The Contemporary Meaning of Kamakura Buddhism (1974)

7/23/2019 The Contemporary Meaning of Kamakura Buddhism (1974)

1/16

The Contemporary Meaning of Kamakura BuddhismAuthor(s): Robert N. BellahSource: Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Vol. 42, No. 1 (Mar., 1974), pp. 3-17Published by: Oxford University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1461524

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2/16

The

Contemporary

eaning

of

Kamakura

uddhism

ROBERT

N.

BELLAH

are

gathered

ogether to celebrate he 800th anniversary f the

birth

of

Shinran

Sh6nin

and the great creativephase of Japanese

Buddhism

Vin

he

Kamakura

Period

in

which

Shinran

was a central but

by

no

means a

solitary figure.*

I

will have

something

to

say

about

Shinran and also

about

D6gen,

whom I

will

treat as

representative igures

of

Kamakura

Buddhism,

although

there are

others

at

these

meetings

far

more

qualified

than

I

to

speak

of

them.

What

I want to

concentrate

on

mainly

is

the

question,

How

can some-

thing

that

happened

800

years

ago

mean

anything

to

us?

Especially

when

it

is

a

question

of

anything

so evanescent

as

religious experience,

how

can we

even

understand,

much less

participate

n,

something

so

long

ago?

I

will

try

to

dealwith those

problems y adapting

ome

concepts

rom

Miki

Kiyoshi's

Philosophy

of

History.'

Following

Miki,

we can

speak

of

any

historical

event

as

involving

1)

experience,

2)

expression,

3)

documents,

and

4)

re-enact-

ment. Experiencerefersto the immediacyof events as individualsparticipate n

them.

Expression

refers

to

the cultural

forms

that

people

create

out of

their

'Rekishi

Tetsagaku

n Miki

Kiyoshi Zenshii,

vol.

6

(Iwanami, 1967).

See

also

his

essay

"Ningengaku

no

Marukusu-teki

Keitei"

[The

Marxist

Form

of

Anthropology]

n

vol.

3.

My

discussion

follows

the

spirit

of

Miki's

analysis

but

does

not

attempt

to

reproduce

his much

more

complex terminology.

ROBERT

.

BELLAH

s Ford

Professor

of

Sociology

and

Comparative

Studies

at

the

University

of

California

t

Berkeley.

His

publications

n

Japan

nclude

Tokugawa

Religion

(New York, 1957) and two recentarticles,

"Continuity

nd

Change

in

JapaneseSociety"

in

Barber

and

Inkeles,

eds.,

Stability

and Social

Change (Boston,

1971)

and "Intellectual

and

Society

in

Japan"

n

Daedalus

(Spring

1972).

*

This

paper

was read

originally

at a

symposium

n

Honolulu

sponsoredby

the

De-

partment

of

Religion

at the

University

of Hawaii and the

Hawaii

Buddhist

Council.

The

symposium,

xtending

from

January

21,

1973

to

April

15, 1973,

was entitled

"Kamakura

Buddhism:

The

Buddhist

Reformation,

Retrospect

nd

Prospect." During

this

period

the

symposium

hosted

a

series

of

lectures

and

discussions

xploring

the

meaning

of

the

variety

of

Buddhist

movements

nitiated

n

the Kamakura

eriod

of

Japanesehistory

(1185-1332).

The effortwas undertaken o celebrate everalanniversaries: he 800th anniversary f the

founding

of

the

Jodo

School

by

St.

Honene,

the 800th

anniversary

f the

birth

of

St.

Shinran,

and

the

750th

anniversary

f

the

birth

of

St.

Nichiren. The

symposium

was

under

the

leadership

of ProfessorAlfred

Bloom,

University

of

Hawaii.

Copyright

@

1974

by

American

Academy

of

Religion


3/16

4

ROBERTN.

BELLAH

experience

but

which

survive

beyond

the occasionof their

creation.

There is

no

absolute

boundary

ine

between

experience

and

expression,

since

cultural

forms

complete

and fulfill

experience

as well as

provide

stimulus for new

experience.

Documents

are

anything

that

allow us

to

know of

the

experience

and

expression

of

the

past.

Re-enactment s

the

attempt

n

the

present

to

see

what

the

experience

and

expression

of

the

past

were

really

like.

When

we are

dealing

with

religious

experience,

there

are

some

particularly

difficult

problems.

Religious

experience

s,

or

often

claims to

be,

experience

of

something

trans-historical,

ternal,

or

non-temporal.

But

religious expression,

like

all

other human

expression,

is

in

time and

history.

The

documents,

the

scriptures

nd

other

religious

writings

that

record

hat

experience

and

expression,

reek of the particularitiesof the place and age in which they were produced.

Re-enactment,

he

appropriation

of

the

original

experience

in

the

present

mo-

ment,

becomes

increasingly

difficult

as

the sacred

documents

seem ever more

strange,

remote,

and

inaccessible.

In

the

case

of

religion,

where

a

continuous

tradition

of

re-enactment s

essential

for

the

survivalof

the

religion

itself,

there

is

a

tendency

for the

original meanings

to

become

progressively

distorted

and

the

function of

the

re-enactment o

become

magical,

social,

or

even

political,

rather

han to

produce

an

apprehension

f

transcendence. It is

this situation

that

gives

rise

to

reformations.

It

is

the

task

of

a

religious

reformation

not

simply

to

revive the

original

historicalforms of

religious

expression,

though

that is how

reformers

sometimes see

it,

but to

regain

the

original

experience

of

the trans-

historical.

Inevitably,

even when

the

reformer

hinks

he

is

merely returning

to

past

forms,

a

genuine

reformation

nvolves the creation

of

new forms

growing

out

of a

new

apprehension

f

religious

reality,

even

though

there is

still

a

definite

connection

with the

past.

Viewing

Kamakura

Buddhism

as a

reformation,

hen,

raises

questions

in

two

directions.

To

what

extent

did

Kamakura

Buddhism

recapture

n

its own

forms

the

fundamental

Buddhist

experience of the earliest texts and presumablyof

Gautamathe Buddha

himself,

who

lived 1800

years

earlier than

Shinran

and

D6gen?

To

what

extent is

it

possible

for

us

to

apprehend

the

experience

of

Shinran,

D6gen,

and

the other

great

Kamakura

Buddhists

without

ourselves

un-

dergoing

a

reformation?

I

will not

pretend

to

answer

those

questions,

especially

the

second

one,

but

they

lie behind all that

I

will

say.

