the three-day festivities.

At 5 A.M. on the third Sunday in May, Satoshi Tanaka, a young grocery clerk in his twenties, is waiting expectantly outside the Asakusa Shrine. Along with hundreds of other young men (and some brave women), he has signed up months in advance to form teams of shrine carriers spon- sored by local merchants and civic groups. Though ordinarily preferring to sleep late, Satoshi finds himself in a state of excited anticipation and alertness this morning. Dressed in colorful shirts and shorts with match- ing headbands, he waits with others to receive their purification by the Shinto priests so that he will be considered spiritually clean and ready for the sacred task ahead. Even though he does not see himself as a seriously religious person , Satoshi feels perfectly comfortab le in being a shrine carrier at this Shinto festival. It is his way of interacting with his commu- nity and with the deities he believes are present.

The job of these carriers is to carry the mikoshi through the streets of Asakusa so that all in attendance can share a moment of inti macy with the deities temporarily housed in these portable shrines. These ornately

Throngs of portable shrine carriers with their respective mikoshi outside the Asakusa Shrine in Tokyo.

298 Chapter 9 SHINTO

CHINA

Yellow Se a

Significant sites in the history of Shinto.

- .,

Sea of ] a pan

PACIFIC 0 CEA N

0 km 150 300

0 miles 150 300

decorated mikoshi rest on poles that are carried on the shoulders of the carriers. Shouting and grunting in unison, to the accompaniment of much drumming, cymbal clanging, and loud cheers from the crowd, the carriers attempt to move the portable shrines along. But because no one among them is in total control of the direction of the mikoshi, all the carriers move back and forth or sideways more or less blindly. The movement of the portable shrines can thus be wild and unpredictable, subject to the unconscious collective will of the entire group of carriers (or, supposedly, that of the deity inside). This cumbersome and potentially dangerous parade lumbers down narrow streets and broad boulevards amidst large crowds.

Quite frequently one shrine will cross paths with another, resulting in great com- motion and competition for attention from the throngs of spectators. Sweating pro- fusely and hoarse from too much shouting and chanting, individual shrine carriers drop out and are quickly replaced without disrupting the progress of the shrines. Thirsty and hungry, the temporarily retired carriers sit or lie on the ground in total exhaustion. Meanwhile, the spectators watch, take pictures, applaud, cheer, visit the main shrine, purchase the sundry food, drink, and souvenirs offered by enterprising

d d k d f . ,,11~

street ven ors, an ma e a ay o 1t. ~?.,~

T he preceding scene is typical of a matsuri, a Shinto festival in contemporary Japan that helps to create religious awareness and

social solidarity within the entire community. The

matsuri is both a religious and a social occasion.

Though the oldest surviving religion in Japan, Shinto has, by and large, coexisted with Buddhism

and Confucianism since the sixth century C.E. The

two latter traditions were introduced into the coun-

try from China by way of Korea. Although there

has been rivalry and competition among the three

religions over the centuries, there has also been ac- commodation and mutual acceptance. There is

an observation about Japanese religious behavior that describes perfectly the eclectic attitude of the

Japanese. It says that the Japanese are born and wed in Shinto, die Buddhist, and live in accordance

with Confucian ethical principles. In other words,

most Japanese do not see the three religions as mu- tually exclusive or incompatible. Rather, they regard

them as mutually reinforcing and relevant in sepa-

rate aspects and stages of their lives. In this chapter, we invite you into the life of the Shinto believers as

they practice their religion in the context of recog- nizing, and sometimes actually embracing, the other

faiths. We do so by discussing its beliefs, history, and

ritual practices. As Shinto is practiced almost exclu-

sively in Japan, this chapter does not include a map

showing global distribution of Shinto adherents.

THE TEACHINGS OF SHINTO

Tl MELINE Shinto

The Teachings of Shinto 299

10,000-300 B.C.E.* Jamon period.

300 B.C.E.-300 C.E.* Yayoi period.

300-500 c.E.* Kofun period.

538 Introduction of Buddhism and Confucianism, possibly also Daoism, to Japan.

593 Prince Sh6toku becomes regent.

712 Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters) completed.

720 Nihon-shoki or Nihongi (Chronicles of Japan) completed.

794 Heian (present-day Kyoto) becomes the permanent capital.

1185 Beginning of samurai ru le in Japan.

1339 Kitabatake Chikaf usa publishes the Jinnoshotoki.

From 1750s* Rise of Kokugaku (Nationa l Learning, Neo-Shinto).

From 1780s* Birth of founders of New Religions.

1868 Meiji Restoration begins creation of State Shinto.

1937 Beginning of Pacific War, fought in the name of Emperor Hirohito.

1945 Japan surrenders to Allies, Shinto separated from state.

Note: Asterisks indicate contested or approximate dates.

The term Shinto is an elegant reference to the longest existing religion in Japan. "Shin" is the Japanized pronunciation of the Chinese word "shen," which refers to

gods and deities (see Chapter 8). "To," alternatively "do," is the Japanese way of pro- nouncing the Chinese word "dao," which suggests the "way." Hence Shinto literally

means "the way of the gods." As a matter of fact, the term Shinto did not come into

existence until the Japanese used it to distinguish their preexisting religion from

Buddhism, which, when first introduced into the country in the middle of the sixth

century C.E., was known as "Butsudo," "the way of the Buddha." In more colloquial form, Shinto is known as kami-no-michi, "the way of the kami," as the core of Shinto is the belief in the existence and power of kami, a broad term that suggests a whole range of meanings.

300 Chapte r 9 SHINTO

The Meaning of Kami The complexity of the word kami is best illustrated by the great eighteenth-century Japanese scholar Motoori Norinaga (1730-1801). As an articulate advocate for the revival of Shinto in a Japan dominated by Confucian orthodoxy and Buddhist piety,

Motoori points out the diverse meaning of the term kami:

I do not yet understand the meaning of the term kami. Speaking in general, however, it may be said that kami signifies, in the first place, the deities of heaven and earth that appear in the ancient records and also the spirits of the shrines where they are worshiped. It is hardly necessary to say that it includes human beings. It also includes such objects as birds, beasts, trees, plants, seas, mountains, and so forth. In ancient usage, whatsoever was outside the ordinary, possessed superior power, or was awe-inspiring, was called kami. 2

Put simply, then, kami refers to anything that is out of the ordinary, awe-inspiring, mysterious, power ful, marvelous, and beyond human control or comprehension. The awe and marvel accorded the kami seem to date back to the earliest times in Japanese history. A closer examination of the Shinto beliefs and practices will bear this out.

Belief is the least precise aspect of Shinto, as this religion has no identifiable

founder, nor does it have a sacred book similar to the Bible. Our discussion of Shinto

beliefs cannot then rely on a professed creed or doctrine. Rather, it is based on a set of

highly revered texts, dating back to the eighth and ninth centuries C.E. The Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters, completed in 712 C .E .) and the Nihon shoki (alternatively known as Nihongi,, Chronicks of [the Land Where] the Sun Origi,nates, compiled in 720 C.E.) are the two authoritative texts for the study of ancient Shimo mythologies and beliefs.

The following narrative is primarily based on the former.

Creation Myth in the Kojiki The Kojiki begins with several generations of invisible divinities at the beginning of time, all of whom have titles that end with the word kami, until the primordial pair, Izanagi and his wife Izanami, appear. The couple is credited with bringing the world out of its original chaos. Standing on the Heavenly Floating Bridge, they lower a jeweled

spear to stir the ocean below. When they lift up the spear, the brine dripping down

from its tip forms an island. In like manner, "the grand eight islands" of the Japanese archipelago are created. The divine couple then descends to take up residence there, and

through their sexual union they produce the various nature deities.

Izanami is burned to death while giving birth to her last child, the fire god. Izanagi

follows his wife to Yomi, the underworld of the dead, where, upon seeing her putrefied

and decomposing body, he is horrified and beats a hasty retreat. After his return to the

world of the living, Izanagi washes himself in a stream. From his eyes are born the solar goddess Amaterasu-no-Omikami (The Great August Kami who Shines in the Sky)3

The Teachings of Shinto 301

and the lunar god Tsukiyomi. From Izanagi's nose comes the violent and ill-tempered

storm god Susa-no-o.4

When the Kojiki continues, the focus shifts to the relationship between Amaterasu

and her brother Susa-no-a. Petulant and mischievous, Susa-no-a gives much grief to

his sister. He ravages her heavenly domain, destroys her rice fields, and desecrates her

house. Annoyed and frightened, Amaterasu retreats into a cave, thereby plunging the world into darkness. The other deities try to lure her back out with all sorts of tricks,

but to no avail, until a goddess by the name of Uzume performs a lewd dance that

causes so much raucous laughter among the gods that the curious Amaterasu is finally

enticed to emerge from her hiding. (This is an ingenious Shinto attempt at explaining

solar eclipse.) Susa-no-a is forced to apologize to his sister and is banished to Izumo, a

region facing the Japan Sea (alternatively referred to as the East Sea) on the other side of the main island from Ise, the future home of Amaterasu's grand shrine. In Izumo Susa-no-a settles down and locates a sword, which he presents to Amaterasu as a token

of his apology and goodwill. The sword will later become one of the "three imperial

regalia" Amaterasu bestows on her descendants who occupy the Japanese throne.

The final cycle of the narrative in the Kojiki deals with the successors of Susa-no-a

and the descendants of Amaterasu. Ninigi, grandson of Amaterasu, is instructed by her to rule all ofJapan. But his mission is thwarted by Susa-no-o's successors in Izumo,

who refuse to yield to the Amaterasu line until she promises to honor her young

brother by building him a grand shrine. After Izumo's accommodation with the Sun

Goddess group, the descendants of all the other deities then fall in line, and Ninigi's

own grandson, the Emperor Jimmu, is the first human ruler to claim imperial author-

ity over all of Japan. He is provided with the three imperial regalia of the sword, the mirror, and the curved jewel as symbols of his power, which he is believed to have

exercised in the Yamato region near present-day Nara. According to tradition, this

momentous event took place in 660 B.C.E., and the imperial line has supposedly con-

tinued uninterrupted to the present time.

From the Kojiki story just outlined, major themes of Shinto belief can be identified: the divine

creation of Japan, a concern with fertility and purification, the importance of the feminine, an

absence of ethical teachings, a corresponding lack

of absolute good or radical evil, and a profound

intertwining of divinity with imperial power.

Japan as a Divine Creation The core belief of Shinto centers on the kami and Japan's unique re-

lationship with them. Representative of the Shinto

notion of the sacred or the holy, kami are mysteri-

ous and tremendous powers in nature and in the human world, powers that have been the object

The Meoto-iwa (Husband and Wife rocks) in Mie Prefecture is an iconic landmark in Japan that symbolizes the union between Izanagi and Izanami.

302 Chapte r 9 SHINTO

of worship in Japan since prehistoric times. Most kami are believed to be the source of blessing and protection, hence worship of them is understood either as thanksgiving or

as pleading for more divine gifts. But some kami are ill-tempered and even ill-intentioned,

so worship of them is a necessary and prudent act for preventing disaster.

Kami are most evident in nature. Illustrious objects in the sky such as the sun and the moon, majestic mountains such as Fuji, serene waterfalls such as the Nachi, and

strange-shaped rocks are all regarded as kami. Furthermore, the Kojiki story of creation reflects a fundamental Japanese senti-

ment that their island nation was created by the kami as a paradise on earth. Nature,

then, with its awesome power and captivating beauty, is the very expression of divine

presence. Human beings, who themselves are also descendants of divinity, have the duty

to respond in celebration and adoration to the gifts and blessings of the kami. The kami among humans-the ancestors of clans and communities, the heroes and powerful

individuals, the emperors and some of their high officials, all exemplify godly quali-

ties. They therefore equally deserve veneration and worship.

In the prehistoric or quasi-historic periods prior to the fifth or sixth century c.E., when Japan had no centralized imperial rule or institutionalized governmental struc-

ture, only clans and communities existed. With the ascendancy of the Yamato clan that claimed descent from the Sun Goddess Amaterasu, the chiefs and heads of the

various clans and communities surrendered their power to the Yamato ruler in return

for recognition and position in the divine/political power structure. The result was the

entire country of Japan forming a network of kami with strong local identities that were loosely linked to the worship of the emperor as a deity.

Fertility and Purification Early Shinto is centrally concerned with fertility. In the Kojiki cosmogonic (explanation of how the cosmos came about) myth, the main func- tion of the primeval pair of kami is to "fertilize" the land and to procreate the other gods. Much emphasis is placed on the sexual union between Izanagi and Izanami in

the population of the world, especially Japan, with plants, animals, and people. This

procreative power of the original divine couple continues even after the death of the

wife, when Izanagi, on his own, manages to bring forth more deities through ritual washing. At the same time, this mythic story highlights the Shinto fear of contamina-

tion and defilement, as well as its emphasis on purification. Despite the love that he has

for his wife, Izanagi is so horrified and repulsed by Izanami's decomposing form after

her death that he abandons her in the netherworld and hurries back to the world of the

living. Death, disease, and blood are thus seen as polluting; persons connected to those

things are considered spiritually impure and must be ritually purified before they can approach the kami. The arrangement of the typical Shinto shrine and the main ritual responsibility of the Shinto priests illustrate well this vital aspect of Shinto belief, as we

shall see later in this chapter.

The Feminine in Shinto It is highly noteworthy that in the Shinto myth, the sun, the most illustrious object in the sky, is portrayed as female, this despite the later

The Teachings of Shinto 303

patriarchal (male-dominated) nature of Japanese society. It is equally significant that the Sun Goddess Amaterasu is also the ancestress of the Japanese royal family and

that, at least up through the tenth century c .E., it was not uncommon for the imperial

ruler to be a woman. Also prominent in early Shinto is the role of the shamanic figure,

often a female. The ecstatic dance of the goddess Uzume to lure Amaterasu out of

hiding, thereby saving the world from perpetual darkness caused by solar eclipse, is indicative of the power of the female shamanic dancer. In addition, both the Kojiki

and the Nihongi mention the mother of Emperor Jimmu, the first human ruler of

Japan, whose name is Tama-yori-hime. This name suggests her role as a female shaman,

as it literally means "a princess (hime) in whom dwells (yori) the spirit (tama) of the

kami." Equally noteworthy is the account of Emperor Sujin in the Nihongi, whose rule

is assisted by two female diviners, one being his own aunt, and the other a charismatic commoner named Otataneko, the favorite woman shaman of the deity of the Yamato

region. It is the latter who is credited with the peace and prosperity of Sujin's reign, as

she is known for her capacity to commune with the kami and be possessed by them.

The high prestige of female shamans in ancient Japan is further attested by the

story of Empress Jingo, also recorded in the Nihongi. Jingo is a capable shamanic diviner

for her husband, Emperor Chuai, who, after his death, personally leads an armada to invade Korea because of the oracle of assured victory she receives from the gods. It is

the extension ofJapanese political control over Korea that paves the way for the power- ful reign of her son, Emperor Ojin. Scholars today speculate that Empress Jingo's

legendary account is modeled after the story of Himiko in Chinese historical records

dating back to the fourth century C . E . They describe a female shamanic ruler of a

region called Yamatai (suspected to be a variation of Yamato) in the country of Wa Qapan) whose bewitching control over the people is the source of her power. One

possible interpretation of the term Himiko is "miko of the Sun (hi)." At the same time,

miko to this day refers to unmarried women attendants at Shinto shrines who possess

shamanic power to communicate with the kami through dance and other ritual per-

formances. Himiko's central role as medium for the Sun Goddess can thus be imagined.

Jingo's possible association with Himiko only highlights the critical importance of female diviners in ancient Shinto.

