Жапон милитаризмі мен Дзен буддизмінің қарым-қатынасы

1997 book by Brian Daizen Victoria

Zen at War is a book written by Brian Daizen Victoria, first published in 1997. The second edition appeared in 2006.

The book meticulously documents Zen Buddhism's support of Japanese militarism from the time of the Meiji Restoration through the World War II and the post War period. It describes the influence of state policy on Buddhism in Japan, and particularly the influence of Zen on the military of the Empire of Japan. A famous quote is from Harada Daiun Sogaku: "[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 of which I speak extends to the farthest reaches of the holy war [now under way]." The book also explores the actions of Japanese Buddhists who opposed the growth of militarism. The 2002 edition of Zen at War was followed by Zen War Stories, which further explores the intimate relationship between Japanese institutional Buddhism and militarism during World War II.

Brian Victoria has also been criticized. Kemmyō Taira Sato states that Victoria's criticism of D. T. Suzuki is misplaced since he did not support Japanese militarism in his writings:

Victoria himself quotes critical remarks by Suzuki on the war and the support given to it by the Zen institutions: "[T]hey diligently practiced the art of self preservation through their narrow minded focus on 'pacifying and preserving the state'." Muhō Noelke, a German born Zen monk in the Sōtō Zen tradition, states that Victoria has mistranslated texts from Kōdō Sawaki, who was a prominent Japanese Sōtō Zen teacher in the 20th century. Robert Aitken, a Zen teacher in the Harada Yasutani lineage which was criticized by Victoria for the nationalist sympathies of its patriarch Hakuun Yasutani, writes that "Unlike the other researchers, Victoria writes in a vacuum. He extracts the words and deeds of Japanese Buddhist leaders from their cultural and temporal context, and judges them from a present day, progressive, Western point of view."

The issues of Japanese nationalism, individualism, and the justification of social inequality have been taken up by other authors as well.

In 1995, the Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture published Rude Awakenings. Zen, the Kyoto School, and the question of nationalism, which "examines the relationship between Japanese nationalism and intellectuals in the Kyoto school and the world of Zen." It places the development of the Kyoto school, and its alleged support for the Japanese militarism, in the larger context of the Meiji restoration. Robert H. Sharf contributed to this volume, as a sequel to his The Zen of Japanese Nationalism, in which he extensively investigates the support of the Zen institutions for the Imperial State, and the backgrounds of this support. Nam lin Hur has described the support of the Sōtō for the occupation of Korea in the beginning of the 20th century.

Peek argues that individualism, contrary to popular notions, is inherently supported by Buddhism. This inherent support made it possible to effect a transmission from authoritarian imperialism to democracy:

The Soto school has taken up the issue of social inequality. According to Bodiford, the Soto school has insisted that "the types of social discrimination found in Sõtõ rituals and temple practices" find their origin in "the medieval institutional regulations imposed by the Tokugawa regime, not in the religious attitudes, religious practices, or religious mission of Sõtõ Zen itself". The Soto school has installed a Human Rights Division, to terminate the regulations which contribute to discriminatory practices.

Zen at War has contributed to discussions on the meaning of "enlightenment", and the role of Zen teachers in the emerging western Zen Buddhism. Bodhin Kjolhede, dharma heir of Philip Kapleau, says:

Stuart Lachs has written several essays on this issue, connected to teacher scandals in western sanghas. The issue has been taken up by others as well.

The author, Brian Victoria, trained at the Sōtō monastery of Eihei ji and is a fully ordained Sōtō priest. He received his Ph. D. in Buddhist Studies from the Department of Religion at Temple University and his M. A. from Sōtō affiliated Komazawa University in Tokyo, where he also majored in Buddhist Studies. Victoria has taught Japanese language and culture at the University of Nebraska Omaha, Creighton University, and Bucknell University in the United States and lectured in the Department of Asian Languages and Literatures at the University of Auckland. He was a Senior Lecturer in the Centre in Asian Studies at the University of Adelaide in South Australia. He has also been Yehan Numata Distinguished Visiting Professor, Buddhist Studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. From 2005 to 2013, he was a professor of Japanese Studies and director of the Antioch Education Abroad "Japan and Its Buddhist Traditions Program" at Antioch University in Yellow Springs, OH. Since 2013, he has been a Fellow at Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies and a Visiting Research Fellow at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies.