The Philosophical Implication of God in Mainstream Japanese Religions

The popularity of “Made in Japan”, “Cool Japan”, Japanese ethics, and
its economic miracle has drawn the world’s attention. Similarly, Japanese philosophy and the philosophy of Japanese religions have the same attraction and uniqueness. However, very few academic texts reflected the uniqueness of the philosophical implication of God in Japanese religious philosophy in a single research article, let alone the non-academic and popular ones. My paper addresses this gap and puts the philosophical implication of God in Japanese mainstream religions. The paper finds that, unlike the popular Western and Abrahamic notions of God, who created everything with the ‘word’ while being beyond the existence of the material universe, the God in Japanese Shintoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism is an integral part of material existence. The Japanese Gods, thus, are seen to be a part of the creation itself, whereas the Omni-God of Western philosophy is uncreated, yet the first cause of the existence of every being. God’s being an integral part of the creation in Japanese religions dignifies the existence of every being since all have the potential to be part of God.