Daisetsu Suzuki (author)

Hello everyone. This is Masashi Shimura from Atelier Shimura. Following on from the previous two articles, I will be presenting the second part of D.T. Suzuki's "Japanese Spirituality."

"Japanese Spirituality" was published in 1944 (Showa 19), towards the end of the Pacific War, when Japan's defeat was becoming increasingly likely.

This time, I would like to take a step beyond the content of "Japanese Spirituality" and consider how this book related to the situation in Japan at the time. I would like to pay particular attention to Suzuki D.T. Suzuki's relationship with the philosopher Nishida Kitaro, who was a close friend and contemporary of Suzuki. The ideas in "Japanese Spirituality" have two aspects: one that deeply resonates with Nishida Kitaro's ideas, and another that is fundamentally different. First, let's take a look at an overview of Nishida's philosophy, which we will use as a comparison.

Daisetsu Suzuki (author) "Japanese Spirituality"
Publisher: Iwanami Shoten (1972)

【table of contents】
Introduction - Japanese Spirituality
Part 1: The Kamakura Period and Japanese Spirituality – Emotional Life
Part 2: The Emergence of Japanese Spirituality - The Stirrings of Japanese Spirituality and Buddhism
Part 3: Honen and the Nembutsu Chanting - The Fall of the Taira Clan
Part 4: Myokojin - Akao's Doshu
Commentary...Hideo Shinoda

The starting point of Nishida's philosophy: "Pure experience"

Nishida Kitaro was the founder of the Kyoto School and developed his own philosophy from the practice of Zen. He attempted to fuse Western philosophy with Eastern thought, but in the process came to realize that there were limitations to the basic way of thinking of Western philosophy.

Western philosophy is based on the premise of the "subject-object dualism," in which the perceiving "subject" grasps the perceived "object." Nishida advocated "pure experience" as the basis of this framework.

Pure experience refers to a direct and pure state of experience before the separation of subjectivity and objectivity. For example, when weaving, as one becomes engrossed in the act of weaving, one gradually becomes one with the loom, in other words, a state of "mindlessness." Nishida's philosophy began from the premise that this state in which subject and object are not separated is true reality.

The core of Nishida's philosophy: "The logic of place"

In the process of deepening his philosophical understanding of pure experience, Nishida critically examines the traditional "subject-predicate logic" of Western philosophy. For example, in the sentence "This apple is red," the subject (S) "apple" is determined by the predicate (P) "red." The logic "S is P" begins with the self-evident premise of the existence of the subject (substance).

However, from the standpoint of pure experience, we cannot presuppose such a fixed subject, because the subject and object are mingled in one.

Nishida therefore constructed a logic that does not presuppose the existence of an apple (subject) and ask "what it is" (predicate), but instead asks the fundamental "place" - "in what sense does this apple itself exist?" This is the "logic of place." In order to overcome subject-object dualism, he pursued a place that encompasses both the subjective and the objective - in other words, a "place of nothingness."

Absolutely Contradictory Self-Identity

From his middle to later periods, Nishida's philosophy deepened further, and he developed the core idea of ​​"absolute contradictory self-identity," which refers to a state in which two contradictory things, "A and non-A," are united as one while remaining in opposition.

This does not mean that contradictions are resolved like in Hegel's dialectics. He believed that a world with contradictions is the original and fundamental way of the world, and that the "place of absolute nothingness" is a place that embraces those contradictions as they are.

This can be called "logic that embraces contradictions as they are." Each thing exists as it is, without any distinction of superiority or inferiority, evaluation, or discretion. This way of thinking is very close to Yanagi Muneyoshi's idea of ​​non-paragraphism, and it is interesting to note the affinity between the two.

The wartime theory of the state and the development of Nishida's philosophy

Now, this is where we get to the main topic. During the war, Nishida attempted to apply this unique philosophy to the real world of history. In his final essay, "Principles of a New World Order" (1943), he developed his own theory of the "national polity."

In this context, Nishida positions the "individual" and the "whole" as being in a relationship of contradictory self-identity. Contradictory self-identity means that two opposing entities are fundamentally one, and in the real world, the "Imperial Family" was found to be the ultimate intermediary that encompasses this opposition.

Nishida states:

"Our national polity is not simply totalitarianism. The Imperial Family is the absolute present that encompasses the past and future; it is the beginning and the end of our world. The essence of our national polity, with its unbroken line of emperors, lies in the formation of a historical world centered on the Imperial Family. Our Imperial Family is not simply the center of an ethnic nation. Our Imperial Way contains the principle of world formation, "Hakko Iu (making the whole world one home)."

In this logic, the Emperor is described as the historical embodiment of the "place of nothingness." World peace centered on the Emperor, who encompasses all contradictory phenomena in the world, led to the idea of ​​"Hakko Ichiu." This slogan itself was linked to the idea of ​​national polity by Nichiren sectarians such as Tanaka Chigaku, and spread as a prewar ideology.

Nishida proclaimed that Japan had a historical mission to create a new world order based on the idea of ​​Hakko Ichiu. This meant that Nishida's philosophy came to play an ideological role in providing philosophical legitimacy to the idea of ​​the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.

