Transcript Zen Terrorism

Zen as a Cult of
Death in the WW II
Writings of D.T.
Suzuki
D.T. Suzuki (1870-1966)
Introduction
In his now famous 1938 book, Zen Buddhism
and Its Influence on Japanese Culture,
Suzuki claimed that Zen “has never actively
incited the latter [i.e., warriors] to carry on
their bloody profession.” Yet he also
admitted that Zen had “passively sustained”
Japan’s warriors since its introduction to
Japan in the twelfth century. But what does
it mean to “passively sustain” warriors? This
lecture attempts to answer this question.
The Two Faces of War
I. Active: The Willingness to Kill. Typically
promoted through projecting an image of
the ‘enemy’ as: a threat, dangerous, evil,
immoral, cowardly, fanatical, etc. Thus the
war becomes ‘just’ and ‘moral’, often based
on a religious endorsement.
II. Passive: The Willingness to Die. Typically
also promoted through a religious
endorsement of some kind including the
promise of a heavenly reward, eternal
peace, transcendence of life and death, etc.
A Sociological Viewpoint
Sociologist Peter Berger noted: “Whenever a
society must motivate its members to kill or to
risk their lives, thus consenting to being
placed in extreme marginal situations,
religious legitimations become important.…
Killing under the auspices of the legitimate
authorities has, for this reason, been
accompanied from ancient times to today by
religious paraphernalia and ritualism. Men go
to war and men are put to death amid
prayers, blessings, and incantations.”
Background to Article (1)
In 1896, one year after Japan’s defeat of China,
Suzuki described the relationship between
religion, the state and war as follows: “At the
time of the commencement of hostilities with a
foreign country, then marines fight on the sea
and soldiers fight in the fields, swords flashing
and cannon smoke belching, moving this way
and that. In so doing, our soldiers regard their
own lives as being as light as goose feathers
while their devotion to duty is as heavy as
Mount Taishan [in China]. Should they fall on
the battlefield they have no regrets.” (Italics mine)
Background to Article (2)
In 1904, in the midst of the RussoJapanese War, Suzuki described the
Buddhist attitude to war as follows: “Let us
then shuffle off this mortal coil whenever it
becomes necessary, and not raise a
grunting voice against the fates. . . .
Resting in this conviction, Buddhists carry
the banner of Dharma over the dead and
dying until they gain final victory.” (Italics
mine)
Light of Dharma 4, pp. 181–82.
Background to Article (3)
Shaku Sōen, Suzuki’s Rinzai Zen master,
went to the battlefield in the same war
and wrote: “I wished to have my faith
tested by going through the greatest
horrors of life, but I also wished to
inspire, if I could, our valiant soldiers
with the ennobling thoughts of the
Buddha, so as to enable them to die on
the battlefield with the confidence that
the task in which they are engaged is
great and noble.” (Italics mine)
Background to Article (4)
In a 1906 article entitled “The Zen Sect of Buddhism,”
Suzuki defended the Zen-influenced soldier’s
willingness to die during the Russo-Japanese War
from Western criticism: “The Lebensanschauung of
Bushido is no more nor less than that of Zen. The
calmness and even joyfulness of heart at the moment
of death which is conspicuously observable in the
Japanese, the intrepidity which is generally shown by
the Japanese soldiers in the face of an overwhelming
enemy; and the fairness of play to an opponent so
strongly taught by Bushido—all these come from a
spirit of Zen training, and not from any such blind,
fatalistic conception as is sometimes thought to be a
trait peculiar to Orientals.” (Italics mine)
Background to Article (5)
"Sometime before August 1941, Lieutenant General
Yamashita Motoyuki (1885-1946), head of the
Japanese military mission to the Axis, reported that
Hitler had told him how interested he had been in
Japan since his youth, including a careful study of
Japan’s war tactics during the Russo-Japanese
War. Yamashita went on to say: 'Hitler emphasized
that in the coming age, the interests of Japan and
Germany would be identical because the two had a
common spiritual foundation. And he hinted that
he would leave instructions to the German people
to bind themselves eternally to the Japanese
spirit'.” (Italics mine)
Quoted in Tolischus, Tokyo Record, p.
158.
Background to Article (5)
Why didn’t we have the religion of the Japanese,
who regard sacrifice for the Fatherland as the
highest good?
