[Buddha-l] Zen War Guilt/Zen and the Sword and Korean Skeletons
curt
curt at cola.iges.org
Tue Aug 23 19:54:12 MDT 2005
Thank you for this note. This caused me to do a little
more digging. Syngman (now I know that is the way
its usually spelled in English) Rhee's "contribution"
to Korean Buddhism was to favor the "Chogye"
order over the the "Taego" - the Chogye claiming
to be upholders of "traditional" Korean Buddhism -
their main claim to fame being that Chogye monks
are celibate (although they aren't really - they just
aren't allowed to get married, but it is not uncommon
for them to have girlfriends) - while the Taego order
continues the practice "introduced" (to put it nicely)
by the Japanese during the occupation, of having married
priests. I had been under the impression that Rhee's support
of the Chogye order was motivated by a desire to use
"traditional Korean Buddhism" as part of his attempt to
shore up popular support for himself as a nationalist.
But now it looks to me more like he was intentionally
goading the rival Buddhist factions to fight each other
in order to weaken Buddhism. My grandteacher was
a big-shot in the Chogye order - so Rhee's support of
the Chogye order (to the extent that it is talked about)
is seen by them as having been a good thing - but maybe,
or maybe even probably, it was a bad thing for Korean
Buddhism.
Do you think it is fair to say that the Chogye order is
generally allied to the conservative political forces that
supported both Syngman Rhee and Park Chung Hee?
Oh, and even though Rhee wasn't a "military" dicatator,
he did declare martial law once right before an election
(which, surprise, he won) - so that almost counts.
- Curt
G. McLoughlin wrote:
>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
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>_______________________________________________
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>>
>>
>>
>
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