Following

Futaba

Kenk6

I think it

is

possible

to

argue

that

Kamakura

Bud-

dhism,

especially

in

the

figures

of

Shinran

and

D6gen,

not

only

did

involve

a

re-enactment

of

the

fundamental

experience

of

Buddhism,

but that it

was the

first time in Japanesehistorythat a movement based on that fundamentalex-

perience

reached the masses.2

Such an

argument

would

imply

that

Japanese

Buddhism

in

earlier

centuries,

with

many

individual

exceptions,

of

course,

was

essentially

a

magical-ritual ystem

controlled

by

the

state and

used,

on

the one

hand,

as

a

support

for

existing

political

power

and,

on

the

other,

as

a

means

for

'See

Futaba's

Shimran

o

Kenkyig

Shinran

Studies]

(Kyoto:

Hyakkaen,1962).


4/16

THE

CONTEMPORARY

EANING

OF KAMAKURA UDDHISM

5

attaining

arious

utilitarian

oals

by

individuals

nd

groups. Perhaps

brief

discussion f

original

Buddhism

ill

suggest

how it

differed

rom

early

Japanese

Buddhism

nd

how

Kamakurauddhism

e-appropriated

t.

Original Buddhism,as far as we can know it, involves the belief that "all

conditioned

hings,"

hat

is,

all of

the

aspects

f our

everyday xperience,

ave

three

characteristics

r

"marks."3

They

1)

are

transient r

impermanent,

)

involve

suffering

r

ill,

and

3)

are

"not-self."

To

expand

lightly

on the third

mark

we can

quote

he

phrase

he

early

extsuse

to

refer

o

the

objects

f

ordinary

experience:

"this is

not

mine,

I

am not

this,

this

is not

myself."4

Such

an

under-

standing

f

the

everyday

world

which

radically

eprives

t of

its

meaning

and

value s not

itself

simply

given

in

ordinary

xperience,

hough

here s much n

ordinary

xperience

hat

hints

at

it. Such

an

understanding

s itself the

product

of

religious

experience,

and that

understanding rows

as the

religious

experience

is

deepened

and

disciplined.

We

should,

therefore,

be

very

hesitant,

acking

that

religious

perception,

to

claim

that we

truly

understandwhat is

being

asserted,

even

though

we follow the words.

Finally,

and most

paradoxically,riginal

Buddhism

sserted hat

if

we

truly

understand

hat

ordinary

xistence s

tran-

sient,

involves

suffering,

and is

alien,

that

is,

if

we

perceive

the

absolute

empti-

nessof

the

ordinary

orld,

we

will

haveattained

piritual

reedom,

irvana. As

Conze

says,

"In

one sense

emptiness' esignates

eprivation,

n

another

ulfill-

ment."5Thatwhichonthe one hand s designatedsescape,topping,enuncia-

tion,

he extinction

f

craving

s

also

designated

s real

ruth,

rue

being,

upreme

reality.6

However

mperfectly

e

may

grasp

hat

originalmessage,

et us

see whether

we can

discern

n

the

religious xperience

f Shinran nd

D6gen

a

re-enactment

of

it. The

connections

rea

bit

easier

o

follow

n

D6gen

so

it is

there hat

we

will

begin.

D6gen

(1200-1253)

came from

a

court

family

n

Ky6to

and

receivedan

excellent ducation

n

Chinese

iterature

nd

in

the

many

schoolsof

Buddhism.

At theageof thirteenhe became monkof the TendaiSchool, he"mother f

Buddhism"

here

all

the

great

reformers

tarted,

nd

gradually egan

o

master

the Buddhist

eachings.

All

that

he learnedeft him

dissatisfied

ntil

he

finally

visited

Eisai,

he

monk

who first

brought

he

teachings

f

Zen to

Japan.

There

he formed he intentionof

following

Eisai's

ootsteps

by visiting

China

and

practicing

meditationhere. Letme recountwhat

happened

fterhe had

begun

the

practice

f

meditation nder he direction f

the

Chinese

monk

Ju-ching,

s

described

n a

manuscript

y my

student

Carl

Bielefeldt:7

'

On

the three

marks see Edward

Conze,

Buddhist

Thought

in India

(University

of

Michigan

Press,

1967),

chap.

3.

'Ibid.,

p.

37.

5

Ibid.,

p.

60.

SIbid.,

pp.

75-76.

"Carl

W.

Bielefeldt,

"Sh6Sbgenz6-sansuiky6,"

.A. Thesis

in

Asian

Studies,

University

of Californiaat

Berkeley,

1972.


5/16

6 ROBERTN. BELLAH

Then

in the

summer

practiceperiod

of

1225,

one

night

when

the monks were

seated

n

meditation,

Ju-ching

shouted

at

the

nodding

monk

next

to

D6gen,

'Zen

is

body

and

mind cast

off How can

you

sit there

sleeping?'

D6gen

woke

up.

He went

to

Ju-ching'squarters

and

offered incense.

'What does

this

offering

incense mean?'

asked

Ju-ching. 'Body

and

mind are

cast

off,'

said

D6gen.

Ju-

ching

said,

'Body

and

mind

cast

off

Castoff

body

and mind ' To which

Digen

responded,

This is

just

a

momentary

attainment. Don't

give

it

your

seal

too

quickly.' Ju-ching

said,

'I don't

give

it

my

seal too

quickly.'

D6gen

asked,

'What

do

you

mean

by

that?' The

Master

answered,

Castoff

body

and

mind '

D6gen

bowed.

Ju-ching

said,

'Castoff

Cast

off '

When

DMgen

eft

Ju-ching

wo

years

ater,

the Masteradvisedhim to avoid

cities

and

keep

away

from

the

government.

'Just

live in

deep

mountains and

dark

valleys,

and

train

a

disciple-and-a-half:

on't let

my

teaching

be

cut off.'

D6gen

returned

o

Japan

empty-handed,

ith

nothing

to

show

for his four

years

n

Sung

Chinaexceptknowledge,as he said,that'my eyesare set side by side andmy nose

is

straight.'

The first

thing

to

notice

n

this account s the

sharp

break

romthe

past.

Pre-

vious

monks

returning

rom

China,

ncluding

even Eisai

himself,

invariably

brought

withthem tatues nd

sutras,

harms

nd

spells.

D6gen

returned

mpty-

handed.

Previous

monkswere

often

sent to

China

semi-officially

nd

upon

their

return

set

up

monasteries nder

government

ponsorship.