Ethics, Good, and Evil Conspicuously absent in early Shinto beliefis any reference to ethics. Although much emphasis is placed on fertility and purity, Kojiki's cosmo-

gonic story does not address the issue of morality at all. The fire god, though causing the death of his mother Izanami, is not depicted as a villain. Izanagi, though abandon-

ing his wife in the eternally dark and terrifying underworld, is not blamed for being a

heartless spouse. Susa-no-o, though causing much distress to his sister Amaterasu with

his destructive and willful behavior, is not portrayed as an evil culprit. Likewise, the

explicitly lewd behavior of the kami in drawing Amaterasu out of her hiding is not seen

as immoral. In other words, the early Shinto account of creation and the relationship between the gods gives no emphasis on proper ethical conduct. There is no supreme god giving moral instructions and laws. Nor is there any hint of a cosmic struggle between

304 Chapter 9 SHINTO

good and evil. Whether in the primeval divine realm of the gods, in the natural world,

or within the human community that comes into being afterward, there is no exis-

tence in Shinto beliefs of a radical evil entity that is bent on subverting the will and the

handiwork of a benevolent creator god. Divine and human actions are judged only as

fertile or unproductive, pure or impure, desirable or undesirable. Wayward behavior

can be remedied and impurities can be removed. What are most offensive to the gods

are not sin and guilt, but pollution and defilement.

The notable absence of ethical concerns in early Shinto myth by no means signals

that the Japanese are not governed by moral principles in their behavior. What it

does mean is that Japanese ethics came from other sources, primarily Buddhism and

Confucianism. The introduction of these two alien traditions in the history of Shinto

is discussed later.

State Shinto One controversial issue in Shinto that must be addressed is the reli- gion's tie to the imperial state and to the worship of the emperor. As early Shinto texts

make clear, the divine origin of the imperial family and of the reigning emperor had

been asserted right from the beginning. As descendant of the Sun Goddess Amaterasu,

the Japanese ruler (both male and, not infrequently, female-at least up to the tenth

century C.E.) traditionally wielded both political and religious power. As a matter of fact,

government affairs and government in general were originally referred to as matsurigoto,

"matters relating to festivals." Meanwhile, the principle of saisei-itchi, "the unity of the

religious and the political," theoretically guided government operations. Sentiments

showing strong advocacy of Japan's special position and the emperors' sacred nature

based on Shinto beliefs were expressed by nationalists and royalists from the fourteenth

century on. In a work entitled]inno shotoki (Direct Succession of Gods and Sovereigns),

published in 1339 by Kitabatake Chikafusa (1293-1354), the superiority ofJapan and the divine status of the emperors were forcefully asserted: "Great Japan is the divine

land (shinkoku). The heavenly progenitor founded it, and the Sun Goddess bequeathed

it to her descendants to rule eternally. Only in our country is this true; there are no

similar examples in other countries ."5 But it was during the eighteenth and nineteenth

centuries C.E., when an intense Shinto revivalist movement took hold in Japan, that

such sentiments came to be even more extravagantly expressed. Known as National

Learning (Kokugaku), this movement aimed at preserving the very essence ofJapanese

culture by ridding the country of all foreign elements, including Confucian and Buddhist

influences . These concepts were advanced in the National Learning writings ofMotoori

Norinaga (1730-1801) and Hirata Atsutane (1776-1843).

Our country's Imperial Line, which casts its light over this world, rep-

resents the descendants of the Sky-Shining Goddess [Amaterasu]. And

in accordance with that Goddess' mandate of reigning "forever and

ever, coeval with Heaven and Earth," the Imperial Line is destined to

The Teachings of Shinto 305

rule the nation for eons until the end of time and as long as the uni-

verse exists . That is the very basis of our Way. That our history has not

deviated from the instructions of the divine mandate bears testimony

to the infallibility of our ancient tradition . It can also be seen why for-

eign countries cannot match ours and what is meant by the special

dispensation of our country. -Motoori Norinaga

[A]s a special mark of favor from the heavenly gods, they gave birth to

our country, and thus there is so immense a difference between Japan

and all the other countries of the world as to defy comparison . Ours is

a splendid and blessed country, the Land of the Gods beyond any

doubt, and we, down to the most humble man and woman, are the

descendants of the gods .... Japanese differ completely from and are

superior to the peoples of China, India ... and all other countries of

the world, and for us to have called our country the Land of the Gods

was not mere vanity .. .. This is a matter of universal belief and is quite

beyond dispute.6

-Hirata Atsutane

These chauvinistic sentiments, buttressed by a revived nationalistic Shinto, became a

prime motivating force that eventually brought down the last feudal military government

and ushered in an imperial Restoration in 1868. With the help of Shinto nationalism and

deep respect for the imperi al line, the fifteen-year-old M eiji emperor em erged from the

shadow of centuries of domination of the royal family by military commanders to recla im

his divine right to rule. A "State Shinto" was implemented to promote the worship of the

emperor as a living kami, at once sacred and inviolable, and to propagate a form of ethno-

centric nationalism. It was this State Shinto that was responsible for the cult of emperor

worship and the rise of ultra-nationalism in Japan in the twentieth century, a subject

to which we return in the section on the history of Shinto later in the chapter.

VOICES: An Interview with Watanabe Minoru

Mr. Watanabe Minoru is a Shinto priest in his fifties at a shrine in the Nerima district of Tokyo.

Why did you want to become a Shinto priest?

My family has been in charge of a shrine at my native city of Shizuoka for genera- tions. Both my grandfather and father were chief priests there. So, ever since my childhood , I have been expected to carry on this family profession also.

How has Shinto managed to maintain its independent identity in light of the over- whelming influence of Buddhism and Confucianism in Japan since the beginning of its recorded history?

306 Chapte r 9 SHINTO

Did you have to go to a special school in order to be a Shint o priest?

After high school, I attended the Kokugakuin University in Tokyo to learn all about being a Shinto priest. The university is pretty much like all other universi- ties, except that it is one of the two main training centers for Shinto priests, the other being Kogakkan in Mie prefecture, near lse. In addition to Shinto culture and practices, the university offers numerous other disciplines, including eco- nomics and law. I led a typical college student's life. I was even president of the judo club during my senior year.

What does it mean to be a Shinto priest?

To me, being a Shinto priest is more than knowing all the Shinto teachings and ritual performances. Most important, it is to serve as "cement" for the commu- nity by bringing all the neighbors together through year-round shrine activities. The shrine should be a place where people can come and interact with the kami and one another on all sorts of occasions and for all kinds of needs whenever they want to. It is a fundamental aspect of Shinto to have a sense that kami is so close to us that we can communicate with it whenever we need guidance and protection. Respect of the kami and closeness to it either as an individual or as a community form the very basis of our Japanese cultural identity. As a Shinto priest I consider it my solemn duty to preserve this identity and to invite people to appreciate and respect this identity.

THE HISTORY OF SHINTO The long history of the Shinto tradition can be divided roughly into three periods:

ancient, medieval, and modern. The ancient period lasted from prehistoric times to the

unification of the country by the Yamato leaders sometime prior to the sixth century C.E.

We have already discussed the major tenets of this ancient Shinto as revealed in the

classical works of the Kojiki and the Nihongi, compiled in the eighth century C .E.

Medieval Shinto By the time the Kojiki and Nihongi had been compiled, Shinto had actually begun its

second (medieval) stage of development. This stage was marked by the new religious

and political challenge from the continental culture of China by way of Korea. In the year 538 C .E., Confucianism and Buddhism were formally introduced into Japan by the Yamato leaders, who had consolidated their power over all other rival clans. This

was an accomplishment confirmed by the mythological accounts that describe the

submission of the various kami (who were believed to be the founding ancestors of

these clans) to Amaterasu, the ancestress of the Yamato rulers.

Confucianism and Buddhism gave a great jolt to the established Shinto faith, ad-

dressing issues it had ignored or had no interest in. Confucianism (see Chapter 8) pro- vided an ethical framework for state, society, and family, and Buddhism (see Chapter 5)

gave special attention to the issues of suffering and death. The clearest evidence of the

influence of the two alien traditions can be seen in the "Seventeen Articles Constitution"

promulgated in 604 c .E. by Prince Shotoku, regent to his aunt the Empress Suiko.

The History of Shinto 307

More a vision statement than a constitution in the modern sense, the document clearly

acknowledges the strengths of Confucianism and Buddhism in giving guidance to

harmonious living and purpose in life. Article One declares the primacy of Confucian

harmony as the operating principle of both state and society, while Article Two pro-

fesses hearty adherence to the Buddhist Three Treasures: the Buddha, his teachings

(the dharma), and the community of monks he created, the Sangha. In the face of strong challenge from such potent rivals, the reaction of Shinto prac-

titioners was accommodation and adaptation. With no clear inherent ethical orienta-

tion (as noted earlier), Shinto adopted Confucian moral principles with little resistance.

With respect to Buddhism, the Shinto reaction was more complicated. The Buddha

was initially vehemently rejected as a foreign kami with no relevance to Japan. In time,

however, when Buddhism began to be fully embraced by the Japanese court during the Nara period (710-784 C.E.), Shinto kami became guardians and protectors of the newly arrived Buddha and his various manifestations. Sometime later, Buddhas and

bodhisattvas in turn became saviors of the kami! It was common for Buddhist scrip- tures to be recited before the altar of kami, and conversely Buddhist monks were in

charge of Shinto shrines. At the end, though, the accommodation between Shinto and

Buddhism became nearly a total merger, when Shinto kami were worshiped as Buddha or bodhisattva and the alien Buddhist deities were likewise regarded as Japanese kami.

Using the Todaiji temple in Nara as an example, the Vairocana Buddha housed there

is known as Dainichi, the "Great Sun," a conscious effort to equate and identify with

Amaterasu the Sun Goddess. By the Heian period (794-1191), a perfect amalgamation of Shinto and Buddhism was complete.

One interesting form of this Shinto-Buddhist merger at the folk level was the emergence of a lay Buddhist and occult Shinto group known as Shugendo ("The Way

of Cultivating Magical Power"). Practitioners of this faith usually underwent austere

training in the mountains to acquire mysterious powers of healing, divination, and

exorcism. Commonly referred to as yamabushi ("those who sleep in the mountains"),

Shugendo members were ascetics with no formal affiliation with either established

Shinto or Buddhism but were revered as shamanic healers and exorcists, as well as guides for pilgrims making their way to remote sacred sites.

The convergence of Shinto and Buddhism (and Confucianism, for that matter) in

Japan has been credited with the formulation of the samurai ("sword-wielding war-

riors") code of conduct in premodern Japan. Known alternatively as Bushido ("Way of

the warrior"), this samurai ethic emphasizes purity of the heart and soul, contempt for pain and death, and undying loyalty to the feudal lord. It aims to combine the best elements of Shinto, Buddhism, and Confucianism within Japan's cultural heritage.

The Modern Period The modern period of Shinto history began with its attempt at recovering its pristine

past and its claim of superiority over the non-native traditions. Stirrings of this senti-

ment can be detected after the unsuccessful Mongol invasions of Japan in 1274 and 1281.

The near disasters aroused in the Japanese a strong sense of national consciousness,

308 Chapter 9 SHINTO

resulting in their reevaluation of their native beliefs and those coming from abroad.

The aforementioned nationalistic sentiment of Kitabatake Chikafusa, whose writing

insisted that Japan was superior to all other countries because of its single line of em-

perors descended from the gods, reflected this trend in the political realm.

With the rise of the Kokugaku (National Learning) movement in the eighteenth century, a call was made for the return of Japan to the pristine beliefs and practices of ancient times before the introduction of "inferior" alien traditions such as Buddhism

and Confucianism had contaminated Japanese culture. Meanwhile, with reinvigorated

effort, the priests of the Grand Shrine at Ise actively promoted pilgrimage to the shrine

by groups from all over Japan. This helped create a sense of national unity, binding all

Japanese together under one common Shinto faith.

State Shinto All these developments paved the way for the establishment of State Shinto after the Restoration of the Meiji Emperor in 1868. In 1870, the Meiji govern-

ment proclaimed that "the Way of the Kami" would be the guiding principle of the nation. Reversing the previous Tokugawa military regime's practice of requiring all

households to register in Buddhist temples, the new government mandated every

household to enroll in the shrine of the local kami. The government also actively encouraged Shinto funeral rites in a deliberate effort to deprive Buddhism of its

monopoly in conducting funeral services. Indeed, Buddhism was forcefully separated

from Shinto, and Buddhist monks who had been affiliated with Shinto shrines were

ordered to return to secular life.

But it was the Meiji government's promotion of the emperor cult that constituted the core of State Shinto. The emperor was venerated as a "living kami"-a god in flesh and blood. During the Meiji reign, a special shrine was built in Tokyo (formerly

known as Edo), the seat of power of the just-toppled Tokugawa shogunate, which had

become the new capital. The shrine, named Yasukuni Jinja ("Shrine for the Pacification

of the Nation"), was dedicated to those who had sacrificed their lives for the royalist

cause in toppling the last feudal regime and the restoration of imperial authority in 1868. All of them had been elevated to kami status, as would others who were subse- quently enshrined there after each of Japan's foreign wars in the twentieth century,

including the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 and World War II. Because of its close

association with State Shinto and the emperor cult, both of which have been blamed

for Japan's imperialistic expansion in Asia (the colonization of Taiwan and Korea in

1895 and 1910, respectively; the occupation of Manchuria in the 1930s; and the out- right invasion of China and Southeast Asia during the Pacific Wars of 1937-1945), the

Yasukuni Shrine has become a controversial symbol. That it also houses the remains of

some of the most notorious government leaders and commanders at the end of World

War II makes matters even more sensitive. Japan's neighbors (China and Korea, in

particular), who were victims ofJapan's ultra-nationalistic aggression in the first half of

the twentieth century, invariably file official complaints whenever prominent Japanese political figures (such as the prime minister) pay formal visits to the Yasukuni Shrine.

The History of Shinto 309

State Shinto has also been blamed for the fanatical nationalism among many

Japanese, particularly among the rank and file of the military, during World War II.

Japanese soldiers ravaged much of Asia in the name of their imperial ruler, Emperor

Hirohito (r. 1926-1989). They considered their foreign aggression a divine mission, to

be carried out without remorse or hesitation. Even when Japanese defeat appeared in-

evitable by the early 1940s, the military commanders sent suicide pilots to plunge their planes into Allied battle ships in a desperate attempt to reverse the fortune of the war.

Calling the pilots kamikaze ("divine wind"), they tried to evoke the memory of the

Japanese defeat of the invading Mongol troops in 1274 and 1281 thanks to the alleged

assistance of the divine storm (kaze) sent by the kami to protect the nation. State

Shinto's hold on Japan during those war years was unmistakable.

But the best illustration of the emperor cult in State Shinto was the building of the Meiji Shrine that began in 1915 and was completed in 1920. Constructed to enshrine

the kami spirits of the Meiji emperor and his wife, the shrine was a tremendous under-

taking, funded by the government. Located in the heart of Tokyo, the Meiji Shrine

covers close to 200 acres of prime real estate, surrounded by elaborate gardens and

wooded areas. It remains to this day a popular site for New Year's celebrations and other festivals .

Sect Shinto The Modern period of Shinto also saw the rise of Sect Shinto and other new religions. A combination of Shinto, Confucianism, Buddhism, Shugendo, and

folk beliefs, Sect Shinto arose at the end of the Tokugawa period and became popular

throughout the Meiji period. Thirteen such sects have gained official recognition.

Grouped with other eclectic religious organizations that arose in the 1920s and 1930s under the general category of "New Religions," they include such influential sects as

Tenrikyo ("Teaching of Heavenly Principles"), Konkokyo ("Teaching of Golden Light"),

and Kurozumikyo ("Teaching of the founder, Kurozumi Munetada'' [1780-1850]).

Although different in doctrine and practice, these religious groups share a number

of common features. Their founders were charismatic individuals steeped in the shamanic tradition of Shinto, the esoteric teachings of Buddhism, and a whole host

of other folk beliefs . A noticeable number of them were women. Mostly of farming

origin, they appealed to the anxiety and unease experienced by the lower classes during

a time of rapid social change and political upheaval, as was the case in much of modern

Japanese history. Explaining that calamity and disaster emanate from disturbances in

people's spiritual state, they offered their shamanic powers to bring peace, harmony, health, and prosperity to their followers. The emphasis on worldly benefits was often

accompanied by the promise of the impending arrival of a new age and a new world.

To impress the faithful and the larger society around them, they have built imposing

headquarters and even whole cities of great beauty. Their teachings generally stress

clean living, hard work, moral conduct, familial cohesion, and social solidarity. The

sectarian nature of these groups has made their believers more fervent than members of the established traditions of Shinto and Buddhism.

