Q. Does some knowledge belong only to particular communities of knowers?
I have chosen Japanese amulet as my object to consider about in ToK. In my opinion, it symbolises the belief that Japanese still have even though not many people are not Buddhist anymore.
In Japan, this amulet is sold in shrines which Japan have a lot all around the country. There are multiple function for amulets such as education, health, love life and happiness in general. In Japanese tradition, we visit shrine every year at the beginning of the year for praying for a good year. However, we sometimes visit shrines which are historically famous and when we do so, we buy the amulet for souvenir. When the function of the amulet have been achieved or when it is one year buying, we bring it to shrine for “Otakiage” which is burning it in a certain way to thank the god.
I think this is a really obvious and clear examples of believes that we have. There are no specific evidence which proves Buddhism or the power of the amulet, thus it is only the people’s belief that they can protect us. Considering these, I think these have a big affect in our mental relieve since we feel like we are protected by something even it is not proven by scientific evidence.
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