D6gen

was

admonishedo

keep

away

from

government,

n

admonition

e

carried

ut

by

establishingis monastery, iheiji,n the "deepmountainsnddarkvalleys"f

Echizen n

the

Japan

Sea side

of

North

Central

apan,

nd

by

steadfastly

efus-

ing

all invitations

romKamakura. n

these

waysD6gen

asserted

sharp

break

from he

established

hurch ndthe

establishedtate. He

proclaimed purified

and

simplified

Buddhism

tterly

cleansed

f utilitarian

nds. In his

teaching,

meditationtself is

at

once

meansand ends and

there s no

otherconcern. He

said:

In

Buddhism,

practice

and

enlightenment

are

one and the

same. Since

practice

has

its basis

in

enlightenment,

he

practice

even

of

the

beginner

contains

the

whole of

originalenlightenment.

Thuswhile

giving

directions s to the

exercise,

the Zen

masterwarns

him

not to

await

enlightenment

apart

from

the

exercise,

because

this

exercise

points

directly

to the

original enlightenment,

t

has no

beginning.s

The

simultaneity

f

practice

nd

enlightenment

as

part

of

a

general

ense

of

reality

or

D6gen.

The

very

mountains

nd

rivers

mong

which

he

lived

partook

of

that

simultaneity.

Mr.

Bielefeldt ummarizes

he

teaching

of the

mountain

and

riversectionof

D6gen's

greatest

work,

he

Sh6tbgenz6,

s

follows:

As for mountainsand rivers,then, thoughwe say they are samsdra,t is not

so

easy

to

say

what

this means. For

samsiracannot

be

pinned

down to

this

world

s

Nakamura

Hajime,

A

History

of

the

Development

of

Japanese

Thought

(Tokyo:

Kokusai

Bunka

Shinkokai,

1969),

vol.

1,

p.

90.

The

passage

s from

Dogen's

Bendowa,

which

is translated

n

its

entirety by

Norman Waddell

and

Abe

Masao

in

The

Eastern

Buddhist

(New

Series)

4

(May

1971).

For their

translation

of the

passagequoted,

see

p.

144

of that

issue.


6/16

THE CONTEMPORARYMEANING

OF KAMAKURA

BUDDHISM

7

of

birth and death. It

is

this world

of birth and

death;

and

yet

for

that

very

reason

it

is

completely

free

from

birth

and

death.

This is

the

basic

logic

of

the

prajni-piramiti,

the

Perfection

of Wisdom. All

dharmas

are

conditioned

being;

but

a

conditioned

being has

no nature

of its own; having no own-nature

it

is

empty;

being

empty

it

is

free

from

itself,

and

free

from

birth

and

death.

Therefore,

hese

very

mountains

and

rivers

of the

present

are the mountains

and

riversof

nirvina.'

With

the

same hesitation that

I

expressed

about

the

message

of

original

Bud-

dhism,

namely,

hat

one

can

hardly

claim to

understand

he words when

one

does

not

have the

experience

out of

which

they

come,

I

think it

can

be

argued

that

D6gen

does,

in

his

own

unique

way,

represent

a

reappropriation

f the

original

message

of

Buddhism n

all

its

radicalness.

Superficially t might seem that Shinran'smessagewas quite different. As

opposed

to

the

jiriki,

self-power,

practice

of meditation

n

D6gen,

Shinran

would

seem

to

recommend

tariki,

other-power,

reliance

on

Amida

Buddha.

But,

as

Futaba

Kenk6

has

pointed

out,

there

may

be

a

deeper

structural

similarity.10

Shinran

(1173-1262),

twenty-seven years

older than

D6gen,

came from a

similar

family

background,

ecame

a

monk at an

early age,

and,

like

D6gen,

read

restlessly

n

the

vast

corpus

of

Buddhist

writings

until

finding

a

teacher,

n

his

case

H6nen,

who

finally

helped

him

find

his

way.

But

in

Shinran's

biography

we

find a

specialemphasis

on

his

sense

of

failure and

sin,

on

his

inability

to

per-

form

the

meditations

and

austerities

prescribed

o

him

by

his sect.

In

this situa-

tion

of

doubt

and

uncertainty

H6nen's

teaching

that

salvationcomes

through

the

name of

Amida

Buddha

alone,

relying

only

on

Amida's

vow to

save

all

sentient

beings,

was

profoundly ransforming.

Shinran

said

that he

was

willing

to

follow

H6nen's

teaching

even

if

it should

lead

him

to

hell,

for he

was headed

for hell in

any

case

and

H6nen's

message

was

his

only

hope.

By

taking

his

place

in

the

little

band

of

followers around

H6nen,

Shinran,

intentionally

or

not,

involved himself in

a

break

with

the

established

church

and

stateasradicalas wasD6gen's. The established ects did not approveof H6nen's

teachings,

which

they

considered

ubversive

of

established

order,

and

they brought

pressure

on

the

state to

suppress

them.

Eventually

two

of

Hbnen's followers

were

executed and

the

rest,

including

H6nen and

Shinran,

were

banished

to

dis-

tant

provinces.

Indeed,

it

was the

separation

rom

H6nen,

whom he

never

saw

again,

that

brought

about

Shinran's

own

independent

doctrinal

developments.

In

the

isolation of

the

remote

province

of

Echigo,

Shinran aced the

hardships

of

the

life of

the

ordinary

peasant.

He

dropped

the

last

of

his

monastic

disciplines

and took a

wife,

becoming,

in

his

own

words,"

neither

priest

nor

layman.""

In several

respects

Shinran

pushed

the

implication

of

the Pure Land tradition

9

Bielefeldt,

"Sh6b6genzo-sansuiky6,"

.

74.

1

Futaba,

Shinran

no

Kenkyig,

he

chapter

entitled "Shinran

no

shin to

jiritsu-t-eki

jissen

no

kankei"

[The

Relation

between

Shinran's

Faith

and Autonomous

Practice],

pp.

279-310.

"

Alfred

Bloom,

The

Life

of

Shinran

Shonin:

The

Journey

o

Self-Acceptance

Leiden:

Brill, 1968),

p.

18.


7/16

8

ROBERT N.

BELLAH

further

han

t

had

ever

been

pushed

before. While

placing

all his

faith

n

the

name

of

Amida,

he

essentially

enied

that the

repetition

f the

name,

even

a

single

time,

was

itself

efficacious or

salvation.

Salvation s

already

vailable

in thelimitless ea of Amida's ow,andeventhe faith to acceptt comes rom

Amida.

Further,

hile

not

denying

hatthe

believer

will

be reborn

n

the Pure

Land

afterdeath

as the

Jado

radition

maintains,

hinran urnedhis

emphasis

to the

immediacy

f

salvation,

he

simultaneity

f faith

and

salvation

n

the

immediate

resent.

All

of

this

can

be

and often

has

been

interpreted long

Christian

ines

in

which

Amida

has been

interpreted

s

analogous

o God

or

Christ.

