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Zen at War
A compelling history of the contradictory, often militaristic, role of Zen Buddhism, this book meticulously documents the close and previously unknown support of a supposedly peaceful religion for Japanese militarism throughout World War II. Drawing on the writings and speeches of leading Zen masters and scholars, Brian Victoria shows that Zen served as a powerful foundation for the fanatical and suicidal spirit displayed by the imperial Japanese military. At the same time, the author recounts the dramatic and tragic stories of the handful of Buddhist organizations and individuals that dared to oppose Japan's march to war. He follows this history up through recent apologies by several Zen sects for their support of the war and the way support for militarism was transformed into 'corporate Zen' in postwar Japan. The second edition includes a substantive new chapter on the roots of Zen militarism and an epilogue that explores the potentially volatile mix of religion and war. With the increasing interest in Buddhism in the West, this book is as timely as it is certain to be controversial.
310 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
40 people are currently reading
2425 people want to read
About the author
Brian Daizen Victoria
5 books13 followersBrian Daizen A. Victoria is a Zen-priest, living with his family in New Zealand.
He's lecturing on Asian Literature and Language at the University of Auckland.
He is very active in the Human Rights Movement and author of many books about Buddhism.
He's lecturing on Asian Literature and Language at the University of Auckland.
He is very active in the Human Rights Movement and author of many books about Buddhism.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
September 5, 2015
Wow. A stellar book. It's an historical account of Zen Japanese Buddhists participating en mass in WWII imperialism, fascism, racism, militarism, and horrific genocide. When I first read it, I was practicing in one of the Buddhist lineages implicated in its condemnations. An absolutely must-read for Buddhists across the board, for trying to think through how we will not go down this path of injustice. It is written by a Soto Zen Buddhist, and someone as implicated as most of us in the aftermath of the horror it documents.
It also tells the story of an inspiring and remarkable anarcho-communist Japanese Zen priest writing and organizing in the closing years of the 19th century, before his excommunication from the Soto clergy and execution by the Japanese state. Anarcho-communism (under that name) has a wonderful and rich history in Japan, and one that should be an inspiration and challenge to all Buddhists.
It also tells the story of an inspiring and remarkable anarcho-communist Japanese Zen priest writing and organizing in the closing years of the 19th century, before his excommunication from the Soto clergy and execution by the Japanese state. Anarcho-communism (under that name) has a wonderful and rich history in Japan, and one that should be an inspiration and challenge to all Buddhists.
May 12, 2013
Aware of its irony, Ernest Hemingway wore a belt, from a dead WW I German soldier, with the inscription, Gott mitt uns. (God is on our side.) God is on the side of the Germans, on the side of the French, on the side of the British, on the side of the Americans, on the side of the Chinese, on the side of the Japanese. . . .
In Zen at War, what Brian Victoria reveals about Zen should surprise only those who regard it as some kind of holy grail, separate and apart from sordid humankind. The evils of Japan in World War II were nothing new in Zen history, nor in the history of humankind. What may be new to seekers is the realization that enlightenment promises no higher, holier, privileged moral position above the follies and evils of the world. As it always has, morality requires a response grounded in human character and belief in decency for its own sake.
A Soto Zen priest, Victoria reveals Zen history and teaching as violent and its ethics as not always wise. He does not regard Zen as true to Buddhist tradition. A professor at Auckland University, New Zealand, 30 years a Soto priest, his interest is not casual.
In his book, Victoria gives us a different Zen. His version has real people, real egos, and real folly. They are not old men passing on words of wisdom to the young. Consider this by Harada Roshi in 1939: "If ordered to march: tramp, tramp or shoot: bang, bang. This is the manifestation of the highest wisdom of enlightenment. The unity of Zen and war . . . extends to the farthest reaches of the holy war now under way."
The so-called higher wisdom of Zen does not exempt it from the same self-righteousness that prevailed during the Crusades, Christianity against Islam, Islam against Christianity. During World War II, Japan had 70,000 temples, and 200,000 monks and nuns. Nobody protested Japan's barbarisms. Zen Buddhists were deeply involved with the Imperial Japanese War Machine.
History shapes all institutions, be they fascist, communist, democratic, or Zen Buddhist. They and their institutional consciousness become representative of the status quo. It is historical determinism. Even enlightenment experiences allow few exceptions. This partly, not wholly, results from Zen teachings in which the truly enlightened being is devoid of sentimentality. Traditional Japanese Zen is highly regimented, with rigorous training and discipline. In that regard, samadhi, heightened mental, or spiritual power, also plays a role. With samadhi, mind can be put to whatever purpose its owner wishes, including martial arts for warrior practitioners, all in service of a state's place in history.
Originally a meditative practice from China, Zen took root in medieval Japan and changed as it came under protection of the state. Zen was introduced in the Kamakura period with the warrior class in control, as they were for the next 700 years. To become assimilated, Zen catered to the warrior class. Behind monastery walls Samurai warriors learned how to meditate and practice war. Zen monasteries helped evolve the Bushido code. Bushi means warrior; do means the way. Thus the way of the warrior, a code of conduct, arose in the 17th and 18th centuries as an art of killing. Killing with philosophy and in a meditative state of mind.
DT Suzuki made Zen available to the West. From Jack Kerouac and the Beatnik poets to the present day, his books sowed the seeds of Zen as a cultural icon. Zen entered the mainstream with titles such as The Dharma Bums, Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Zen and The Art of Tennis, Finding Your Zen Space. In his own books, Suzuki mentions little of the relationship between Zen and the state. In one work, he writes of the duty of fascists to be good fascists, of citizens to be loyal. In 1896 he published in Japan a book titled New Religion, in which he stated "the first duty of religion is to preserve the existence of the state," calling all foreigners "unruly heathens" who might interfere with this duty of any loyal Japanese. Killing these heathens would be a religious act.
In 1937 the second holocaust occurred, a horrific human disaster, one the public knows little about. Its history was silenced by the Machiavellian need for amicable post-war relations between the United States and Japan. The Rape of Nanking sank human evil and cruelty to a new low. It occurred during the Japanese invasion of Nanking, in which between 200,000 and 300,000 Chinese men, women, and children were raped, brutalized, and massacred. Did DT Suzuki, the venerable sage of Zen protest it? Shortly after the Rape, he had this to say: " The art of swordsmanship distinguishes between the sword that kills and the sword that gives life. The one that is used by a technician cannot go any further than killing. The case is altogether different with the one who is compelled to lift the sword, for it is really not he but the sword itself that does the killing. He has no desire to harm anybody, but the enemy appears and makes himself a victim. It is though the sword automatically performs its function of justice, which is the function of mercy, the swordsman turns into an artist of the first grade, engaged in producing a work of genuine originality. "
Not he but the sword that does the killing? Marvelous. Thereby all blood stains are washed clean.
Japanese Zen accomplished this perversion by manipulating the mind in the fashion of a koan. Originated as a religion of peace, Buddhism has a precept forbidding killing. In the early 20th Century war against Russia, a Zen patriarch said, " Whether one kills or does not kill, the precept of forbidding killing is preserved." In this manner, Zen developed a hard line by softening reason.
