[Buddha-l] Chinese Zen connections with the martial arts

[Erik Hoogcarspel]

curt schreef:

> Aside from specific instances of Zen-Samurai relatedness,
> or lack thereof, there is something inherently militaristic
> about monasticism. A monastery is basically a large garrison
> of men who are already organized in a highly hierarchical
> way - and who are trained to, above all else, follow orders.
> All they need is weapons and you've got yourself a very
> nice little army of your own. A guy named Frederich Engels
> noted the tendency of Monasteries to be "called up" to provide
> troops to put down peasant uprisings during the so-called
> "Peasant Wars" (but I think that Engels guy might have been
> a communist!). Also, Christian monks played an important role
> in the violent suppression of Paganism during Late Antiquity,
> at least according to two recent books:
> "Christianity and Paganism in the Fourth to Eighth Centuries"
> by Ramsay McMullen:
> http://www.yale.edu/history/faculty/macmullen.html
> and "There is No Crime for Those Who Have Christ"
> by Michael Gaddis:
> http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/9582.html

The relation between the millitary and monasticism has been investigated by Michel Foucault. See his 'Surveillance and punishment' (Surveiller et Punir). He found that the armies and strategies we have today are very much influenced by the dicipline that was invented by the monks.
 
Erik


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