A Civilisation and a Religion
Japan A Civilisation and a Religion Japanese Syncretism (cultural blending of distinct religions.)
BUDDHISM SHINTO: Way of the Gods' Japanese Syncretism, cont.
BUDDHISM SHINTO Shuichi Kato on Japan & Literature
No story to history; no plan; no plot of events. undeniable tendency of Japanese culture is to avoid logic,the abstract, & systemization, in favour of emotion, theconcrete, the unprogrammatic. Events are accumulative by addition Japan assimilates by a simple addition of an external conceptor item and then recontextualising it In the West, there is an accommodation required: areconfiguration of the addition or of the entire systemaround it. No transcendental values: which means that when adding newnot necessary to discard the old. No cultural crisis. Born Shinto, Married Christian; Buried Buddhist Civilisations: (one conception of)
A civilisation is ashared set of values,culture, art,architecture, historyand ways of life; andmost of all,fundamental and(usually) unconsciousassumptions about theway that the worldworks and is. Latin American Orthodox Baltics, Greece, EasternEurope, Russia Eastern Muslim Japan Sub-Saharan African Western Anglosphere + westernEurope Cultural Exclusivity Thesis
Give every civilisation the benefit of itsown assumptions Civilisation chauvinism to assumeones own civilisation has the universalunderstanding Approach other civilisations andcultures from the assumption that theirfundamental values and understandingof the world is different from yourown. Universality (multiculturalism) may be aEuro-centric ideology? Western Civilisation Values
All civilisations and cultures are fullyexplainable from Western premises andmethods. Western science is the universally-validmethod of study. All civilisations and cultures perceivethe worldconfigure phenomena identically and in away that Westernscience can explain Japanese Civilisation Assumptions
Intensely subjective Context creates meaning demons chuckle when they hear us talk about next year. Passivity a virtue when connected with reflection sthetics are more important than Logicalconsistency . Death is stheticised in seppuku Only slight exaggeration to say that Japan is ansthetic. Japanese relations to each other formalities, hierarchies, ritualsand to nature aresthetic, Japanese cultural assumptions: examples.
Western concept of symbolism: one thing signifiesanother type of thing. Platonic Forms; Judo-Christiantype-archetype; Freudian conscious-subconscious Japan: this thing is associated with that experience oraspect. Non symbolic. A lonely old tree is associated withinvokesthoughtsof age and loneliness. The meaning is in the person,not the object: an sthetic approach to the world. Japanese cultural assumptions: examples cont.
Western Artthe fuller the mind of theperceiver the better the Art is appreciated Literary Modernism: James Joyce Finnigans Wake Renaissance Art: Giorgione The Tempest Japan: the less the mind is active, the better. Renaissance Art: Giorgione The Presence of Absence
Hokusai: (Under a Wave Off Kanagawa) Shuichi Kato on Japan & Religion
No story to history; no plan; no plot of events. undeniable tendency of Japanese culture is to avoid logic,the abstract, & systemization, in favour of emotion, theconcrete, the unprogrammatic. Events are accumulative by addition Japan assimilates by a simple addition of an external conceptor item and then recontextualising it In the West, there is an accommodation required: areconfiguration of the addition or of the entire systemaround it. No transcendental values: which means that when adding newnot necessary to discard the old. No cultural crisis. Born Shinto, Married Christian; Buried Buddhist Japanese Religious sthetic: Mujokan
Mujokan: A sense oftransience the impermanentquality of life,nature, andhuman artifacts. Buddhism: 4 Noble Truths 8-Fold Path Japanese Religious sthetic: Mujokan
Mujokan: A sense of transience the impermanent quality of life, nature, andhuman artifacts. First of Buddhist 4 Noble Truths: Dukkha love of ambiguity and the abhorrence ofclarity in literature and everyday language tendency in design and architecture towardthe asymmetrical and seasonal rather thanthe symmetrical and permanent: click for current example: yaeba. asymmetry is open to movement of observerseye or mind & therefore suggests transience. Japan: mushinno-mind
Mushin is an intellectual, sthetic & martialconcept: remove the conscious mind from getting in the wayof understanding, appreciation and response. Zen : from zenna = a practice ofmeditation Zen koan emphasise meditation on nothing(mu) Japanese martial arts work toward mushin ashighest warrior state Mushin: mono no aware Mono no aware: awareness of the pathos of things
Mono: things; aware: sadness. Lady Shikibu, c.985 Tale of Genji: an literarysensibility. Contemplation of natural objectsold trees,plants, seasonsto reflect on the sadness ofones own transient existence. JapanSilence: a significant cultural, personal, religious, and artistic virtue.
