Japan has numerous temples, as well as a huge game show industry. The city of Kyoto is Japan's cultural capital and home to many of its Buddhist temples. Kiyomizu-dera or "Pure water temple" has an abundance of activities within its gates. Visitors are expected to drink from one of the three sacred streams, but if they drink from all three, they are considered greedy and will have bad luck in the future. Kiyomizu-dera also features a pair of "love stones," which are spaced 20 feet apart. If a visitor can walk with their eyes closed from one stone to the other, then they will find love in the future. Perhaps the most game show-like task at Kiyomizu temple is simply to jump off of it. Historically, 234 people have jumped from Kiyomizu temple, a fall of 13 meters awaited them. Over 15 percent of the risk-takers didn't survive. Today however, it is considered too dangerous and has become illegal. The outrageous, sometimes silly challenges that are performed regularly on Japanese game shows are in keeping with the 234 people who jumped for good luck at Kiyomizu temple.
Outside of Kyoto
Few Buddhists temples lack a form of activity for good luck. The Todaiji Temple in Nara features a wooden pole with a hole in the middle. If a visitor can go through the hole, they will achieve enlightenment. Of course, this really just depends on the physical size of the person, which therefore makes nearly all school children eligible for enlightenment. In the major city of Nagoya, visitors must find a key at the end of dark tunnel. In the largest Metropolis in the world, Tokyo, visitors rub the head of a golden statue at Asakusa Shrine for good luck.
The connection with Japan
Buddhism did not create game shows. However, in Japan Buddhism had given the people a feeling of comfort and familiarity with games and activities. In the case of Buddhist temples, these activities were for luck or enlightenment, but in game shows they were for cars or cash prizes. When the conventional game show lost its viewing audience in U.S., it stayed stable in Japan. The US still had popular game shows like JEOPARDY!, and Wheel of Fortune, but they shifted towards reality TV. The show Survivor was suitable for American audiences, but Survivor Japan did not do as well with Japanese audiences. Whether a family in Japan is religious or not, few people haven't been to a temple. It exposed Japanese to these activities (and watching them) as a way of relaxation.
Temples and game shows in China
In South Korea and Taiwan there is similar enthusiasm for game shows, as well as having a Buddhist following. However in China we hit a paradox. Unlike Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, China faced religious persecution from its various Communist leaders. Only until relatively recently was religion so openly practiced. During Mao's Cultural Revolution, anyone who displayed wealth was considered a "revolutionary" and could be physically beaten or killed. During this time period, monks were criticized for the clothes they wore and the magnificent temples they lived in. Religion had taken a serious hit. The media of China (even today) is tightly controlled. Movie scenes that are deemed questionable, are removed, a board of censors controls TV channels and more famously the "Great Fire Wall of China" controls the internet. In other words, it was hard for Buddhism to crawl back from near destruction under Mao, and more difficult for the media to show the type of shows it felt like airing.
As time passed, the ruling party of China relaxed its laws a bit toward religion. Once again Buddhist temples had activities that visitors could partake in. But something was different now -- you had to pay to play. Although there are some temples in other parts of East Asia that do this, almost all of China's temples have activities that require visitors to pay. The city of Yangzhou has a number of famous old temples. In one temple, visitors throw coins into the top of a cauldron, the higher tier in which your coins land, the luckier you will become. Visitors can also purchase a wooden block, whereupon their name is written and it is put into the ceiling. You can regularly see monks touting clear tubs of RMB (Chinese currency). The irony lies in the countless beggars outside the temple grounds. Visitors are hesitant to give money to them, yet they freely toss money into the cauldron. China does have game shows, but they are more focused on question and answer type of games. In order for China to have the enthusiasm of game shows as its other Buddhist neighbors, a more open media outlet would have to be created.
Buddhism facilitated game show development
In conclusion, we can see that Buddhist temples certainly have a game show element to them. In the U.S. and Europe it is more difficult to find activities and games within a church, though some do exist. This personal familiarity and comfort with Buddhist temples led Japanese, Taiwanese and South Koreans to tune in to game shows more than their contemporaries in the West. These activities can be free, or as we see in Chinese Buddhist temples they can cost money. It seems that though Buddhism didn't create the game show, it certainly facilitated its development and popularity in East Asia.
Sources
Morton, W. Scott. Japan its History and Culture. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005.
Will Harasta - Will Harasta is a Historian without a degree, a sword without a sheath and a book without a bookmark. He lives in both Wudang Monastery, ...
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