310 Chapter 9 SHINTO

Given that religious justification of political rule is a common phenomenon in world history, in what ways is Shinto's justification of the Japanese imperial system unique?

Shinto in Japan Today Japan's defeat at the end of World War II in 1945 fundamentally changed the religious

landscape of the country. The State Shinto that sponsored the cult of the emperor and

government support of the shrines was, in theory at least, abolished. The divinity of

the Japanese emperor was officially disavowed. Yet the imperial family continues to enjoy

great affection from the majority of the Japanese people. Public reference to members of the emperor's family, even children, has to be couched in honorific language, and

great throngs of people visit the grounds of the Imperial Palace on New Year's Day to

greet the imperial family. The emperor opens each session of the parliament as the

constitutional monarch and officially receives each new prime minister upon his as-

sumption of office (a female prime minister is yet to be elected in Japan). Members of the imperial household, particularly the Crown Prince, visit the Grand Shrine at Ise

periodically to signal their claimed lineage tie to the Sun Goddess Amaterasu.

Meanwhile, Sect Shinto in the form of the many new religions discussed previ-

ously has flourished. With their charismatic leaders and their emphasis on this-worldly

benefits, the various Shinto-inspired groups attract large followings by serving the

practical needs of the faithful. Local, regional, and even national shrines are main- tained largely with nonofficial sources of funding, providing quiet locations of escape

from the hustle and bustle of urban living and scenic sanctuaries where people can

commune with the numinous forces in nature. Shinto values continue to give the

Japanese people their sense of identity and aesthetics, as well as solace and comfort

after disasters. In the aftermath of the 9.0 earthquake and its subsequent nuclear

leak and devastating tsunami that wreaked so much havoc in northeastern Japan in March 2011, Shinto beliefs about life renewal and rejuvenation, as well as its emphasis

on purification and decontamination, have provided the Japanese people with the purpose and resolve to carry out a massive program of reconstruction and revival of

the stricken areas. Shinto remains at the core ofJapanese culture. As the opening

vignette illustrates, it is the ritual and social functions of Shinto that continue to pro-

vide solidarity for the Japanese people and justify the relevance of this religion for

the Japanese nation.

SHINTO AS A WAY OF LIFE Far more important to Shinto than beliefs are ceremonies and ritual practices. Some

scholars even argue that Shinto beliefs are "more acted out than thought out." 7 It is often the case that many Japanese perform some of the Shinto rituals and daily habits

without full knowledge or consciousness of their doctrinal and theoretical underpin-

nings. It is certainly the rituals, both public and private, that enable Shinto practitioners

to directly experience the presence of the divine kami and to recognize their bond with the kami, as well as with one another. The young shrine carrier Satoshi Tanaka, whom we met at the beginning of this chapter, is representative of this Shinto mindset.

Though he does not consider himself a deeply religious man, he finds fun and meaning

in his participation in the Sanja Festival. Let us examine how the Shinto beliefs

ShintoasaWayoflife 311

discussed in the previous section of this chapter are lived and acted out in the daily lives, as well as the ceremonial occasions, of the believers.

Fertility Rites A major emphasis of Shinto is fertility. In villages throughout Japan, one can still find phallic symbols and representations of the female sex organ on display and worshipped. The Shinto ritual calendar to this day gives prominence to ceremonies revolving

around fertility and productivity. In early spring, the kinensai (festival for praying for

good harvest) is celebrated when the fertility-dispensing kami are believed to be physi-

cally present in their shrines. Processions of worshippers greet these deities, carry them

into the fields on portable palanquins, and dance to celebrate their divine powers while

rice seedlings are being planted or transplanted. In the fall, the niiname matsuri (harvest festival), the largest event of the ritual year, is observed, when the kami are honored

and thanked for the bounteous crops with joyous and boisterous celebrations.

The harvest festival is also closely linked with the Shinto belief in divine kingship.

The Japanese emperor, the tenno ("august heavenly ruler"), had until 1945 both religious

and political responsibilities, as he was regarded as a direct descendant of the Sun Goddess Amaterasu and thereby entrusted to rule over the land. One such religious

responsibility was the guarantee of fertility of the soil and bountiful harvest. This is

consummated ritually each fall at the niiname festival, presided over by the emperor as

high priest. The most spectacular expression of this magical power of the Japanese ruler

is the daijosai ("the great food festival"), which is performed by a new emperor the year

after his ascension to the throne. In an elaborate and ancient ritual, rice and wine from specially cultivated fields are presented by the new ruler to the deities in the middle of the

night, a gesture that consecrates the emperor's religious power and political legitimacy.

This rite, still performed as the climax of a royal accession in modern Japan, marks the

very distinctive religious foundation of the Japanese imperial institution.

Women in Shinto As we have seen in an earlier discussion of the feminine in Shinto, its mythology in-

cludes many powerful female figures and forces . It should also be noted that, though small in number and usually more junior in rank, Shinto priestesses constitute an in-

tegr al part of the Shinto clergy and can be found in many of the larger shrines all over

Japan. They participate fully in all the Shinto rites performed by their male counter- parts, though serving as chief ritualist remains rare. Yet it is also true that the most

supreme religious figure at the Grand Shrine of Ise, the home of the Sun Goddess

Amaterasu, is the saishu, the female priestess who is usually a relative of the imperial

family and is ranked above even the chief priest there! The role of the miko (unmarried female shrine attendants) cannot be overlooked.

Practically all Shinto shrines have miko performing a variety of important, though

subordinate, functions. Because of the persistent belief in the shamanic power of these

young women to communicate with the kami, they are entrusted to perform the sacred

dance of kagura (music of the kami) at festivals and other ritual occasions as an

312 Chapte r 9 SHINTO

Entry of the bridal procession at a Shinto wedding, walking through the shrine gate, led by mikos. Yasaka Shrine, Maruyama Park, Kyoto, Japan.

indispensable complement to the prayers and purifying acts of the priests. In addition, they serve as secretaries in shrine offices, sell amulets and other trinkets at shrine gift

shops, and generally interact with the public by providing a feminine touch on behalf

of the shrine.

Last but not least, a noticeable number of the founders of Japan's New Religions

are women. These new religious groups are heavily indebted to Shinto beliefs and motifs, even though they also borrow substantially from other traditions, such as Bud-

dhism and Daoism. As a religious tradition, Shinto recognizes the considerable power

and potency of women.

Rites of Purification, Presentation, Petition, and Participation The Shinto ritual event generally involves a four-step sequence of purification, presen- tation, petition, and participation. The first three steps are performed by priests, and the

last one involves the "congregation" in attendance. The rationale for the sequence is

first to make the participants (both clergy and laity) physically and spiritually clean for

their encounter with the kami. The second step is to present food offerings to the kami

in an attempt to show respect and good will and to pave the way for the next act. This

is to formally plead with the kami, through beautiful and correct words intoned with reverence and awe by the chief priest, for the concrete benefits being sought. Finally,

the last sequence of the ritual is to have the entire worshipping audience fully partici-

pate in the ceremony through the watching of performances, sharing of ritual drinks,

and the gift of shrine souvenirs.

The Japanese word for the purification ritual performed by

the Shinto priest is harae, the purpose of which is to please and soothe the kami. The ceremony is deemed necessary to prepare

the faithful for their encounter with the deity or to remove the

defilement that results from any contact with pollutants. All sorts

of occasions call for the performance of harae, which may take

place at the shrine; otherwise, the priest may go to the place where it is needed. It is common to call in the Shinto priest to perform the harae before moving into a new home, occupying a new office

building, opening a new highway, or even driving a new car. The

priest, dressed in sacramental vestments, waves an onusa (the wand

of stripped paper or an evergreen branch) over the person(s) or the object(s) to be purified, first on the left, then the right, and

finally back to the left. Ritual bathing is another form of purifi-

cation. In a practice known as misogi, Shinto believers purify themselves by standing under a waterfall or immersing themselves

in ocean water. As is well known, the Japanese are a meticulously

clean people who enjoy long and frequent baths during which they scrupulously clean and scrub themselves. This national trait

certainly has Shinto roots.

Shinto as a Way of Life 313

Salt also plays an important role in the harae. Its snow-like appearance symbolizes

purity, and its potency as a purifying agent is widely accepted in Japan. The Shinto priest often sprinkles salt over the place, the people, or the object to be purified. Sumo

wrestlers, whose characteristic Japanese spectator sport has strong Shinto connections,

are purified with salt before each match. This belief in salt as spiritual purifier also

makes its way into many aspects of Japanese life. After attending a funeral service, people sprinkle salt in the doorway before reentering their homes so as not to carry the

defilement of death inside. Shop owners also put small mounds of salt on either side of

their storefronts to ward off evil spirits. The Shinto concern with purification is evident

in these examples.

The presentation component involves the offering of rice, fish, fruit, rice wine,

water, and salt to the kami. It should be pointed out that there is absolutely no blood sacrifice in the offerings, as blood is considered repulsive and polluting in Shinto. (For

the same reason, menstruating priestesses cannot participate in the harae ritual, thus

making them less available and qualified to officiate at Shinto rites.) The petition takes

the form of the priest reverently reciting the norito (prayers or "words spoken to the kami"), which is usually written in advance in very elegant and flowery language and

read aloud with a rhythmical cadence, ending with a vowel that slides down an octave in pitch with the volume tapering off slowly. The worshippers' participation in the

ritual event includes receiving purification by the priest, watching the dance of the

miko, listening to the performance of the musicians, and, when over, taking small sips

of rice wine called omiki, as well as bringing home leafy sprigs of the native Japanese

sakaki tree to complete their encounter with the divine. All of these activities are de-

signed to create bonding between the worshippers and their kami, as well as among themselves.

The Shrine The Shinto shrine is generally the location where Shinto rituals are car- ried out. It is referred to as the jinja, the "dwelling place of the kami." It is here that the kami can be approached and worshipped. In early Shinto and in some remote, isolated sacred locations today, the jinja can be a tree, a waterfall, or an extraordinarily

shaped rock, which local people believe to be a source of spiritual power. These kami

dwellings are filled with awe-inspiring mystery and great natural beauty. They are

often marked with nothing more than a pile of rocks, or sometimes an ornamental

rope to suggest the approach to sacred space. Most jinja, however, are enclosed areas

with a few simple structures. Entry into them requires a purified body and, ideally, a purified mind, as godliness in Shinto is synonymous with cleanliness. Thus the shrine

is a holy space, of which the visitor is immediately reminded by two guardian stone

lions, one on each side of the entry approach. (In the case of the shrines of the grain goddess Inari, the stone lions are replaced by foxes, which are believed to be her pre-

ferred messengers.) The entry path then passes under the distinctive Shinto crossbar

gateway, known as the torii, whose literal meaning is " bird dwelling," probably re- flecting the earliest function of it as a roost for sacred birds.

314 Chapte r 9 SHINTO

There is an ancient belief that every part of the island of ltsukushima is so sacred that even the hills and surrounding waters are gods. When the tide is high, the main sanctuary and other structures appear to be floating. The shaded sanctuary's stage is used for events such as Noh performances.

In its most characteristic form, the torii of

today is painted red and consists of two upright posts joined by one or two crossbeams, with the

upper crossbeam gently curved in the middle

toward the ground. This use of red paint and the

curved line in the upper crossbeam indicates both Chinese and Buddhist influence and would

not have been found in the early days of Shinto.

The torii is not meant merely to be a decorative

gateway. It is a magical protective device that

guards the shrine against all impurities and con-

taminants. Sometimes visitors have to pass under multiple torii, and on occasion an extended series

of them are set so close together that they form a

veritable tunnel.

Once inside the shrine grounds, all visitors perform a simple purification ritual by

approaching a basin or trough of purified water called temizuya (usually a natural stone basin filled with clear water from the mouth of a sculpted dragon) and, using a bamboo dipper, taking a ladleful of water to rinse their mouth and hands. They are now

ready for communion with the kami. The jinja generally has two buildings-the haiden

and the honden. The former, the "worship sanctuary," is the more public of the two. As

its name implies, the haiden is where the faithful can approach and worship the kami.

One very noticeable feature of the haiden is the shimenawa, a huge rope made of rice straw that marks the boundaries of the building that has been purified or an area in which the kami might be present. Strips of paper called shide are hung from the rope.

Worshippers stand in front of the building, clap their hands twice, and ring a

suspended bell to attract the attention of the deity. Then they bow their heads and,

with hands clasped and sometimes eyes closed,

silently utter their prayer of requests or thanks-

giving. Occasionally they also deposit offerings into a money chest. The haiden is also the place

where the priests conduct their ordinary ceremo-

nies on specific occasions on behalf of the com-

munity or the state but sometimes also purely

private matters for individuals or small groups. In the courtyard facing the haiden, visitors

display their interaction with the kami through

two specific objects: the ema, wooden tablets on

The Fushimi lnari-taisha Shrine in Kyoto, Japan, is dedicated to the god of rice and sake. Here, a tunnel of torii arches is guarded by a pair of foxes.

Shinto as a Way of Life 315

which are written their pleadings with the kami

for success in marriage, childbirth, investment, and

entrance examinations; and the omikuji, paper fortunes wrapped around tree branches as a form

of divination to gauge the future outcome of an

undertaking. Beyond the haiden and more hidden from

public view is the honden ("main sanctuary"), the

place where the kami resides. It is generally raised

higher than any other structure on the premises

and has steep access stairs in front and at the

sides. Only priests can enter this building, for it is regarded as the shelter of the shintai, the "body of the deity" that is the very physical embodiment

of the kami. This shintai is the kernel of sacredness,

the symbolic representation of the kami honored

at the shrine. In and of itself the shintai has little intrinsic value. It may be a stone, a scroll, a mirror,

a sword, or a small statue. Yet it is regarded with

such awe and reverence that even the priests are

prohibited from gazing upon it or handling it

except on special occasions. As the soul of Shinto holiness and cleanliness, the shintai is both invio-

lably sacred and pure. The Grand Shrine at Ise, the main sanctuary

of the Sun Goddess Amaterasu and official shrine

of the imperial family, deserves special mention

in connection with this Shinto concern for purity

and cleanliness. Though originally built more than

thirteen centuries ago, it is completely torn down

and rebuilt every twenty years for the purpose of regular purification and renewal. According to tra-

dition, this practice was inaugurated in 690 c.E. by Emperor Jit6. The design, however, is meticu-

lously copied each time. The shrine we see today is supposedly an exact replica of the original one, and it was freshly built in 2013.

The carpenters for the Ise Shrine come from families that have been hereditarily

entrusted to undertake the task. Only natural cypress wood is used for the main struc-

tures, and only hand tools are allowed to work on the wood. There are no metal braces

or nails used in construction, and the different parts of the shrine are held together by

complex and intricate wooden joints. The cypress wood is carefully selected years in advance of the rebuilding and is paraded through different communities throughout

Top : The shimenawa marks off a sacred space at a Sh into shrine. Bottom: These prayer plaques express the hopes, aspirations, and requests for blessing of the shrine visitors.

316 Chapter 9 SHINTO

The inner shrine of Amaterasu at lse.

Shrine visit is a regular practice of most Japanese, even though many of them do not regard it as an overt or deliberate religious act. How does it reflect Shinto's intertwining relationship with the Japanese way of life?

Japan to drum up support for and interest in the shrine rebuilding project. Thus the lse Shrine is simultaneously the oldest and the newest, as well as the purest, shrine

in Japan.

Religious Observances throughout the Year Because of the diversity in Japanese religion, the yearly round of customary ritual obser-

vances (nenju gyoji) is correspondingly diverse in religious orientation. Excluding the various local festivals that pay tribute to particular Shinto kami and Buddhist feasts that honor the Buddha and specific bodhisattvas, the following are the most popularly ob- served annual ritual occasions.

New Year (Oshogatsu) People prepare for the New Year each January 1 by clean- ing their houses thoroughly in an attempt to get rid of both physical and spiritual dirt. On New Year's Eve near midnight, they visit one of the major Shinto shrines such as

the Meiji Shrine in Tokyo or a prominent Buddhist temple such as the Honganji in

Kyoto to welcome in the New Year. Beginning on New Year's Day, they visit friends

and relatives to offer their greetings and renew their relationship.

