[Episode 172339] [Episode 172339]Death.
In the worldview of some cultures, the final end of everything.
In the worldview of other cultures, merely the crossing point to the next great adventure.
In the eyes of some people, it's a just reward for whatever reason.
In the eyes of other people, the final absolution from the sins, the oaths and demands, of one's life.
For those familiar with the concepts of the Japanese animist faith known as Shinto, that final viewpoint often factored very heavily in the way the natives of those islands off the eastern coast of Asia viewed their whole culture, the way their history had evolved and how concepts such as "good" and "evil" were viewed in both the short and long term. Even with the later introduction of Buddhism and the many concepts surrounding how one's karma could affect one's eternal drive to achieve Nirvana, the basic viewpoint of death and its role in the Great Scheme of Things had never had to face serious question from those who believed in the Way of the Gods.
Look at the way most Japanese view the concept of suicide. If death had always been seen as the final cleansing of all mortal sin, is not the willingness of those who choose to end their own lives all the more easier to understand? From the ritual seppuku of the samurai; to the valiant attacks made by the kamikaze pilots against the Allies in the defence of their homeland in the closing months of the Second World War; to even the many times seen these days when people would end their time in this life to either cleanse themselves of past sin or end the suffering of loved ones who might actually have suffered from those sins?
And what happens when one is cast from this life? How is one remembered?
Look at the way many in Japan view their nation's most well-known temple hall, Yasukuni-jinja, located in Tokyo northwest of the Imperial Palace grounds. Here are memorialised the souls of those Japanese (and yes, regrettably, Koreans and Taiwanese who had fought for the Mikado when those lands were under Japanese rule) who had fallen in the defense of their Emperor and country.
Among those memorialised there are eleven men, executed as Class A war criminals in the wake of the Second World War. Eleven men who had been at the very heart of Japan's charge to military greatness during the Meiji, Taishou and Shoowa eras that, in the end, had been brought to a staggering halt in the radioactive smoke and fire of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
When viewed from the outside, the honouring of such men does not make sense. After all, do Germans offer any sort of memorial to Adolph Hitler and his fellow Nazis? Of course not; the ashes of the infamous Fuehrer were finally cremated and scattered by the Soviets somewhere in what was once East Germany.
To many Japanese, however, such post-mortem judgements are simply viewed as not relevant. Dead is dead, after all. Once you die, that's it. Your soul is cleansed of everything that had weighed you down in this life, freeing you once and for all of the obligations and demands forced on you by the society around you. You are no longer a mortal being, but something else. Once it happens, there's no need to worry about things such as "heaven" or "hell," the "eternal reward" or whatever else might be awaiting us beyond Death's all-blinding veil.
But what might happen once one confronts that veil? Philosophers from other lands, even those whose ideas had gained some social foothold in the Land of the Rising Sun, had wondered about that for ages. There have been times when people have actually tried to see what might lurk beyond that veil. Near-death experiences from across the lands and across the ages have shed some light on what just might await someone when s/he enters the "next life." There are no true answers, though.
Save for those who actually do pass through that veil.
And might have the luck of actually coming back as witness the case of . . .
(Posted Tue, 12 Sep 2006 21:36)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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