Soetsu Yanagi (author)

Hello everyone, This is Shoji Shimura from Atelier Shimura. In this article, we will talk about the "wish for the absence of good and bad" that lies at the heart of Yanagi Soetsu's "The Dharma of Beauty."

Yanagi Muneyoshi (author) "The Law of Beauty"
publisher: Iwanami Shoten (1995)

【table of contents】
"The Law of Beauty"
"A Wish for No Good or Ugly"
"A Pure Land of Beauty"
"Law and Beauty" and two other stories

Yanagi Muneyoshi and the "Amitabha Sutra"

"The vow to have no good or bad" is one of the vows expounded in the "Amitabha Sutra." The "Amitabha Sutra," which Yanagi placed great importance on, is one of the "Three Pure Land Sutras," the fundamental sacred texts of Pure Land Buddhism. The Three Pure Land Sutras are a group of sutras consisting of the "Amitabha Sutra," the "Amida Sutra," and the "Amida Sutra." In Japan, these sutras remain extremely important, as Honen of the Jodo sect and Shinran of the Jodo Shinshu sect both had deep faith in them.

As I mentioned last time, when Yanagi was staying at Johana Betsuin Temple in Toyama Prefecture, he came across this passage "The wish for no good or bad" while rereading the Sutra of Immeasurable Life, and was deeply impressed. He then realized that the philosophy of the Sutra was at the root of the folk art aesthetics that he had developed.

The overlap between the Mahayana Buddhist movement and the Mingei movement

So why was Yanagi so drawn to the Sutra of Immeasurable Life? To understand this, we need to understand the background to the creation of this sutra.

The Amitabha Sutra was written during the Mahayana Buddhist movement that began in northwest India around the 1st century BC. Buddhism itself is said to have been established around the 5th or 6th century BC. Early Buddhism at that time was basically about personal liberation, aiming to achieve enlightenment through one's own efforts. It was a monastic practice, requiring monks to follow very strict precepts and devote themselves to training.

However, as time passed, Buddhism split into various sects (Nirvana schools). In the process, criticism arose that the doctrines were becoming too specialized and that only a select few could be saved. As a result, the Mahayana movement arose as a movement to make Buddhism more accessible to everyone.

During this movement, emphasis was placed not only on self-reliance training, but also on "other power" and the idea of trying to save others. It is characterized by the ideal of the "Bodhisattva" who strives to lead all living beings (sentient beings) to enlightenment. The spirit of Mahayana Buddhism is a shift from "self-reliance to other power" and the aim of universal salvation, "the salvation of all sentient beings."

Yanagi saw an overlap between the Mahayana Buddhist idea of "saving everyone" and his own "Mingei Movement," which sought to find beauty in the lives of all ordinary people. The Mingei Movement, which sought to salvage the beauty that resides in the everyday lives of ordinary people, rather than the beauty of a select few geniuses, can be said to have resonated deeply with the Mahayana Buddhist movement in its ideological structure.

The 48 Vows of Amida Buddha and the Vow of Other Power

So, what kind of story is told in the "Amitabha Sutra"? The main story is about the time when Amida Buddha was still "Dharmakara Bodhisattva" before he attained enlightenment.

Dharmakara Bodhisattva made 48 "vows" (48 vows) to save all sentient beings. He vowed, "If all these wishes are not fulfilled, I will never become a Buddha," and after practicing for an incredibly long time, he finally fulfilled his vows and became Amida Buddha.

Of the 48 Vows, the 18th Vow is considered particularly important. This Vow preaches the idea of "Nenbutsu Ojo," which states that anyone who chants "Namu Amida Butsu" will be able to attain rebirth in the Pure Land. This Vow demonstrates the thorough idea of relying on others, that anyone can be saved as long as they chant the Nembutsu.

This is what is known as "Tariki Hongan." The idea of "Tariki" is the idea that sentient beings do not attain enlightenment through their own training or efforts (self-power), but rather by believing in the "power of the original vow" (called tariki) that Amida Buddha achieved and chanting his name, "Namu Amida Butsu" (meaning "I take refuge in Amida Buddha").

Fourth Vow “Wish of no good or ugliness”

This Eighteenth Vow is the central teaching of the Amitabha Sutra, but what particularly attracted Yanagi to was the Fourth Vow, known as the "Vow to Eliminate Good and Bad."

