(Another must read) Zen War Stories

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Zen War Stories

Author(s) : Victoria, Brian Daizen

Publishers Price : £26.99

Wisdom Price : £24.29(save 10%)

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ISBN : 0700715819

EAN : 9780700715817

Cover : Paperback

Pages : 268

Size : 234 x 156mm

Publisher : Curzon

Published : 2003

 

Preface to Zen War Stories

 

In late 1997 I published a book, Zen at War, that sent shock waves

throughout Zen communities in the West, for it demonstrated that

wartime Japanese Zen masters, almost to a man, had been fervent

supporters of Japanese militarism. Moreover, these masters claimed

the Buddha Dharma was itself synonymous with that militarism. What

was especially disconcerting to some readers was the fact that many

of those Japanese Zen masters who first introduced Zen to the West,

especially in the postwar era, turned out to have been some of the

strongest proponents of Japanese militarism, cloaking their support

in the guise of such phrases as " the unity of Zen and the sword. "

 

I remember being deeply moved by one reader whose pained reaction was

posted on the Internet. He said simply, " What the hell went wrong? "

He went on to add that if my book had any failing, it was that while

I had done a good job in revealing the wartime deeds and acts of

Japan's leading Zen figures, I had failed to interpret or explain

what it all meant within the context of Buddhism as a whole; that is

to say, is Zen, if not Buddhism, a totalitarian or `fascist' faith?

 

This book is meant to address, at least to some degree, the question

of " what went wrong. " However, rather than using the survey approach

that characterized my earlier book, each chapter in the present

volume focuses on discrete events or personalities. Any disjunction

between chapters resulting from this approach will hopefully be

compensated for by the opportunity to take a more in-depth look at

the material. In any event, I have tried to include sufficient

background information in each chapter so that the reader will find

it unnecessary to have read Zen at War in order to make sense of what

is presented here: each book stands by itself, although, taken

together, they give a much broader and deeper picture than either of

them does alone.

 

Approach

 

I caution readers that this book, especially its first part, is not

intended as a description of the nature of Zen (or Buddhism as a

whole) in any theoretical or abstract sense. Rather, it describes

what a number of prominent Japanese Zen leaders believed or

interpreted Zen to be, primarily in the 1930s and 1940s. On the other

hand, material in the second part has a broader focus, showing that

Buddhist support forJapanese militarism was by no means limited to

the Zen school alone.

 

Let me also point out that my conflated use of the words " Buddhism, "

" Mahayana Buddhism, " and " Zen " is done if not quite purposely then at

least consciously — I seek to introduce readers to the way in which

these terms were used by the principals themselves at the time. If

contemporary scholars of Buddhism must of necessity distinguish

between these terms, we must also recognize that for most believers

of Buddhism (or any religion for that matter) their " sectarian

viewpoints " represent, at least to them, the essence if not the

totality of their faith. This attitude was embodied in the 1930s by

Sotö Zen Master lida Thin (1863—1937) who wrote: " Zen is the general

repository for Buddhism. " Thus, in seeking to understand the (Zen)

Buddhist faith of those introduced in this book, we must, at least

initially, seek to understand Buddhism as they themselves understood

it.

 

No doubt some readers will be disappointed to learn that despite the

title of this book, Zen War Stories, there are only two chapters

(chapters 1 and 9) that relate actual " battlefield tales. " As far as

Zen is concerned, it is only Zen Master Nakajima Genjo who describes

his experience on the naval battlefield. Nevertheless, I dare to call

the entire book by this name because every chapter in Part 1 does

describe one or another aspect of Zen's support for Japanese

militarism. The material in Part II, as previously noted, reinforces

the fact that the Zen school was by no means the only Buddhist

organization in Japan to have lent its support.

 

As this book reveals, the major focus of the Zen school's wartime

support was on the " home front " in what was designated at the time as

shis~i-sen, lit. " thought warfare. " Hence the bulk of this book seeks

to illuminate this critical dimension of modern-day " total war. " The

reader will, therefore, not find any tales here of Zen-inspired

soldiers wielding their samurai swords (or bayonets) in order

to " mindlessly, " " selflessly, " and " compassionately " strike down

their opponents a la D. T Suzuki and his ilk. Instead, this book is

primarily about the ideology especially the spiritual ideology~ that

sustained and " inspired " Japan's soldiers on the battlefield and its

civilians at home.

 

Stance

 

To my mind, a critical analysis of just how the Buddha Dharma was

used to legitimate Japanese militarism is far, far more important

than revelations about the militarist connections of any one

particular Zen master. Nevertheless, since the appearance of Zen at

War, a number of western Zen teachers have invested considerable time

and effort in defending their particular Zen lineage from the charge

of war collaboration. Yet, with the laudable exception of David

Brazier in his recent book The New Buddhism, few of these teachers

have analyzed, let alone criticized, the doctrinal interpretations of

the Buddha Dharma once used by Japanese Zen masters to justify the

mass killing of their fellow human beings.

