by Julie Z. Russo
Japan will commemorate one of the worst earthquakes and nuclear disasters in its history on March 11, 2014. In a new documentary “Souls of Zen” (see http://soulsofzen.com) by ethnographer Tim Graf he explores the integral role of Buddhism in the country after the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. Traveling from Tokyo to the northeast coastline hardest hit by the quake in the company of Buddhist priests, who Mr. Graf had come to study with six months earlier for a doctoral dissertation, he was in the unusual position of being able to document the catastrophe as it occurred, and by telling a story of faith-based recovery potentially play a role in the healing process, Mr. Graf said. Driven by car to Sendaai by priest Shoji Koshiaki within weeks of the disaster, Mr. Graf observed first hand the extent of the devastation: traffic jams, assembly buildings, emergency shelters all filled with people, as well as an entire school of children and their teacher on a bridge, swept away by waves from a tsunami during an evacuation, he said.
Miraculously, the leader of the Jonenji Temple in Sendaai who chose not to leave as ordered, survived along with the temple that remained intact. The temple then served as a refugee shelter for more than 140 residents, defying the government’s rule that only designated non-secular buildings serve this function. More than 80 percent of the homes in the city were destroyed and for the residents that managed to survive, the struggle to find family members lost in the earthquake and tsunami continues. Ancestral burial grounds swallowed by the sea denied families’ a formal means to grieve. Buddhist rituals essential to Japanese faith require prayers for the souls of the dead at the time of cremation and for weeks afterwards to insure their ascent to heaven is peaceful, Mr. Graf said.
“For a religion that is detached from worldly desires, down through the centuries the bonds between the living and their ancestry have formed the backbone of Buddhism, Mr. Graf said. “It is within these bonds that many bereaved find comfort, support, hope.”
Visiting disaster ruins, as well as temples and religious festivals, Mr. Graf and photographer Jakob Montrasio provide a rare portrayal of Buddhism as the foundation of Japanese life. Buddhist priests mobilized the greatest relief effort in Japan’s history after the quake struck. It was a cold March before the cherry blossoms, and yet the priests walked village to village offering prayers, delivering funds or food, and presiding over burials. At the Shinto Shrine in April, priests chanted sutras to create good karma. The Dalai Lama also presided at a memorial service supporting mourners. At another temple, women worked on relief efforts while singing to ease the pain promising to “hug when they meet and depart, and to live with love in their hearts.”
Buddhist prayer rituals incorporate shrine tablets, talisman, and mythical deities in its belief system. At the Shotokuji temple in Sendai that withstood the tsunami, a youth group helped restore tablets to grave sites and other special objects used in prayer as basis of spiritual support. The faithful may carry other talisman for household or disaster protection, Mr. Graf said.
The catastrophe left all of the priests so grief stricken that there was no distinction between the living and the dead, said Priest Kaneta Taio of the Tsudaiji Temple. To process the magnitude of suffering, Buddhists along the coast prayed to a Dragon God, who is a symbol of nature known to calm the sea. “Human beings cannot control as they wish,” said Kaneta Taio, “so I suppose that is why we pray to a dragon god.”
The 2011 Tohoku Earthquake serves as a turning point for religion in Japan, said Kimura Toshiaki, a professor of religious studies at Tohoku University. “It might completely change the world of religion as we know it. The entire coast has become a religious place,” he said.
Devastation from the earthquake cannot be overstated. Levi McLaughlin, an assistant professor of religious studies at North Carolina State University, has also been traveling to the region since the quake to document and support relief efforts. More than 74,000 people have been permanently displaced by the fallout from the Fukoshima-Daiichi nuclear complex damaged in the tsunami, Mr. McLaughlin said. China offered an outpouring of aid while struggling with an earthquake in its own county at the same time. Faith-based rehabilitation efforts to improve the health of local populations, as depicted in Mr. Graf’s film, are important for restoring morale, Mr. McLaughlin said.
During an interview for the “Souls of Zen,” Priest Takahasi Seikai said the earthquake was a once in a millennium disaster that shows the world “what the Buddhist principle of compassion and helpfulness really means.”
The Souls of Zen: Buddhism, Ancestors, and the 2011 Tsunami in Japan (2013 release), directed by Tim Graf with a grant from the University of Heidelburg. Interviews and excerpts in the above article are from the film.