What kind of vow was this "No Good, No Bad" vow? The sutras state:

"Even if I were to attain Buddhahood, if the people and gods of the land were all different in appearance and color, and there were good and bad people, I would not attain enlightenment."

This means, "If, when I attain Buddhahood, there is a distinction between what is good and what is bad because the people and heavenly beings in my Buddha land (Pure Land) have different appearances and shapes, then I will never attain proper enlightenment and become a Buddha." In other words, he is declaring that in the land of Buddha, there will be no distinction between what is good and what is bad, no matter what shape or form there is.

Yanagi added his own unique interpretation here, reinterpreting the phrase "good and bad" (desirable and ugly) in the sutra as "beauty and ugliness."

By reinterpreting it from this aesthetic perspective, Yanagi derived the idea that "in the land of Buddha, there is no absolute distinction or opposition between beauty and ugliness," and established this as the basis for his theory of folk art aesthetics. It can be said that Yanagi's Buddhist aesthetics began with this bold reinterpretation.

From "ordinary people attaining Buddhahood" to "ordinary people attaining beauty"

How does this interpretation develop into the logic of Mingei? The logic of "all people will be saved" shifts to the logic of "all things can be beautiful."

In Pure Land Buddhism, there is the idea of "ordinary people becoming Buddhas," which states that any person can become a Buddha even if they remain an ordinary person with earthly desires. When this idea is applied to the world of objects, the world of beauty, it leads to the idea that even everyday objects (ordinary vessels) made by an unknown craftsman can be beautiful (beautiful) just as they are.

Yanagi called this "ordinary utensils become beautiful." Why is beauty found in miscellaneous utensils made by anonymous craftsmen for a living? He believed that the basis for this was the "wish for there to be no good or ugly."

This way of thinking is deeply connected to the idea of relying on others. Based on the idea of relying on others, individual talent and conscious creative acts (self-power) would actually hinder the achievement of beauty. Instead, it is only by entrusting oneself to a greater being or the laws of nature and creating with one's heart that one can approach true beauty.

It is important to note that this does not mean that "anything created by anyone will be beautiful." Yanagi uses the expression "the path that things cannot help but become beautiful," but only things that follow that "path" -- that is, the power of others and the laws of nature -- can possess beauty.

In this way, Yanagi developed his philosophy from "ordinary people can attain Buddhahood" to "ordinary people can attain beauty."

The "world of true nature" that transcends the conflict between beauty and ugliness

Yanagi believed that beauty was not limited to what was created by a great artist, but that true beauty was something that captured the "world as it is." In Buddhism, this "world as it is" is called "Shinnyo."

Each and every one of us has Buddha nature, and in the world of true nature, everyone and everything is beautiful just as it is. Therefore, the logic goes that if we abandon artificiality and return to our original, natural state of mind when creating something, it will naturally contain truth and become beautiful.

A world of beauty that has already been realized

So how can we reach a world that transcends the conflict between beauty and ugliness?

What is important here is the time setting of the story in the "Amitabha Sutra." After his mind-boggling training, Bodhisattva Dharmakara has already attained enlightenment as Amida Buddha. This means that the Pure Land, a land where there is no conflict between beauty and ugliness, already exists.

From this perspective, the world that predates beauty and ugliness is not an ideal world to be realized in the future, but one that has already been achieved and exists in this very moment. This is a very important point.

This "world of non-duality," where there is no conflict between beauty and ugliness, has already existed, we just haven't noticed it. If that's the case, then if we change our consciousness right now, we should be able to come into contact with this world of non-duality.

Yanagi says:

"Now that one has already attained enlightenment (become a Buddha), this fact can no longer be changed. Ultimate nature has no opposing qualities. In Buddha nature, all things are pure and innocent, with no distinction between beauty and ugliness. In this true nature, all opposing qualities disappear. ...What does the teaching of beauty teach and what does it try to teach? It teaches that if one is in one's true nature, which transcends beauty and ugliness, then one is in the midst of salvation, no matter who one is or what one is."

This last part is the crux of the matter: if one has a "true nature that transcends beauty and ugliness," then one is in the midst of salvation, "no matter who one is" (ordinary people attain Buddhahood) or "no matter what one is" (ordinary people attain beauty).

Salvation Achieved in the Eternal Now

The question, therefore, is how to become aware of or realize this ``already achieved'' world of true nature.