By using the concept of enlightenment any sage in any religion can teach that black is white, and white, black, so that morality is subverted. The argument might follow these lines: Everything changes; all is essentially empty. The self is empty. Ergo, killing is empty. If empty, the precept against it is also empty.
By such dialectic the ancient koan dealing with Nansen's Cat can be extended to human beings. Nansen could as easily have said to the Zen students, If you don't answer now, I will cut this man in half.
Our consciences are individual, not national. For man to become men, we must practice prudence on a long-term lease. We must avoid easy, dogmatic, doctrinal answers to existence, including those offered us by the state and by religion.
In this "The War Prayer," Mark Twain exposes the hypocrisy of religion in war time:
O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells . . . for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives . . . We ask it, in the spirit of love . . . with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.
In Zen at War, what Brian Victoria reveals about Zen should surprise only those who regard it as some kind of holy grail, separate and apart from sordid humankind. The evils of Japan in World War II were nothing new in Zen history, nor in the history of humankind. What may be new to seekers is the realization that enlightenment promises no higher, holier, privileged moral position above the follies and evils of the world. As it always has, morality requires a response grounded in human character and belief in decency for its own sake.
A Soto Zen priest, Victoria reveals Zen history and teaching as violent and its ethics as not always wise. He does not regard Zen as true to Buddhist tradition. A professor at Auckland University, New Zealand, 30 years a Soto priest, his interest is not casual.
In his book, Victoria gives us a different Zen. His version has real people, real egos, and real folly. They are not old men passing on words of wisdom to the young. Consider this by Harada Roshi in 1939: "If ordered to march: tramp, tramp or shoot: bang, bang. This is the manifestation of the highest wisdom of enlightenment. The unity of Zen and war . . . extends to the farthest reaches of the holy war now under way."
The so-called higher wisdom of Zen does not exempt it from the same self-righteousness that prevailed during the Crusades, Christianity against Islam, Islam against Christianity. During World War II, Japan had 70,000 temples, and 200,000 monks and nuns. Nobody protested Japan's barbarisms. Zen Buddhists were deeply involved with the Imperial Japanese War Machine.
History shapes all institutions, be they fascist, communist, democratic, or Zen Buddhist. They and their institutional consciousness become representative of the status quo. It is historical determinism. Even enlightenment experiences allow few exceptions. This partly, not wholly, results from Zen teachings in which the truly enlightened being is devoid of sentimentality. Traditional Japanese Zen is highly regimented, with rigorous training and discipline. In that regard, samadhi, heightened mental, or spiritual power, also plays a role. With samadhi, mind can be put to whatever purpose its owner wishes, including martial arts for warrior practitioners, all in service of a state's place in history.
Originally a meditative practice from China, Zen took root in medieval Japan and changed as it came under protection of the state. Zen was introduced in the Kamakura period with the warrior class in control, as they were for the next 700 years. To become assimilated, Zen catered to the warrior class. Behind monastery walls Samurai warriors learned how to meditate and practice war. Zen monasteries helped evolve the Bushido code. Bushi means warrior; do means the way. Thus the way of the warrior, a code of conduct, arose in the 17th and 18th centuries as an art of killing. Killing with philosophy and in a meditative state of mind.
DT Suzuki made Zen available to the West. From Jack Kerouac and the Beatnik poets to the present day, his books sowed the seeds of Zen as a cultural icon. Zen entered the mainstream with titles such as The Dharma Bums, Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Zen and The Art of Tennis, Finding Your Zen Space. In his own books, Suzuki mentions little of the relationship between Zen and the state. In one work, he writes of the duty of fascists to be good fascists, of citizens to be loyal. In 1896 he published in Japan a book titled New Religion, in which he stated "the first duty of religion is to preserve the existence of the state," calling all foreigners "unruly heathens" who might interfere with this duty of any loyal Japanese. Killing these heathens would be a religious act.
In 1937 the second holocaust occurred, a horrific human disaster, one the public knows little about. Its history was silenced by the Machiavellian need for amicable post-war relations between the United States and Japan. The Rape of Nanking sank human evil and cruelty to a new low. It occurred during the Japanese invasion of Nanking, in which between 200,000 and 300,000 Chinese men, women, and children were raped, brutalized, and massacred. Did DT Suzuki, the venerable sage of Zen protest it? Shortly after the Rape, he had this to say: " The art of swordsmanship distinguishes between the sword that kills and the sword that gives life. The one that is used by a technician cannot go any further than killing. The case is altogether different with the one who is compelled to lift the sword, for it is really not he but the sword itself that does the killing. He has no desire to harm anybody, but the enemy appears and makes himself a victim. It is though the sword automatically performs its function of justice, which is the function of mercy, the swordsman turns into an artist of the first grade, engaged in producing a work of genuine originality. "
Not he but the sword that does the killing? Marvelous. Thereby all blood stains are washed clean.
Japanese Zen accomplished this perversion by manipulating the mind in the fashion of a koan. Originated as a religion of peace, Buddhism has a precept forbidding killing. In the early 20th Century war against Russia, a Zen patriarch said, " Whether one kills or does not kill, the precept of forbidding killing is preserved." In this manner, Zen developed a hard line by softening reason.
By using the concept of enlightenment any sage in any religion can teach that black is white, and white, black, so that morality is subverted. The argument might follow these lines: Everything changes; all is essentially empty. The self is empty. Ergo, killing is empty. If empty, the precept against it is also empty.
By such dialectic the ancient koan dealing with Nansen's Cat can be extended to human beings. Nansen could as easily have said to the Zen students, If you don't answer now, I will cut this man in half.
Our consciences are individual, not national. For man to become men, we must practice prudence on a long-term lease. We must avoid easy, dogmatic, doctrinal answers to existence, including those offered us by the state and by religion.
In this "The War Prayer," Mark Twain exposes the hypocrisy of religion in war time:
O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells . . . for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives . . . We ask it, in the spirit of love . . . with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.
February 11, 2021
Книжка висвітлює роль буддизму у становленні мілітаризму в Японії. Можливо, тема здивує тих, хто досі поділяє поширений на Заході стереотип про буддизм як пацифістську релігію. Тим цікавіша вона буде для них, бо за іронією, нерідко популяризаторами буддизму на Заході й прихильниками японського мілітаризму були ті самі люди, наприклад гуру дзену 1960-х Дайсецу Судзукі. На мій посполитий розум книга написана переконливо, але я не великий знавець історії Японії, тому мені важко оцінити її в широкому контексті. До того ж нагуглити щось про цитовані Вікторіа тексти чи їхніх авторів вкрай складно, інформації англійською обмаль, окрім згаданого Судзукі. У будь-якому разі, книзі присвячена розлога стаття у Вікіпедії, далі зупинюсь лише на цікавих мені моментах.