Without

denying

hat

there

may

be

something

o such

interpretations,

e must

also

notice

how,

at a

deeper evel,

Shinran's

eaching

resembles

D6gen's

and

the

message

of

original

Buddhism

as well.

What

Shinran s

saying

aboutall

practices,

ncluding

he

recitation

f the name

of

Amida,

as

formsof

striving,

is "this s not

mine,

I

am not

this,

this

is

not

myself."

With

Shinran

s

with

D6gen

here s no endto

be

gained

and

no

self

to

gain

it.

Amida

s

a

manifesta-

tion

of that

ultimate

eality

which s

simultaneously

mpty

and

full,

as

it was

for

D1gen.

It is in

this

context hatwe

can

understand

hinran's

amous

assage

n

Jinen

or

nature,

written

near he end

of his life.

I

quote

AlfredBloom's rans-

lation:

When we

speak

of "Nature"

Jinen),

the

character

i

mean

naturally, y

itself

(Onozukara).

It

is not

(the

result

of)

an

intention

(self-assertion-

Hakarai)

f

the

devotee.

Nen is

a

word

which

means"to

cause o

come

about"

(Shikarashimu).

Shikarashimu

also

signifies

hat

it)

is

not

(due

to

any)

effort

(Hakarai)

of

the devotee.

Since

it

is

(the

result

of)

the

Vow of

the

Tathagata,

we will

call

it

H6ni,

i.e.,

truth.

We

say

of H6ni

that it

"causes

o

come

about,"

because

t

is the

Vow of the

Tathagata.

Since

the truth

is

the

Vow

of

Tathagata,

we

say

generally

that it

is

not

(the

result)

of

the

effort of

the

devotee,

and

therefore

he

power

(virtue)

of

this

Dharma

is that it

"causes

to

be."

For the

first

time,

there

is

nothing

to

be done

by

man.

This is what

we should understand s "the reason which is beyondreason"(Mugi no Gi).

Originally

Jinen

was

a

word

meaning

"to

cause

to

be."

We

say

Jinen

when

the

devotee

does not

consider

his

goodness

or evil

in

accordance

with the

fact that

Amida

has

vowed

originally

(that

salvation

was to

be

attained)

not

by

the

efforts of

the

devotee,

but

by being

embracedand

caused

to

rely

on

the

Namu

Amida

Butsu

(his

name).

In the

Vow

which we

hear,

it

is

vowed

that

he will

causeus

(to attain)

the

highest

Buddahood.

"Highest

Buddahood"

signifies

to

abide

in

formlessness.

Because

we are

without

form,

we

say

Jinen

(nature).

When we indicate hat

there

is

form,

we do not

speak

of

the

highest

Nirvana.

We

have

heardand

learned or the

first time

that

the

one who

makes

knownformlessnesss calledAmida. Amidais the meanswherebywe arecaused

to know

formlessness.12

SAlfred

Bloom,

Shinran's

Gospel

of

Pure Grace

(The

Association

or

Asian

Studies:

Monographs

nd

Papers,

No.

20)

(Tucson:

University

of Arizona

Press,

1965),

pp.

43-44.

(Japanese

characters

ontained n

the

original

manuscript

ave

been

omitted

from

this

text

because

of

printing difficulty.)

D. T.

Suzuki

gives

a

somewhat

ooser

translationof

this

difficult

passage

on

pp.

171-72 of his

Mysticism,

Christian

and

Buddhist

(New

York:

Harper

&

Row,

1971):


8/16

THE

CONTEMPORARY

MEANING OF

KAMAKURA

BUDDHISM

9

I

hope

hat

enough

has

been

said

o

indicate

hat

he Buddhist

eformationf

Shinran

nd

D6gen

was

a

genuine

one,

that it did

re-apprehend

he

religiously

radical

message

of

original

Buddhism nd make

it

available

o

the

Japanese

masses.Theworld,ncludingtsestablishedocialandculturalrder,s radically

devalued

nd

yet

the

worldas

it

is is

given

back

n

a new

way,

simultaneously

empty

and

ull.

I

say

religiously

adical

ecause

he

message

t the outset

was

not

socially

adical.

None of the Kamakura

eformers

ad

a visionof

a

new social

order

hat

they

wished

to

bring

about. But

on

the

other hand the

religious

awakening

f

the masses

did have

political mplications.

Particularly

n the

J6do

Shinshfi,

ut

also in

the

Nichirenshfi,

he

subjective xperience

f faith

made

possible

new

kindof

social

organization

ithin he

religious

ollectivity.

Indeed, nly

these

religious rganizations

ver

challengedherising

eudal

order

of medieval

apan.

In

the end

the

religious

ebellions

nd

movements

ll

failed

in

their

challenge

o the

feudalorder

and,

more

importantly,

ere

themselves

permeated y

feudal

orms. But

before

we are oo

quick

o

judge,particularly

n

comparison

o

some

alleged

ethical-social

uperiority

f

Christianity,

e

should

rememberhat

the

NT,

no

more

than

the

Buddhist

criptures,

ontains

blue-

print

or social

order. Faith

must

always

e

joined

o secular

deologies

n

order

to

have

political onsequences.

he

political

imitations f the BuddhistReform-

ation

areas much

he

political

imitations

f the

Shinto

and

Confucian

olitical

traditions nd the actualities f politicalpoweras they are of the Buddhist

Reformation

tself.

This

does

not

mean hat

there

may

not

be different

possi-

bilities

oday.

Before

urning

o the

modern

eriod

n

an

effort

o

say

something

bout

he

meaning

f Buddhism

enerally

nd the Kamakura

eformers

n

particular

or

our

presentday

society

n

Japan,

America,

nd

the

world,

here

s one further

period

n

Japanese istory,

ne

further

hase

n what

I

call

Japanese

nternaliza-

Ji

means "of

itself,"

or

"by

itself."

As

it

is

not

due to the

designing

of

man

but

to

Nyorai'svow [that man is born in the Pure Land], it is said that man is naturallyor

spontaneously nen),

led to

the

Pure

Land.

The devotee

does not make

any

conscious

self-designingfforts,

or

they

are

altogether

neffective

o achieve

he end.

Jinen

hus

means hat

as

one's

rebirth

nto the Pure

Land

s

wholly

due to

the

working

f

Nyorai's

vow-power,

t

is for the

devotee

ust

o

believe

n

Nyorai

and

et

his vow work

tself

out.

Hani

means

"it

s so

because

t

is

so";

and n the

present

ase

t

means

hat

t

is

in the

nature

f

Amida's

ow-power

hatwe are

born

n

the Pure

Land.

