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

[G. McLoughlin]

Just a note that Singman Rhee was a civilian dictator
(at the end)and a Christian.

--- curt <curt at cola.iges.org> wrote:

> 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
> >
> >
> >_______________________________________________
> >buddha-l mailing list
> >buddha-l at mailman.swcp.com
> >http://mailman.swcp.com/mailman/listinfo/buddha-l
> >
> >
> >  
> >
> _______________________________________________
> buddha-l mailing list
> buddha-l at mailman.swcp.com
> http://mailman.swcp.com/mailman/listinfo/buddha-l
> 


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com