[Buddha-l] RE: Buddhism and Politics - Buddhism and fascism

[Leigh Goldstein (d)]

-----Original Message-----
From: Stuart Lachs [mailto:slachs at worldnet.att.net] 
Sent: Monday, July 25, 2005 6:45 PM
To: Buddhist discussion forum
Subject: Re: [Buddha-l] Buddhism and Politics


 Sally McAra wrote:
.
>> For example, take Sri Lanka, where there is a politicised movement 
>> among
>Buddhists that might seem xenophobic, e.g. outlawing christian
proselytisation - but they
> are trying to fend off some quite aggressive christian missionisation.
Does that make them > nationalists? I don't know enough about it to hazard a
guess.

Here are quotes from a translation of a book by Yasutani Roshi, I believe
edited from an article by Brian Victoria called "What did you do doing the
war Sensei" in Tricycle (probably in the fall 1999 issue).

-------------------------------------------

"[The Jews' have a] treacherous design to usurp [control of] and dominate
the entire world, thus provoking the great upheavals of today. It must be
said that this is an extreme example of the evil resulting from
superstitious belief and deep-rooted delusion." Victoria further
demonstrates Yasutani's co-opting of religious doctrine in his section on
the precepts in which he quotes Yasutani discussing ."the spirit of the
Mahayana precepts".in reference to." the first precept that forbids the
taking of life." He goes on to quote Yasutani, "However, in killing [the
enemy] one should swallow one's tears, bearing in mind the truth of killing
yet not killing. Failing to kill an evil man who ought to be killed, or
destroying an enemy army that ought to be destroyed, would be to betray
compassion and filial obedience, to break the precept forbidding the taking
of life. This is a special characteristic of the Mahayana precepts."

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or this from here:
http://www.forward.com/issues/1999/99.12.10/featherman.html
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Zen and the Art of Fascist Propaganda: A story in the Fall [1999] issue of
Tricycle: The Buddhist Review exposes the wartime anti-Semitism of a
prominent Japanese Zen master, Yasutani Roshi (1885-1973), who was
instrumental in bringing Zen to America -- and to many American Jews. A Zen
priest who is also a scholar, Brian Victoria, recently uncovered a book that
Yasutani wrote in 1943 espousing jingoistic nationalism, militarism and
rabid anti-Semitism. Amid references to the "demonic teachings" of the
"scheming Jews," the Buddhist sage wrote, "Everyone should act according to
their position in society....It is therefore necessary to thoroughly defeat
the propaganda and strategy of the Jews. That is to say, we must clearly
point out the fallacy of their evil ideas advocating freedom and equality."
As for the Japanese, Yasutani argued that "annihilating the treachery of the
United States and Britain" was the only way to "save the one billion people
of Asia" and construct a "new world order." This, he wrote, was "the
critically important mission to be accomplished by our great Japanese
empire." The Jews, on the other hand, "are caught up in the delusion that
they alone have been chosen by God and are [therefore] an exceptionally
superior people." And although Yasutani never made anti-Semitic statements
in English after the war (a good idea, considering that the man who brought
his teachings to the West, Philip Kapleau, was Jewish), the article says he
did continue to express "ultranationalist" sentiments after the war.
-------------------
There is also:
Yasutani Roshi: The Hardest Koan, an article in Tricycle Fall 1999.