 

While I make no claim to have provided such detailed analyses myself,

each chapter in this book does include my own interpretation of the

material presented. No doubt some readers will take offense at what

they perceive as my " moralistic " if not " judgmental " stance. In

contemporary acadcme it often seems that " detached (if not

indifferent) objectivity " is the only acceptable stance for the

academic author to adopt.

 

As a reaction to what in times past has often been the bigoted, if

not hypocritical, stance taken by western scholars toward Asia in

general, and Asian religion in particular, I am very sympathetic to

those who demand the highest standards of objectivity from Asianists.

I well remember having been first introduced to the study of Buddhism

through the works of Christian missionary scholars who claimed:

 

According to Buddha, complete annihilation is man's summun bonum;

whence it follows, that atheism, materialism, or the most absolute

scepticism, is in reality the sole doctrine of Buddhism. The

followers of Buddhist doctrine at the present day are delivered up to

ignorance and irnmoralit~ç and their rulers are tyrannical and cruel.

The doctrine of Sakyamuni, after its expulsion from India, is

followed in connection with all the iniquities and absurdities of the

idolatrous worship with which it is allied.2

 

As recently as 1963, the distinguished German scholar of Zen,

Heinrich Dumoulin, concluded his A His1ory of Zen Buddhism as

follows: " As a mystical phenomenon, the satori experience is

imperfect. No human effort to attain enlightenment, no matter how

honest and self-sacrificing, can ever lead to the perfect truth, but

only the eternal Logos `who coming into the world enlightens every

man' (John l:9). " ~ in the light of prejudiced statements like these,

who would not cry out for unbiased scholarship?

 

Nevertheless, Buddhism has been, from its inception more than 2,500

years ago, a profoundly moral religion, with no more important

precept than abstention from taking life. Stanza 130 of the

Dhammapada, for example, records Sakyamuni Buddha as saying:

 

All tremble at punishment,

Life is dear to all

Comparing others with oneself,

One should neither kill nor cause to kill

 

Furthermore, in the Mahãyana tradition, the Brahmajaia S7ilra teaches

that followers who take the vows of a bodhisattva should not

participate in war. This sutra, as Peter Harvey notes,

 

forbids detention of anyone, or the storing of any kind of weapons,

or taking part in any armed rebellion. [it's followers] should not be

spectators of battles, nor should they kill, make another kill,

procure the means of killing, praise killing, approve of those who

help in killing, or help through magical chants.

 

Yet, despite injunctions of this kind, modern-day exponents of

Buddhism to the West like D. T. Suzuki have not hesitated to claim

that Zen, as the essence of Buddhism, " transcends morality " . However,

not all Zen practitioners agree, for as American Soto Zen Master John

Daido Loon notes:

 

Enlightenment and morality are one. Enlightenment without morality is

not true enlightenment. Morality without enlightenment is not

complete morality. Somehow, teachers in the East and West have tended

to shy away from writing about the precepts, perhaps fearing being

categorized as moralists.

 

Whatever other faults this book may have, shying away from a

discussion of the precept forbidding the taking of life is not one of

them. And as far as being judgmental is concerned, it was Shakyamuni

Buddha who, responding to a query from a professional soldier,

informed him that were the latter to die on the battlefield he could

expect to be " reborn in a hell or as an animal " for his

transgressions. Inasmuch as I make no claim to omniscience for

myself, I do not know in what state, or even if, the protagonists in

this book will be reborn. But, like the Buddha himself, I do not

hesitate to judge them on the basis of their deeds, whether of body

or speech.

 

Precautions

 

This said, I do recognize the ever-present danger of misinterpreting

the historical record. That is to say, I am dedicated to the

proposition that the material presented in this book be neither

twisted nor distorted to serve the writer's own prejudices. Toward

this end, to the greatest extent possible my protagonists present

their story in their own words, not mine. Of necessity this requires

the frequent use of long quotations, a practice some readers may find

tiresome if not repetitive. While I regret this, I do so in the hope

that whatever other faults this book may have, taking quotations out

of context is not one of them. This book may therefore even be

regarded as a " sourcebook " of wartime pronouncements by Zen and other

institutional Buddhist leaders, both lay and clerical.

 

Closely related to the above has been my attempt to include any

material that might serve to counteract, or even justify, what might

otherwise be regarded as the pro-war stance of those introduced. Who

better to defend themselves against the charge of war collaboration

than those implicated? This said, it must be pointed out that nearly

all of the justifications included in this book were originally

written with a Japanese audience in mind. What may serve to convince

Japanese readers may not be equally convincing to non-Japanese.

 

Finally, I have endeavoured to make it clear to readers where my own

commentary both begins and ends. Hopefully, whether or not readers

agree with me, there will at least be no confusion as to what is

historical fact versus my interpretation of the same. While not

expecting unanimity of opinion, I do hope the reader will be prompted

to further explore the critically important issues raised here. Like

its predecessor Zen at War, this book is but a further step on the

road to understanding the reasons behind the slavish subservience of

Zen leaders to Japanese militarism. Thus, this book is not designed

to end debate on Zen endorsed " holy war " but to provoke it.

 

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