April 28, 2003
The Last Judgement East and West
A Comparison between the Christian Judgement and the Judgement of King Enma The concept of a post death judgement is one which is shared by a great many religions to a greater or lesser extent. There are many similarities and differences between these traditions. In both those that are deemed free of sin fare better than those that are judged to be guilty. The latter go to some sort of hell which often depicts humans being torn part and or roasted. In Christianity judgement takes places at the same time - at "Judgement Day." In Japan, on an individual basis. In Christianity the judgement takes place at the gates of heaven or by good, or someone heavenly, in Japan it takes places at the gates of hell by someone much more fearful: the god of the dead. The difference that I would like to draw attention to is that in both cases we are judged based upon a record of our lives. In Christianity our lives are written in a book. In Japan, lives are recorded as images in a book too but more importantly, as we stand mute before a mirror. |
Soka Gakkai Study Materials state
The benefit Shakyamuni attained through his practices shows clearly the working of the law of cause and effect expounded in his Buddhism, and how the present effect is always the result of a past cause. President Toda often drew an analogy to the Johari Mirror when he talked about this subject. The mirror hung in the palace of King Enma, and was also called the Mirror of Karma. When King Enma interviewed the deceased he said, "You have done this much wrong while you were alive, haven't you?" But the deceased tried to deny it, "I have done nothing of the sort, I can assure you, sir." The king retorted, saying, "Take a look in the Mirror of Karma over there!" Much to his surprise, the deceased could see all the evils he committed when he was alive in the mirror. (HTML version here)
King Enma and his attendents Sculpture at the Kyoto Nation Museum.
In Japanese
A Series of Annotated Paintings Showing the Eight Stages of Hell
The Ten Buddhist Kings including King Enma, with photos if you click on the links. You will notice that many of the other Kings, that also take part in the judgement process, are reading from books. It seems however fair to say that it is Enma, with his mirror that captured the imagination of the Japanese.
A page about Hell as represented in Buddhist Japan.
All about Enma"A page explaining the Ten Kings faith that spread from China emphasising King Enma, that was linked with the already popular Jizou Boddisatva (Jizou Sama, the little stone statues you see at the sides of roads. This pages also gives photos, and the names of the temples, of King Enma statues throughout Japan.
Interesting account of Enma and Buddhism, but I wonder about what Shinto has to say on the subject. As far as I know, they don't make a post-death judgement. Do you know any different?
Posted by: John Dougill at November 24, 2003 11:24 PMInteresting account of Enma and Buddhism, but I wonder about what Shinto has to say on the subject. As far as I know, they don't make a post-death judgement. Do you know any different?
Posted by: Private Krankenversicherung at January 9, 2004 08:26 AMI think that is a great book that is telling us what to come at the emad of the world and it is very helpful to me in my time need
Posted by: Isaac Eubanks at February 28, 2004 05:07 AM