Японський імперіалізм ідейно ґрунтувався на вірі в особливу роль Японії у світі й буддизму тут була відведена не остання роль. Наприклад Anesaki Masaharu, один з провідних інтелектуалів та вчених доби Мейдзі, у 1899 році писав:
Інший інтелектуал, священник секти Дзьодо й ректор Університету Таїшо, Shiio Benkyo в есеї «Імперський буддизм» доступно пояснив підстави подібних тверджень:
Ідея монарха як провідника й захисника буддизму не виникла в Японії, вона прийшла з Китаю. Китайські правителі, своєю чергою, посилались на прецедент Ашоки, який поділяв з Буддою титул Короля Дхарми. Унікально японським було поєднання буддизму з Бусидо. Реставрація Мейдзі скасувала самурайський стан, чим сильно фруструвало японське суспільство. Але з часом місцеві інтелектуали знайшли несподіваний вихід: імператор насправді не скасував самурайство, а всіх підданих прирівняв до самураїв. Тому кожен японець повинен прийняти самурайський кодекс й поводитися відповідно навіть коли має громадянський фах. Якщо облишити інтелектуалів, то втіленням цих ідеалів був полковник Sugimoto Gorō (1900 - 1937) та його тексти, після смерті зібрані й опубліковані під назвою «Великий обов’язок» (Taigi). Він активно ідеалізувався державною пропагандою, а його книжка виходила величезними накладами.
Як взагалі з точки зору буддизму виправдовувалась війна? Відповідь не така складна, як здається. У 1904 році, під час Російсько-Японської війни, Лев Толстой, відомий своїми пацифістськими поглядами, написав листа Sōen Shaku, відомому майстру дзен й буддійському лідеру, в надії, що той приєднається до засудження війни між їхніми країнами, але отримав наступну відповідь:
Війна неминуче зло, яке може привести до спільного блага - пояснення, яке можна уявити й знайоміших нам авраамічних релігіях. Але є цікавіший в плані казуїстики варіант. Зокрема Судзукі писав наступне:
Наведений уривок добре доповнює цитата Ishihara Shummyō, священника секти дзен Сото:
Тобто військова муштра й бездумне виконання наказів прирівнюється до дзенського просвітлення, усуваючи особисту моральну відповідальність.
Після війни, майстри дзен замість тренувати військових знайшли для себе нову царину - «корпоративний дзен». Схоже на «імперський дзен», але культивується не вірність імператору, а компанії. Але припускаю, про феномен каросі ви вже десь чули.
Японський імперіалізм ідейно ґрунтувався на вірі в особливу роль Японії у світі й буддизму тут була відведена не остання роль. Наприклад Anesaki Masaharu, один з провідних інтелектуалів та вчених доби Мейдзі, у 1899 році писав:
Наша Нація єдина справжня буддійська нація серед усіх націй світу. Таким чином, на плечі усієї нації лягає відповідальність за об’єднання східної та західної думки й подальшого розвитку Сходу
Інший інтелектуал, священник секти Дзьодо й ректор Університету Таїшо, Shiio Benkyo в есеї «Імперський буддизм» доступно пояснив підстави подібних тверджень:
Буддизм в Індії зазнав краху через природу індійської культури. Буддизм в Китаї зазнав краху, бо суперечив історії та природі Китайської держави й тому спромігся лише на кілька гірських храмів. З іншого боку, завдяки активному культивуванню буддизму на японському ґрунті, він поступово розвинувся шляхом, яким від початку був спрямований…Основні причини цього безцінні звичаї та манери нашої землі. Їх можна знайти по всій країні, але їхнє серце в імператорі та імператорському домі...
Ідея монарха як провідника й захисника буддизму не виникла в Японії, вона прийшла з Китаю. Китайські правителі, своєю чергою, посилались на прецедент Ашоки, який поділяв з Буддою титул Короля Дхарми. Унікально японським було поєднання буддизму з Бусидо. Реставрація Мейдзі скасувала самурайський стан, чим сильно фруструвало японське суспільство. Але з часом місцеві інтелектуали знайшли несподіваний вихід: імператор насправді не скасував самурайство, а всіх підданих прирівняв до самураїв. Тому кожен японець повинен прийняти самурайський кодекс й поводитися відповідно навіть коли має громадянський фах. Якщо облишити інтелектуалів, то втіленням цих ідеалів був полковник Sugimoto Gorō (1900 - 1937) та його тексти, після смерті зібрані й опубліковані під назвою «Великий обов’язок» (Taigi). Він активно ідеалізувався державною пропагандою, а його книжка виходила величезними накладами.
Як взагалі з точки зору буддизму виправдовувалась війна? Відповідь не така складна, як здається. У 1904 році, під час Російсько-Японської війни, Лев Толстой, відомий своїми пацифістськими поглядами, написав листа Sōen Shaku, відомому майстру дзен й буддійському лідеру, в надії, що той приєднається до засудження війни між їхніми країнами, але отримав наступну відповідь:
Попри те, що Будда забороняв позбавляти життя, він також навчав, що поки всі живі істоти не будуть об'єднані разом через прояв безмежного співчуття, ніколи не буде миру. Тому як засіб для приведення у гармонію тих речей, які несумісні, необхідні вбивства та війна
Війна неминуче зло, яке може привести до спільного блага - пояснення, яке можна уявити й знайоміших нам авраамічних релігіях. Але є цікавіший в плані казуїстики варіант. Зокрема Судзукі писав наступне:
Меч, використаний майстром, не піде далі вбивства, бо він ніколи не звертається до меча, якщо не має наміру вбити. Зовсім інша справа з тим, хто змушений підняти меч. Він не бажав завдати комусь шкоди, але ворог з'являється і робить себе жертвою. Це як би меч автоматично стає з��аряддям справедливості, яке є знаряддям милосердя .... Коли, як очікується, меч відіграватиме таку роль у житті людини, він більше не буде зброєю самозахисту чи знаряддям вбивства, і фехтувальник перетворюється на художника першого класу, причетним до геніального творіння
Наведений уривок добре доповнює цитата Ishihara Shummyō, священника секти дзен Сото:
Дзен особливо ставиться до необхідності не зупиняти свій розум. Коли вдаряють по кременю, спалахує іскра. Між цими двома подіями немає жодного проміжку часу. Якщо наказано “Праворуч!”, людина просто дивиться праворуч зі швидкістю блискавки. Це доказ того, що розум не зупинився. Майстер дзен Такуан навчав... що, по суті, Дзен і Бусідо були єдиним цілим. Далі він навчав, що суть Дхарми Будди - це розум, який ніколи не зупинявся. Отже, коли називають ім’я, наприклад “Уемон!”, слід просто відповісти “Так!”, і не зупинятися, щоб розглянути причину, чому ім’я називали… Я вважаю, що якщо когось закликають померти, йому не варто коливатись. Навпаки, слід потрапити в стан, де щось, що називається “сам”, жодним чином не втручається. Такий стан нічим не відрізняється від того, що походить від практики дзен
Тобто військова муштра й бездумне виконання наказів прирівнюється до дзенського просвітлення, усуваючи особисту моральну відповідальність.
Після війни, майстри дзен замість тренувати військових знайшли для себе нову царину - «корпоративний дзен». Схоже на «імперський дзен», але культивується не вірність імператору, а компанії. Але припускаю, про феномен каросі ви вже десь чули.