The Turn of the Seasons (Setsubun) This festival is observed on Februa ry 3, the last day of the winter season. A special purification ritual is performed by the

entire family, which involves the throwing of roasted beans from the house into

the yard, yelling Oni wa soto! (Demons gee our!)

and, from the yard into the house, calling our Fuku wa uchi! (Fortunes come in!). Shinto shrines

in the community do the same, though on a much

larger scale.

Doll Festival (Hina Matsuri) March 3 is de- voted to the celebration of girls and daughters in the household. A notable feature of the obser-

vance of chis special day is the prominent display of tiers of dolls with elaborate costumes that rep-

resent the styles of the court ladies of the ancient

imperial period. These dolls are expensively made and are seen as a reflection of the family's finan-

cial standing.

Boys' Day (Tango no Sekku) This counterpart of the Doll Festival is celebrated on May 5. Dedi-

cated to celebrating the healthy growth of boys, this d ay refers to the annual festival (sekku) held

on the day of the horse (go) at the begi nning (tan)

of May. Ir also involves the display of figurines of

armored fighters and the fl ying of carp-shaped

paper or fabric streamers on a tall pole.

Star Festival (Tanabata) This festival was in- troduced from China to commemorate the roman-

tic story of two scars, Vega a nd Altair, personified

respectively as a young weaver maiden and her

lover the cowherd, who are allowed chis one-time-

a-yea r rendezvous in the heaven s. Observed on

July 7, it is a festival for young lovers and for un-

married girls who want to improve their chances of

m arriage by honing their skills in weaving, sewing,

and embroidery or any arts and crafts requiring m anual dexterity.

Ghost Festival (Obon) Unlike the other festi- vals listed here, the Ghost Festival's date each

yea r is not determined by the solar calendar. In-

stead, it falls on the fourteenth d ay of the seven th

month in the lunar calendar. This is the Japanese

VISUAL GUIDE Shinto

.- \ .. ,

Shi nto as a Way of Life 317

Th is i mage contains t hree major aspects of Japanese rel ig iosity-the sun, the Shinto torii, and cherry blossoms. The su n is the chief -.~-:(_

s · \ deity responsible for the rise of the Japanese state, the torii (lit. "bird

perch," hence the bird atop the arch) marks off the sacred space of the Sh into shrine ground, and cherry blossoms convey the Japanese sense of fragile beauty and transience.

Mt. Fuji is probably the most recognized mountai n in the world, with its perfect cone shape and white top for a good part of the year. It is also believed by the Japanese t o be a kami-a deity

with aweso me power. Framed by blooming cherry blossoms in early spri ng, it offers a breathtaking sight.

The shimenawa in front of a Sh into shrine. A giant rope made of rice stalk, the shimenawa marks off the sacred space within the shrine complex. Worshippers believe that beyond the li ne resides the spirit of the kami.

The Nachi Waterfall in Kumano, Japan. Like Mt. Fuji, the Nachi Fall is an iconic Shinto symbol long revered in Japan. Also considered a kami, it is a popular site for Shinto pilgrims who appreciate not on ly its mag ic power but also its scenic beauty.

A Shinto priest at the ltsu ku shima Shrine in Miyajima, Japan. The priest acts as bridge between the wo r- shippers and the kami housed at the shrine. He makes presentation to the deity on beha lf of the com- munity, purifies the shrine visitors with prescribed ritua ls, and pre- sides ove r communi ty events.

318 Chapte r 9 SHINTO

version of the Yulanpen, a Chinese Buddhist festival. Bon is the Japanese pronuncia- tion of the Chinese word pen (bowl of offerings), and o is the honorific. This is the

festival to welcome the ancestral spirits to return home with food and offerings.

Families clean the graves of their ancestors and wash the headstones. On the previ-

ous evening, people build a small fire outside the gate of their homes to greet the

returning spirits. Sometimes Buddhist monks are invited to the house to recite sutras to soothe the souls of the deceased and comfort the living. Over the next two

days, people participate in communal folk dances called bon odori to please the spirits and to enhance communal solidarity.

Harvest Festival (Niiname-sai) This giving of thanks by the community for rice harvest occurs on November 23. In modern Japan, it is renamed "Labor Thanksgiving Day" (Kinro kansha no hi) and designated a national holiday. Celebrating the harvest

with the people, the Japanese emperor traditionally would taste the newly ripened rice and would offer it to the kami on behalf of his subjects. The festival also links all local

shrines to the imperial court, as the emperor is believed to be the representative of the

people to thank the kami for providing fertility and bountifulness.

CONCLUSION We have established in this chapter that Shinto is the longest surviving and most dis-

tinctive religious tradition in Japan. It pervades much of Japanese life and informs much of Japanese behavior. It also provides a sense of identity and unity to the Japanese people. Shinto belief in the ubiquitous presence of the kami, both in nature and in

human society, makes the Japanese view nature and human community with awe and

respect. Though lacking an ethical code and detailed understanding of the afterlife, Shinto is complemented by Confucianism and Buddhism to allow the Japanese the

full experience of a religious life.

SEEKING ANSWERS

What Is Ultimate Reality?

According to Shinto, the world is a sanctified place divinely created and ordained by the kami. The kami reveal themselves in living and nonliving things, in nature and in the human world . They are responsible for the fertility of the world, and they prefer purity and cleanliness. Humans, some of whom are kami themselves, must pay constant attention to their relationship with the kami, for that is the only way that life can be fulfilled. Because the world is the creation of the kami, humanity is obligated to main- tain the world's sanctity by acting as its guardian and caretaker. Shinto believers are

(continued)

Review Questions 319

SEEKING ANSWERS (continued)

extremely sentimental about nature and are easily moved by its beauty. Many Japanese literary compositions express this Shinto affirmation of the divine and sanctified nature

of the world.

How Should We Live in This World?

Original Shinto gives little emphasis on morality or ethical living. There is no revealed moral

code. Instead, it teaches right living primarily as fertile and pure living. The human condi-

tion is defined more in terms of purity and defilement. Death, blood, improper food, or

improper behaviors are sources of contamination that make humans unfit to interact with

the kami. However, these are temporary conditions. Constant attention to maintaining cleanliness and purity will ensure favor from the deities. As a result, rituals of purification and sanctification are meticulously performed by Shinto believers to seek good interaction

with the kami.

What Is Our Ultimate Purpose?

Unlike many other religions, Shinto does not perceive the human condition as a fallen

state or intrinsically flawed by sin . Humans are therefore not evil by nature; thus there is

no need for improvement or transcendence. Conversely, Shinto has no belief in an al-

mighty benevolent God who has made humans in an initial state of perfection. Humans are therefore not good by nature, either. Instead, humans are very much a part of nature,

striving to live in harmony with it through interaction with its various spiritual manifesta-

tions, the kami.

REVIEW QUESTIONS

For Review 1. What is the Shinto version of creation?

2 . Why is the concept of kami so central to Shinto beliefs?

3. How does Shinto view death?

For Further Reflection , . If Shinto does not address ethics in its origi-

nal outlook, what is the source of morality

for the Japanese?

2 . Discuss the role played by women in Shinto.

3. What role does Shinto play in bolstering the nationalistic sentiments of the Japanese

people?

4. Although there are rivalry and competition

among the three major religions in Japan, there has been a conspicuous absence of

religious wars based on doctrinal or theo-

logical differences. Please explain.

320 Chapter 9 SHINTO

GLOSSARY

Amaterasu (ah-mah'-te-rah'-soo) "Deity that shines in the sky," the Sun Goddess in Shinto. Enshrined at Ise, Amaterasu is the kami of the imperial family. As the Sun Goddess, she is the most august of all deities. Her descendants are considered the only rightful rulers of Japan.

ema (a-mah') Wooden tablets expressing pleadings to kami for success in life.

harae (hah-rah'-a) Shinto purification.

Izanagi (ee-zanah'-gee) The male kami who is the pro creator of the Japanese islands.

Izanami (ee-za-nah'-mee) The female kami who is the pro creator of the Japanese islands.

jinja (jin'-ja) Shinto shrine.

kami (kah-mee) Shinto deity and spirit with awe- inspiring power.

Kojiki (koh'-jee-kee) Record of Ancient Matters, compiled in the eighth century C .E .

matsuri (mah-tsu'ree) Shinto religious festival.

miko (mee'-koh) Unmarried female Shinto shrine attendants.

mikoshi (mee-koh'-shee) Portable shrine temporar- ily housing a Shinto deity.

misogi. (mee-soh'-gee) Shinto ritual of purification with water.

Nihon shoki (nee-hohn shoh-kee) Chronicles of [the Land Where} the Sun Originates.

norito (noh-ree'-toh) Invocational prayer offered by Shinto priests to the kami.

omikuji (oh'-mee-koo-jee) Paper fortunes wrapped around tree branches at shrines.

saisei-itchi (sai-sei ik'-kee) Unity of the religious and the political realms.

shimenawa (shee-ma' nah-wa) Huge rope hung in front of the worship sanctuary of a shrine.

shintai (shin-tai) The "body" of a kami housed in a shrine or temporarily in a mikoshi.

Shinto (shin-toh) The Way of the Gods. Traditional Japanese religion that acknowledges the power of the kami.

temizuya (te mee' zoo-ya) Purification fountain at a shrine.

torii (toh- ree' ee) Cross-bar gateway leading up to the Shinto shrine.

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING

Ashkenazi, Michael. Matsuri: Festivals of a Japanese

Town . Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1993. An anthropological and sociological description

of Shinto in practice at Yuzawa, a town in Japan's

northern region. Bellah, Robert N. Tokugawa Religion: The Cultural Roots

of Modern Japan . New York: Free Press, 1985.

A classic sociological study of the religious roots of modern Japan, with an in-depth look at pos-

sible parallels to the Protestant ethic.

De Bary, William Theodore, et al., eds. Sources of

Japanese Tradition. 2nd ed. 2 vols. New York:

Columbia University Press, 2001, 2005. Though

not exclusively focused on religious writings,

this two-volume anthology is a gold mine of in- formation for the study ofJapanese religion.

Earhart, H. Byron. Religion in the Japanese Experience:

Sources and Interpretations. 2nd ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1997. An informative collection of

source materials on Japanese religion, arranged

topically and with insightful comments. Ellwood, Robert, and Richard Pilgrim. Japanese Re-

ligion: A Cultural Perspective. Englewood Cliffs,

NJ: Prentice Hall, 1985. A concise volume for the

cultural study of Japanese religion.

Kasahara, Kazuo, ed. A History of Japanese Religion.

Tokyo: Kasei, 2002. An English translation of

a two-volume work in Japanese that contains chapters written by scholars on different stages in

the historical development of Japanese religion.

Kitagawa, Joseph M . Religion in Japanese History.

New York: Columbia University Press, 1990. A

detailed historical narrative of the development

of Japanese religions.

ONLINE RESOURCES

Encyclopedia of Shinto eos.kokugakuin.ac.jp

This useful, English-language resource is main-

tained by the Kokugakuin University in Japan. In

addition to the Encyclopedia of Shinto, it includes various images and video clips of Shinto objects

and rituals.

Online Resources 321

Nelson, John K. A Year in the Life of a Shinto Shrine. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1996.

An ethnographical description of the ritual cycle at the Suwa Shrine in Nagasaki.

Ono, Sokyo. Shinto: The Kami Wtiy. Tokyo: Charles E .

T utde, 1962. This remains a very convenient single

volume on Shinto.

Tsubaki Grand Shrine of America tsubakishrine.com

The Tsubaki Grand Shrine, located near Seattle,

is the North American branch of one of the most

ancient Shinto shrines in Japan. This English- language website provides information about

Shinto, as well as a schedule of observances at the

Tsubaki shrine.

ZOROASTRIANISM

WITH THE WHITE-ROBED PRIEST standing behind her and with family members and friends seated in the living room of her parent's home, Yasmin recites the last stanzas of the prayer she had learned just for this very important occasion: the investiture ceremony, or Sudreh-Pooshi. Yasmin is about to receive the kusti, the sacred cord that will serve from this day forward as the visible symbol of her full membership in the Zoro- astrian community. Still only nine years old, Yasmin now looks forward to ful ly participating in the rituals and religious life that her ancestors have embraced since the time of the ancient Iranian prophet and poet Zara- thustra-whom the Greeks called Zoroaster-some three millennia ago.

Prior to this point in the ceremony, the priest has recited a confession of sins on behalf of Yasmin. She then commenced to recite the prayers that she had spent the past several months memorizing. In preparation for tying the kusti cord around Yasmin, the priest provided her with a white cotton vest, or sudreh. The kusti cord is woven from seventy-two threads of lamb's yarn-seventy-two also being the number of chapters in the Yasna, one of Zoroastrianism's most ancient sacred texts. The kusti cord had been carefully produced by women in Yasmin's community and then conse- crated by a priest. For the rest of her life, wearing the sudreh and kusti on a daily basis will constitute one ofYasmin's most important rel igious duties.

Once the priest has assisted Yasm in with tying the kusti cord around her waist, he will draw a red mark on her forehead and then bless her. Afterward, Yasmin's family and friends will congregate for a celebration,

Parsi ch il dren participate in Navjote, the Zoroastrian investiture ceremony, in Mumbai, Ind ia (known as Sudreh-Poosh i in Iran). The priests assist with tying the kusti, the sacred cord.

324 Chapter 10 ZOROASTRIANISM

0 km 500

0 miles

Significant sites in the development of

Zoroastrianism .

-

KAZAKHSTAN

Arabian Sea

INDIAN

OCEAN

Bay of Beng,d

I

at which she will receive gifts. Investiture into the Zoroastrian community is a happy

occasion for all involved .

Yasmin lives in Iran, the original homeland of Zoroastrianism. Today there are

more Zoroastrians living in India, where they are called Parsis, and where the investi-

ture ceremony is called Navjote and is less common for girls (but standard for all

boys). Such differences in investiture ceremonies are among the many distinctive

characteristics that distinguish Zoroastrianism as experienced in various places.

Even in Iran, and especially in India, the Zoroastrian population is dwindling- and

so young people like Yasmin bear a special responsibility to help maintain the vitality

of their religion. In order to be true to traditional norms that have been upheld through

the centuries, Yasmin will need to marry a Zoroastrian man-and in our contempo-

rary world this sort of tradition faces stiff challenges . Furthermore, a proper Zoroas-

trian life calls for practices-such as wearing the kusti cord-that do not necessarily conform to modern modes of living. To cite a more extreme example, traditionally

Zoroastrians have disposed of the bodies of the dead by exposing them to the open

air so that the flesh can be cleaned away by scavengers. Such a practice is no longer

even legal in some places where Zoroastrians live. Tensions like this, between tradi-

tion and modernity, inevitably present people like Yasmin with hard choices . t~~

T his chapter explores the teachings, history,

and way of life of Zoroastrianism-or

Mazdaism, as it is sometimes known.

Arguably the world's oldest living religion, Zoro-

astrianism's long history, together with the geo-

graphical distribution just noted, has resulted in much diversity. There are various ways of being

Zoroastrian. This introductory study, while ac-

knowledging diversity, presents the religion mainly

as it is practiced today by the majority of its

followers. We begin by focusing on its principal

teachings.

THE TEACHINGS OF ZOROASTRIANISM Through the centuries, Zoroastrians have lived in

evolving cultural circumstances-most notably the rise of Islam in the seventh century C.E. and the

subsequent migrations of Zoroastrians to India and

other lands. In this chapter's later section on the his-

tory of Zoroastrianism, we explore some of these

circumstances in more detail, paying careful atten-

tion to Zoroastrian texts from different eras and how they reflect changing perspectives. Here, we

describe in more general terms the central teachings

of Zoroastrianism that have endured until today.

Tl MELINE Zoroastrianism

The Teachings of Zoroastrianism 325

2000 B.C.E. Inda-Iranian tribes migrate to the Iranian Plateau.

1300-550 B.C.E. Most scholars place the life of Zarathustra within this period.

1300-550 B.C.E. Composition of t he Avesta.

550-330 B.C.E. Persian (Achaemenid) Empire. Most of the Achaemenid kings were Zoroastrians.

