Korea Journal of Buddhist Studies ISSN:1598-0642(Print) 불교학연구

With the Meiji Restoration in 1868, the new government adopted a strong anti-Buddhist attitude, and a movement to eradicate Buddhism and bring Shinto to ascendancy arose throughout the country due to the strong connections of Buddhism to the Shoguns. During the Edo Period of Tokugawa (1600-1868) Buddhism was supported by the state. The new Meiji government established a government bureau, the ShintōWorship Bureau (神祇事務局) to oversee religious affairs and to administer the government-ordered separation of Buddhism from Shintō. Through this process, the Meiji Restoration restored the power of the Imperial Household, which had been under the shadow of successive military governments in previous years. The haibutsu kishaku (廢佛毁釋; literally "abolish Buddhism and destroy Shākyamuni") during the Meiji Restoration, the most famous instance of the phenomenon, was an event triggered by the official policy of separation of Shinto and Buddhism and caused great damage to Buddhism in Japan. It resulted in the destruction of Buddhist temples, images and texts, and Buddhist monks were forced return to secular life. The Buddhist traditions, however, fought hard to overcome national suppression, eventually earning equal status with Shinto by the mid-Meiji Period. Meanwhile, Japan opened its door to the world and encountered the impact of Western culture and technology, forging a modern nation. Together with a series of wars, a militaristic ideology developed in the Empire of Japan: that the military should dominate the political and social life of the nation, and that the strength of the military is equal to the strength of the nation. This militarism came to a climax in the Second World War and eventually to defeat in 1945. This article is to explore how Japanese Buddhism overcame the haibutsu kishaku and what kinds of roles it played to support Japanese militarism by focusing on the matter of war.Zen at War focuses on the history of Zen Buddhism and Japanese militarism from the time of the Meiji Restoration through the Second World War and the postwar period. It describes the influence of state policy on Japanese Buddhism, and particularly the influence of Zen philosophy on the Japanese military. Brian Daizen Victoria, an American-born Sōtō priest, draws from his own study of original Japanese documents, but also uses the publications of Ichikawa Hakugen (市川白弦, 1920-1986), a Rinzai-monk and a scholar. In The War Responsibility of Buddhists (Bukkyosha no Senso Sekinin , 1970), Hakugen himself had been "a strong advocate of Japan's 'holy war'," to which he later confessed, “I should not forget to include myself as one of those modern Japanese Buddhists who did these things.”Victoria's book exploded onto the Western Zen scene in 1997 and has been a subject of controversy ever since. Statements of some of Western Zen's most revered teachers and masters supported Japanese militarism and nationalism.A re-evaluation of Zen Buddhism's role in the Japanese wars of the Twentieth Century is long overdue and Victoria's book is but a first step in a long and ultimately painful process of reflection on the meaning of Zen. The book’s great contribution is that it has succeeded, where others scholars have not, in bringing to public attention the largely unquestioning support of Japanese Buddhists for their nation’s militarism. In response to “Zen at War ” Japanese Buddhism started a campaign to receive apologies from leading parties within the Japanese Buddhist schools since 2001. This involvement was not limited to the Zen schools, as all orthodox Japanese schools of Buddhism confessed on supporting the militarist state. In the process, Japanese Buddhist academia demonstrated their reflection and responsibility on the matter, while Japanese scholars traditionally refused to face the existence of their social issues. It is also important for Koreans because it gives us an important opportunity to reflect upon the present reality and how should be understood within the complex context of Japanese colonial rule. Beyond Buddhist ethical discussion, this raises important questions that connect to a new paradigm of ethics that transcends the views of both politics and history, across any sect, border, or country between Japan and Korea.