The Ten Shinto Precepts

[sirz345]

So I am posting this just to anyone that is curious to what the essential rules of Shinto are and many of these rules can dismiss some misconceptions of the faith. So here y'all go;

1. Do not transgress the will of the gods.
2. Do not forget your obligations to ancestors.
3. Do not offend by violating decrees of the state.
4. Do not forget the profound goodness of the gods, through which calamities and misfortunes are averted and sickness is healed.
5. Do not forget that the world is one great family.
6. Do not forget your limitations.
7.Do not become angry, even when others become so.
8. Do not be sluggish in your work.
9. Do not bring blame to the teaching.
10. Do not be carried away by foreign teachings.

Now let me explain what these rules basically mean (if that is not already apparent);
1. If the gods want something to happen, let it happen. Trying to stop a storm or control the currents is sinful.
2. Do not forget to give offerings to your ancestors and keep them in your memories.
3. Obey the law.
4. The gods give unto us a great bounty, do not forget what they give you and thank them for it.
5. Treat everyone as family and pay everyone respect. It is a lot like the golden rule ("Treat others the way you want to be treated.") although it is obviously not the same thing.
6. Do not push yourself too hard and accept that you do have flaws.
7. Have self-control, just because others are angry and throwing a tantrum does not mean you must as well.
8. Work diligently and hard until your work is done.
9. Because something bad happened in your life does not mean the gods intentionally tried to cause you harm, do not blame them. It is a lot like how in the United States, we unfortunately blame Islam for terrorism, when that is not the case and it is not fair to blame the teaching for a group.
10. Follow Shinto diligently, do not convert away. (i.e. similar to becoming an apostate in Christianity)

[Satu]

Re: The Ten Shinto Precepts

Interesting post. Do you have any good websites, books, etc to recommend for Ko-Shinto?

Also, in Shinto, is there a concept of patron deity for the average person? Is it considered appropriate to be dedicated to one kami above all others so long as you give the other kami due respect?

On precept 1, is there a limit to that? For example, if there's a widespread plague, is that interpreted as the will of the gods, too? (Which means just let the plague run its course.) I'm not trying to sound trollish, here, I'm just curious where the boundaries are, if there are any. Or is this one of those, "use your common sense" things we find so often in religion?

[sirz345]

Re: The Ten Shinto Precepts

Interesting post. Do you have any good websites, books, etc to recommend for Ko-Shinto?

Also, in Shinto, is there a concept of patron deity for the average person? Is it considered appropriate to be dedicated to one kami above all others so long as you give the other kami due respect?

On precept 1, is there a limit to that? For example, if there's a widespread plague, is that interpreted as the will of the gods, too? (Which means just let the plague run its course.) I'm not trying to sound trollish, here, I'm just curious where the boundaries are, if there are any. Or is this one of those, "use your common sense" things we find so often in religion?

Well thanks for the ranking. Now let me begin to answer those questions for starters here are some good websites for Ko-Shinto; http://oldwiki.mindseyesociety.org/index.php/Koshinto and ko-shinto.org. Unfortunately there are no books relating to the subject matter due to the fact that Shinto was already intertwined with Daoism and Buddhism by the time large amounts of literature were being made in Japan (The Kojiki, the oldest record of Japanese history and many Japanese myths as well as the first book in Japan was made in 770 AD,well after Daoism and Buddhism's foundations and spread to the rest of Asia.), due to this changing of the faith by these two faiths, I view both of them as stains on Shinto and that they taint the religion. The patron deity is an interesting question, it is quite likely that a sailor, fisherman, etc. may be watched over by Susanoo as he is the god of the sea and storms, but that would really only be, a soldier may also be associated with Hachiman, the god of war. So I do not believe there is the concept of a patron deity, although a person's ancestor's spirit may watch over them and provide them with aid if the person gives them offerings at his/her kamidana to keep up their spirit strengths, but a god and an ancestral spirit are far from the same, if a soldier prays to Hachiman, a sailor to Susanoo, then they very well may watch over them during activities related to them, but if a sailor prays to Susanoo as he goes to farm, he may not necessarily be watched over as Susanoo would have very little power over the land. It is absolutely appropriate to revere one kami above others, there are thousands of gods, and millions of less significant kami, it would be unthinkable to expect every practitioner to make offerings to each and every one, but as you said, you still must respect the other gods even if your devotion is focused on one, all gods do exist in Shinto, the Abrahamic god, the Kemetic gods, the Norse Gods, the Roman gods, etc. but the Japanese pantheon is first and deserves utmost respect as they are considered the true pantheon. A central tenet (although not a precept) is to respect all the world's religions as a Shinto practitioner, you do not have to pray to them, you do not have to believe they are true, you can even not accept their gods, but you still must give them the respect they deserve as a faith with people that actually believe it.

So the question of precept one is a rather interesting question, I will use your plague example, if a torii gate (gateway to a Shinto shrine) is torn down in a town and then a deadly plague begins to infect large chunks of the town, this is seen as the god's will to punish them for desecrating a shrine (torii are very essential to any Shinto shrine.) However, a flu outbreak that kind of happens out of no where, should be controlled, if nothing has been done to anger the gods or incite their blessings, then it is safe to assume that this is just a natural plague which they did not call upon us. It is like that with most things, a shrine is torn down, an American military soldier desecrates a shrine (do not get me started on their bases on the holy soil of Japan), the construction company headquarters suffers huge losses and their workers' begin contracting diseases and curses, this is the gods punishing them for desecrating the holy ground. The American military base has large fires and several vehicles on base break down and weapons begin to malfunction, or a riot is inspire among the faithful to riot against the Americans, which is in a way helping the gods' will to punish the American military by ceasing base functions or forcing them to withdraw until the riots end or are controlled. Nothing should be done to stop the construction workers' misfortunes, their building and companies' misfortunes, or the American military base's misfortune, as they are being punished by the gods, to try and resist this punishment, or help these people would only increase the severity of the punishments and get you punished as well, for you are basically spitting in the gods' faces by resisting their will. If you have more questions please ask, there are many other things that Shinto does not have a stance nor rules towards so you must use common sense in figuring them out yourself or you can go as far to interpret what the gods' (or your specific god) would want your stance (and possibly all of Shinto's) to be.

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I do also have several Japanese fables in my collection, prayers, etc. that I would be willing to share. Many of these fables are meant to obviously not be true but teach lessons on things that Shinto does not have clear rules on, as many Christians view the Bible's importance to be its lessons, not the accuracy of the stories.

[Amadi]

Re: The Ten Shinto Precepts

10. Do not be carried away by foreign teachings
10. Follow Shinto diligently, do not convert away. (i.e. similar to becoming an apostate in Christianity)

Does this mean it's Sinful to connect different aspects of Shinto to different areas of Paganism (My variant being Wiccan inspired Polytheism) or would this anger any Kami and the like? Is it either be 'Shinto or nothing'? or is there room for a little transgression so long as I uphold the other values?

-I like Shinto, I really do but I don't feel 'right' just swapping from Pagan to Shinto, like my previous path no longer has any meaning

Thanks! :dummy:

[anubisa]

Re: The Ten Shinto Precepts

Shinto has some nice concepts.

[sirz345]

Re: The Ten Shinto Precepts

Does this mean it's Sinful to connect different aspects of Shinto to different areas of Paganism (My variant being Wiccan inspired Polytheism) or would this anger any Kami and the like? Is it either be 'Shinto or nothing'? or is there room for a little transgression so long as I uphold the other values?

-I like Shinto, I really do but I don't feel 'right' just swapping from Pagan to Shinto, like my previous path no longer has any meaning

Thanks! :dummy:

Let me open this by saying there are certain aspects of Shinto that MUST be kept constant for it to be Shinto and not angering to the gods. However, you can incorporate aspects of Shinto quite easily, just do not claim you are Shinto for only following a few because lying is a very impure act that CAN and WILL anger the Kami. You can transgress certain values, however some of them can never be broken, Shinto is a far more mainstream religion than many other forms of Paganism I see on this site. I do understand that you may not want to switch but if you would like to talk about it you can always send me a message and I can help you out Amadi. Shinto is a Pagan religion FYI (Polytheistic, non-Abrahamic, nature worship, etc.) and you don't have to abandon your old faith to become Shinto in fact, many gods such as Hachiman (god of war) is actually a Hindu god incorporated into mainstream Shinto belief because of Buddhists becoming Shinto and bringing their old Hindu/Buddhist gods along with them and continuing to worship. You can also keep certain aspects of your old faith as long as they do not directly violate a sacred Shinto rule. Any more questions are welcome.