Other Natural Religions

[Bharatvarsh2]

And why does Modi have to approach Japan with *Buddhism* as "common ground" rather than approach Japan using a heathen affinity between Shinto and Hindu religion as common ground?

Japanese Shingon Buddhists aren't the only ones that do Gomas (Homas) in Japan, Shintos do it too. And some Shintos - in the past - used proper Vedic rituals (instead of the Bauddhised variations used by Buddhists).



Why couldn't Modi have stopped by ancient Shinto shrines in Japan first, especially since Japan is a Shinto nation not a Buddhist one (at most it can be described as a somewhat Bauddhicised yet nevertheless Shinto nation). And also, Shinzo Abe is IIRC Shinto. How would Hindus like it if every western delegate always visited christian churches in India and declared to christianise India so that he could attract more Indian christian tourists to European churches? Isn't that what Modi is doing with his "Buddha diplomacy"?

From your post on September 02, 2014.



In case you are unaware and you know Japanese, consult the early 1800's Shintoist Hirata Atsutane's Indo zoshi where he seemed to have explored connections between Hindu and Shinto pantheons. I have seen excerpts from it like this where he labeled Buddha a fraud who subverted the Vedic religion:



https://twitter.com/Rjrasva/status/498169191229583360



Watarai Ieyuki the Ise priest of the 14th century equated Vishnu with Kunitokotachi no Mikoto and Brahma with Ame no Minakanushi no Kami.



I raised some of these same points during Modi's visit:



https://twitter.com/Rjrasva/status/507323592950829056



Also suggested a visit to Ise.



Balagangadhar Tilak apparently wrote some essays comparing the Hindu and Shinto pantheons. I haven't found them yet but apparently they are in Part 2 of this book:



https://archive.org/details/vedicchronologya033083mbp



It was brought out in print for Tilak's sons by an obscure publisher named Devagirikar trust.



He also convinced the Nepal Raja to send Hindu students to Japan to learn from them and they were joined in this by a couple of his associates Vasukaka and Khadilkar. Their descendants recorded a fiery speech of Tilak's wherein he praised the uShAputra-s for defeating the chIna-s in the 1894-95 yuddha and asked what made them win? He then suggested to his associates to make a comparative study of Japan, Germany, and Ireland. He tried to get Germany to supply technical knowledge to Vasukaka & Khadilkar so they could start arms factory in Nepal to attack Brits. He thought if Nepal could be made to emulate Japan then even rest of Bharat could slowly follow with Nepal serving as the base for svarAjya. Vasukaka went to Japan with Nepali students & his descendants even started Japanese language courses in Poona but none of them had the political acumen of Tilak or wider understanding to achieve more.



see:



https://twitter.com/Rjrasva/status/519832220811661312



More recently Prof. Lokesh Chandra has written extensively on interactions with NE Asia & Mongolia but his focus is on Bauddha transmissions.