Theocracy, Zen Buddhism, and the Rape of Nanking.
Submitted by 194 on February 27 2002 18:14:20
In reply to The quick answer is yes and no submitted by Forgiven on February 25 2002 16:04:08
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On the issue of theocracy, I was reading some articles recently about the involvement of Zen Buddhism, Japanese militarism and the Rape of Nanking. Apart from the click-through link I have provided below, there are a number of further links on the issue at: http://www.tricycle.com/currentissue/yasutani/yasutaniindex.html A couple of quotes: "With unsparing detail, Victoria chronicles how prominent Zen leaders perverted the Buddhist teaching to encourage blind obedience, mindless killing, and total devotion to the emperor." " The barbarism was so intense that even the Nazis in the city were horrified, one declaring the slaughter to be the product of a "bestial machinery." Although religion and the State became tangled up with each other in this case, to me, it doesn't appear so much a Theocracy as the State converting religion to it's own purposes. Regards 194............ |
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