Therefore,

he

way

n

which

he

other-power

orks

may

be defined

s

"meaning

f

no-meaning,"

hat

s to

say,

it

works

n

such

a

way

as

if

not

working

so

natural,

o

spontaneous,

o

effortless,

o

absolutely

reeare

ts

workings].

Amida'svow accomplishes verythingand nothing is left for the devoteeto design or

plan

for himself. Amida

makes

he

devotee

imply

ay

"Namu-amida-butsu"

n order o

be saved

by

Amida,

ndthe

latter

welcomes

im

to the

Pure

Land.

As

far

as

the

devotee

is

concerned,

e

does

not

knowwhat

s

good

or

bad

for

him,

all

is

left to

Amida. That

is

whatI-

Shinran

have

earned.

Amida's ow

is

meant o make

us all

attain

upreme

Buddhahood.The

Buddha s

formless

and becauseof

his

formlessness

he

is knownas

"all

by

himself"

(jinen).

If

he

had

a

form,

he

wouldnot

be called

supreme

Nyorai.

In

order

to let

us know

how

formless

he

is,

he

is calledAmida.

That

s what

-

Shinran

have

earned.


9/16

10 ROBERT N. BELLAH

tion

of

Buddhism,

o

which

I would

like

to

refer. That is

the

Tokugawa

Period.

In the midst

of the

allegedly

secular

Tokugawa

Period,

when

Buddhism

is

said

to

have

atrophied

and the

creativitygone

out of

it,

we can nonetheless

peak,

if we

speak softly,

of a second Buddhist

Reformation,

the Haiku Reformation.

Of

all

the

great

poets

of

that

period

we

can

single

out two who

brought

the

haiku as a

poetry

of

religion

or

religion

of

poetry

to

a

kind of fulfillment:

Bash6

(1644-1694)

and

Issa

(1763-1827).

In

the former we

can

see

a

successor

of

D6gen,

in

the

latter of

Shinran.

Bash6

was

born

of

the

samurai

class,

but

after the death of

the

son

of his

feudal

lord,

with

whom he

served as

a

kind

of

companion

student

and of

whom

he was

very

fond,

he left his

fief

and

settled

in

Edo as

a

student

and

teacher

of

haiku. He livedverysimply,often,duringhis manytravels,experiencinghunger

and

other

sufferings

of

the

poor.

Though

not

strictly

a monk

he dressed

as one

and

in

his own

way

was

also

"neither

priest

nor

layman."

In

all

that

he did

he

lived

poetry

and

what

his

poetry

expressed

was that simultaneous

emptiness

and

fullness that

we have

seen

in

D6gen.

But

to

suggest

the subtle

but

important

difference

between the two

let us contrast

a

waka

of

D6gen

with two haiku of

Bash6.

D6gen

writes:

Yama

no iro tani

hibikimo

mina-nagara

waga hakamuniokoeno ato kana

The

colorsof

the

mountains

The

echoes of

the

valleys,...

All,

all

are

Impressions

f the

voiceof

Our

Shakamuni.'

Bash6

not

only

shortens

the

thirty-one-syllable

waka form to the

seventeen-

syllable

haiku,

but

he also in

a

way

abbreviates

he

theology

abbreviates

t and

makes

it

more

homely,

as

when

he

writes:

Asagao

ni ware

wa

meshi

kii

otoko kana

I

am one

Who eats his

breakfast

Gazing

at the

morning-glory.'

Here is

Buddha's

voice

imprinted,

so

to

speak,

in

the

almost too

pat

image

of

the

rapidly

fading

morning glory,

but not

only

does Bash6 not mention

anything

about the

Buddha,

he

also

intrudes

his own

breakfast,

with

its

aromaof

rice

and

pickles,whichalsoequallywell expresses he simultaneous mptinessandfullness

of

the

Buddha

nature.

In

another

poem,

this

time without a

trace

of

humor,

once

again

we find

an

expression

of

emptiness,

sunyata:

SR.

H.

Blyth,

Haiku,

vol. 1

(Tokyo: Hokuseido,

1952),

p.

195.

I

have

altered the

translationof the last

two lines.

"

Ibid.,

p.

332.

Blyth

translates

sagao

n

the

plural.


10/16

THE CONTEMPORARY

MEANING OF KAMAKURA BUDDHISM 11

Kono michi

ya

iku

hito

nashi

ni aki

no kure

Along

this

road

Goes no

one,

This autumn eve.'

Without

that

Buddhist

depth

of

meaning

that

is

always hovering just

below the

surface of

Bash6's

poetry,

this

would

be

merely

sentimental,

as modern

haiku

have become after the

Buddhist substance has

gone.

But

at that marvelous

moment

when

Buddhist

religious

perceptiveness

has

annihilated

itself

in

the

world but

not

yet

lost

its

power

stands the

figure

of Bash6:

Tabi-sugata higure

no tsuru

yo

bash66

In

travelling

attire,

A

stork

in late autumn rain:

The old master

Bash6,"6

as

Choradescribeshim.

By

contrastwith

Bash6,

Issa,

a

J6do

Shinshfi

believer,

s much

more

involved

in

the

human

world.

Like Shinranhe is

acutely

aware of the

reality

of sin and

suffering:

Kogarashi ya nija-yon-mon

no

yfjo

goya

The autumnstorm;

A

prostitute

shack

At 24

cents

a

time."

Even

in

the

naturalworld he is alert to

suffering:

Nomidomo mo

yonaga

dar6

zo

sabishi

karo

For

you

fleas

too,

The

night

must

be

long,

It must

be

lonely."

But

in

true Shinshii

fashion Issa holds

that

it

is

just

in

the midst of this

dirty

world that faith

is

to

be found:

Hito

no

yo

ni ta ni

tsukuraruru

hasu

no

hana

In

the

world of

men

-

In

the

muddy

rice

field

The

Lotus is fashioned."

At

the end

of

his

poetic diary, Oraga

Haru,

Issa

gives

us

a

theological

reverie

that perhapscarriesShinranone step further:

15Ibid.,p.

179.

16Ibid.,

p.

333.

17Ibid.,

p.

349.

'Ibid.,

p.

345.

"

Lewis

MacKenzie,

The

Autumn

Wind: A

Selection

rom

the

Poems

of

Issa

(London:

John

Murray,

1957),

p.

71.

I

have

alteredthe translation.


11/16

12

ROBERT

N.

BELLAH

Those who

insist on salvation

by

faith and devote

their

minds to

nothing

else

are

bound

all the

more

firmly

by

their

singlemindedness,

nd

fall

into

the

hell

of

attachment o their

own salvation.

