ZEN; JAPANESE MILITARISM; POLITICAL SCIENCE; SOTO; RINZAI ZEN
摘要
In Imperial Japan of the 1930s, a loosely organized movement arose within the Soto and Rinzai Zen sects which was known variously as "Imperial Way-Zen," "Imperial State-Zen," or "Imperial Military-Zen." The thrust of this movement was to place meditation power (J. zenjo-riki/XXX), coupled with the spirit of self-discipline and self-sacrifice derived from Zen training, at the disposal of Japan's armed forces.
"Imperial Way-Zen" was itself only a subset of a larger pan-Buddhist movement known as "Imperial Way-Buddhism." This latter movement was supported by all of the sects composing institutional Buddhism. Its doctrinal foundations rested on the twin pillars of total subservience to the state in the person of the Emperor and the identification of war as an act of Buddhist compassion.
This dissertation examines both of these movements with particular emphasis on "Imperial Way-Zen" and seeks to explain how it was possible that Buddhism, a religion with non-violence as one of its fundamental precepts, could have been interpreted so as to support the war policies of Imperial Japan.
