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Book review: Zen at War
Feb. 2nd, 2014 15:20Bibliographic Data: Victoria, Brian Daizen. Zen at War. 2nd ed. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2006.
Main Argument: Victoria, an ordained Soto Zen priest, has written a scathing indictment of the cooperation of Buddhism in general and Zen in particular with Japan's imperialism and military efforts. But he also writes that he chose this period "not because I see it as representative of the historical relationship between Zen Buddhism and warfare, but, on the contrary, precisely because it is not" (xiv).
Historiographical Engagement: Victoria relies on scholars of Buddhism and Japanese religion including James Ketelaar, Bob Sharf, and Helen Hardacre, as well as some Japanese Buddhist historians.
( Zen at war )
Critical assessment: This is a valuable book, if not precisely an academic one; from the scholarly perspective, it's under theorized, and especially having just read State and Intellectual, Victoria's "resistance/complicity" binary seems too simple, or if not too simple, needed more elaboration and nuance. That said, however, Victoria tells a vital part of the story of the Japanese empire to which not enough attention has been paid--Carol Gluck, I'm looking at you.
Further reading: Hwangsoo Kim, Empire of the Dharma; Yuma Totani, The Tokyo War Crimes Trial
Meta notes: When you stand for nothing(ness), you'll fall for anything.
Main Argument: Victoria, an ordained Soto Zen priest, has written a scathing indictment of the cooperation of Buddhism in general and Zen in particular with Japan's imperialism and military efforts. But he also writes that he chose this period "not because I see it as representative of the historical relationship between Zen Buddhism and warfare, but, on the contrary, precisely because it is not" (xiv).
Historiographical Engagement: Victoria relies on scholars of Buddhism and Japanese religion including James Ketelaar, Bob Sharf, and Helen Hardacre, as well as some Japanese Buddhist historians.
( Zen at war )
Critical assessment: This is a valuable book, if not precisely an academic one; from the scholarly perspective, it's under theorized, and especially having just read State and Intellectual, Victoria's "resistance/complicity" binary seems too simple, or if not too simple, needed more elaboration and nuance. That said, however, Victoria tells a vital part of the story of the Japanese empire to which not enough attention has been paid--Carol Gluck, I'm looking at you.
Further reading: Hwangsoo Kim, Empire of the Dharma; Yuma Totani, The Tokyo War Crimes Trial
Meta notes: When you stand for nothing(ness), you'll fall for anything.
