CoEvolution
by David  Chadwick
Whole Earth
Issue 92   Spring.1998
P.229
Copyright by Whole Earth

Zen at War

Brian Victoria. 1997; 264 pp. $19.95. Weatherhill.

Like the earlier Rude Awakenings by James Heisig and John Maraldo, this
scholarly yet quite readable book exposes the incredible extent to which
Japanese Buddhist institutions and priests supported and promoted
militarism, Imperial Buddhism, and fascism from the Meiji Restoration
through WWII. There are numerous quotes from D.T. Suzuki and lesser-known
Japanese Buddhists, stories of lots of fanaticism and a tiny bit of
resistance, some post-war confessions and a look at the new corporate Zen.
The author is a Soto Zen monk who spent many years in Japan, where he was
jailed and finally deported for his political activities. Another veil is
lifted.

PHOTO (BLACK & WHITE): Zen at War

ILLUSTRATION: Cover of Seki Seisetsu's book, The Promotion of Budo, showing
Roosevelt and Churchill as demons being subjugated by the Japanese
 fairy-tale hero Momotaro.

ILLUSTRATION: Below: From a 1937 issue of the Buddhist magazine, Doihorin:
officers assembled in the martial arts training halt for Zen meditation.
Right: Lieutenant Colonel Sugimoto Goro, the Zen military ideal.