[Buddha-l] Zen War Guilt/Zen and the Sword

[curt]

To make a proper assessment of the "guilt" of Japanese Zen
during WWII requires putting the actions of the Japanese Zen
establishment into the proper context. That context, in my opinion,
would be the 2500 year history of Buddhism's interactions with
the political establishments of the Asian countries in which
Buddhism has thrived. In that context I would suggest that there
is absolutely nothing extraordinary about the complicity of the
Buddhist (not just Zen) establishment in the sins of Japanese
Empire. Where has Buddhism ever set itself up as a center of
opposition to an unjust political regime?

The reason why this is such an "issue" is that the generation of
naive hippies who adopted Zen in the 60's and 70's projected
their own half-baked pacifistic delusions onto their newfound
Religion - without ever bothering to check whether or not there
was any basis in reality for this assumption (but that is the nature
of projection and delusion, is it not?). The inevitable result of this
naivete is the ongoing shock and outrage - which is mostly
devoid of any attempt to deal with the realities and the complexities
of Buddhism's history of craven relationships with the political
classes of the countries in which it has existed for over two thousand
years.

One is justified in asking: hadn't people ever heard of WWII?
The horrific acts of the Japanese Empire (which was already
well underway long before Hitler was elected) have never been
classified information. They are less well publicized than the
Nazi holocaust, but wouldn't it be reasonable that those who
embraced "tea ceremony" and other obvious Japanese cultural
baggage as somehow essential to Zen should educate themselves
at least a little on the recent history of the Zen "homeland"?

In the interest of full disclosure: I am a student of Korean Zen.
Korean Zen has its own very interesting skeletons in its closet -
believe me. But I have made sure to find out as much as I can
about the strange bedfellows of the Korean Buddhist establishment -
which jumped into bed with the military dictator Singman Rhee
without batting an eye (and not without some justification - the
alternatives were not very good).

Personally I think people would be better off reading Edward
Said's "Orientalism" that Brian Victoria's books. Victoria's books
basically just list the symptoms - Said investigates the disease itself.

- Curt

Stephen Hopkins wrote:

>Denizens -
>
>As I understand it, following the publication of Brian Victoria's 'Zen War
>Stories' (together with Ina Buitendijk's letter writing campaign, and, it
>appears, also prompted by 9/11) an apology was forthcoming from Myoshin-ji,
>and other groups for, baldly speaking, Zen's 'war guilt'.  (As Victoria
>points out, the Soto sect had apologised in 1993.)
>
>Do list members know where I might find out more (in English, I'm afraid)
>about the current state of play in regard to Japanese Buddhist recognition
>of their role in WW2 (and other conflicts), and in regard to the vexed
>question of the evolution of the relationship of Zen and the sword?  Are
>list members, for example, troubled by Victoria's 1997 question 'is the
>vaunted unity between Zen and the sword an orthodox or heretical doctrine?'
>(Or, for that matter, his April 2003 statement: "I will go so far as to say
>that institutional Zen Buddhism in Japan is not Buddhism. And therefore,
>what has passed as Zen has for a very long time been a distortion of
>Buddhist teachings'?)  Finally, do list members know of a good post Victoria
>reassessment of DT Suzuki?
>
>Sincerely,
>
>Steve Hopkins
>
>
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