To: Pogeu Mahone who wrote (256726 ) 6/25/2010 2:21:37 PM From: bentway Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 306849 Read and learn, idiot:siliconinvestor.com "The word Shinto ("Way of the Gods") was adopted from the written Chinese (??),[3] combining two kanji: "shin" (??), meaning kami; and "to" (??), or "do" meaning a philosophical path or study (originally from the Chinese word tao).[2][3] Kami are defined in English as "spirits", "essences" or "deities", that are associated with many understood formats; in some cases being human-like, in others being animistic, and others being associated with more abstract "natural" forces in the world (mountains, rivers, lightning, wind, waves, trees, rocks). Kami and people are not separate; they exist within the same world and share its interrelated complexity.[2] There are currently 119 million official practitioners of Shinto in Japan,[4] although a person who practices any manner of Shinto rituals may be so counted. The vast majority of Japanese people who take part in Shinto rituals also practice Buddhist ancestor worship. However, unlike many monotheistic religious practices, Shinto and Buddhism typically do not require professing faith to be a believer or a practitioner, and as such it is difficult to query for exact figures based on self-identification of belief within Japan. Due to the syncretic nature of Shinto and Buddhism, most "life" events are handled by Shinto and "death" or "afterlife" events are handled by Buddhism—for example, it is typical in Japan to register or celebrate a birth at a Shinto shrine, while funeral arrangements are generally dictated by Buddhist tradition—although the division is not exclusive." Buddhism HAS NO "gods". They're only the same to a small minded, jingoistic moron without any education.