by Brian Vic­to­ria
1998, Weath­er­hill
ISBN 0834804050
227 pages.

From dust jacket
Zen at War offers a pen­e­trat­ing look at the close rela­tion­ship that existed between Zen Bud­dhism and Japan­ese mil­i­tarism prior to World War II. Using the actual words of lead­ing Japan­ese Zen mas­ters and schol­ars, the author shows that Zen served as a pow­er­ful spir­i­tual and ide­o­log­i­cal foun­da­tion for the fanatic and sui­ci­dal spirit dis­played by the impe­r­ial Japan­ese mil­i­tary. At the same time, the author tells the dra­matic and tragic sto­ries of the hand­ful of Bud­dhist orga­ni­za­tions and indi­vid­u­als that dared to oppose Japan’s march to war. He fol­lows this his­tory up to the recent apolo­gies of sev­eral Zen sects for their sup­port of the war, and the reemer­gence of what he calls cor­po­rate Zen in post­war Japan.

From the back cover
Zen at War is a stun­ning con­tri­bu­tion to our under­stand­ing of Japan­ese mil­i­tarism and the broader issue of war respon­si­bil­ity as it con­tin­ues to be addressed (and ignored) in con­tem­po­rary Japan. Brian Victoria’s great sen­si­tiv­ity to the per­ver­sion and betrayal of Buddhism’s teach­ings about com­pas­sion and non-violence makes his indict­ment of the role played by Impe­r­ial Way Bud­dhists in pro­mot­ing ultra­na­tion­al­ism and aggres­sion all the more strik­ing and all the more sad­den­ing.
Pro­fes­sor John W. Dower, Har­vard Uni­ver­sity Author of War With­out Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War

Brian Daizen Vic­to­ria is a senior Lec­turer at the Cen­ter for Asian Stud­ies, the Uni­ver­sity of Adelaide.

“Zen Holy War?” review by Josh Baran

THIS BOOK IS IN PRINT.
Avail­able com­mer­cially. Learn more about Brian Vic­to­ria.