Training - Shugyo

Japanese: 修行 - しゅぎょう

As typified by the term "Buddhist training," it is originally a systematic practice of physical and mental training imposed for the realization of religious goals. This term is used not only in Buddhism, but also in a wide range of areas in the history of world religions, from the monastic life of Catholic monasteries, the various practices obligatory for Muslims (such as fasting and pilgrimages), the purification training seen in Japan's Shinto, to the spiritual power-gathering practices of professional priests and sorcerers in primitive religions. At the heart of it all is a common recognition that mastering the mysteries and secret arts of each religion or perfecting one's high level of personality as a religious person cannot be achieved without strict practice based on certain standards.

In the religious world as well as in secular society in general, training refers to seeking out a master to hone one's skills in various arts and crafts. Even in this case, it contained the spiritual meaning of not just acquiring skills but also developing a person along with the skills, but in recent years this meaning has become extremely diluted, and training has increasingly become synonymous with training or study.

[Kouichi Matsumoto]

Religious training

In order to achieve the above-mentioned goals, many religions have established various ethical practice items and religious codes of life. Many of these have strict asceticism and self-control content, and are generally called precepts or codes of conduct, but they are based on the idea of the correlation between the mind and the body, which seeks to control the mind through physical practice.

When one intentionally and thoroughly tortures the body, which is the basis of earthly desires, it is called asceticism, but not all asceticism is asceticism. For example, the asceticism of early Buddhism preached by the Buddha is said to be a moderate practice that avoids both the extremes of easy and difficult. However, asceticism, whether autonomous or heteronomous, involves fitting one's life into a specific framework of actions, and does not allow for freedom or indulgence, and in that sense it can be said that there is an element of asceticism in all asceticism. True freedom for a practitioner is found within the framework that regulates one's life, yet beyond that framework, and the stricter the framework of the asceticism, the greater the joy one experiences. This is what makes asceticism so appealing, and this is also one of the reasons why practitioners generally tend to seek difficult practices rather than easy ones.

[Kouichi Matsumoto]

Cultural training form

The form of religious training varies depending on the doctrine and traditions of the religious organization. It can be static, such as sitting in silence, meditating, or fasting, or dynamic, such as mountain climbing, pilgrimages to sacred sites, or begging. There are also various types of training, such as those done alone or in organized groups, and differences in the training locations, such as indoors and outdoors. However, one of the original characteristics of religious training was the repeated practice of simple physical actions, such as worship and chanting, without any logic.

Today's form of religious training is a complex system of various such basic training acts, and is often related to rituals, rites, and other religious events. In that sense, the form of religious training is a stylized culture. Training is carried out in accordance with the patterns of behavior (precepts and norms) that have been handed down as culture. In religions that aim to experience oneness with a transcendental absolute being and to embody inherent truth, the significance of training is particularly emphasized, and in places of collective training such as monasteries and monasteries, these codes of conduct for training must be strictly maintained. The true value of religious training is to accept these codes of conduct as one's own problem and to actively regulate oneself in order to realize religious ideals.

[Kouichi Matsumoto]

"Kishimoto Hideo Collection 3: The Psychology of Faith and Training (1975, Keiseisha)" ▽ "The Problem of Practice in Buddhism, edited by the Japanese Association for Buddhist Studies (1965, Heirakuji Shoten)" ▽ "Sasaki Hiromoto et al. (eds.), Modern Religion 4: Training (1981, Shunjusha)" ▽ "Yamaori Tetsuo, The Structure and Archetype of Japanese Religious Culture (1980, University of Tokyo Press)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

仏道修行ということばで代表されるように本来は宗教上の目的実現のために課せられた身心鍛練の組織的な実践である。ひとり仏教ばかりでなく、カトリック僧院の修道生活、イスラム教徒に義務づけられた種々の行法（たとえば断食(だんじき)や巡礼など）、またわが国の神道(しんとう)にみられる禊(みそぎ)の錬成から、未開宗教の職能的祭祀(さいし)者や呪術(じゅじゅつ)師における霊力獲得の修法に至るまで、世界の宗教史の幅広い領域でこの語が使用されている。その底には、各宗教の奥義や秘術の体得あるいは宗教者としての高度な人格の完成は、一定の規範に基づいた厳しい実践がなければ達せられないという共通の認識がある。

　また宗教の世界ばかりでなく一般の世俗社会でも、諸芸諸道に熟達するために師匠を求めて腕を磨くことを修行という。この場合でも単に技を習得するのみでなく、技とともに人間をもつくるという精神的意味が含まれていたが、近年この意義はきわめて希薄となり、修行は修業あるいは習業への傾斜を強めている。

［松本晧一］

宗教上の修行

前述の目的実現のため多くの宗教はさまざまな倫理的実践項目や宗教上の生活規範を設けている。それらの多くは厳しい禁欲克己的な内容をもっており、一般に戒律や行持(ぎょうじ)規範などといわれているが、身体の実践を通して精神をコントロールしようとする身心相関の考え方を基調とする。

　煩悩(ぼんのう)の基盤としての肉体を意図的に徹底して苦しめる場合は、苦行といわれるが、修行がすべて苦行とは限らない。たとえば仏陀(ぶっだ)によって説かれた原始仏教の修行は、難易いずれの両極端を避けた中道主義という。しかし、修行は、自律・他律のいずれであっても、ある特定の行為の枠の中へ自らの生活を当てはめていくのであるから自由放縦は許されず、その意味ではいかなる修行にも苦行的要素は存するものといえる。修行者にとっての真の自由とは、生活を規制する枠の中にあって、しかもその枠を超えたところにみいだされるのであり、そこで体得される喜びは修行の枠が厳しければ厳しいほど大きいものとなる。修行の魅力はそこにあり、一般に修行者が易行よりも難行を求める傾向もここに一因する。

［松本晧一］

文化としての修行形態

宗教修行の形式は教理や教団の伝統によって異なる。静坐(せいざ)や瞑想(めいそう)、断食のような静態的なものから、山岳の登攀(とうはん)や回峰、聖地の巡礼や托鉢(たくはつ)のように動的なものもある。また単独で行うもの、集団で組織的に行うもの、屋内と屋外の修行の場の相異などさまざまあるが、元来、宗教修行の一つの特徴は礼拝や口唱のように理屈を抜きにした単純な身体行為の反復実践にあった。

　今日の宗教修行の形態はそうしたもろもろの基本的な修行行為が複合した体系であり、儀礼や祭祀その他の宗教諸行事にかかわっている面が多い。その意味では、宗教修行の形態は様式化された一つの文化である。修行は文化として伝承されてきたこの行動様式（戒律や規範）にのっとって行われることになる。超越的絶対者との合一体験や内在的真理の体現を目ざす宗教においては、とくに修行のもつ意義が強調され、修道院や僧堂などの集団修行の場では、こうした修行の行為規範が厳重に維持されなければならない。宗教修行の本領は、宗教上の理想実現のためこうした行為規範を自らの問題として受け入れ、積極的に自己を規制してゆくことにある。

［松本晧一］

『『岸本英夫集3　信仰と修行の心理』（1975・渓声社）』▽『日本仏教学会編『仏教における行の問題』（1965・平楽寺書店）』▽『佐々木宏幹他編『現代宗教4　修行』（1981・春秋社）』▽『山折哲雄著『日本宗教文化の構造と祖型』（1980・東京大学出版会）』

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例

<<: Execution - Shugyo

>>: Bishop - English