July 18, 2012
Buddhists are peace-loving people, right? Here's a book that will surely give you a moment to reconsider how culture shapes religion. Daizen Victoria recounts the history of how Japanese Zen Buddhists and scholars reframed Buddhist doctrine to support and justify Japanese imperialism during and leading up to World War II. It is a classic study that clearly shows how spiritual awakening is not synonymous with mature, worldcentric moral perspectives and values. Daizen Victoria's study is one among other such studies of the limitations of spiritual awakening which together reveal the important truths embodied in Ken Wilber's "integral lattice" model of human development. According to the integral lattice model, in addition to the developmental process called "waking up," there is also an equally important process of "growing up" which involves going beyond egoic and ethnocentric forms of moral reasoning. Spiritual teachers who are considered highly awakened masters aren't necessarily equally mature in their ability to extend compassion to others and can continue to harbor ethnocentric, homophobic, racist, and/or sexist perspectives. Two dimensions of human development: waking up and growing up, processes which are often conflated or confused, especially in spiritual communities who highly value waking up. Daizen Victoria's book is a fascinating and detailed study of a singular case of how religion (Zen Buddhism) must always be understood in its cultural context (Japan of the 1930s/40s).
Read
August 18, 2011Like so many Westerners, I had a very rosy view of Buddhism for a long time. Flash forward a few years, to living in a Buddhist nation, and watch that view fall apart. It's not that I have anything against Buddhism in particular-- I have a thing against organized religion in particular-- but I find it fascinating how a system of belief predicated on anti-essentialism and anti-foundationalism can be as orthodox, dogmatic, and at times downright fascist as Western religions can be.
Victoria, a Zen priest, is able to reconcile his strong religious beliefs with the fact of Buddhist-fascism in early 20th Century Japan, and provides a strong warning against misapplication of religion in modern Buddhism as well. Valuable reading for anyone interested in the history and sociology of religion.
Victoria, a Zen priest, is able to reconcile his strong religious beliefs with the fact of Buddhist-fascism in early 20th Century Japan, and provides a strong warning against misapplication of religion in modern Buddhism as well. Valuable reading for anyone interested in the history and sociology of religion.
April 7, 2017
พุทธศาสนากับการสนับสนุนสงครามและการแผ่ขยายอาณานิคมของจักรวรรดิญี่ปุ่นในช่วง 1868 - 1945
ในหลากหลายนิกาย แต่เน้นไปที่ Zen สายSoto และ Rinzai
หวนให้กลับมาคิดว่า ประเทศไทยในช่วงนั้น พระสงฆ์มีส่วนร่วมอย่างไรบ้างในการสนับสนุนสงครามโลกครั้งที่1 และ2 จนถึงสงครามเวียดนาม
หรือสงครามต่อต้านยาเสพติด (แต่คงจะไม่ได้ออกมาขอโทษเหมือนสองนิกายนี้เป็นแน่แท้)
นอกจากนี้ยังมีคำถามเกี่ยวกับธรรมชาติพุทธศาสนากับการสยบยอมรัฐที่น่าคิดฝากให้ไปศึกษาต่อไป
ขอบคุณวิชาอารยธรรมพุทธศาสนาที่ทำให้ได้มีโอกาสมาค้นคว้าเล่มนี้
ในหลากหลายนิกาย แต่เน้นไปที่ Zen สายSoto และ Rinzai
หวนให้กลับมาคิดว่า ประเทศไทยในช่วงนั้น พระสงฆ์มีส่วนร่วมอย่างไรบ้างในการสนับสนุนสงครามโลกครั้งที่1 และ2 จนถึงสงครามเวียดนาม
หรือสงครามต่อต้านยาเสพติด (แต่คงจะไม่ได้ออกมาขอโทษเหมือนสองนิกายนี้เป็นแน่แท้)
นอกจากนี้ยังมีคำถามเกี่ยวกับธรรมชาติพุทธศาสนากับการสยบยอมรัฐที่น่าคิดฝากให้ไปศึกษาต่อไป
ขอบคุณวิชาอารยธรรมพุทธศาสนาที่ทำให้ได้มีโอกาสมาค้นคว้าเล่มนี้
March 12, 2025
Really insightful though heavily criticized. Am yet to figure out if the criticism is valid
May 7, 2024
It's a good book with much needed corrective. Suffers quite a bit from feeling the need to backdate True Buddhism™ into the mythical period before Ashoka where any assertions can be made without evidentiary hassles. Thereafter, the story of Buddhism is a long downfall of it's co-optation by state power. It's not strictly wrong but the contours of the argument suggest that progress is impossible. Reason tells us we that just as the Observable Universe is not the whole Universe, the cynicism we obtain from knowledge of the known past ought to inform our understanding of that which is still unknown. The only alternative to such an inevitable understanding is redemption. By understanding historical events as "better" or "worse" rather than "good" or "evil." For instance, by seeing Ashoka as a progressive figure in historical context (at least in some respects). The book does not make reference to any of the Maitreyist peasant revolts in China. For that matter, at many points I had to wonder if such emphasis on the evils of Mahayana paradoxically serves to justify Japanese imperialism towards the source of their infection.
May 16, 2019
TL;DR A detailed and critical look at Buddhism, Zen and its relationship to War. Explained with frightening Examples, this work stands out as a great indictment of a religion that has still not dealt with its own responsibility to this day.
What kind of Ideology does it take to get someone to kill himself in its name? You might be quick to think of bearded ISIS fighters blowing themselves up in the name of Allah, or of Crusader Knights conquering the Holy Land in the name of God. But a giant blind sight in my mind were shaven Buddhist priest, calling on people to kill themselves in the name of the Emperor and Enlightenment.
In the Book Zen at War, the Soto Zen Priest and author Brian Daizen Victoria takes a closer look at the relationship between Buddhism in generell and Zen in particular to War. The focus point of this work is in Japan from the Meji-Period to the second World War, up to the postwar years and its trends. These three Epochs also serve as the title of each respective part.
Meji-Period:
Victoria relates how the attempted Suppression of Buddhism has led to its attempt to integrate itself into the state apparatus. Although its not the only factor, it is surprising to see how eager the spiritual leaders of institutional Buddhism tried to gain the favor of the government by changing their dogmas to help uphold the State.
The seeds of what came to be known as Nation Protecting Buddhism (Gokuko-Bukkyo) were also sown in this period. The military discovered the usefulness of the teachings of Zen for example in the Japanese-Russian War. A terrifying and impressive example comes from General Hayashi Senjuro (1876-1943), quoted on P. 31:
"I was in the Ninth Division from Kanazawa. This is a very religious area where faith in the Shin sect is especially strong although we officers in this division were initially unaware of the effectiveness of the Buddhist faith. [...] Many of the causalities were severely wounded and in great pain, but not a single one cried out for help. Instead, they recited the name of Amida Buddha in chorus, even as they died. I was deeply moved by the power of the Buddhist faith as revealed in these soldiers action. [...] When people possessing religious faith stand at the verge of death, they are truly great."
Second World War:
During the Second World War and even before, in the Sino-Japanese War, Buddhism proved to be useful for the imperial Ambitions of Japan. Using their influential position in society, institutional Buddhisms leaders justified Japanese aggression, equating it to a "sacred war" (P.134) on behalf of the conquered! The Japanese imperial army committed so many atrocities that I couldn't begin to list them here, but an example that stuck to my mind was that one of the commanders responsible for the Nanking Massacre brought blood soaked earth back to Japan to make a statue of Buddha out of it.