247 B.C.E.- 224 c.E. Parthian Empire. Zoroastrianism loses its royal endorsement, existing as one of many re ligions.

224-651 Sassanid Empire. Sassanid ki ngs declare Zoroastrianism to be the official state religion .

651 Arab invaders topple Sassanid dynasty. Islam begins to eclipse Zoroastrianism in Iran.

700-900 Composit ion of most chapters of the Bundahishn.

c. ninth century Iranian Zoroastrians flee to western India, where they are known as Parsis (Persian for "Persians").

900-1000 Com position of the Denkard.

1860 Martin Haug publishes the first translation of the Gathas into a European language (German).

1878 The first fire temple in America is built in Florence, Arizona.

Some of these teachings date from the religion's origins, whereas others have developed

in much later periods.

The most significant of all Zoroastrian teachings is cosmic dualism-the ongoing opposition bet ween the forces of order and chaos, of good and evil, understood to be

played out on a cosmic level.

Cosmic Dualism Before examining dualism, it must be pointed out that many contemporary Zoroastri-

ans likely would not cite this as being their religion's most characteristic feature. In- stead, they would emphasize that they are monotheists, believing in the one God Ahura Mazda. And on the surface, it might seem that a dualism that features oppos- ing forces of good and evil cannot be compatible with a monotheism that features one

God who is perfectly good and is ultimately in control of all things.

But in fact, monotheism and dualism are not necessarily incompatible-and, de-

pending on how strictly one defines "monotheism," Zoroastrianism is an especially

intriguing example of these two doctrines fitting together harmoniously. Its teachings provide a remarkable solution to the so-called "problem of evil": How can a perfectly

326 Chapter 10 ZOROASTRIANISM

good, all-powerful God and evil exist at one and the same time? Zoroastrian's explan- ation is simple but at the same time profound: Ahura Mazda is the only God, and

ultimately order and goodness will win out over chaos and evil. But in the meantime

the existence of evil cannot be denied, and so it must be addressed. A great cosmic

struggle is being played out, with forces of evil aligned against forces of good. Ahura

Mazda, while not responsible for the origin of these forces of evil, orchestrates the

gradual process by which the cosmos will be purged of evil and good will prevail for all eternity.

We will investigate this cosmic struggle in detail shortly. First we note that Zoro-

astrianism embraces not just one but two forms of dualism. Interrelated with the dual-

ism of good and evil is the dualism of spirit and matter.

Spirit and Matter Zoroastrianism teaches that reality is divisible into two realms: that of spirit and thought and that of matter and physicality. Everything in existence embodies both realms. Readers familiar with Platonic philosophy will recognize simi-

larities with Zoroastrian spirit/matter dualism-and, indeed, Greek philosophy, Pla-

tonic and also Aristotelian, might have influenced Zoroastrian beliefs.

Human beings must orient themselves toward the spiritual realm in order to live

righteously and in accordance with order and ultimately to achieve salvation. And

yet, Zoroastrianism teaches a healthy regard for the body and its enjoyments, within appropriate limits. The realm of spirit and thought is the true origin of human life,

but embodiment is not a negative thing. In fact, as we will consider in more detail

later in the chapter, it is a general religious duty for Zoroastrians to have children,

thereby furthering the embodiment of the realm of spirit or thought within the

realm of matter or body. And ultimately, the final triumph of good over evil depends

on this . But in order to understand Zoroastrian teachings on this final triumph, we must first examine the dualism of good and evil and the opposing forces at work in

the cosmos.

Order and Chaos The Zoroastrian dualism of order and chaos involves two key concepts. Asha is "order," the true, cosmic order that pervades both the natural and social spheres of reality, encompassing the moral and religious life of individuals. Asha is symbolized by light, and therefore by the sun and by fire.

Asha is opposed by the "Lie," or druj. Whereas asha gives rise to good thoughts, words, and deeds, druj gives rise to evil thoughts, words, and deeds. The two are fun- damentally incompatible and locked in a cosmic struggle. Soon we will focus on the

relevance of this struggle for human beings. First, we investigate how this dualism

divides the Zoroastrian pantheon of divine beings.

The Divine Realm Earlier we noted that most Zoroastrians today consider their religion to be monothe-

istic. This section on the divine realm might therefore come as a surprise, given the extensive array of deities and other supernatural beings that it describes. But in fact,

The Teachings of Zoroastrianism 327

the case of Zoroastrianism is not so different from that of other notable monotheistic

religions. The Bible makes many references to supernatural beings-seraphim, cheru-

bim, angels-other than the one God of Judaism and of Christianity. Likewise the

Qur'an, while strongly emphasizing belief in only one God, Allah, assumes the exist-

ence of other supernatural beings, namely angels, devils, and jinn (who can be good or

evil; see Chapter 13). All three of these monotheistic religions acknowledge the exist- ence of an Evil One, named Satan.

Ahura Mazda Zoroastrianism emerged from an earlier Iranian religious perspective that undoubtedly was polytheistic. Zarathustra seems to have been responsible for

declaring that one god is primary and qualitatively above all others: Ahura Mazda, the "Wise Lord" (ahura in ancient Iranian means "lord"; there is no other known ancient

usage of the term Mazda) . In later centuries, Zoroastrians came also to use the name

Ohrmazd to refer to their God.

Zarathustra worshiped Ahura Mazda as the only eternal deity, responsible for the

creation of the world. This is not to say that Ahura Mazda is responsible for the evil

that also has existed since the beginning of time. Zarathustra taught that Ahura

Mazda ultimately will overcome evil, and that to do so he created this world. It is in the realm of the physical world that the embodied forces of order and good do battle

against the embodied forces of chaos and evil. The final triumph will be accomplished

through the forces of good aligned with Ahura Mazda.

Divine Forces of Good Especially prominent among the forces of good are the seven Amesha Spentas, the "Beneficial Immortals," angels who help Ahura Mazda

Integration of the dual ism of spirit/matter and the dualism of order (good)-chaos (evil). The spirit of asha, personified in the yazatas ("ones worthy of worship"), is embodied in the physical world; so too is the spirit of druj, personified as the daevas, embodied in the physical world-the stage on which the cosmic struggle between good and evil is played out.

Thought World

Asha Yazatas

Druj Daevas

govern creation. Chief among these seven is Spenta Mainyu, Ahura Mazda's Holy Spirit. TheAmesha Spentas function together as semi-independent powers, all of

them in service of Ahura Mazda. Among them is Asha,

the cosmic principle of order that we have already en-

countered. Each of the Amesha Spentas constitutes an element of the cosmos; Asha, for example (whose full

name is Asha Vahishta , "Best Order"), constitutes fire.

The seven Amesha Spentas are assisted by a large

number of deities called yazatas, "ones worthy of wor- ship." Eventually the number was fixed at thirty, so that each day of the Zoroastrian month is represented by a

different yaz ata (this includes the seven Amesha Spentas,

~o ~ 0 roz

who sometimes are classified along with the yazatas). One

of the most important among them is Mithra, a god of

light who works to keep human beings in harmony with

asha. As we will see in the later section on the history of Zoroastrianism, Mithra was to become a very popular

z ~---~---~--~---~ ~~ WO 0~ Cl. C) Cl)

Possessing Truth Possessing Lie

Physical World

328 Chapter 10 ZOROASTR IANISM

Compare other religions with Zoroastrianism on how they deal with the

problem of evil.

god in Roman culture, in the mystery religion ofMithras (his Greek and Latin name).

Another yazata of particular note is Sraosha ("Obedience"), the caretaker of the souls of the dead who also plays an important role in overseeing ritual practices.

The "Lie" and Forces of Evil From the beginning of time, Spenta Mainyu, Ahura Mazda's Holy Spirit, has battled against his adversary Angra Mainyu, the "Foul Spirit," who in later texts also is named Ahriman. This battle is at the basis of the

cosmic dualism between order and chaos, also manifested in the struggle between asha and the "Lie," or druj. One of Zoroastrianism's earliest texts provides us with insight

regarding the battle and its participants:

Truly there were two primal Spirits, twins renowned to be in conflict.

In thought and word, in act they are two: the better and the bad. And

those who act well have chosen rightly between these two, not so the

evildoers. And when these two Spirits first came together they created

life and not-life, and how at the end Worst Existence shall be for the

wicked, but (the House of) Best Purpose for the just man . Of these two

Spirits the Wicked One chose achieving the worst things. The Most Holy

Spirit, who is clad in hardest stone, chose right, and (so do those) who

shall satisfy Lord Mazda continually with rightful acts. The Daevas indeed

did not choose rightly between these two, for the Deceiver approached

them as they conferred. Because they chose worst purpose, they then

rushed to Fury, with whom they have afflicted the world and mankind. -Yasna 30.2-6,from the Gathas2

The daevas mentioned here are the various demonic powers (daevas in ancient Iranian originally meant "gods," but eventually came to mean "demons"). Notably, as

this text reports, the daevas came to be demonic because they chose "worst purpose." As we will see, this same opportunity for choice presents itself throughout the lifetime

of each human being.

Creation and the Nature of the World Zoroastrianism cosmology, or teachings on the nature of the world, posits three pro- gressive phases: the creation of the physical world; the mixing in the physical world of

the embodied spirits of evil forces with those of good forces; and the final transforma-

tion, in which the world will be cleansed of all evil.

According to Zoroastrianism's most prominent creation myth, in the beginning

Ahura Mazda conceived a plan for creation and also secured the support of the frav- ishis, preexisting higher souls and guardian spirits of individual human beings. Distinct from the lower souls that exist together with human bodies, the fravishis were to descend into the material world once it was created, where they combat the forces of evil and

gently guide human beings toward ethical lives and the realization of their true nature.

The Teachings of Zoroastrianism 329

After Ahura Mazda had taken these initial steps he over-

came Angra Mainyu, who fell into a kind of stupor for

3,000 years, and then created theAmesha Spentas ("Bene- ficial Immortals"). He also created asha, the cosmic order that underlies the universe, intended to serve as a bulwark

against the destructive actions of Angra Mainyu. During this period of 3,000 years, Ahura Mazda

and the Amesha Spentas created the physical world. As the primary textual account makes clear, the process of

creation took place in seven stages:

When the Evil Spirit was helpless in prostration, he lay prostrate for 3,000 years. During the helplessness of the Evil Spirit, Ohrmazd cre- ated the creation materially. First, He created the Sky as a defence; second, He created Water, to defeat the demon of thirst; third, He cre- ated the all-solid Earth; fourth, He created the Plant, to help the ben- eficient Animal; fifth, He created the beneficent Animal, to help the Just Man; sixth, He created the Just Man, to smite the Evil Spirit to- gether with the devs and to make them powerless. And then He cre- ated Fire and linked its brilliance to the Endless Light.

-Bundahishn 10.1-43

The "Just Man" is the first human being. (The " devs" are the daevas we have already discussed.) The "Fire" of the seventh stage is represented by the sun.

According to the same account, the entire span of time between creation and the final triumph of good over evil will be 12,000 years. After the 3,000-year period

during which the physical world was created comes the period of the Mixture, during

which Angra Mainyu is again active and the evil spirit forces are mixed together with

the spirit forces of good-hence the cosmic struggle that currently is ongoing. Angra

Mainyu and the evil forces destroyed the primordial Plant, Animal (a bull), and Just

Man. But these victories would prove to be only temporary. Eventually there will ensue the period leading up to the final triumph of good over

evil. This will be achieved through the separation of the evil from the good, culminat-

ing in complete purification. The ultimate purpose of human life is to help bring about

this purification through leading virtuous lives according to Zoroastrian teachings.

Human Nature and Human Destiny Dualism, the most significant feature of Zoroastrian teachings, lies at the heart of the

religion's perspective on human nature and human destiny. As is detailed in this sec- tion, the meaning of life rests in ethical choice: whether to comply with Zarathustra's

revelations and live in accordance with asha, cosmic order, or to deviate from this and succumb to the evil ways of druj, the Lie.

The best-known symbol of Zoroastrianism, the Faravahar is believed to represent the fravishis. This example is from Yazd, Iran.

330 Chapter 10 ZOROASTRIANISM

Dualism in Human Life: Ethical Choice Zoroastrianism teaches that human beings are free to choose to live in harmony with asha. This way of living involves making Ahura Mazda, the transcendent God, immanent in one's own being, a bless-

ing made possible through Spenta Mainyu, the Holy Spirit of Ahura Mazda, whose

worldly creation is humankind. Zoroastrian teachings regarding human nature and destiny can be simplified by

considering a few parallels involving the basic dualism of good and evil. Asha is op- posed to druj. Spenta Mainyu and Angra Mainyu are, respectively, spirits of good and

evil because of the choice they made. This choice is the prototype of the ethical choice

confronting every individual.

Judgment of the Soul The ethical choices made in life determine the fate of the soul in the afterlife. The outcome of these ethical choices is knowable by the individ-

ual's thoughts, words, and deeds. The goodness of these three must outweigh the evil

if the individual is to be saved and to live for eternity in heaven. The alternative is

eternal torment in hell.

Zoroastrian teachings on the judgment of the soul involve two aspects that are especially notable: the Daena and the Chinvat Bridge.

The Daena is a feminine being who embodies the individual's ethical quality and

who appears to the soul after death. If the individual has lived in harmony with asha, then the Daena appears as a beautiful young woman. To the soul of an evil individual,

however, the Daena appears as an ugly old hag.

The Chinvat Bridge needs to be crossed by the soul in order to reach the afterlife. For the good individual, the Chinvat Bridge is wide and easy to cross. But for the evil,

it is razor-thin, causing the soul to plummet down into hell.

The Final Triumph The ultimate purpose of individual striving for righteousness transcends the salvation of the individual soul. The combined efforts of each individ-

ual's striving will eventually overcome evil, bringing about the purification of the

world and the final triumph. At some point (the date is uncertain), new teachings arose that involved elabora-

tion on this doctrine of the final triumph. These teachings asserted that a messianic

savior figure, named Saoshyant, a son of Zarathustra (whose semen is said to have

been miraculously preserved in a lake), will appear to usher in the events that will

transform the wicked world into the glorious and eternal kingdom of Ahura Mazda.

The cosmic struggle will culminate in a battle between the yazatas, allied with righ- teous human beings, and the daevas, allied with evildoers, in which the good will emerge victorious. Then the dead will be resurrected, and all souls will be judged, the

evil being burned in molten metal. The righteous will be saved, to live forever in the

presence of Ahura Mazda.

The History of Zoroastrianism 331

THE HISTORY OF ZOROASTRIANISM Its roots reaching back 3,000 years to the ancient Iranian tribes, Zoroastrianism by

the sixth century B.C.E. had become the dominant religion in Iran. But the rise of Islam in the seventh century C .E . changed the religious culture of the Middle East,

pushing Zoroastrians into corners of the world where their numbers have dwindled.

Still, Zoroastrianism persists as a living religion, and its teachings and practices con-

tinue to fascinate scholars and other observers.

The Background of Zoroastrianism The lndo-lranians At some time about 2000 B.C.E., two nomadic peoples related by language and religion began moving southward from their ancestral home in Central

Asia. One was the Indo-Aryans, who migrated to what are now Pakistan and western

India. There, joining with the indigenous population, they produced Vedic culture and laid the foundations of Hinduism. The other was the Indo-Iranians, who found a

new homeland on the Iranian Plateau just east of Mesopotamia. Living apart from

their cousins, these ancient Iranians formed a religious tradition very different from

Hinduism. And yet both retained vestiges of their common past. Consider, for

instance, a linguistic example with clear religious implications: Iranian daevas and Indian devas both mean "gods" or "spirits."

Iranian Peoples and Languages There were several early Iranian peoples whose languages became the languages of Zoroastrianism. Avestan, spoken by tribes of

northeastern Iran, is the language in which the earliest Zoroastrian text, the Avesta, is written. In fact, the development of the Avesta over time resulted in some parts being written in Old Avestan and others in Younger Avestan.

Developing alongside Avestan was Old Persian, a language from the southwest-

ern region of Pars (also Parsa), from which "Persia" derives. Old Persian texts relat-

ing to Zoroastrianism are mostly cuneiform inscriptions written on clay tablets and

seals between 600 and 300 B.C.E. A later form of Old Persian is Middle Persian,

usually called Pahlavi in connection with Zoroastrian texts. Inscriptions in Pahlavi can be dated as early as the third century C.E. Most of the Zoroastrian scriptures

were written in Pahlavi in the eighth and ninth centuries C .E. after circulating orally

for centuries.