Yanagi describes this salvation that transcends beauty and ugliness as "enlightenment that is still alive today." This does not refer to a historical fact that was completed at some point in the past. Rather, he says, it is an enlightenment that is constantly being achieved and fulfilled in the "eternal" dimension, or the "eternal now," that transcends the flow of human time.

We need to access this "eternal layer" of time from the flow of time in this world. From that perspective, if we realize this "enlightenment," we will be placed in a state of complete salvation, free from the inherent suffering of the conflict between beauty and ugliness. As Yanagi says, "in fact, we are saved, but we are suffering."

The issue is not whether salvation has been realized, but whether we are aware of the fact of this absolute salvation. (Here, the name of a specific Buddha, "Amida Buddha," appears, but this can also be interpreted as "the absolute great being.")

The suffering of modern people and "discretion"

So why are we unable to notice this "already existing" world that exists before beauty and ugliness? Yanagi believes that this is where the suffering of modern people lies.

First, since the Meiji Restoration, we have been strongly influenced by Western scientific and empirical thinking, and have come to demand "proof" from the world of faith and the invisible world described in the Amitabha Sutra.

However, there is no scientific evidence for the invisible world. From a positivist perspective, religious truths tend to be dismissed as "not science" (or "metaphysics" in Western terms). Yanagi was deeply concerned about the mentality of modern people who believe only in things for which there is visible evidence.

The second, and more fundamental, barrier is the issue of intellectual "discretion."

When we use our intelligence to try to understand something, we always make "discriminations." Discrimination is when we filter the world as it is and put it into a certain "mold."

Yanagi has this to say about this distinction:

"Beauty and ugliness are merely human constructs. Reason created this antithesis. As long as we are rational, beauty and ugliness will always be opposite each other. Logic tells us that beauty is not ugly; they are two things that are necessarily contradictory."

Our perception leads to evaluation and value judgment. We always compare and evaluate things, saying things like "this is beautiful" or "this is not beautiful." In the world as it is, each thing contains its own beauty, but our perception (discrimination) distorts it.

According to Yanagi, this way of the modern intellect, which analyzes, conceptualizes, and classifies things, and the very act of perceiving things in terms of opposing values such as beauty and ugliness, good and evil, is the "disease" of modern people and the reason why we are moving away from salvation.

Returning to a fundamental world "before beauty and ugliness"

In that case, we need to either go beyond this distinction or return to a world before distinction arose.

A Western approach might try to construct a higher level "meta-logic" that unifies dualism. However, Yanagi's approach was not to "transcend" through logic. Rather, he emphasized the direction of "returning" to a fundamental world that existed before the intellectual act of discrimination arose.

Willow says:

"What we seek is a world before beauty and ugliness. Not only does such a state of mind exist, but it is said that originally everything has its true nature. "Before" means "before birth." Our true nature lies in the unborn state."

Yanagi explains that this "before" refers to "mishou," a state of absolute non-discrimination before discrimination and conflict arise. Our true nature lies in this "mishou," and this is why he believes we should return to that world.

Intuition that transcends logic

So how can we reach the state of "unbornness" before this conflict arises?

You cannot reach this place through analytical intellect or linguistic logic. Language and concepts are abstract worlds, and there is a disconnect between them and the "real world." Yanagi believed that it was possible to access this world that transcends beauty and ugliness not through language, but rather through "intuition" (the ability to directly grasp the essence of things).

Intuition works when we are in a state of "mindlessness" or "egolessness of mind." For example, in the world of dyeing and weaving, when we are hand-weaving, we sometimes feel this state of mindlessness as our attachments gradually let go and we become one with the loom. When our ego consciousness dissolves, perhaps we are approaching the state of mindlessness that Yanagi speaks of.

One of Yanagi's most famous practices is intentionally minimizing the number of captions in the exhibition rooms at the Japan Folk Crafts Museum. Nowadays, all art museums have comprehensive explanations, which has the advantage of helping people understand the artworks better. However, this also has the side effect of encouraging people to use their "rational mind" and try to understand the artworks with their heads.

Due to this concern, Yanagi provided almost no explanations for the works at the Mingei Museum, sending the message that the important thing is to "see and know, know and not see," and that one should first use one's own intuition.

Rather than analyzing and judging a work as an objective object, Yanagi shows us that engaging with a work in this way, with one's own intuition, is the way to come into contact with "the fundamental beauty that transcends beauty and ugliness."

That's all for today. Next time, I'd like to conclude the series with a final talk on the second part of "The Law of Beauty."

Part 2 is here

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