A Modern Buddhist Ghost Story

Recently my wife shared a certain Youtube channel in Japanese by a Nichiren priest¹ who lives in Kyoto. It’s a nice channel with some good Dharma talks, and good English translations via closed-captioning. In particular, she shared this video with me. The owner does not allow embedding into the blog, so you’ll have to click on the link above instead.

This is a story from the priest’s own childhood and reflects a Japanese sentiment that the dead remain with us for some time. This is not always seen as a bad thing, just more of a sensitivity to death and mortality, especially the loss of loved ones. It also plays into various practices and superstitions as well, which are too many to go into here. Also, the word “gacha-gacha” are the little capsule machines in Japan that have knick-knacks, toys and such.

Japanese ghost stories, such as those in the famous collection Kaidan (or Kwaidan in older spellings) are not the same as ghost stories in the West which tend to focus on evil or tragic stories. Japanese ghost stories, by contrast, tend to be more weird and less scary. Of course, there are exceptions such as the films The Ring and The Grudge. So, it’s not all roses.

But I digress. The video above is actually a very interesting story, and well worth watching. Enjoy!

P.S. of course if you don’t believe in ghosts or prefer not to deal with them, remember this scene from Thor: Ragnarok:

¹ For various and complicated reasons, Nichiren Buddhism tends to have a lot of sub-sects, and they frankly don’t always get along. Most overseas Westerners tend to encounter fringe sects and offshoots² such as Nichiren Shoshu or more oftentimes SGI (Soka Gakkai), or Rissho Kosei-kai. I have had positive experiences with RKK myself, though I am not a follower. But it’s important to remember that these are offshoots, and not necessarily “normative” Nichiren Buddhism. Mainstream Nichiren Buddhism, or Nichiren-shu, is the mainstream branch and has the most extensive history. It is what you see most often in Japan. They all chant the odaimoku (Namu Myoho Renge Kyo), but disagree on matters of interpretation and practice. As the Romans would say: Caveat Emptor.

² This issue of fringe sects having many followers in the West is not limited to Nichiren Buddhism. You can find this in western Tibetan Buddhist communities, Zen communities, etc. Westerners are often converts with zero experience in Buddhist culture, and looking for answers. It’s not hard for a cult to gain followers easily this way, even when the home culture rejects them. I wish I could offer advice on this, but there’s not much I can say other than do your homework, be cautious, and if a sect’s claims seem outlandish no matter how much you might agree with them, they probably are outlandish.