The interesting aspect is how they used Buddhist teachings to justify killing. Isn't Buddhism supposed to be peace loving and rather pacifist? How did they rationalize this contradiction?
In the analysis of Ichikawa Hakugen, a Rinzai sect priest and scholar, there were twelve doctrinal issues in Buddhism in relation to war and the state, number four of which I would like to elaborate on. On page 172 Victoria writes:
"The fourth characteristic concerned both human rights and justice. Hakugen first introduced the Buddhist doctrine of dependent co-arising or causality, explaining that all phenomena are regarded as being in a constant state of flux, born and dying without any permanent substance to them, empty. When this doctrine is applied to the self, it produces the concept of egolessness or no-self, leaving no room for the independence of the individual."
You don't kill anybody, because the concept of "you" is an illusion and not enlightened. It isn't that you cut somebody's throat, the knife just glided through the constant and ever changing flow of the universe and just happened to meet with someones carotid artery.
The wartime slogan "Exterminate the self and serve the public" is telling.
I immensely liked this book for its scholarly and detailed approach into a subject that I knew very little about. You might think that this should count as a history book, but to this day a lot of the major Buddhist sects of Japan either haven't apologized for their wartime role, done so half heartedly and all of them have failed ask themselves what aspects of their doctrines have helped to create the catastrophe that was WW2.
What kind of Ideology does it take to get someone to kill himself in its name? You might be quick to think of bearded ISIS fighters blowing themselves up in the name of Allah, or of Crusader Knights conquering the Holy Land in the name of God. But a giant blind sight in my mind were shaven Buddhist priest, calling on people to kill themselves in the name of the Emperor and Enlightenment.
In the Book Zen at War, the Soto Zen Priest and author Brian Daizen Victoria takes a closer look at the relationship between Buddhism in generell and Zen in particular to War. The focus point of this work is in Japan from the Meji-Period to the second World War, up to the postwar years and its trends. These three Epochs also serve as the title of each respective part.
Meji-Period:
Victoria relates how the attempted Suppression of Buddhism has led to its attempt to integrate itself into the state apparatus. Although its not the only factor, it is surprising to see how eager the spiritual leaders of institutional Buddhism tried to gain the favor of the government by changing their dogmas to help uphold the State.
The seeds of what came to be known as Nation Protecting Buddhism (Gokuko-Bukkyo) were also sown in this period. The military discovered the usefulness of the teachings of Zen for example in the Japanese-Russian War. A terrifying and impressive example comes from General Hayashi Senjuro (1876-1943), quoted on P. 31:
"I was in the Ninth Division from Kanazawa. This is a very religious area where faith in the Shin sect is especially strong although we officers in this division were initially unaware of the effectiveness of the Buddhist faith. [...] Many of the causalities were severely wounded and in great pain, but not a single one cried out for help. Instead, they recited the name of Amida Buddha in chorus, even as they died. I was deeply moved by the power of the Buddhist faith as revealed in these soldiers action. [...] When people possessing religious faith stand at the verge of death, they are truly great."
Second World War:
During the Second World War and even before, in the Sino-Japanese War, Buddhism proved to be useful for the imperial Ambitions of Japan. Using their influential position in society, institutional Buddhisms leaders justified Japanese aggression, equating it to a "sacred war" (P.134) on behalf of the conquered! The Japanese imperial army committed so many atrocities that I couldn't begin to list them here, but an example that stuck to my mind was that one of the commanders responsible for the Nanking Massacre brought blood soaked earth back to Japan to make a statue of Buddha out of it.
The interesting aspect is how they used Buddhist teachings to justify killing. Isn't Buddhism supposed to be peace loving and rather pacifist? How did they rationalize this contradiction?
In the analysis of Ichikawa Hakugen, a Rinzai sect priest and scholar, there were twelve doctrinal issues in Buddhism in relation to war and the state, number four of which I would like to elaborate on. On page 172 Victoria writes:
"The fourth characteristic concerned both human rights and justice. Hakugen first introduced the Buddhist doctrine of dependent co-arising or causality, explaining that all phenomena are regarded as being in a constant state of flux, born and dying without any permanent substance to them, empty. When this doctrine is applied to the self, it produces the concept of egolessness or no-self, leaving no room for the independence of the individual."
You don't kill anybody, because the concept of "you" is an illusion and not enlightened. It isn't that you cut somebody's throat, the knife just glided through the constant and ever changing flow of the universe and just happened to meet with someones carotid artery.
The wartime slogan "Exterminate the self and serve the public" is telling.
I immensely liked this book for its scholarly and detailed approach into a subject that I knew very little about. You might think that this should count as a history book, but to this day a lot of the major Buddhist sects of Japan either haven't apologized for their wartime role, done so half heartedly and all of them have failed ask themselves what aspects of their doctrines have helped to create the catastrophe that was WW2.
April 17, 2024
What an outstanding and insightful book. When I think of how religion can be used in horrendously destructive ways, Japanese Buddhism never really came to mind - I think many people are too quick to assume that Zen is historically and presently a religion of peace and tranquility, but this book paints a very different picture. I also found it incredibly interesting how the author (Brian Daizen Victoria) is a Soto-Zen priest himself, choosing to still follow this sect of Buddhism that has (unknown to most) wreaked so much havoc and torture in Asia. However, I really think this gives him such a valuable insight into his research of Imperial-Way Buddhism. I can't help but admire his courage and introspectiveness, to expose the faults and inconsistencies of leaders of his own Buddhist sect.
The parts that struck me the most were the outlining of Ichikawa Hakugen's (a Rinzai Zen priest) twelve historical characteristics "which produced in Japanese Buddhism a receptiveness to authoritarianism". And of course the earlier discussion of 'Bushido' or the Samurai code, which gave way to much of the nationalist, ethnocentric violence inflicted upon the Koreans and Chinese by the Japanese military. Most of the quotes taken from D.T. Suzuki's writings were incredible to read, not only for their absolute absurdity but for his (Suzuki's) ability to justify the one act that is seemingly completely anti-Buddhist: killing. I think also the idea of a 'holy war' taking place in the mid 20th century is quite interesting; the fact that Japan (using Zen Buddhism) managed to unite an entire nation so strongly as to create a military force that tried to take on the economic superpower of America, is astonishing to say the least. The notion of a war fought out of 'compassion' for the other nation is another fascinating idea.
Overall, this book provided a sobering insight into the perversion and betrayal of Buddhist teaching (as said by John Dower) but also the dangerous malleability of Buddhist doctrine (or any religious doctrine for that matter) into one which allows violence and killing to be seen as dutiful and compassionate acts. What happened in Japan during the Second World War is a cautionary tale.
