Finding Similar Threads in Different Traditions

        I found the reading in Discourses of the Vanishing to be extremely thought-provoking particularly in regards to how the attitudes regarding death in the Japanese culture translated into actions. I was especially interested in the ongoing interaction the Japanese had with the deceased. They would constantly leave food for the deceased to eat stating that they were always hungry, and would assist the deceased in building their stone stupas (shakuto) so as to make the workload easier. I found this particularly interesting because it is so different than the notions that we are used to in the Christian-based western world where many believe that the dead should be remembered and honored, but we generally don't believe that our actions on earth will carry-into the afterlife for them. It was also interesting that as much help as their family and friends on earth gave the deceased, it was never enough and the pile of rocks would always be destroyed. What motivated these people to continue to spend so much of their time and money working towards helping the deceased when there was no apparent evidence that their actions were helping? Why are their beliefs regarding their family and friends in the afterlife so different from those in the western world, particularly in the Christian faith? How do the other aspects of the Christian and traditional Japanese faith compare? Are they all so different?
        It was also surprising that this very deeply spiritual practice was coupled with the highly systematic and business-like aspect of the temple organization. There were strict rules, even regarding the spiritual practices of the itako or blind mediums. The temple seemed to "privatize" the spiritual, in a sense. They decided what was appropriate and what wasn't--even within the realm of the spiritual--and it was accepted. How is a place that is so profoundly spiritual have so much overlap with business and politics? It is a question that has been raised countless times in seemingly every organized religious tradition: Can the two, politics and the spiritual, coincide or are they mutually-exclusive? Are these structural organizations necessary to maintain a sense of order within the spiritual? Despite the fact that Japanese traditional religion is vastly different in ideology and principle than many other religions, they still have the same issues and questions raised. It's interesting that even though the practices and ideologies of the traditional Japanese religion are quite different than those of some of the western religions, like Christianity, they both struggle with the same issue of politics and the structural component of religion.