Again,

those

who

are

passive

and

stand to one side

waiting

to

be

saved,

consider

hat

they

are

already

perfect

and

rely

rather

on

Buddha than on themselvesto

purify

their

hearts--these,

too,

have

failed to

find

the secretof

genuine

salvation.

The

question

hen

remains

how do we find it? But the

answer,

fortunately,

s not difficult.

We should

do

far

better

to

put

this

vexing

problem

of salvation

out

of our

minds

altogether

and

place

our

reliance

neither on

faith nor on

personal

virtue,

but surrender urselves

completely

o the will

of Buddha. Let him do as he

will

with

us

-

be

it to

carry

us to

heaven,

or to

hell. Herein

lies

the secret.

Once we

have

determined

n

this

course,

we

need

care

nothing

for ourselves.

We

need

no

longer

ape

the

busy

spider

by stretching

he web

of our desire across

the

earth,

nor

emulate the

greedy

farmer

by taking

extra water into our

own

fields at the expenseof our neighbors. Moreover, ince our minds will be at

peace,

we need not

always

be

saying

our

prayers

with hollow

voice,

for we shall

be

entirely

underthe

benevolent

direction

of Buddha.

This

is the salvation this the

peace

of mind we teach in our

religion.

Blessed be the name of Buddha.

Tomo-kaku-mo

anata

makase no toshi no

kure

In

any

case

Leaving

all

to

you

Now,

at the end

of

the

year."

Issa,

the

son of a

moderately prosperous

peasant family,

left home

and,

like

Bash6,

became

a haiku

teacher

in

Edo.

Eventually

he returned

to

his native

village,

where a series of domestic misfortunes overtook him. Like Bash6 he

stood aside from

Tokugawa

society,

but

even

more than the

earlier

poet

he

expressed

quiet

contempt

for the feudal

ruling

class,

as

when

returning

from

a

visit

to a

daimyo

that he

could

not

avoid

he threw

on

the

dungheap

severalrolls

of

cloth the

daimyo

had

given

him.

Once

again,

in

the case

of Bash6

and

Issa,

we see the

capacity

of

profoundreligious insight

to

devalue the

empirical

world,

including its establishedpowers,but once again we see no immediatepolitical

consequences.

These

great

haiku

poets

are not

easy

for us

to

understand

oday.

But

perhapsthey

are more of

our

world than the Kamakura

Reformersand can

provide

for

us

a

link to

them.

But it

is

a

perilous

link,

for the

religious pene-

trationof

the world has

proceeded

o

far

in

Bash6

and

Issa

that

it

is about

to

turn

into

its

opposite

the

overwhelming

of

poetry

and

religion by

the world

itself. But for

that it

took

the influence

of

the modern world and the

modern

West.

In

the

shattering

of

the traditional

Japanese

world

that

occurredafter the

opening

of

the

country

n

1868

there was

nothing

more

profoundly

shaken

than

Japanese

Buddhism. Attacked

from

within

by

resurgent

Shinto

nationalists,

I

Issa,

Oraga

Haru

[The

Year of

My

Life],

trans.

Nobuyuki

Yuasa

(University

of

California

Press, 1960),

pp.

139-40.

The

prose

text is

unchanged

but

I have

alteredthe

text of

the

haiku

after consultationwith the

Japanese

ext

in

MacKenzie,

The

Autumn

Wind,

p.

104.


12/16

THE CONTEMPORARY

MEANING

OF

KAMAKURA

BUDDHISM 13

attacked

romwithout

by contemptuous

hristian

missionaries,

nddeclaredrrel-

evantand

obsolete

by

the

purveyors

f

the new

secular

nd

scientific

ulture

f

the

West,

t

is

no

wonder hat

Buddhistsost

self-confidence.

This is

not to

say

thatthe customs nd

practices

f

manygenerations

ere

abruptly

bandonedor

that

therewere

no

longermany

sincerebelievers

among

he common

people,

but

only

that

among

he educated lite Buddhismuffered

n

eclipse

n thefirst

decades

f

the

Meiji

Period,

n

eclipse

hat

only

completed

what

had

begun

ong

before he

opening

of the

country.

The

fate of Buddhism s

a

self-conscious

religious

movement as

been,

hen,

that it

has

had to

start

again,

o find new

bases

or

its

appeal,

o

determine

whether

and

how

the

message

of

Buddhism

has

anything

o

say

to

contemporary

apanese.

In

manyrespects

he circum-

stances eemedmostunpropitious.Thesocialandcultural asesof traditional

Buddhism

n

Japan

were

all

being

undermined

y

the

rapid

ocial

hange

brought

about

by Japan's

orced-marchndustrializationnd

modernization.A

purely

conservativeffort

to

continueBuddhism

s

it had existed

n

Tokugawa

imes

seemed

o

have

gloomy

prospects

nd

has

everywhere

een

moreor less

unsuc-

cessful.

On

the other

hand,

paradoxically,

he

emergence

f

modern

Japan

provided,

tself,

new

opportunities

or

religious

pprehension.

ndeed,

oes

not

modern

apan,

ike the modern

West,

epitomize

state

of mind

that

Buddhists

can

only

characterizes

ignorance

nd

delusion ven more

hanmost

traditional

societieshavedone? Afterall,doesnot modern apanese ociety, ikemodern

Western

ociety,

worship

wealth

and

power

with

no

sense

of

their

transience,

blindly

pursue

pleasure

with no

heed

to

the cost

in

suffering,

nd

assert

n

ever

louder

ones:

this is

mine,

I

am

this,

this

is

my

self?

There

was the

possibility

then,

even

the

demand,

or a new

appropriation

f the

message

f the

Kamakura

reformers nd

of

the Buddha

himself,

a new re-enactmentf the fundamental

religious

xperience

f

Buddhism,

modernBuddhistReformation.Has

that

possibility

een

fulfilled?

Once

again

I

am

diffidentabout

givingany

answer

hat is

merely

external

and

descriptive

nd

not

based

on

personal

xperience

tself.

There are also

grave

imitations

o

my

knowledge

f modern

Japanese

Buddhism.

Granting

those

imitations,

hereare

still a

few

things

hat

I

might

say.

As

a

tentative

eneral

nswer

would

ay

hat

elements

f sucha

reformation

havecome nto

existence,

ut

as

yet

we

cannot

ay

that

hey

havecome

o

fulfill-

ment.

An

indispensable

lement

n

such

a

reformation,

revivalof Buddhist

scholarship,

as

in

evidence

lready

n

the

Meiji

Period ndhas

become

tronger

eversince. There s

no

question

ut

that t

is a

precondition

or

the

re-enactment

of religious xperiencehat ts earlier xpressions,scontainedn thescriptures

and

religiouswritings,

e

adequately

nderstoodnd evaluations

f

the

religious

depth

of

various

spects

f

the

tradition

e made

possible.

There

s, however,

n

the

riseof

scholarship,

ndnot

in

the

Buddhist

radition lonebut

just

as

clearly

in the

Christian

tradition,

the

danger

that

knowledge

about

the

tradition

will

replace

immediate

religious

apprehension.

For

example,

we have

learnedenor-

mously

much about the NT from a

century

of

distinguished

biblical

scholarship,


13/16

14 ROBERT N. BELLAH

but

perhaps

Martin

Luther

King

has

taught

us more

aboutChrist

han all the

biblical

cholars

ut

together.

That

is,

of

course,

ot

entirely

air

since

Martin

Luther

King

himself

had

an

excellent

biblical

ducation

whichwas

undoubtedly

a

component

f his owndirect

experience,

utthe

generalpoint

remains alid.

It is

true that

among

he

early

Japanese

Buddhist cholars

n

the

Meiji period

thereweresome

who

exemplified

uddhismn

the

whole

quality

f

their

ivesas

well as

producing

worksof

scholarship,

en like

Kiyozawa

Manshi

and

Suzuki

Daisetsu,

he latter

becoming

hrough

is

scholarship,

ut

even

more

hrough

is

personality,

n

apostle

o

the

wholemodernworld. And

yet

the

factremains

hat

when

we

go

into

any bookshop

n

Japan oday

and

see several helves

of

books

on

Buddhism,

e cannot

assume hat

this is

an

automaticndex

of

widespread

profound ersonalBuddhisteligious xperience.

To

show

just

a

bit

more

clearly

ome further

igns

of

an

incipient

modern

Japanese

uddhist

Reformation,

would

ike

to

mention

a

few

Japanese

ntel-

lectuals,

mainly

because

study

ntellectuals nd know more about

hem,

who,

not

primarily

cholars

f

Buddhism

hemselves,

ave

incorporated

newly

ap-

prehended

uddhist

xperience

nto

their

ives.

Perhaps

he most influential

f

all

modern

apanese

ntellectuals,

ishidaKitarb

1870-1945),

undertook en

meditation

n

his

young

manhood nder he

inspiration

f

Suzuki

Daisetsu,

nd

the Zen

experience rofoundly

arked is entire

philosophical

nterprise.

ishi-

da's interests anged hroughall the problems f Westernphilosophy ndin-

volved

him

in

a

deep

encounter

with

both

Classical

Greek

philosophy

and

German dealism.

Nevertheless,

n

developing

is

own

metaphysics

e

arrived

finally

at a

point

which

is

unmistakably

uddhist

n

inspiration.

He

argued

that

the

notion

of

the

"intelligible

Universal"

as

the

highest

mode

of

being

known o

Western

philosophy.

But then

he

goes

on

to

say:

Whenever Universalinds ts

place

n

another

nveloping

Universal,

nd

is

"lined"

with

t,

the

ast

"being"

hich

had ts

place

n

the

enveloped

niversal,

becomes elf-contradictory.ccordingo this, the intelligibleUniversal an

not

be

the last

Universal;

here

must

be

a

Universal

which

envelops

ven

the

intelligible

Universal;

t

may

be

called the

place

of

absolute

nothingness.

If I

may

nterject,

he

place

of absolute

othingness

s

that

place

where

all

places

have

heir

place

but

which

does

not

itselfhave

a

place

n

anything

lse;

t

is thus

a no

place.

But to

continue:

...

the

place

of

absolute

nothingness.

That

is the

religious

consciousness.

In

the

religious

consciousness,

ody

and soul

disappear,

nd

we unite ourselveswith

absoluteNothingness.'

That is

clearly

an

echo of

D6gen,

but

a little further

on

he

sounds more

like

Shinran:

'

Nishida

Kitaro,

The

Intelligibility

and

the

Philosophy

of

Nothingness,

trans. Robert

Schinzinger

(Tokyo:

Maruzen,

1958),

p.

130.


14/16

THE CONTEMPORARY

EANING

OF

KAMAKURA UDDHISM 15

The

sinner

who

has lost

his

way

is

nearest

o

God,

nearer

han

the

angels.

As content

of

the

intelligible

self,

there is

noematically

no

higher

value

visible

than

truth,

beauty,

and

the

good.

In

so

far,

however,

as

the

intelligible

Universal s "lined"with the Universalof absoluteNothingness,the "lost Self"

becomes

visible,

and there

remains

only

the

proceeding

n the directionof noesis.

In

transcending

n that

direction

he

highest

value

of

negation

of

values

becomes

visible:

it

is

the

religious

value. The

religious

value,

therefore,

means

absolute

negation

of the

Self.

The

religious

ideal

consists

in

becoming

a

being

which

denies itself.

There

is

a

seeing

without

a

seeing

one,

and

a

hearing

without

a

hearing

one. This is salvation.'

Finally,

back

to the

mood of Zen

again,

Nishida

writes,

If

one is

really

overwhelmed

by

the

consciousness

f

absolute

Nothingness,

here

is

neither"Me" nor

"God";

but

just

because here is absolute

Nothingness,

the

mountain s

mountain,

and the

water is

water,

and the

being

is as

it

is."

What

this kind of

thing actually

meant

during

the

period

between the First

and

Second

World Wars

when Nishida

was most

popular

has

been

much debated.

Certainly

he

was

no

radical social critic.

Certainly

some

of his close students

became

apologists

for

the war and the

totalitarianstate.

And

yet,

it

seems

to

me

that

Nishida's

teachings

did

deprive

the state of

its

ultimacy

and

did

provide

a context

of

sanity

for

many

educated

Japanese

who

lived

through

those

troubled

times. But to his criticsNishida perhapssufferedfrom a tendencyendemic in

the

Zen

tradition.

The mountains

oo

quickly

become

the

mountains

again

and,

in

spite

of all the talk

of

zettai-teki

mu,

absolute

Nothingness,

the

full

depth

of

Buddhist

negation

with all its

suffering

and

tragedy,

was

not

experienced.

One

such critic who looked

for that

depth

of

negation

in

the tradition

of

Shinran

rather

than Zen is

Ienaga

Sabur6

(1913-

).

For

Ienaga,

suffering

acutelyduring

the

conditions

of

the dark

valley

in

the late

1930s

and

early

40s,

the

reality

of

human

existence is

sin

and

misery.

In a

remarkable

ittle book

that

he

published

in

1940

called

The

Logic of Negation

in the

Development of

JapaneseThought,

Ienaga

criticized most

of

the

Japanese

cultural tradition

for

its

simple

this-worldliness

and its

inability

to

take

seriously

enough

the true

human

condition.24

For

Ienaga,

Sh6toku

Taishi's

saying,

"The world

is

a

lie;

only

the Buddha

is

true,"

has

been

profoundly

meaningful, though

more

in

its

first

negation

than

in

its second

affirmation. As

a

result

of

his

deep

sense

of

human

suffering,

Ienaga

has

in

the

post-war

years

engaged

in

many

social and

political

activities

to

improve

Japanesesociety.

But

he has

not

found a

way

in

which

his

religious

faith

as such could be

effectively

affirmed.

There are many more figures who have contributedto making Japanese

Buddhism

available

in

contemporary

orm

if there were time

to

discuss

them:

'

Ibid.,

p.

133.

23Ibid.,

p.

137.

21Summarized

in

Robert N.

Bellah,

"Ienaga

Sabur6

and the

Search for

Meaning

in

Modern

Japan,"

n

Marius

E.

Jansen,

ed.,

Changing

Japanese

Attitudes

Toward Modern-

ization

(Princeton,

1965),

pp.

378ff.


15/16

16

ROBERT N. BELLAH

men

like

Hatano Seiichi and

Tanabe

Hajime,

who

mutually

lluminated

he

Bud-

dhist and

Christian

raditions;

men

like

Watsuji

Tetsura,

who wrote

brilliantly

n

the traditionof

absolute

nothingness

and

who

introduced

Digen

to

modernread-

ers;menlike Miki Kiyoshi,for whomthroughall the vicissitudesand troublesof

his

intellectual and

political

life the Tannishc

was

a constant

companion

and

whose last

unfinished

book,

written

during

the

final

years

of the

war and

itself

in-

terrupted

by

the

author's

imprisonment

and

death,

was

on

Shinran.

It

would

also

be

helpful

to

speak

of

the

way

in

which

Futaba

Kenka

and

others

in

the

post-

war situation

have tried

to

relate the

fundamental

religious

message

of

Buddhism

to

social action and

social

concern,

and the criticism

of

the

past

links

of

estab-

lished

Buddhism

o

political

power

and

Japanese

particularism

which

that

effort

entailed.

What

all these efforts add

up to,

even

when

not

dramatic

nor

even

very

evident

on

the

surface

of

cultural

ife,

is the

making

accessible

once

again

of

the

Buddhist

message

for

contemporary

Japanese. Only

out

of the actual

religious

experience

tself will

we

be able

to

find

the eventual

fruits.

Finally,

let

me

say

just

a

word

about

the

meaning

of

Buddhism,

especially

Japanese

Buddhism,

in

contemporary

America

and,

by

implication,

the

world.

We

have

already

pointed

out

how

modern

society

exemplifies

so

typically

the

ignorance

and illusion

that

Buddhism

has shown

to

be

the

human

condition,

and

in

this

respect

America is

the

most

typical

modern

society.

A

society

whose

economy s basedon the deliberate timulationof insatiablehumandesire,whose

politics

revolves around

anger

and

violence,

and

whose

stance

in

the world is

one of

blind self-adulation o that it

can undertakeone

of

the most

brutal

wars

that

a

powerful

nation

has ever

inflicted

on

a

small

and weak

one,

would

seem

to

be

the

perfect exemplification

of

the Buddhist assertion

that

this

world is

a

burning

house,

a

literal

hell.

Of course it is

also

a

part

of

the

Buddhist

eaching

that

most

people

are

ignorant

of

the truth of

their

condition,

and

perhaps

most

Americanswould

not

recognize

the

description

which

I

have

just

given

of

them.

But

increasingly

ince the

Second

World War

and

especially

since the

decade

of

the

1960s

some

Americans have

begun

to

recognize

this

description.

Perhaps

even more

significantly

some sober

men who have

probably

ittle or

no

know-

ledge

of

Buddhismhave

begun

to

say

that

the self-destructiveness

f

our

way

of

life is so

great

that it

cannot

long

continue. Our drive

to

satisfy

ever

more

insatiable desires is

destroying

our natural

environment,

causing

us

to

oppress

weaker

nations and our own

minorities,

and

destroying

our own social

viability

and

mental

health.

In

such

a

situation

t

is

not

surprising

hat

Buddhism,

which

radically

riticizes

all the basic assumptionsof modern society, should seem attractiveto some

Americans. The

availability

of

inexpensive,

reasonably

accurate,

reasonably

attractive

books about

Buddhism,

and

particularly

Zen

Buddhism,

has

made

many

young,

educated Americans familiar with

the

Buddhist

message.

More

important,

as

we

have

said

all

along,

than

knowledge

about is

experience

of,

and

that

is

very

hard

to

guage.

The

establishment

n

California

and

other

parts

of the

country

of monastic

and

semi-monastic

ommunities,

often

of Zen

inspira-


16/16

THE CONTEMPORARY

MEANING

OF KAMAKURA BUDDHISM

17

tion,

at

least

signifies

a

serious desire

to

move

beyond

concepts

to

realities.

The

danger

that

such communities

may

become

simply

hermetically

sealed centers

for

self-salvation,

with little

to

say

to

the

generalpopulation

or to

the

society

as

a

whole,

is

perhaps

even

greater

in

America than

in

Japan,

though

the

value

of

a

witnessing

community,

even

though relatively

closed

to

the

outside

world,

should

not

be underestimated. Those

few who

have

tried

to

relate Buddhism o

the

culturaland

social needs

of

contemporary

American

society

Alan

Watts,

Gary

Snyder,

Norman

O.

Brown,

Theodore Roszak-

have as

yet

had

only

am-

biguous

results.

It is

easy

to

condemnthem

but

the

way

in

which

America

con-

sumes,

seduces,

and

destroys

its own

prophets

is indeed

frightening.

Perhaps

they

deserve

a

careful,

critical

hearing

more

than adulation or

dismissal.

The last thing I would want to be interpretedas saying is that Buddhism is

the

total

answer

for

the

problems

of

modern

Japan,

America,

or

the

world.

Our

problems

are

so

grave

that

only

the

full

range

of

our

moral

and scientific

intelligence

can

begin

to

meet them.

I

do

believe, however,

that

beyond

morality

and

science

religious insight

is

also

needed.

It

seems

to

me

that,

in

view of

the

profundity

of

the Buddhist

past,

the

religious depth

of

the Kamakura

eformers

for

example,

it

is

possible

that

a

re-enactmentof Buddhist

religious

experience

in

the

present

may

still

have

much

to

teach

us.