ebooks The Curse of Cain: The Violent Legacy of Monotheism by Regina M. Schwartz in History

Description

In the years after World War II; Westerners and Japanese alike elevated Zen to the quintessence of spirituality in Japan. Pursuing the sources of Zen as a Japanese ideal; Shoji Yamada uncovers the surprising role of two cultural touchstones: Eugen Herrigel’s Zen in the Art of Archery and the Ryoanji dry-landscape rock garden. Yamada shows how both became facile conduits for exporting and importing Japanese culture.First published in German in 1948 and translated into Japanese in 1956; Herrigel’s book popularized ideas of Zen both in the West and in Japan. Yamada traces the prewar history of Japanese archery; reveals how Herrigel mistakenly came to understand it as a traditional practice; and explains why the Japanese themselves embraced his interpretation as spiritual discipline. Turning to Ryoanji; Yamada argues that this epitome of Zen in fact bears little relation to Buddhism and is best understood in relation to Chinese myth. For much of its modern history; Ryoanji was a weedy; neglected plot; only after its allegorical role in a 1949 Ozu film was it popularly linked to Zen. Westerners have had a part in redefining Ryoanji; but as in the case of archery; Yamada’s interest is primarily in how the Japanese themselves have invested this cultural site with new value through a spurious association with Zen.