Adolph Hitler, quoted in Inside The Third Reich by Albert
Speer
We too [like the Japanese] are battling to destroy
individualism. We are struggling for a new
Germany based on the new idea of
totalitarianism. In Japan this way of thinking
comes naturally to the people! (Italics mine)
Rudolph Hess, Deputy Fūhrer, quoted in Tokyo Record by Otto
Tolischus
Background to Article (6)
Background to Article (7)
“The active and yet stoic Buddhism of the
Zen-sect perfected and refined the ethos of
the Japanese warrior, and gave him the
highly ascetical note that even today is the
essential feature of the Japanese soldiery.”
Excerpted from The Secret of Japanese Power by
Prince Albrecht of Urach, paperback booklet with
photos, Berlin, 1944, Central Publishing of the
NSDAP (Das Geheimnis japanischer Kraft von
Albrecht Fürst von Urach, Paperback Broschüre mit
Fotos, Berlin 1944, Zentralverlag der NSDAP
Background to Article (8)
Background to Article (9)
In 1937 Himmler personally wrote the forward to
a booklet, entitled Samurai. Ritter des Reiches
in Ehre und Treue (Samurai, Knights of the
Empire in Honor and Loyalty). He ordered it
distributed to every member of the SS. “Using
this short history of the samurai,” Himmler wrote,
“we wish to call to mind some long forgotten
truths: The fact, that even in antiquity, this FarEastern nation had the same honorary laws as
our forefathers….and moreover, recognizing
that these are usually elite minority groups that
endow the worldly existence of a nation with
eternal life.” (Italics mine)
Background to Article (10)
Background to Article (11)
Background to Article (12)
As Leonard Humphries noted: “[In Japan] the
overriding lesson of the [Russo-Japanese] war
appeared to be the decisive role of morale or
spirit in combat. Japan’s centuries-old samurai
tradition had strongly emphasized the
importance of the intangible qualities of the
human spirit (seishin) in warfare, and this war
served to reestablish their primacy…. After fifty
years of borrowing from the West, the Army,
like the people, was now relieved and proud to
find new relevance in the nation’s traditional
values.”
Background to Article (13)
In March 1937 Sōtō Zen leader Ishihara
Shummyō said: “Zen master Takuan
taught that in essence Zen and Bushidō
were one….I believe that if one is called
upon to die, one should not be the least
bit agitated. On the contrary, one should
be in a realm where something called
‘oneself’ does not intrude even slightly.
Such a realm is no different from that
derived from the practice of Zen.”
Background to Article (14)
Imperial
Army
Major
Ōkubo
Kōichi
responded: “The soldier must become one
with his superior. He must actually become
his superior. Similarly, he must become the
order he receives. That is to say, his self
must disappear. Then he will advance when
told to advance…However, should he believe
that he is going to die and act accordingly; he
will be unable to fight well. What is necessary
is that he be able to act freely and without
[mental] hindrance.” (Italics mine)
Background to Article (15)
Lt. Col. Sugimoto Gorō wrote: “The reason
that Zen is important for soldiers is that all
Japanese, especially soldiers, must live in
the spirit of the unity of sovereign and
subjects, eliminating their ego and getting
rid of their self….Through my practice of
Zen I am able to get rid of my ego. In
facilitating the accomplishment of this,
Zen becomes, at it is, the true spirit of the
imperial military.” (Italics mine)
Background to Article (16)
Did it make any difference? Hillis Lory
explains: “Many of the soldiers in the
present [Asia-Pacific] War are so
determined to die on the battlefield that
they conduct their own public funerals
before leaving for the front. This holds no
element of the ridiculous to the Japanese.
Rather, it is admired as the spirit of the
true samurai who enters the battle with no
thought of return.” (Italics mine)
Background to Article (17)
Meirion and Susie Harries note: “The Japanese
soldier was required to display qualities that
every army covertly hopes for, even expects,
but shrinks from demanding directly. From the
commander’s point of view, the most useful
practical property of the Japanese soldier was
his willingness to die, which removed all limits
on what his leaders could attempt. A legacy of
the authentic samurai ethic, as the war
progressed acceptance of death became ever
more heavily stressed -- just as it was ever
more necessary.” (Italics mine)
Background to Article (18)
Japanese psychiatrist, Noda Masaaki,
notes: “In the [Asia-Pacific] war the
Japanese people had two battlefields.
