oh, sorry, I misunderstood the direction. maybe the largest difference in view is the difference stemming from monotheism (one God) vs Polytheism (many) ? just a shot in the dark.

The Japanese tagged buddhism onto their shinto ways, their nature is that there is no individual thus 'if a nail sticks up - knock it down' a writer will refer to 'the author' as opposed to 'I' and individualism is frowned upon. In China buddhism was tagged on to the indigenious taoist and confucian culture, in Tibet (that country that used to exist) it was tagged on to their Bon Po shamanistic and quite magical ways. Thailand probably has the closest buddhism to that taught by the original Buddha in the Theravadin forest monastaries because it had the most original scriptures carried and maintained from India.

In a way any religion is a bit like the martial arts in that it's not the system - it's the person.

How the influence of Buddhism manifests itself in each culture will depend on many factors.

How did Buddhism combine with pre-existing native religions in each country examined?

To what extent is religion generally expressed in civic life? How 'secular' is the society?

What role does religion play in social institutions and how prevalent are such institutions as essential aspects of maintaining social structure in the country in the presence or absence of other supportive social or governmental institutions?

What other competing faiths are equally if not more prevalent in a given society?

To what extent does/has the government tended to support or repress religion in a given country?


If you ask me, there are too many variables to make any kind of reasonable conclusion.

instead of only posting to point out the wrongs....why don't you try more righting.

on topic:
what I meant by the belief differences is a contrast between central vs. shared philosophies.

Are you telling me that in all the time you were in Japan you didn't meet a great many dynamic individuals who expressed their own unique skills and pursued their individual dreams with great energy? You didn't notice the efforts and accomplishments of individuals being recognized and respected? In your study of Japanese history you didn't notice the emphasis placed on individual battlefield glory?

Individualism is a human characteristic. Different cultures may recognize it in different ways, but these differences stem from the perspective of the viewer, and tend to shrink the more that one becomes familiar with a culture.

Likewise, negative expressions of individuality are not valued much in any culture, so any rusty nail that sticks up will get hammered down (wait 'till I tell the boss about my great new idea during the quarterly meeting! - that's a stupid idea, sit down)and any beautiful, shiny nail that sticks up will be polished (wow, what a great new idea, and you told it to me in an appropriate way!)




So much of the 'difference' that people make a big deal out of is what we want to see.

The point you make here about seeing what we want to see in another culture is what I was trying to get at, in a way, with the other thread about "Asia as Other".
Having said that, I find there is a lot of truth in the sterotype of Japanese people being less focused on the individual as compared to the West and it would be too hast to throw it all away as a "pointless generalization".
Let's see if we can't mine this stereotype for some truth. LEt's try to all let go of our dogmatic ideas and try to see what the other people are trying to express. You may find that you agree more than you thought.

Excuse the crosspost, but found this interesting thread on another forum 'Buddhism in Japan'.

http://www.newbuddhist.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1624