The parts that struck me the most were the outlining of Ichikawa Hakugen's (a Rinzai Zen priest) twelve historical characteristics "which produced in Japanese Buddhism a receptiveness to authoritarianism". And of course the earlier discussion of 'Bushido' or the Samurai code, which gave way to much of the nationalist, ethnocentric violence inflicted upon the Koreans and Chinese by the Japanese military. Most of the quotes taken from D.T. Suzuki's writings were incredible to read, not only for their absolute absurdity but for his (Suzuki's) ability to justify the one act that is seemingly completely anti-Buddhist: killing. I think also the idea of a 'holy war' taking place in the mid 20th century is quite interesting; the fact that Japan (using Zen Buddhism) managed to unite an entire nation so strongly as to create a military force that tried to take on the economic superpower of America, is astonishing to say the least. The notion of a war fought out of 'compassion' for the other nation is another fascinating idea.
Overall, this book provided a sobering insight into the perversion and betrayal of Buddhist teaching (as said by John Dower) but also the dangerous malleability of Buddhist doctrine (or any religious doctrine for that matter) into one which allows violence and killing to be seen as dutiful and compassionate acts. What happened in Japan during the Second World War is a cautionary tale.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 4, 2011
This is a good wake-up call for those seeped deep into Zen or Buddhist practices. It reveals the danger of holding onto a fixed principle or vexed on the Truth. It will also help those who are serious about their religions (not just Zen Buddhism) to seriously reflect upon themselves and to find effective ways to resist our evil intentions and to find strength to resist popular evil sentiment. That being said, this book is not up-to-snuff as far as scholarship is concerned. There are many unsubstantiated facts and many extreme views. Since the author is not even trying to be neutral (rather, he is an advocate), it is unfair to hold him up to the academic standard. Hence, I hope readers will also relieve him from any academic commitment by not reading it as an academic research monograph. The attitude to read this book should be the same as you read the book by Iris Chang on Nanjing Massacre. Both are political advocates, we must NOT forget the bloody history, the despicable things we had done to one another. Yet, we also need to keep in mind that, it is exactly those extreme views that lead to human tragedies like NanJing Massacre and the Holocoust.
November 24, 2011
Scholarly and maybe dry for most readers, Zen at War explores how Zen Buddhists in Japan became enthusiastic supporters of the war machine in the 1930s. The book goes into detail about the involvement of different sects in this and provides loads of in-text translations of the writings of influential figures.
What I found most interesting was the way aspects of a religion so obviously attuned to peace and harmony were rationalized and co-opted to satisfy the needs of military, which is just the opposite. Peace, essentially, would only come after a great cleansing war from which only one perfect state would emerge. A fine lesson on the dangers of unexamined religious faith, and in Japanese and Buddhist history.
What I found most interesting was the way aspects of a religion so obviously attuned to peace and harmony were rationalized and co-opted to satisfy the needs of military, which is just the opposite. Peace, essentially, would only come after a great cleansing war from which only one perfect state would emerge. A fine lesson on the dangers of unexamined religious faith, and in Japanese and Buddhist history.
November 9, 2008
this book is a must for every zenstudent.
Read
July 11, 2021Zizek recommended this one
November 22, 2025
If there’s one religion that, at least the level of stereotype, seems least amenable to violence, it is Buddhism. Yet Buddhists have and continue to commit violence in different parts of the world. How do Buddhists make sense of their actions, in light of their beliefs? Are they hypocrites, “fake” Buddhists, or is there some doctrinal basis for violence in the belief system? *Zen at War* examines this question around the time of Japan’s rising imperial ambitions, from its wars with China and Russia, conquest of Korea, and then through WW2. This book is interesting on two fronts.
First, rather than focus on soldiers / military leaders / etc. who might nominally be Buddhists but are primarily something else, Brian Daizen Victoria focuses on the harder case of clergy, Zen masters, prominent Buddhist leaders, the most serious of practitioners. Here, the result is very depressing: the Buddhist leadership, top to bottom, justified and supported Japan’s war effort and imperial ambitions. One could imagine a religion that supported war via charity, taking care of the sick, supporting the war effort in an indirect way. But Japanese Buddhists aggressively propagandized in favor of the war effort and its inherent justice. In Victoria’s telling, this was ultimately about securing Buddhism’s place within the Japanese state, a status that was shaky especially early on, when periods of nationalist fervor saw the state advocate for indigenous Shinto religions over the foreign-born Buddhist religion. A few Buddhists, especially those closer to laymen than priests, did resist, but paid dearly. Interestingly, many of these were socialist or socialist-adjacent.
Did these leaders do this cynically? And did their actions have some basis in Buddhist teachings? Victoria goes into painstaking detail of how Buddhist leadership justified Japanese imperialism in Buddhist doctrine. Personally, I did not find any of this convincing; it all sounded like the kind of vague, religious mumbo-jumbo logic we’ve heard elsewhere. To me, it seems so nakedly cynical one wonders if these people ever believed the doctrine in the first place.
The second part of what makes this book interesting is that Brian Daizen Victoria is himself a Zen Buddhist priest. His interest in this topic came from his anti-war activism during the Vietnam War, which put him at odds with American Buddhist leadership. The Zen Buddhists do not come across well in this book, which begs the question of how Victoria can sit with his beliefs and doctrinal affiliation while being so aware of the tradition’s history. I personally could not stomach it.
This book is well done but I’m giving it a low rating because of how narrow it is. There’s not a lot here that is generalized, it’s a deep history of a specific set of actors in Japanese Buddhism.
July 7, 2020
I've always been interested in Zen since my student days and spent a couple of months in the Shaolin Temple at the turn of the century. I think I am more at home with the Chinese mentality than I am with the Japanese mentality anyway. I wanted to read this book for a long time, and I knew it had caused a stir amongst Western Zen followers, and I knew that he provides evidence for what is now well accepted, that all the Zen schools supported the Japanese state in the prosecution of World War 2. What I hadn't expected, and what was quite a revelation, was the extent to which the Zen temples not merely acquiesced in war but positively encouraged it and how the powerful elite at the top of the Zen hierarchy racked their brains to find justification in the Buddhist scriptures for murder and destruction. The driver behind this was the belief that the Japanese nation was superior and that the Emperor was infallible.
So what strikes me particularly about this book is that the real importance of this book, and why everyone should read it, is that it's the best book I have ever read about the actual psychology of fascism, the way we are able to objectify the other and justify destroying the other by means of a philosophy which posits our own superiority. We westerners, of course, are inclined to do it ourselves when we turn a blind eye to civilian casualties in the wars we fight in the Middle East, the justification is exactly the same as the Japanese used at the massacre in Nanjing, "we regret we have to kill a few people that the rest of you may be saved".
A further point that this book brings out forcibly is that Japan very nearly ended up occupying Taiwan, Korea and China which would have left the world in a very different state than we see it today. Given that Japan is now rearming itself and has a military budget of around 50 billion dollars,roughly the same as the UK, this greatly increases the pressure and sense of unease in those countries which suffered from their depredations in the last century. Seen in this light, we owe a huge debt to the Chinese for the sacrifices they made in defeating this medieval military machine, something we ought to be more mindful of.
So what strikes me particularly about this book is that the real importance of this book, and why everyone should read it, is that it's the best book I have ever read about the actual psychology of fascism, the way we are able to objectify the other and justify destroying the other by means of a philosophy which posits our own superiority. We westerners, of course, are inclined to do it ourselves when we turn a blind eye to civilian casualties in the wars we fight in the Middle East, the justification is exactly the same as the Japanese used at the massacre in Nanjing, "we regret we have to kill a few people that the rest of you may be saved".