Iwanu ga hana. Not-speaking is theflower (Silence isgolden.) Chinmoku:kanji=sink (down)+ no-word. Seijaku: quietude+ loneliness- sabiness wabi-sabi Wabi refers to a wordview -- a sense ofspace, direction, or path Sabi is an aesthetic construct rooted in agiven object and its features, plus theoccupation of time, chronology. Wabi-sabi is a commonly unitary referral in moderntimes. Now, a pop sthetic: Honey, look at thatdarling wabisabi coffee table! wabi-sabi Metaphysical Basis Spiritual Values State of Mind
Evolving toward or from nothingness: change. Love equals death Spiritual Values Truth comes from observing nature. Greatness exists in the inconspicuous & overlooked details. Beauty can be coaxed out of ugliness State of Mind Acceptance of the inevitable, appreciation of cosmic order Moral Precepts Get rid of desire and all that is unnecessary. Focus on the intrinsic & ignore material hierarchy Local and cultural situation and order: no absolute principle Material Qualities Suggestion of natural process; irregularity, intimacies;unpretentious; earthy; simple above all. wabi The original connotation of wabi is based on the aloneness orseparation from society experienced by the hermit,suggesting to the popular mind a misery and sad forlornness:i.e. mono no aware. The life of the hermit came to be called wabizumai in Japan,essentially "the life of wabi," a life of solitude and simplicity. Only by the fourteenth century in Japan were positive attributesascribed to wabi and cultivated. Wabi is literally i.e. etymologically -- poverty, but it came torefer not to merely absence of material possessions but non- dependence on material possessions.2nd & 3rd of the 4 NobleTruths (suffering caused by craving; divest of objects craved simplicity that has shaken off the material in order to relatedirectly with nature and reality. absence of dependence frees itself from indulgence, ornateness,and pomposity. wabi, cont Wabi is quiet contentment with simple things.
In short, Wabi is a way of life or spiritualpath. Zen principles inform wabi : a native Japanesesyncretism of Confucian, Taoist, Buddhism, andShinto traditions. Typical of Japanese addition over Logic Wabi precedes the application of aesthetic. principles applied to objects and arts, thislatter is Sabi sabi Sabi is the outward expression of aesthetic valuesbuilt upon the metaphysical and spiritual principlesof Zen translates these values into artistic and material qualities. Sabi considers natural processes result in objectsthat are Irregular Unpretentious (subtle) ambiguous.(See yaeba.) Sabi objects are: irregular in being asymmetrical unpretentious in being the holistic fruit of wabizumai ambiguous in preferring insight and intuition, the engendering ofrefined spiritualized emotions rather than reason and logic. Ambiguity allows each viewer to proceed to their capacityfornuance. shibui Ascerbic good taste: astringency.
Simple, unadorned,subtle, hidden,beauty The taste ofumeboshi wabi-sabi: objects ki-sho-ten-ketsu
Literary composition principle Reader-centred, opposed to Western writer- centred: esp. Modernism, James Joyce,Virginia Woolf, etc. KI: opening, beginning SHO: continuing TEN: turning away (change) KETSU: binding together. Japanese Religious-sthetic Concepts
Shichi-Go-San: 7-5- 3 Celebrate a child's3rd, 5th & 7th birthdays,and a deceaseds 3rd,5th & 7th anniversaries. Haiku is syllables rock-gardens haveodd-numbered -arrangements of stones Numbers 4 and 9 areshunned: 4 can be shi meaningdeath. 9 can be ku meaningsuffering Japanese Religious-sthetic Concepts
Ten-Chi-Jin:heaven-earth-man a sense of somethinghigh, something low.and an intermediary:the axes are spacial,temporal and human.The middle concept is(explicit in theconfiguration of theNoh stage) a bridge. Japanese Religious-sthetic Concepts
Shin-Gyo-So (true,moving & grass-like.) In calligraphy, block- style, kana & cursive; inthe cha-no-yu, of itsimplements, formal,semi-formal, informal.Shin-gyo-so is aneffective schema formapping the uniquelyJapanese manner ofreacting to any discretenew foreign encounter.Evident in literature incomparativerepresentations,structural contrasts anddevelopments incharacter Japanese Religious-sthetic Concepts
Jo-Ha-Kyu (gathering,break, urgent action) A concept exemplifiedby -- & likely originatingin contemplation of --the waterfall. Inliterature -- notablyhaiku -- it signifiesintroduction,development, action. Inmusic, it has severalcompoundingapplications, essentiallya triptych of increasingrapidity & climax. This isaccepted as the naturalrhythm -- gestation,birth, life is just oneobvious universal triad/ Japanese Religious-sthetic Concepts
Shu-Ha-Ri (keep the form, losethe form, no form) the process by whichmastery of any art orpractice is attained. copy and practice thefundamental forms Steadily lose reliance on useof fundamental form Achieve mastery where theart is natural, personal, andsubconscious (=mushin) applies to the arts (e.g.calligraphy, literature,painting), professions, martialarts, sport, etc.