DOC The Schoolhouse Door: Segregation's Last Stand at the University of Alabama by E. Culpepper Clark in History

Description

Zen--serene; contemplative; a discipline of meditation associated with painting; rock gardens; and flower arranging--seems an odd ingredient in the martial psyche of the Japanese samurai. "One who is a samurai must before all things keep constantly in mind...the fact that he has to die;" wrote a seventeenth-century warrior. "That is his chief business." But the demands of that "business;" writes Winston King; found the perfect philosophical match in the teachings of Zen Buddhism. In Zen and the Way of the Sword; King offers a fascinating look into the mind of the samurai swordsman in a far-reaching account of the role of Zen in the thought; culture; and the martial arts of Japan's soldier elite. An esteemed scholar of Eastern religions; King deftly traces the development of Zen and discusses the personal nature of its practice; its emphasis on individual discovery and attainment. He then presents an accomplished capsule history of the samurai class; from its rise in the middle ages to formal abolition in the nineteenth century--an account filled with details of wars; political maneuvering; and cultural achievements. King also looks at the arms and vocation of the individual samurai; placing the details of armor and weapons in the context of the samurai conception of warfare. In particular; King focuses on the sword--the soul of the samurai; as it was called--describing how it was forged; the honor given famous swordsmiths; the rise of schools of swordsmanship; and breathtaking feats of the great swordsmen. Throughout; King shows how the samurai cultivated Zen; relating its teaching of a free and spontaneous mind to the experience of a warrior in individual combat; and finding philosophical strength in Zen as they prepared themselves for death. "What mind can penetrate his opponent's mind?" one authority has written. "It is a mind that has been trained and cultivated to the point of detachment with perfect freedom....His mind should reflect his opponent's mind like water reflecting the moon." In other words; a mind trained by Zen. King goes on to trace the role of Zen in samurai life through the peaceful eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; examining the absorption of Zen into World War II psychology and broader Japanese culture. Throughout; he provides a thoughtful perspective; both sympathetic and aware of the ethical problems inherent in a school of Buddhism turned to the needs of a military class. A scholarly; absorbing account; Zen and the Way of the Sword provides fascinating insight into the samurai ethos; and the culture of Japan today.