A further point that this book brings out forcibly is that Japan very nearly ended up occupying Taiwan, Korea and China which would have left the world in a very different state than we see it today. Given that Japan is now rearming itself and has a military budget of around 50 billion dollars,roughly the same as the UK, this greatly increases the pressure and sense of unease in those countries which suffered from their depredations in the last century. Seen in this light, we owe a huge debt to the Chinese for the sacrifices they made in defeating this medieval military machine, something we ought to be more mindful of.
December 26, 2021
Le doy un ok pq auqnue aprendi mucho de la conexion entre zen buddhism y los links yendo a tras en la historia entre ello y la guerra y violencia, me parecio q la misma informacion se podria haber comunicado en tan solo los ultimos dos capitulos con el medio siendo especialmente repetitivo.
Me parecio interesante que una religion como el budismo q se considera como la religiin de la paz pudiera estar tan detras de tanta idea guerrista y naciinalista en japon. Y como fue el apoyar el imperio q da gracias a su survival en el país ya que el estado rstaba pushing contra cualquier religion hasta que os lideres contrmporaneous dijeron de sus oporte por el estado.
Como no hay algunos recorded dissents como gudo q fue framed y ejecutado por como monk sus remarks contra el imperio. Pero en general se convirtio en el status quo que los budistas estaban a favor del imperio y sus guerras, hasta el punto que el zen so invocaba en el training de los soldados y samurai para reinforzar la idea de loyalty al imperio y el obedecer a sus superiores, dejando atras las ideas de compasion y el juzgar a la gente solo por sus acciones y palabras.
Como por ejemplo el budismo se reclina en tres bases de moral conduct, meditative concentration and widom, pero la primera columna se volvio mas transparente en los teachings
O la quote
The sword that kills people and the sword that gives life to people is an ancient custom that is also important for today. If you talk of killing, not a single hair is harmed. If you talk of giving life, body and life are lost.
Claro q se suponia q esto era metaforico sobre las experiencias espirituales pero fue utlizado para ends violentos y justificar tales acciones.
Aparte de eso me pregunto las razones del autor de expose a su sect a tal extenso siendo el mismo the soto zen monk.
Y mas q nada pude ver una vez mas las maldades q vienen de cualquier dogma y la idea que como de faxil es utilizar ña religion como un tool del estados para cualquier ends incluso lo contrario q se supone advoca esa religion
Me parecio interesante que una religion como el budismo q se considera como la religiin de la paz pudiera estar tan detras de tanta idea guerrista y naciinalista en japon. Y como fue el apoyar el imperio q da gracias a su survival en el país ya que el estado rstaba pushing contra cualquier religion hasta que os lideres contrmporaneous dijeron de sus oporte por el estado.
Como no hay algunos recorded dissents como gudo q fue framed y ejecutado por como monk sus remarks contra el imperio. Pero en general se convirtio en el status quo que los budistas estaban a favor del imperio y sus guerras, hasta el punto que el zen so invocaba en el training de los soldados y samurai para reinforzar la idea de loyalty al imperio y el obedecer a sus superiores, dejando atras las ideas de compasion y el juzgar a la gente solo por sus acciones y palabras.
Como por ejemplo el budismo se reclina en tres bases de moral conduct, meditative concentration and widom, pero la primera columna se volvio mas transparente en los teachings
O la quote
The sword that kills people and the sword that gives life to people is an ancient custom that is also important for today. If you talk of killing, not a single hair is harmed. If you talk of giving life, body and life are lost.
Claro q se suponia q esto era metaforico sobre las experiencias espirituales pero fue utlizado para ends violentos y justificar tales acciones.
Aparte de eso me pregunto las razones del autor de expose a su sect a tal extenso siendo el mismo the soto zen monk.
Y mas q nada pude ver una vez mas las maldades q vienen de cualquier dogma y la idea que como de faxil es utilizar ña religion como un tool del estados para cualquier ends incluso lo contrario q se supone advoca esa religion
July 21, 2023
The primary upside of the volume for me was a dense selection of rhetoric used by Zen-affiliated speakers in the inter-war and WW2 era in Japan, most of which justified the imperial and militarist language of its day.
I think at times the density of quotation can do a disservice to the reader. Its intended effect, I believe, is to ensure that no one is let "off the hook." The primary effect, then, is one of internal accountability in Japanese Buddhist circles. For the reader not affiliated with these branches of Buddhism, however, there are fewer entry points. Many of the quotes and pro-government priests blend together. It sends its message mostly by reinforcement.
I did enjoy the longer character studies that Victoria was able to portray about how this language developed and how the government would validate it. I also enjoyed the chapters on anti-war Buddhism, though it's not his fault he had surprisingly little material to work with there. Oftentimes, though, it felt like he'd just read so much that chapters read like "Oh but wait, here's one more interesting thing!" without connecting it to a broader context or differentiating it from preceding sections.
And, man, the cover is so fascinating but we never even get a description of what's going on there. Maybe it wasn't actually relevant? But what a letdown.
I think at times the density of quotation can do a disservice to the reader. Its intended effect, I believe, is to ensure that no one is let "off the hook." The primary effect, then, is one of internal accountability in Japanese Buddhist circles. For the reader not affiliated with these branches of Buddhism, however, there are fewer entry points. Many of the quotes and pro-government priests blend together. It sends its message mostly by reinforcement.
I did enjoy the longer character studies that Victoria was able to portray about how this language developed and how the government would validate it. I also enjoyed the chapters on anti-war Buddhism, though it's not his fault he had surprisingly little material to work with there. Oftentimes, though, it felt like he'd just read so much that chapters read like "Oh but wait, here's one more interesting thing!" without connecting it to a broader context or differentiating it from preceding sections.
And, man, the cover is so fascinating but we never even get a description of what's going on there. Maybe it wasn't actually relevant? But what a letdown.
October 27, 2020
I learned of this book through Cristopher Hitchens’ “Letters to a Young Contrarian” where he highlights the myth of the nonviolent nature of Buddhism. I was intrigued since all the critiques of violence fomented by religion that I’ve read never include Buddhism. This book was the addition needed to those critiques. Victoria, a Zen (Japanese Buddhism) priest himself, seeks to chronicle not only the role played by Zen masters in the Japanese militarism that culminated in WWII but also track down the doctrinal tenets that were used to justify it. He shows how Zen authorities went from being somewhat coerced into supporting the Japanese state to allay persecution to actively promoting a version of Buddhism that Victoria shows is antithetical to the tenets of its founder. He also shows the similar, though less extreme, historical process that made Buddhism soften its nonviolence tenets in India and China. He ends by highlighting that despite the fact that Buddhism couldn’t have survived had it remain as committed to condemning violence as its founder intended, it is nonetheless incumbent on its current members and leaders to struggle with this history and take steps to ensure that Buddhism does not fall again into these dark currents.