One of them involved rational thinking
based on considerations of military
power. The other consisted of an
irrational belief in spirit as supreme,
making anything possible as long as
one were prepared to die.” (Italics
mine)
Background to Article (19)
In January 1943, General Itō wrote: “Given
our situation, there are none calling
themselves Japanese soldiers who are
attached to life. On the contrary, they all
want to die. . . .Thus, the problem is not
death, but how to accomplish our mission.
What I am racking my brains about is not
teaching my soldiers how to die laughing or
die with peace of mind, but rather how to
get them to stay alive even one more day
fighting to the last.” (Italics mine)
Background to Article (20)
In his 1938 book Zen and Japanese Culture,
D. T. Suzuki noted: “The spirit of the
samurai deeply breathing Zen into itself
propagated its philosophy even among the
masses. The latter, even when they are not
particularly trained in the way of the
warrior, have imbibed his spirit and are
ready to sacrifice their lives for any cause
they think worthy. This has repeatedly
been proved in the wars Japan has so far
had to go through.” (Italics mine)
Article’s Characteristics
I. Key Concepts [K-1, K-2, K-3, K-4, K-5,
K-6, K-7]
II. Japan/Zen as superior [ J-1, J-2, J-3, J4, J-5]
III. China/Zen as inferior [C-1, C-2, C-3, C4]
IV. West as inferior [W-1, W-2, W-3]
V. Zen/Buddhism, Warrior, Sword,
Bushidō, Death [Throughout the
Article]
Uesugi Kenshin’s View of Zen
“You
will understand that there is
something in you which is above birthand-death and which is neither drowned
in water nor burned in fire….Those who
are reluctant to give up their lives and
embrace
death
are
not
true
warriors….When your thoughts are in
accord with the Buddha’s, you will gain
power….Devote yourselves to the study
of Zen. Zen has no secrets other than
seriously thinking of birth-and-death.”
(Italics mine)
ZB&IJC, p. 56
Suzuki as Chauvinistic Prophet
Suzuki also claimed: “It is most fortunate for
Zen that it found in the very beginning of its
career in Japan such able disciples as Hōjō
Tokiyori and Tokimune. The time will come
before long to all the Japanese as the rising
nation in the Far East, when the significance
of the Kamakura Era of which Tokimune was
its most remarkable representative will be
more fully and vitally appreciated than ever
before. And along with it the significance of
Zen as one of the most efficient moulding
agencies of the Japanese character.” (Italics
mine)
ZB&IJC, p. 222
Suzuki’s Postwar Chauvinism
In 1958 Suzuki and Hisamatsu Shin’ichi had the following
exchange at Harvard:
Hisamatsu: “Among the many people you've met or heard
of (in the West) is there anyone who you think has some
understanding of Zen?”
Suzuki: “No one. Not yet anyway.”
Hisamatsu: “I see. Not yet. Well then, is there at least
someone you have hope for?” (Laughter)
Suzuki: “No, not even that.”
Hisamatsu: “So, of the many people (in the West) who
have written about Zen there aren't any who understand
it?”
Suzuki: “That's right.”
Robert Sharf, “The Zen of Japanese Nationalism,” p. 28
Conclusion (1)
1.Definition of ‘cult’: “a system of religious
veneration and devotion directed toward
a particular figure or object.”
2.Was the Zen advocated by Suzuki (and
many other Zen leaders) directed toward
a particular ‘object’?
3.Yes, it was directed toward Death! And,
as such, it represented a thoroughgoing
Instrumentalist
interpretation,
i.e.,
‘weaponization’ of Zen and Buddhism.
Conclusion (2)
Should there be any doubt of this,
Suzuki also wrote:
“Good fighters are generally ascetics
or stoics, which means to have an
iron will. When needed Zen supplies
them with this.” (Italics mine)
ZB&IJC, p. 35
Conclusion (3)
And finally, Suzuki tells us:
“When the Unconscious is tapped, it
rises above individual limitations.
Death now loses it sting altogether,
and this is where the samurai
training joins hands with Zen.” (Italics
mine)
ZB&IJC, p. 46
Conclusion (4)
What Suzuki did, together with scores of
other Japanese Zen masters, was to
instrumentalize, i.e., weaponize, Zen to
serve the needs of militarist Japan (and
even Nazi Germany), most especially
the need to promote among Japanese
soldiers the willingness to die. And as
Suzuki noted, the Zen school has played
this role since its very inception in Japan
in the 13th century. [End]