Religious Traditions And Understandings: Religious Differences

Knowing religious traditions and understandings is the best way to avoid disrespecting or misinterpreting a cultures religion. This is highly important if you are looking to live or even visit a foreign country. Regarding East Asia, there is a common thread that must be understood, self-cultivation. However, each country in this region has defining religious differences that cannot be understated. Examples of these differences are, Japan’s use of Prayers and o-mamori to express their spiritual needs (Reader, “Religion in Contemporary Japan”, page 190), Korea’s connection of disharmony to evil (Baker, “Korean Spirituality”, page 16 and 17), and China’s continuity of the family as well as Ancestor worship (Adler, “Chinese Religious Traditions”, page 18 and 19). Self-cultivation is a central idea in Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism. These three religions have been widespread and accepted in this region for past and present generations alike. Each country in this region has embraced the idea of self-cultivation in some way or fashion. Admittedly, different countries may have different ways of practicing self-cultivation, but this central idea is always present and evident. Evidence

As Reader states, “The second example of the responsive nature of the religious world to the contemporary needs of worshippers and to the problems of present concern in society concerns the growing number of places” (Reader, “Religion in Contemporary Japan”, page 191). This demonstrates how Japanese religion adapts heavily to the needs of its society. As the society has struggles with new social norms such as drug problems and the diminishing interest in the upholding of sexual mores (Reader, “Religion in Contemporary Japan”, page 190). Religious institutions have given the Japanese a more open way of expressing these new feeling in the form of Prayers, ema, fuda, and