Japanese Buddhist Temple

Mr X went to another shrine last weekend in Japan. I was trying to do some research to see what type of shrine it was and I think it was a Buddhist temple rather than a shrine. Apparently if it's Shinto then it's a shrine and if it's Buddhist then it's a temple. I believe that the Shinto religion has a lot of Buddhist influences today and I honestly don't know that much about either religion. What I have learned is that Buddhism and Shintoism are the most predominate religions in Japan. About 84-96% of those that follow a religion are Buddhists/Shintoists. But interestingly enough only about 30% of the population of Japan actually associate themselves with a religion at all.

On a lot of the buildings and statues at this shrine there were what appeared to be Nazi symbols, which surprised both Mr X and I. But I checked that out too and apparently the
swastika is a symbol of good luck for Hindus and Buddhists and these symbols are actually inverted compared to the Nazi one. I'm going to have Mr X send me one of the pictures of this "good luck" symbol so I can post it for you.

Mr X reports that there were all of these "ashtray" looking things all over the place where people were lighting and then placing sticks of incense. I read about it and "it is reputed to be a method of purifying the surroundings, bringing forth an assembly of Buddhas, Bodhisattva's, gods, demons, and the like."