Paying respects at a shrine may simply involve compliance with convention, but does that make one a Shintoist?

Green Shinto friend Anu has written recently of the difficulties involved in defining Hinduism.  The piece can be found on her blog, www.allabouthinduism.info, and comes at a time when Hindu politics are very much in the news through the likely victory in the coming election of the Hindu Nationalist BJP.  The similarities with Shinto are striking, so much indeed that with a few modifications to the following article it would virtually be possible to substitute Shinto for Hinduism.   It certainly gives food for thought…

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What makes a Hindu ?

I have been pondering over this question for a while. And the truth is I am struggling to come up with a clear definition. It has been equally hard to find an academic definition that works.

Simply speaking, ‘Hindu’ is a term given to and adopted by the people who lived on the other side of the Sindhu River i.e the Indian sub-continent. This is primarily a geographical definition and is both inadequate and largely irrelevant in our times. There are as many non-Hindus in India today as there are Hindus outside India.

People pay respects to the kami in different ways, but can one say they are following Shinto?

One could say a Hindu is a person who follows Hinduism.  Which is true to some extent but not entirely and not as simple as it sounds. ‘Following Hinduism’ takes many forms.  For under the umbrella of Hinduism there are myriad sects, traditions and schools of thought.  Some shockingly different from each other yet co-existing as part of one.

For instance,while a majority of Hindus worship the extensive pantheon of gods, there is a section that worships only the nameless, formless form of God.  While some believe in the non-dual aspect of God many others believe there is a fine veil that separates individual consciousness from the cosmic consciousness and the two can never truly merge.

The gods themselves look different and are called by different names across various regions.  Same festivals are celebrated in various ways and traditions too have their regional differences.  Even the popular mythological tales have their own regional flavour, meshed with local folklore and told in regional languages.

To make matters even more complicated, different Hindus may follow some or neither of these traditions, subscribe to some or none of these beliefs and still hold on to their Hindu Identity.  Furthermore, you may be an atheist, not believe in God and still be a Hindu.

Following Shinto practices such as receiving fortune-telling slips does not necessarily make one a believer in the kami

Perhaps, a Hindu is determined by birth. Yes, that is often the case but not always.  Increasingly, across the world, there are many who are not born into Hindu households yet adopt some of its tenets and consider themselves Hindus.  At the same time there is no concept of conversion in Hinduism.  You are a Hindu if you think you are !

With no single founder or authority at its centre, Hinduism has evolved organically over a long period of time.  There is no single text laying out the rules of conduct or answers to existential or ethical questions.  In fact, in Sanskrit there is no real equivalent of the word ‘religion’ [there was no word for religion in Japanese until modern times].

To give a religious identity to a group of people based on a such a diverse social system leads to stereotypical definitions. For example, Hindus follow the caste system, have several gods, believe in idol worship, are vegetarians, view cows as sacred etc, etc.  All of which are true only in part.  There are of course some common beliefs like karma or re-incarnation but these beliefs are not confined to Hinduism alone.

In short the Hindu identity is as complex as Hinduism itself and almost impossible to define without falling into stereotypical cliches.  I personally think that for a Hindu identity stems as much from a sense of shared heritage and culture (either by birth or by choice) as it does from belonging to a religious group or praying to certain deities. Sometimes even more so.