February 8, 2025
This is undoubtedly a significant book with a vital message. The research involved in its writing was clearly thorough and professional. I just found it somewhat hard to read with real interest. I think it could have been shorter and a little less dry. Even the chapter outlining the history of violence in Buddhism throughout antiquity felt unexciting, when it should really have been quite fascinating. Perhaps I am not the right audience for such a detailed, political exposition of a wartime nation’s struggles to justify its imperial ambitions. The author did however cast a light on many unique Japanese religious and political figures and made many excellent observations about the contradictions and false equivalencies of the Japanese government throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Three stars.
December 23, 2025
Illuminating!!
When my own country started a full-scale aggressive war against our neighbors, my leanings toward Mahayana Buddhism crystallized in my taking refuge in the Three Jewels within the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. I viewed it as the ultimate anti-war stance I could personally take.
It was an eye-opening experience to learn more about the ways in which Buddhism can be so completely and utterly corrupted.
Despite my personal love for Zen, I can't help but agree with the author — the militarist propaganda that lasted for pretty much as long as Zen has existed in Japan is something Zen is far from recovering from.
Mad respect to the author. The questions he posed at the very end of the book will stay with me for a long, long time.
P.S. this book inspired me to delete all of the books by D.T. Suzuki from my to-read list.
When my own country started a full-scale aggressive war against our neighbors, my leanings toward Mahayana Buddhism crystallized in my taking refuge in the Three Jewels within the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. I viewed it as the ultimate anti-war stance I could personally take.
It was an eye-opening experience to learn more about the ways in which Buddhism can be so completely and utterly corrupted.
Despite my personal love for Zen, I can't help but agree with the author — the militarist propaganda that lasted for pretty much as long as Zen has existed in Japan is something Zen is far from recovering from.
Mad respect to the author. The questions he posed at the very end of the book will stay with me for a long, long time.
P.S. this book inspired me to delete all of the books by D.T. Suzuki from my to-read list.
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June 17, 2020A clear and well-laid out history of the historic use of Zen Buddhism for the proliferation of the Japanese state, stretching from the inception of Buddhism to the post-war period. The union of the precept of "no-mind" - mushin - with the way of the warrior - bushido.
War as a cosmic dance. The warrior denies himself and it is the sword that does the killing. It is a sword of mercy that falls upon Nanking. It is a sword of mercy that rapes and pillages. This is a paraphrase of DT Suzuki's true teachings, teachings that are by no means inconsistent with the use of Buddhism across history.
Zen at War is a frightening, necessary book, especially for Westerners who might be enamored with the innocuous adogmatism of Zen Buddhism.
War as a cosmic dance. The warrior denies himself and it is the sword that does the killing. It is a sword of mercy that falls upon Nanking. It is a sword of mercy that rapes and pillages. This is a paraphrase of DT Suzuki's true teachings, teachings that are by no means inconsistent with the use of Buddhism across history.
Zen at War is a frightening, necessary book, especially for Westerners who might be enamored with the innocuous adogmatism of Zen Buddhism.
February 22, 2024
"If it is possible to transmit the light of the Dharma lamp from master to disciple, perhaps it is also possible to transmit darkness."
In this book, the author aims to answer one question — how could a religion of peace lend itself to war? In what starts as an examination of WW2 era buddhism becomes a deep inquiry into the roots of buddhism's subjugation and collaboration with the state(to deadly and deeply un-buddhist effect). Over the course of the book, we can see Japanese Buddhism and zen buddhism twist its tenets and precepts in service of war and imperialism, and the roots of this phenomenon and it's longstanding effects on Japanese society. A truly insightful read that compels one to think of religion and its relationship to the state(and if one should even exist).
In this book, the author aims to answer one question — how could a religion of peace lend itself to war? In what starts as an examination of WW2 era buddhism becomes a deep inquiry into the roots of buddhism's subjugation and collaboration with the state(to deadly and deeply un-buddhist effect). Over the course of the book, we can see Japanese Buddhism and zen buddhism twist its tenets and precepts in service of war and imperialism, and the roots of this phenomenon and it's longstanding effects on Japanese society. A truly insightful read that compels one to think of religion and its relationship to the state(and if one should even exist).
March 30, 2022
A fascinating account of the imperialization of Zen. Through a process of cultural hybridization, masters of Buddhism went from the humble, yellow-robed ascetics in India to nationalistic warrior-poets in Japan. Well worth checking out for anyone interested in Japan, WWII, Buddhism, or just religiosity in general!
July 2, 2019
Must read scholarly analysis on the intersection of Buddhism, militarism, Zen, Japanese imperialism from a soto-zen priest. Analytical and contextual for those familiar with Zen, Buddism, Bushido, also interesting for those trying to understand role of religion in supporting war, state violence.
January 16, 2024
compelling historical work that i do feel the need to investigate more myself to be able to appreciate. was constantly drawing connections between zen buddhism as a imperial religion with christianity (very early in its existence) becoming an imperial religion.
May 21, 2018
Victoria is a much better researcher than he is a writer.
July 17, 2021
If you want a riveting and thoroughly readable demonstration of Marx's maxim that "man makes religion, religion does not make man," this is your book.
April 25, 2013
In /Zen at War/, Victoria considers the history of Buddhism's relationship with state militarism, focusing especially on Japanese Zen Buddhism in the years before and during the Second World War. He draws upon the writings of a great number of prominent Buddhist scholars and priests from the periods under consideration in order to demonstrate how Buddhist doctrine has been interpreted so as to justify expansionist military policies, as well as the hierarchical nature of the state itself, since the very earliest centuries of the religion's existence. Victoria places these writings in their historical contexts, arguing that Buddhism's appropriation by nationalistic interests was the ultimate result of its attempts to accommodate itself to cultures that were often initially hostile to it, such as Taoist-Confucian China and Shintoist Japan. The development of Emperor-centric, warrior-glorifying Buddhism was, in Victoria's final analysis, a perversion of Shakyamuni's explicitly egalitarian, pacifistic teachings.
It may have been useful to include some additional biographical information for the many quoted writers in order to further contextualize their thought, though this would admittedly be difficult in terms of required space. Overall, the material is fascinating, and lucidly addresses important aspects of Buddhist philosophy and history that have heretofore been little-discussed, especially in the West.
It may have been useful to include some additional biographical information for the many quoted writers in order to further contextualize their thought, though this would admittedly be difficult in terms of required space. Overall, the material is fascinating, and lucidly addresses important aspects of Buddhist philosophy and history that have heretofore been little-discussed, especially in the West.
January 10, 2010
Well, I need all the mindfulness training I have to slowly go through this book. Just the cover photo itself may be enough to explain why. This is a heavy reading and although the main period covered is not directly related to the period I'm going to write in my dissertation, it helps me indirectly anyway. I thank the author, a Western Zen Monk, for his hard work in translating many Japanese documents and compiling into this one although I may not agree to all of his views or some other views presented in this book. Like I said, one has to be very, very objective and watch one's mind, one's breathing at every split second otherwise one would fall into the same old trap of the old mental defilements. In short, I was well aware of my anger that arose quite often as I went through the book, but my observing mind was in time to catch it and tried (very hard) to let it go in the next breath. From that point of view alone, the book serves as a good tool for my mindfulness meditation practice!
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