Pre-Zoroastrian Religion Ancient texts tell us that early Iranian religion had marked similarities with early Hinduism as described in the Vedas (Chapter 4). They describe worship of the daevas as widespread in Iran, just as devotion to the devas was

common in India. The daevas were personifications of the aspects of nature on which

all people depend: sky, sun, earth, fire, water, wind, and so forth. There was also a

higher order of deities, known as ahuras ("lords"), responsible for maintaining order in

the universe as a whole. These included Intar, a war god known as Indra in the

332 Chapte r 10 ZOROASTRIANISM

Hindu Vedas; Mithra (Vedic Mitra), a god of light who gave cattle and children to

the Iranians; and Yima (Vedic Yama), ruler of the dead. Finally, our sources describe

belief in asha, an underlying natural and moral order that promoted goodness in all

its forms-most notably light, truth, and justice. At times, order would be overcome

by chaos in its many aspects-such as darkness, falsehood, and injustice-only to

reestablish itselflater. The universe was the setting for an unending struggle between order and chaos.

Human beings could support the forces of order through religious practices de-

signed to strengthen them: sacrifices of cereal grains and, more commonly, animals;

fire worship; and the preparation and consumption of haoma, a sacred drink made from the sour, milky juice of the soma plant (and similar to the soma drink described in the Vedas) . In time, however, the violence involved in animal sacrifices, the cost of

sacred rituals, and the power of the priests who conducted them became oppressive to

many of the early Iranians. One of them was Zarathustra.

Zarathustra Scholars cannot agree on where and when we should locate the life of Zarathustra.

Some scholars go so far as to argue that he was not a historical figure at all. Most plau-

sibly, Zarathustra is indeed a historical figure, who lived in eastern Iran or in Central

Asia at some point between 1300 and 550 B.C.E . Legends preserved in Zoroastrianism's sacred texts say that Zarathustra dis-

played religious inclinations even as a child and that at the age of twenty he left

his family and the wife they had found for him in order to search for truth.

Ten years later he had a vision of Ahura Mazda. Lifted out of his material body,

Zarathustra was taken up into a heavenly court, where he beheld Ahura Mazda, the "Wise Lord," attended by his angels. Calling upon Zarathustra to be his

prophet, Ahura Mazda, leader of the forces of asha (order), revealed the grave

threat posed by Angra Mainyu, the "foul spirit" and leader of the forces of chaos.

In additional visions occurring over the next eight years, each of the six principal angels of Ahura Mazda appeared to Zarathustra and elaborated on the content of

the first vision. By the time the visions ended, Zarathustra understood the message Ahura Mazda wanted him to proclaim to human beings: Ahura Mazda was the

Supreme Being and the power upon which order depended. Human beings could

join in the struggle against Angra Mainyu by resolving to live lives of exemplary

morality. Any other decision would establish them as allies of Angra Mainyu. At

the end of time every human being would be judged on the moral quality of his or

her life and assigned to an eternity either in the paradise of Ahura Mazda or the hellish pits of Angra Mainyu.

There was much t hat was new in the revelations Zarathustra had received. Ahura

Mazda, formerly on equal terms with other ahuras, was now raised to a level far above

them. Ethical conduct on the part of the individual now displaced sacrificial rituals

performed by priests as the most significant form of human activity. Human beings

The History of Zoroastrianism 333

were now understood as full participants and no longer as semiengaged bystanders in the cosmic struggle between order and chaos, good and evil.

The unfamiliarity of ideas like these no doubt helps to explain the difficulty Zara-

thustra encountered in finding converts to the new religion-the one true religion-

he had learned from Ahura Mazda and his angels. It is also likely that many people resented certain reforms made by Zarathustra, who forbade sacrifices to the daevas, whom he saw as agents of Angra Mainyu, and sought to put an end to the drinking of

the intoxicating haoma at animal sacrifices because of the erratic behavior and sexual

license that resulted from this combination. It is said that he suffered through many years of discouragement and that Angra Mainyu himself urged him to give up. But

then Zarathustra came to the court of King Vishtaspa, whom legend describes as a

good man surrounded by a class of wicked priests. Profiting from their bloody animal sacrifices and from popular belief that their magic could ensure good harvests and

protection from the raids of nomadic tribes, the priests were able to arouse so great an

opposition to Zarathustra that he was thrown into prison. But when Zarathustra man-

aged to perform a miraculous cure for Vishtaspa's favorite horse, the king took a stand

against the priests and converted his kingdom to Zarathustra's new religion. From this

point on, Zarathustra and his followers had great success in bringing it to other parts of Iran. According to Zoroastrian scripture, Zarathustra died at the age of seventy-

seven, killed by a nomadic raider in the city of Balkh (in modern Afghanistan) while

performing a ritual at his fire altar.

Zoroastrian Scriptures The Avesta The oldest and most important of the Zoroastrian scriptures is the Avesta, a collection of sacred texts that preserve the teachings given to Zarathustra by

Ahura Mazda and a great deal besides. The history of the Avesta is described in later texts written in Pahlavi. According to the tradition, the Avesta we have today is a rem-

nant of a much larger collection of texts said to have been destroyed when Alexander

the Great conquered the Persian Empire in the fourth century B.C.E.

The Avesta is organized into five parts. The Yasna consists of material recited by

priests when performing their liturgical functions. At the core of the Yasna are the Gathas, hymns attributed to Zarathustra. Written in a very ancient dialect, the Gathas

are the part of the Avesta thought to most accurately reflect the life and thought of

Zarathustra. The Visperad is a collection of texts recited along with the Yasna in order

to solemnize seasonal celebrations, such as the Zoroastrian New Year's Day. Unlike

the Yasna and Visperad, which are liturgical collections, the primary purpose of the

Vendidad is to describe the many ways in which the daevas work evil in the world and various means for confounding them. The Vendidad also contains stories about the

creation of the world, the first human being, and the temptation of Zarathustra by

Angra Mainyu. The Yashts constitute a collection of hymns that venerate Zoroastrian

virtues such as wisdom, truth, justice, and obedience and the angels associated with

them. Originally, there were thirty Yashts, one dedicated to each day of the month.

Compare the role of Zarathustra as founder of Zoroastrianism with the roles of other founders of world religions: for example, the Buddha, Mahavira, Guru Nanak, Confucius, or Muhammad.

334 Chapte r 10 ZOROASTRIANISM

Only twenty-one survive today. The final part of the Avesta is the Khordeh Avesta.

Sometimes called the "concise Avesta," it consists of selections from the rest of the

Avesta that are used by laypeople in the course of their daily lives. These include Yashts

and special prayers recited during the five parts of the day, before undertaking certain

tasks, and before eating and drinking.

Pahlavi Texts In addition to the Avesta, there are numerous later texts written in Pahlavi. Two of the most important are the Denkard and the Bundahishn. The Den- kard is a compendium of materials relating to Zoroastrian beliefs and customs, some

of them much older than the Denkard itself. It includes doctrines; instructions for ethical behavior; the writings of Zoroastrian sages; observations on the arts and sci-

ences, as well as on philosophical and theological topics; a history of the world up to

the time of Zarathustra; and substantial material on Zarathustra himself. The Bunda- hishn ("Primal Creation") is technically not scripture, though it elaborates on ideas

found in the Avesta. Earlier in this chapter we studied the myth of creation as pre-

sented in the Bundahishn.

Zoroastrianism through the Centuries We will return soon to Zoroastrianism as a living religion, but it is important first to

survey the course of its history from ancient times to the present. As we do, we will pause briefly to take note of the great deal it had in common with other ancient reli-

gions and to comment on the fascination Zarathustra and Zoroastrianism have held

for Western artists and thinkers.

Zoroastrianism in the Persian Empire (550-330 e.c.E.) The history of Zoroas- trianism in the period immediately following the time ofZarathustra is uncertain. The

historical record begins in the sixth century B.C.E. with the Histories of Herodotus, a

Greek who lived a century later. Herodotus's interest in the Persian Empire-so-called because the ancestral home of its Achaemenid Dynasty was Pars ("Persia") in south-

western Iran-can be explained by the fact that it invaded Greece twice in the early

years of Herodotus's own century. Wanting to provide his countrymen with an ac-

count of the culture of the enemy, Herodotus included his observations on the religion

of the Persians and, in particular, the Magi. These appear to have been members of a

powerful Zoroastrian priestly caste in the empire of the neighboring Medes, which

was annexed to the newer Persian Empire by its founder, Cyrus the Great, in 550 B.C .E. Owing to the unwelcome political intrigues of the Magi, Cyrus and his son Cambyses

II curtailed their influence and sometimes persecuted them. But Zoroastrianism began

to gain momentum with the accession of Darius I (r. 549-485 B.C.E.), who credited Ahura Mazda with bringing him to power. Thereafter, the religious culture of the Per-

sian Empire became thoroughly Zoroastrian, and the role of the Magi as priests was

secured. Surviving monuments and inscriptions testify to the influence of Zoroastri- anism, as do a number of Avestan texts from this period.

The History of Zoroastrianism 335

Zoroastrianism in the Parthian Empire (247 e.c.E.- 224 C.E.) Achaemenid Persia fell to the Greeks and Macedonians under Alexander the Great in 330 B.C.E.

A century later, Iran made a resurgence under a new dy-

nasty of rulers from the region of Parthia. At its height, the Parthian Empire encompassed Iran, Mesopotamia,

and parts of the Arabian Peninsula and what is now

Turkey. Its culture was heterogeneous, combining the

Iranian and Greek cultures with features of many others

found within its borders. This can be seen, for example,

in the Parthian tendency to equate Iranian and Greek deities. Thus Ahura Mazda was identified with Zeus and

Angra Mainyu with Hades.

Because the Parthian kings did not give Zoroastrianism the endorsement it had

enjoyed under the Achaemenids, its status during this period was somewhat dimin-

ished. Still, there is evidence that some Parthian rulers built fire altars to honor Ahura

Mazda and had Magi serve as priests in their courts. The Magi (sometimes translated "wise men") described in the Gospel of Matthew as coming to visit the infant Jesus

would have begun their journey in Parthian Iran.

Zoroastrianism in the Sassanid Empire (224-651) Much larger than that of the Parthians, the Sassanid Empire included all of today's Iran, Iraq, Armenia, and Afghanistan, as well as parts of Turkey, Syria, the Arabian Peninsula, and Central

Asia. It was the last of the Iranian empires before the conquest of the Middle East by

Muslim Arabs and the only one to formally adopt Zoroastrianism as the state religion.

This was, however, a Zurvanite Zoroastrianism that differed from the traditional Maz-

dean form in teaching that Ahura Mazda (now known as Ohrmazd) and Angra

Mainyu were twin brothers produced by Zurvan, a higher creator god. Thus Zurva- nism departed from orthodox Zoroastrianism in demoting Ahura Mazda from his

status as the Supreme Being and in creating a link between good and evil that was

denied by other Zoroastrians, who saw these two principles as being completely sepa-

rate and absolutely opposed to each other. The Sassanids also encouraged the worship

of some of the old Iranian gods, such as Mithra, the god oflight, and Anahita, goddess

of water and the moon. The Sassanid rulers aggressively promoted their form of Zoroastrianism. With

their support, the basic features of its rituals were established, and a priestly hierarchy

was created, with the chief priests assigned to every region being supervised by a high

priest. The most important duty assigned to priests was the tending of the sacred flame

of Ahura Mazda in fire temples. Because fire, like water, was considered an agent of

purity, great care was taken to avoid pollution; thus Zoroastrian priests adopted the habit of wearing cloth masks that covered the mouth and nostrils to prevent any un-

clean element from coming into contact with the fire. Because the bodies of the dead

This wall carving features a Faravahar, thought to represent the fravishis. The wall is located in Persepolis, the ancient ceremonial center of the Achaemenid Empire.

336 Chapte r 10 ZOROASTRIANISM

had the potential to pollute fire, earth, and water, they were exposed on high places,

such as mountaintops, where vultures and other scavenging animals would pick the

bones clean before putrefaction could begin.

Zoroastrianism and Other Ancient Religions One of the most striking features of Zoroastrianism is the number of features it shares with other ancient religions.

The number of points of similarity in the Zoroastrian, Jewish, and Christian scrip-

tures is especially impressive. There are far too many to mention here, but a few good

examples will make the point. Just as the Zoroastrian Ahura Mazda is an all-powerful,

all-knowing, and eternal being who exercises his creative power in the world through

his Spenta Mainyu (Holy Spirit), the God of Jews and Christians makes his presence

known in the world through the Spirit of God Qudaism) or Holy Spirit (Christianity). All three religions imagine God, supported by angels, locked in a struggle with Evil,

backed by demons. All three anticipate an end of the world that will involve the coming

of a savior, the resurrection of the dead, judgment, the restoration of the world to a state

of perfection, and life everlasting. All three describe God as intervening in human af-.

fairs in order to communicate his nature and will to human beings. The scriptures of all

three religions describe human beings as descended from a single, primordial couple. Finally, not long after their creation, a great catastrophe destroys all of humanity except

for a single righteous individual and his family-in Zoroastrianism (according to one

Avestan text), it is a cataclysmic winter; in Judaism and Christianity, a great flood.

Although noting such similarities is easy, explaining them is difficult. As it is well

known that Jews and Iranians were in dose contact beginning in the sixth century

B.C .E ., most scholars believe that the religion of the Jews (and, through them, that of the Christians) was influenced by Zoroastrianism. Claims that Jews influenced Zoroastri-

ans have not won significant support. A more successful argument has been that the

shared beliefs of the two religions reached the forms they take in their respective scrip-

tures at roughly the same time, and so their similarity can be explained as the result

either of a collaborative creativity or of a parallel development nourished by a shared

cultural milieu. The matter of influence is much clearer with respect to Manichaeism, a religion

that appeared shortly after the founding of the Sassanid Empire in the mid-third cen-

tury. At that time Mani, an itinerant prophet, began preaching an extreme form of

dualism that combined elements of Zoroastrianism with aspects of other Iranian reli-

gions and Christianity. Manichaeism enjoyed great success in the third through fifth centuries, when it was one of the most visible religions in the Roman Empire and was

practiced as far east as China. Manichaeism's central teaching, that the world is di-

vided by the struggle between the forces of light and darkness, clearly derives from

Zoroastrianism. It is also true that Zoroastrian deities were included in its pantheon.

But Mani's teaching that all matter is evil and only spirit is good cannot have come

from Zoroastrianism, which teaches that spirit is indeed sometimes evil-most not- ably of course in the case of Angra Mainyu. Similarly, Mani's claim that all material

The History of Zoroastrianism 337

reality is formed from the substance of Satan differs radically from the

Zoroastrian teaching that matter was created by Ahura Mazda, the

source of all good things.

A final ancient religion with Zoroastrian associations is Mithraism.

Based on devotion to the ancient Iranian god Mithra, known as Mithras

in the West, Mithraism thrived in the Roman Empire in the second and third centuries C.E. It was one of the mystery religions of the Greco-

Roman world, so-called because membership was limited to initiates (in this

case, only men) into the secrets of their underlying myths. From Roman

times until the late twentieth century, Mithraism was understood as an

Iranian religion that had managed to make its way westward. But recent

scholarship has shown that although Mithras and his iconography (such as his slaying of a divine bull) had their origins in ancient Iran, where Mithra was in-

cluded in the Zoroastrian pantheon, the actual content of the religion was more closely

related to the speculations of intellectuals in what is now southeastern Turkey about

the stars and their relationship to human events. Still, the mere presence of Mithra

in the West speaks to the influence and prestige of Zoroastrianism far from its

Iranian homeland.

Zoroastrianism and the Coming of Islam In the seventh century the Sassanid Empire was overthrown by the Arabs, converts to Islam who were then conquering

much of the Middle East. Although the Zoroastrians of Iran now found themselves

living under an Islamic government, they managed at first to cope with their new

circumstances because the Qur'an called upon Muslims to be lenient in their treat- ment of non-Muslims to whom God had given a book of scripture. The Arab conquer-

ors were satisfied that the Avesta, like the Jewish and Christian scriptures, qualified as

just such a book. Zoroastrians were required to pay a special tax imposed on all non-

Muslims, and there were occasional acts of violence against them, but there was secu-

rity in the fact that they remained the majority in Iran.

But the position of Zoroastrians had deteriorated markedly within a century after the arrival of the Arabs. Zoroastrians were subjected to harassment and violence,

priests were executed, fire temples were destroyed or turned into mosques, and books

of scripture were burned. Worse, Zoroastrians lost their status as a "People of the

Book" and the protections it offered. The dangers of their situation were enough to

persuade many Zoroastrians to capitulate and convert to Islam. Conversion was made easier by a legend invented to link Shi'a Islam, the dominant form in Iran, with the

Zoroastrian royalty of the Sassanid Empire. According to the story, the fourth Shi'a

imam was the son of Husayn, Muhammad's grandson, and a Sassanid princess. The

effect of these and other factors on Iran's Zoroastrians was dramatic. By the end of the

eighth century they had become a religious minority.

By the tenth century Arab rule of Iran had come to an end. It was replaced by a series of Iranian dynasties, some with Turkish or Kurdish associations, that lasted

The tauroctony ("bull- slaying") was the un iversal symbol of Mithraism. The symbol includes several features drawn from ancient Iranian religion, including the slaying of a primordial bu ll and the figure of Mithras himself, known in Zoroastrianism as Mithra, one of the yazatas ("ones worthy of worship").

338 Chapter 10 ZOROASTRIANISM

World Zoroastrian

population.

until the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979. Throughout this period the

number of Zoroastrians in Iran continued to decline steadily. Those who remained

faithful to their religious traditions continued to suffer discrimination, periodic perse-

cutions, and economic hardship.

Zoroastrianism in the Modern World There is some irony in the fact that there has been a fascination with Zarathustra

among artists and thinkers in the modern West-a time and place in which few people

have any contact with Zoroastrianism. In fact, the number of sizable communities of

Zoroastrians anywhere in the world is very small.

Zarathustra in the West Since the beginning of the early modern era in the six- teenth century, Zarathustra has made appearances in well-known works of art, music,

and literature, some of which make use of his image in ways he would certainly have

found surprising.

In The School of Athens (1510), the Italian painter Raphael placed Zarathustra in a

gathering of ancient Greek philosophers. Voltaire, an eighteenth-century leader of the

French Enlightenment, misunderstood the teachings of Zarathustra as a form of ra-

tional religion resembling the deism of his day. A leading character in Mozart's opera

The Magic Flute (1791), "Sarastro," is a wise and benevolent ruler who triumphs over

darkness and the Queen of Night. In his philosophical work Also Sprach Zarathustra

("Thus Spake Zarathustra," 1885), the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche

~

CANADA ? 3,500

UNITED ,.,__,. STATES .,- 17,800

UK ¼,800

' AFGRANISTAN

4000 , ' {!AJIKISTAN

~ 9,000 ' 6,900

0 km 2000 4000

0 miles 2000 4000

-/ INDIA ~ n ,ooo ""t"GJ

"' SRI LANKA 2,500

AUSTRALIA 2,600

The History of Zoroastrianism 339

described a new Zarathustra, rather unlike his namesake, who condemns conventional

morality and its conceptions of good and evil. Inspired by Nietzsche's work, the

German composer Richard Strauss composed a tone poem also titled Also Sprach

Zarathustra (1896). Its initial and memorable fanfare ("Sunrise") became a best-selling

recording and earned a place in American popular culture after being featured in

Stanley Kubrick's 1968 science-fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Zoroastrians Today The largest community of Zoroastrians today is in western India, and particularly in the area of Mumbai. Known as Parsis ("Persians"), they are

the descendants of Zoroastrians who fled Iran in the ninth century to escape Muslim

persecution. The Parsis thrived in the more tolerant Hindu environment. The British,

who established rule over the Indian subcontinent in the mid-nineteenth century, tended to favor Zoroastrians, in part because they rejected distinctions based on caste

and because they placed a high value on education. Today, they are among the most

affluent oflndian ethnic groups and are highly regarded for their success as industrial-

ists and their generosity as philanthropists.

The second largest group of contemporary Zoroastrians is in Iran. Known to

themselves as Iranis and Zarathushtis, their history throughout most of the modern era has been one of continued marginalization and, in some cases, persecution. Like

the Parsis, the Iranis have been tenacious in hanging on to traditional beliefs and ritu-

als. Many still speak Dari, an Iranian language that is distinct from the Farsi (Persian)

spoken by other Iranians. As non-Muslims, the government prohibits Zoroastrians

from being elected to any representative body in government except for the few seats

set aside for religious minorities in the Islamic Consultative Assembly (the Iranian parliament). On the other hand, it appears that Zoroastrians have been gaining greater

acceptance among the general population because they represent a part of Iranian his-

tory in which Muslims, as well as Zoroastrians, can take pride.

Zoroastrian populations in other parts of the world are much smaller. As immi-

grants, or the descendants of immigrants, most continue to identify themselves as either Parsis or Iranis/Zarathushtis. Major Zoroastrian populations are indicated on the

map on page 338; Zoroastrian communities can also be found in Australia, Singapore,

Hong Kong, and other places in East Asia. The total worldwide Zoroastrian popula-

tion is about 194,000.

The number of Zoroastrians in the world is dwindling. For example, in the mid-

twentieth century there were about 115,000 Parsis in India, compared with 71,000 today. One reason for the decline might be that Zoroastrians have no interest in proselytizing.

Another reason, mentioned in this chapter's opening, involves rules against marrying

non-Zoroastrians. Furthermore, some Zoroastrians choose to leave the religion because

they find its strictures burdensome or its ancient teachings difficult to accept.

Because of the long-term decline in their numbers, Zoroastrians are concerned

about the future of their religion. Various opinions are voiced. Conservatives say that adherence to tradition is the key to the survival of Zoroastrianism. Liberal Zoroastrians

Zoroastrian Centre in London. With 4,800 Zoroastrians, the United Kingdom is one of several countries across the world with sizable

commun ities.

340 Chapter 10 ZOROASTRIANISM

remind conservatives that Zarathustra himself was a reformer who broke with trad-

ition. They find the essence of their religion in the Gathas, the Avestan hymns said to

have been composed by Zarathustra, and take less interest in the beliefs, doctrines,

laws, and rituals that became a part of tradition after him.

ZOROASTRIANISM AS A WAY OF LIFE Like most any religious tradition, Zoroastrianism includes many rituals, festivals, and

rites of passage, the most important of which we will consider in this section. But more

so than most other religious traditions, perhaps because of its status as a minority reli-

gion, the Zoroastrian way of life is based in a tightly knit sense of community and the

routine practice of well-established customs. These customs in turn can be seen to

integrate fundamental religious teachings. For example, Zoroastrian reverence of fire

means that candle Barnes are not extinguished but rather allowed to burn out (al-

though today birthday candles commonly are blown out). More generally, the deep-

seated preference for light over darkness leads Zoroastrians to speak a blessing when a

light is lit and to avoid killing roosters once they have begun to crow, for a rooster

crowing signals the break of dawn and the return to daylight. Other customs are based

straightforwardly on Zoroastrian respect for life, which implies a general attitude of

kindness toward animals. Custom dictates, for instance, that at meal time dogs be fed

prior to people.

As we turn to considering religious rituals, festivals, and rites of practice, we will

observe how consistently these same fundamental teachings-reverence for fire, light,

and life itself-tend to underlie many aspects of the Zoroastrian way of life.

Ritual Practices We have seen that Zarathustra opposed traditional forms of Iranian ritual practice,

notably animal sacrifice and the ingestion of haoma. Within the first few centuries of

the Zoroastrian tradition, however, such ritual activities were revived. To this day,

Zoroastrianism is a tradition rich in ceremony and ritual, with regular activities car-

ried out both within temples or other religious buildings and without. The most com-

monly practiced ritual activity is prayer.

VOICES: An Interview with Rustom Ghadiali

Rustom Ghadiali is a resident of Singapore, home to a community of about 200 Zoroastrians . This community was founded in the early twentieth century by Parsis who immigrated from India. Mr. Ghadiali is a Zoroastrian priest with a strong interest in the history and transformations through time of the tradition.

Zoroastrianism as a Way of Life 341

Zoroastrianism is an ancient religion. Has it taken steps to adapt to new conditions in the modern world?

The Zoroastrian religion has taken steps to adapt to new conditions in the modern world in some countries. In Iran, as it is difficult to get young boys to join religious orders and become priests, eighteen girls for the first time have become initiated as priests and carry out all rituals. Zoroastrians in India are still very orthodox and do not accept the same.

What are the greatest challenges faced by Zoroastrians and Zoroastrianism today?

The greatest challenges faced by Zoroastrians and Zoroastrianism is that their numbers are dwindling. This is because of late marriages, not having children, and not being allowed to marry outside the community.

What features of Zoroastrianism are most important to you in your daily life? Why?

Prayers are the most important in our daily life, and thanking God for good health and happiness.

How common is the traditional Zoroastrian practice of exposing the bodies of the dead, and how it is carried out?

The practice of exposing the bodies of the dead to the birds is followed in India today, but it is slowly disappearing, as it is difficult to have vultu res in urban settings. Also, vultures are dying as the bodies of sick Zoroastrians contain medicine which kills the vultures. The orthodox Zoroastrians in India are strug- gling to accept changes in traditional practices and to accept burial or cremation . It is only a matter of time when the practice of exposing the dead will disappear and burial or cremation will be accepted.

You are a Zoroastrian priest. What are your most important responsibilities in worship and in serving the Zoroastrian community?

The most important responsib ilities of the priest are the carrying out of rituals and praying for any and all Zoroastrians. The religion as practiced in India and as practiced abroad has a lot of variance. If all were to follow the Gathas, the original verses of the Prophet, then there would be harmony. Scholars and the High Priest, however, enforce their own views . Also, the priests are not being looked after by the temples where they work and must depend on the community to pay them as they pray. They prefer to study and get educated in commercial subjects, so that they can earn and be independent.

Prayer and Purification Zoroastrians pray five times daily, during five periods de- termined by the position of the sun: dawn until noon, noon until mid-afternoon, mid-afternoon until sunset, sunset until midnight, and midnight until dawn. For

many Zoroastrians, this amounts to more than one hour of prayer per day. Zarathustra

himself, despite his antiritual tendencies, is believed to have prescribed formal prayer.

Its importance has endured throughout the centuries.

Daily prayers often coincide with the kusti ritual, which also should be performed

several times per day. This involves untying and tying the kusti cord while standing in a lighted space and reciting ritual texts. Recalling Yasmin's investiture ceremony described

Rustom Ghad iali

342 Chapter 10 ZOROASTR IANISM

Compare the Zoroastrian temple with places of worsh ip in

other rel igions.

in this chapter's opening, we can see that the kusti ritual is a repetition in shorter form of

this very important rite of passage. The kusti ritual and the recitation of prayers require that the worshipper undergo ritual

purification using water, washing the face, forearms, hands, and feet. Zoroastrians thus are

expected to undergo rituals of purification on a daily basis. These ritual ablutions take only

a few minutes. Longer, more elaborate rituals of purification also should be undertaken occasionally. The Barashnum, for example, takes ten days and must be performed by a

priest during the daylight hours and in rooms especially designated for this purpose. Spe- cial substances are consumed, including pomegranate leaves, ashes from a sacred fire, and

consecrated bull's urine. The Barashnum is needed in cases of severe pollution or as prepa-

ration for major ceremonial events, such as marriage or initiation into the priesthood.

Where Zoroastrians Worship The strong emphasis on purity is evident in the desig- nation of certain spaces as appropriate for worship. By definition, temples and other sacred

precincts are set apart from the impurities of the world outside. Spaces such as private homes can be used for religious activities so long as they are pure in a religious sense-

that is, there are no non-Zoroastrians present. And, indeed, rituals often are performed in

private homes, especially in Iran. Older homes, especially, are believed to be inhabited by

the spiritual presence of deceased ancestors-making these spaces desirable for rituals

performed on the souls' behal£ In India, most religious activities occur in temples. Temples include rooms and water wells specifically designed for purification ritu-

als. All temples provide a source of clean water. Special kitchens are equipped for

preparation of food, some to be used in rituals and some to be consumed in communal

meals. Temples have various other rooms, including at least one meeting hall. The

most important rooms are the ceremonial room and the fire chamber.

In the ceremonial room, site of several important rituals, the floor is inscribed with grooves that demarcate a rectangular space 3.5 meters by 2 meters. The rituals per-

formed within this space are of a special category, and are named "inner liturgies."

Open to the outside, the fire chamber consists of a stone floor with a domed cover-

ing, vented in order to permit the fire to burn. This in turn is protected from rain and

from the sun's rays by a partial roof.

Sacred Fire The supreme significance of fire for Zoroastrianism is clearly evident in the meticulous categorization and care of fire and in its central role in ritual activities.

A fire is consecrated through ritual practices. Once consecrated (and thereby

sacred), the dying out of the fire is held to be a catastrophe. Sacred fires therefore are

tended very carefully. As we have already observed, the fire chamber in a temple is

covered over in such a way as to prevent rain from falling on and extinguishing the

fire . We have also seen that fires generally are not extinguished but rather allowed to burn out. Fires are protected from coming into contact with various polluting objects,

including corpses and the bodily fluids of the living, such as saliva. Fires are tended and

fed with dried wood several times per day.

Zoroastrianism as a Way of Life 343

There are three main categories of sacred fires, the highest of which is the Atash

Bahram ("victorious fire"). In India, where by the twentieth century there were over 100

Zoroastrian temples, only eight of these fires exist, all having been consecrated in the late

eighteenth or early nineteenth centuries. Consecration of the Atash Bahram takes a group

of priests nearly a full year to accomplish, involving intricate steps of purification.

Fire is employed in various ways in ritual practices. The most important of the inner liturgies, those that are performed within the specially marked rectangular space in a tem-

ple's ceremonial room, is Yasna, the sacrifice of the sacred drink haoma before a fire. The extensive preparations for Yasna include the preparation of the haoma, a mixture of water, pomegranate, ephedra, and goat's milk. During the three-hour ritual the entire Yasna, the seventy-two-chapter portion of the Avesta, is recited while the sacred fire is fueled.

Priests The Yasna liturgy and other ritual activities in the temples are orchestrated by priests. As we have observed in Yasmin's investiture ceremony, priests also lead ritu- als outside of the temple-in that case, in the family's home.

Priests have throughout the history of Zoroastrianism occupied an important

place in the religious society. As we have observed, the ancient Greek historian Herodo-

tus included in his account reference to Zoroastrian priests, whom he called Magi. The

training and precise roles of priests and the organizational features of priesthoods have

varied widely depending on cultural circumstances. Throughout the centuries, priest- hoods have been made up of men.

Today, the nature of the priesthood varies somewhat between India and Iran. In

India, training for initiation into the priesthood mainly involves memorization of

sacred texts used in rituals. The training normally begins when the candidate for ini-

tiation is still a youth, and it takes several years. In Iran, where in general Zoroastrians are less insistent on maintaining traditional rituals, priests are not expected to be

expert in the performance of rituals, and many work as priests in addition to having

careers. It is normal for all Zoroastrian priests to marry and raise a family, although

until the twentieth century priests were expected to marry within priestly families.

Women and Zoroastrianism As with most religions, the status of women in Zoroastrianism is much different today

than it was even a century ago. Traditionally, the religion has been highly patriarchal.

Texts such as the Arda Viraz Namag make clear that women are to be subordinate to men. Even a woman who is virtuous in every other way but who has not been obedient

to her husband is said to have no chance of crossing the Chinvat Bridge and proceed-

ing to heaven. Next to an obedient wife, the most important role for a woman is to be

a caring mother. Women have not been allowed to enter the priesthood until very re-

cently in Iran, where this measure has been thought necessary to preserve the religion.

In India, women still are not allowed to become priests. Special ethical norms and ritual practices apply to women, many of them stemming

from Zoroastrianism's stance on menstruation as being highly polluting, basically in the

same category as contact with a corpse. The Avesta, for example, sets forth rules governing

Parsi priests tend the sacred fire within a

temple in Ind ia.

344 Chapte r 10 ZOROASTRIANISM

the conduct of a menstruating woman, including the need to stay at least fifteen steps

away from water, fire, religious implements, and men. At the end of her period the woman

is to be cleansed with bull's urine, which was used as a disinfectant in ancient times.

In the modern period, such rules as these have become largely obsolete. Most Zoro-

astrians today support a general attitude of egalitarianism, even if some limits are still

imposed because of ritual regulations and other traditional aspects. The rationale for this attitude is not necessarily a modern invention. The Gathas sometimes address women and men together, suggesting a type of equality in the time of Zarathustra. As we have

observed, girls undergo the investiture ceremony (not as commonly in India as in Iran)

and become full members of the Zoroastrian community, thereafter wearing the kusti

cord and partaking in the kusti ritual and daily prayers. Women have equal right of

access to temples-unless they are menstruating, in which case still today they are not permitted to enter. In recent times, a category of rituals that can only be performed by women has become popular. Called Sofre-rituals, after the doth (sofre) on which Iranian meals traditionally have been served, they involve the consumption of special foods and

drinks. Overseen only by a select group of qualified women, the foods and drinks are

consecrated through recitation of Zoroastrian miracle stories.

One notable sign of women lagging behind men in terms of participation involves positions ofleadership. Women hold far fewer seats than men on committees in Zoro-

astrian organizations, regardless of the location. Among the Parsis oflndia, women are

not allowed to become priests. The degree to which Zoroastrianism becomes fully

egalitarian obviously remains to be seen.

Holy Days and Rites of Passage To this point we have considered Zoroastrianism's strong emphasis on ritual activities

as they are practiced daily and occasionally on a random basis. Here we consider the array of rituals and ceremonies that occur at specific times-on the various days of the

year that are designated as especially holy, and at the crucial points in a person's life-

time that are marked out as rites of passage from one stage to another, as, for example,

the investiture ceremony we observed in the chapter's opening.

The Zoroastrian Calendar Most religions feature their own special calendar of holy days and periods. The Zoroastrian calendar is more elaborate than most, connect-

ing days of the month and months of the year to various deities. Since ancient times, the Zoroastrian calendar has been based on twelve months of thirty

days each, although during the Achaemenid period five days were added to the twelfth

month. (Today, because of attempts at various times to align the calendar with the solar

year, there are three Zoroastrian calendars, one or the other favored by each community.)

The first day of the month is named for (and dedicated to) Ahura Mazda. The next six

days are named for the other six Amesha Spentas. The other days are named for various yazatas; for example, the sixteenth day is named for Mithra. The twelve months also bear names of divinities. Whenever one of the days aligns with the month, such that the same

deity is honored for both, Zoroastrians celebrate a feast for that deity. And so, for example,

Zoroastrianism as a Way of Life 345

the sixteenth day of the seventh month (September/October) is celebrated in honor of

Mithra. To cite another example, the fifth day of the twelfth month (February/March) is

celebrated in honor of Spenta Mainyu, the Holy Spirit of Ahura Mazda.

Annual Holy Days Zoroastrians observe seven obligatory holy days, traditionally be- lieved to have been established by Zarathustra. Each of these holy days honors one of the

Amesha Spentas, and each celebrates aspects related to its divine benefactor. For example, the holy day associated with Spenta Mainyu is named All Souls and celebrates, along

with the Holy Spirit of Ahura Mazda, humankind, Ahura Mazda's primary creation.

Of the seven obligatory holy days, the one that is most popularly observed is Nowruz (or No Ruz), the Zoroastrian New Year's Day. Nowruz honors the Amesha Spenta Asha Vahishta ("Righteousness"), who is associated with the creation of the very special element, fire. Nowruz originally was celebrated at the time of the vernal

(spring) equinox and still is by most Zoroastrians, regardless of which of the three

calendars they use. Throughout western Asia, people of all religious and ethnic back- grounds celebrate New Year's Day at the time of the vernal equinox. Even for non-

Zoroastrians, these New Year's celebrations tend to show vestiges of Zoroastrian

influence, for example, the symbolic significance of fire .

For Zoroastrians, the spring equinox is a symbol writ large of the triumph of light

over darkness. The holy day ofNowruz features a sense of renewal of personal commit-

ment to righteousness and of communal ties. It is richly celebrated, with a special meal made up of seven items, each with names beginning with the same Persian letter:

wine, sugar, milk, syrup, honey, candy, and rice pudding.

Death and Funeral Rites In this chapter's opening we witnessed the investiture ceremony of Yasmin, a nine-year-old Iranian girl. This is Zoroastrianism's primary rite

of initiation, marking the passage from youth to adulthood. The most elaborate reli-

gious activities marking a rite of passage occur at death. According to Zoroastrian teachings, death involves the separation of the soul, the

spiritual element of the person, from the physical body. As we have seen, the soul is be-

lieved to undergo judgment by crossing the Chinvat Bridge, where it encounters the

Daena, a feminine being who embodies the individual's ethical quality. Zoroastrian

funeral rites are intended to free the soul for this journey,

while also attending to the body in a manner that ensures

as much purity as possible. In Zoroastrian perspective, a corpse is inevitably a pol-

luting object. It needs to be kept at a distance from water,

fire, plants, and even fertile ground. This insistence on the

attempt to maintain purity helps to explain the famous

Zoroastrian practice of exposing corpses on dakhmas, or "Towers of Silence" (a British neologism from the colonial

period), elevated circular structures with a platform at the

top on which bodies would be left. Rather than cremating

The dakhma, or "Tower of Silence," provides a space for exposure of the dead body to vultures and to the sun. This dakhma is located in Yazd, Iran.

346 Chapter 10 ZOROASTRIANISM

VISUAL GUIDE Zoroastrianism

Zarathustra. Copies of this

painting of Zarathustra are found

in fire temples and Zoroastrian

homes throughout the world .

The original is found in the fire

temple in Yazd, Iran.

Zoroastrian symbols: the sun, a

fire, the moon, and the Faravahar,

thought to represent the fravishis.

These symbols adorn a Parsi

temple in Ahmadabad in the state

of Gujarat, India.

Ateshkadeh Fire Temple. The Atesh-

kadeh Fire Temple in Yazd, in central

Iran, is perhaps the most famous of

the Fire Temples found worldwide in

Zoroastrian communities. Although

the structure itself was built in the

twentieth century, the sacred flame inside is said to have

burned continuously since 470 c.E. Zoroastrians believe

that fire is symbolic of purity and of Ahura Mazda.

or burying their dead-as fire is holy and unfit for

contact with a corpse, and the ground is sacred be-

cause it bears life-corpses are exposed to the ele-

ments, to be devoured by vultures and other

scavengers. This is deemed to be the manner of dis-

posal that best maintains purity. Today, in part be-

cause oflaws prohibiting this traditionally preferred

manner of disposal, sometimes bodies are buried,

provided that burial vaults are used that prevent

any chance of contact between the corpse and the

earth. A form of electric cremation, devoid of

flames, is also sometimes used.

The Zoroastrian Community: Social and Ethical Responsibilities At the outset of this section on the Zoroastrian way

of life, we noted the relatively tightly knit sense of

community and practice of traditional customs

that continue to characterize the tradition. Many

other features typify Zoroastrian social life. As we

have seen, religious festivals such as Nowruz in-

volve community and family celebrations. The

same is true of the other holy days throughout the

year and of rites of passage such as the investiture

ceremony. Zoroastrian communities take pride in

the care of their temples and other religious build-

ings and also in their social and cultural achieve-

ments. All Zoroastrians are expected to marry and

to raise families, and responsibilities for caring for

family members extend even beyond this life: indi-

viduals' moral behavior affects the fate of their de-

ceased ancestors' souls.

Ethical responsibilities have always been a cen-

tral feature of Zoroastrian life. Traditionally, even

such daily activities as eating food have been regulated by prescribed rituals, for ex-

ample, by the religious requirements to maintain purity. Zoroastrian texts from ancient

times have spelled out specific ethical requirements. The early medieval text Arda Vz"raz Namag (The Book of the Righteous Vz"raz) is one notable example. Similar to Dante's Divine Comedy (and, in fact, this book was one of Dante's influences), the Arda Vz"raz

Namag recounts a seven-day journey of the righteous Viraz through the afterlife, where he encounters the spirits of Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu and many instances of

souls of the righteous enjoying heavenly rewards and souls of the evil suffering horrible

torments in hell. In each instance, the specific virtue or vice is identified. The book strongly condemns such vices as lying, greediness, and cruelty to animals.

Today, although general ethical norms such as admonition against these three vices

still guide behavior, many of the traditional rules and regulations tend to be over-

looked. With regard to the once prevalent purification rituals-some of which are

still very much in effect-a newfound emphasis on personal hygiene has become the equivalent of the older insistence on "purity." And rather than focusing on traditional

lists of virtues and vices, a more basic ethical outlook has taken hold, based on the

"motto" of the Zoroastrian religion: "good thoughts, good words, good deeds." Along

with aspiring to base their lives on these ideals, Zoroastrians are to practice daily

confession of sins, mostly as a means of improving upon their moral behavior.

CONCLUSION For Zoroastrians today, their motto, "good thoughts, good words, good deeds," is much

more than just a catchy slogan. Etched into the walls of some temples, this "triad of good"

provides a platform for Zoroastrian life in the modern age. And underlying this platform

is something more basic, and something that Zoroastrians have embraced since ancient

times: thoroughgoing emphasis on individual choice. As we have seen, following in the pattern of the primordial spirits Spenta Mainyu and Angra Mainyu, all human beings

have freedom of choice between good and evil. This choice not only determines the indi-

vidual's fate in the afterlife, but also contributes to the ultimate fate of the cosmos itself

Much of the world now embraces individual freedom of choice, but for most cul-

tures this has happened only recently. That it has been a central tenet of Zoroastrianism from the time of its origins attests both to the profound insight of its founder, Zarathus-

tra, and to the special nature of the Zoroastrian religion down to the present day.

SEEKING ANSWERS

What Is Ultimate Reality?

Conclusion 347

Zoroastrians believe that Ahura Mazda, eternal and all-powerful, created the world and

human beings . Ahura Mazda, allied with forces of order (asha) and good, continues to over- see the world. Also preexistent, however, is Angra Mainyu, the "Foul Spirit" who leads the

forces of chaos and evil-those on the side of druj, the Lie. The cosmos is currently in a state of struggle between these opposing forces . This is cosmic dualism, the basis of Zoro-

astrian teachings. Zoroastrians believe, however, that in time good will triumph over evil.

How Should We Live in This World?

Human beings are constantly presented with a choice: to live righteously according to cosmic order (asha) or to live according to the Lie (druj) . Zoroastrian texts contain many

(continued)

348 Chapte r 10 ZOROASTRIANISM

SEEKING ANSWERS (continued)

specific ethical commands. Today, however, many Zoroastrians focus on the more general ethical ideals set forth in the motto: "good thoughts, good words, good deeds."

What Is Our Ultimate Purpose?

Human beings are believed to participate in the cosmic struggle currently ongoing, and therefore to play a part in the future triumph of good over evil. In the meantime, each indi-

vidual strives for a heavenly afterlife, anticipating after death the judgment of the soul on

the Chinvat Bridge through the soul's encounter with the Daena, a feminine being who

embodies the person's ethical quality.

REVIEW QUESTIONS

For Review 1. Describe and distinguish between Zoroas-

trianism's two types of dualism . 2. Explain Zoroastrian teachings on creation

and cosmology. 3. Summarize the historical relevance of Iran

(or Persia) for Zoroastrianism.

4. Why is fire such an important symbol in

Zoroastrianism? In what specific ways does fire play a part in the practice of the religion?

5. Describe Zoroastrian funeral rites, noting

how Zoroastrian teachings relate to practices.

GLOSSARY

Ahura Mazda (uh-hoo'rah moz' dah; "Wise Lord") The God of Zoroastrianism; also known as Ohrmazd.

Amesha Spentas (ah-mesh'-ah spent'ahs; "Benefi- cial Immortals") Seven angels-including Spenta Mainyu, the Holy Spirit of Ahura Mazda-who help Ahura Mazda govern creation.

Angra Mainyu (ang' grah mine'yoo; "Foul Spirit") Evil adversary of Ahura Mazda; also called Ahriman.

asha (ah'shah) The true, cosmic order that pervades both the natural and social spheres of reality,

For Further Reflection ,. Many Zoroastrians today consider their

religion to be monotheistic. Do you agree? 2. Why do you think Westerners find Zarathus-

tra such a fascinating figure?

3. Imagine a Zoroastrian student talking about

religion with Jewish, Christian, and Muslim

students who know nothing about Zoroas-

trianism . Assuming the student wants to point out teachings Zoroastrianism has in

common with their religions, what do you

think he or she would say?

encompassing the moral and religious life of indi- viduals; opposed to druj.

Avesta The oldest and most important of Zoroas- trian scriptures, consisting of a collection of texts including the Yasna and Gathas.

Chinvat Bridge The bridge that needs to be crossed by the soul in order to reach the afterlife, wide and easy to cross for the good, razor-thin and impos- sible to cross for the evil.

(continued)

GLOSSARY (continued)

Daena (die'nuh) The feminine being who embodies the individual's ethical quality and who appears to the soul after death.

daevas (die'vuhs) The various demonic powers aligned with Angra Mainyu.

druj (drooj; "lie") Cosmic principle of chaos and evil, opposed to asha.

dualism In Zoroastrianism, of two types: cosmic dualism of order and chaos (or good and evil); du- alism of spirit and matter (or thought and body).

fravishis (frah-veesh'ees) Preexisting higher souls and guardian spirits of individual human beings.

haoma Sacred drink made in ancient times from the sour, milky juice of the soma plant; in modern times from water, pomegranate, ephedra, and goat's milk.

kusti (koo'stee) Sacred cord that is to be worn daily by Zoroastrians who have undergone the initia- tory rite of the investiture ceremony.

Online Resources 349

Nowruz (now-rooz') Zoroastrian New Year's Day coinciding with the vernal equinox, the most popularly observed annual holy day; celebrated in varying ways throughout western Asia by people of all religious and ethnic backgrounds.

SpentaMainyu (spen'tah mine'yoo) Ahura Mazda's Holy Spirit; one of the seven Amesha Spentas.

Yasna Seventy-two-chapter section of the Avesta containing material recited by priests in rituals; includes the Gathas. The Yasna liturgy, an impor- tant ritual, is the sacrifice of the sacred drink haoma before a fire.

yazatas (yah-zah'tahs; "ones worthy of worship") A large number, eventually fixed at thirty, of deities on the side of Ahura Mazda and order/good.

Zarathustra (zare'ah-thoos'trah) Called Zoroaster by the ancient Greeks; ancient Iranian prophet and poet, founder of the Zoroastrian religion; dates uncertain (between 1300 and 550 B.C.E.).

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING

Boyce, Mary. Textual Sources for the Study of Zoroas- trianism. Manchester, UK: Manchester Univer-

sity Press, 1984. An anthology of Zoroastrian

sacred texts, suitably thorough for an in-depth

study of the religion, and with reliable transla-

tions and commentary.

Rose, Jenny. Zoroastrianism: An Introduction. London and New York: I. B. Tauris, 2011.A very engaging, dependable, and quite in-depth introductory

ONLINE RESOURCES

Religion Facts: Zoroastrianism http://www.religionfacts.com/zoroastria nism/

index.htm

A good resource for, as the site states, "just the

facts."

study, organized by historical period and geo- graphical locations.

Stausberg, Michael. Zarathustra and Zoroastrianism:

A Short Introduction, trans. Margret Preisler-

Weller. Postscript by Anders Hultgard. London:

Equinox, 2008. First published in German in

2005 (by Verlag C. H. Beck oHG), this slim volume provides a concise yet remarkably infor-

mative, clearly written overview.

The World Zoroastrian Organisation

http://www.w-z-o.org/

Created and maintained by Zoroastrians, a de-

pendable resource that provides an "insider's"

perspective on the religion.