Suzuki Daisetsu's Approach: Returning to the Inner Self

In contrast to Nishida's development of the theory of the state, D.T. Suzuki took a completely different approach. This became the ideological background of "Japanese Spirituality." ("Japanese Spirituality" was published in 1944, the year after Nishida's essay.)

While Nishida's philosophy turned to a "theory of the nation" that explained the role that Japan as a nation should play in the world, D.T. Suzuki sought to overcome this time of crisis by addressing more internal and existential issues, through the awakening of "spirituality."

Although the "spirituality" that Daisetsu preaches is labeled "Japanese," it is not closed to a particular nation or ethnic group, but rather is open to the fundamental dimensions of human existence.

Nishida applied the "logic of place" to the "external" system of the nation-state, but D.T. Suzuki reinterpreted it as a matter of awakening the "inner" spirituality of each individual. He believed that this inner awakening of each individual would lead to true world peace.

Nishida and D.T. Suzuki were close friends since their days at the Fourth High School and remained lifelong friends. However, in terms of their ideological attainments, a decisive crossroads arose between their pursuit of a theory of the state and the inner awakening of the individual.

Postwar Vision and Kegon Thought

The ideological divide became even clearer after the war. With Japan's defeat in 1945, the Kyoto School's idea of ​​a new world order, centered around Nishida, collapsed. Nishida himself died in 1945.

Following defeat in the war, what vision should Japan have for its reconstruction? D.T. Suzuki grappled with this question. The following April, 1946, D.T. Suzuki had the opportunity to lecture on Buddhist thought to the Emperor and Empress, who had become "symbols" under the new Constitution. This was the exact moment when the Emperor, who had previously been endowed with profound meaning by Nishida's philosophy, underwent a 180-degree change in his role as a symbol of the Japanese people.

The contents of this lecture were compiled in a book entitled "The Essence of Buddhism." D.T. explained what philosophical ideas Japan should be based on in its future reconstruction. In doing so, he placed the greatest importance on the "Kegon philosophy."

In "Japanese Spirituality," Daisetsu developed the logic of the Pure Land Buddhism's absolute other-power and the Zen theory of non-existence, but he discovered in the Huayan school of thought a philosophy that encompassed these even further and gave concrete form to the nature of society and the nation.

The idea of ​​the Dharma realm without obstacles and dependent origination

What Daisetsu particularly focused on was the idea of ​​"the Dharma realm where all things are unobstructed," which is the core of the Avatamsaka philosophy.

The premise of the idea of ​​the Dharma Realm without Obstruction of All Things is the Buddhist idea of ​​"dependent origination." Dependent origination is the idea that all things are interdependent, and that things arise and disappear within these relationships. The central idea is that there is no fixed entity that exists independently.

The Avatamsaka philosophy takes this idea of ​​dependent origination to its extreme. Not only does each individual being (individual thing) exist in relation to others, but it goes even further and considers that the individual thing contains all other beings (mutual inclusion), and conversely, the individual thing is contained within all other beings (mutual identity). All other beings are contained within oneself, and oneself is contained within all other beings. The key point of the Avatamsaka philosophy is to understand the world in terms of these layered relationships.

Daisetsu explains it as follows:

"The Dharma realm is, so to speak, the entirety of the individual self, and the individual self is each and every element of the Dharma realm, but the Dharma realm does not exist apart from each and every thing. Nor is it the case that each and every thing is enveloped in the Dharma realm and forms its content. The Dharma realm exists where each and every thing exists, and where the Dharma realm exists, each and every thing already exists." "The Construction of a Spiritual Japan"

The "thing" in the phrase "the world of things without obstruction" refers to specific entities, such as each and every one of us. The "world of dharma" refers to the entire universe. "Muge" refers to a state in which these things are in a completely free relationship with each other, without any obstructions.

In other words, the world of the infinite Dharma is a concept that captures the way in which individual things, beings, and beings are interrelated, and the world exists in a network-like form.

Indra's Net Worldview and a New Image of the Nation

This kind of worldview is often likened to "Indra's Net" (the net of Taishakuten) (it also appears in the stories of Miyazawa Kenji). In the palace of Taishakuten (Indra), there is a net with countless jewels tied together. Each jewel in the net reflects the image of all the other jewels, and each jewel itself is reflected in the other jewels. Indra's Net is a visual representation of the worldview of the Dharma Realm, where all things are free from obstacles.

Daisetsu envisioned a new form of nation-state based on this Kegon worldview.

Nishida derived a hierarchical view of the nation centered on the Emperor from the logic of absolute contradictory self-identity. In contrast, Daisetsu argued that the nation is not a hierarchy but an "association."

The Kegon worldview has no specific center. The view of the nation that results from it is not a structure with an absolute at the top, but an association made up of relationships without a center. This is a view of the nation as a confederation, which leads to a vision of world peace as a union of nations.

After the collapse of the hierarchical view of the nation and the world order, Daisetsu proposed a new vision for Japan by envisioning an associational nation and world similar to the Huayan-style Indra network.

Spiritual Ethics: Great Wisdom and Great Compassion

Next, let us consider the ethics of spirituality and how this awareness relates to the way we live our lives. D.T. Suzuki argues that spiritual awakening is not merely a matter of epistemology, but also has an impact on practice.

Spirituality is a state that exists before discrimination. Normal knowledge involves analyzing and separating things such as subjective and objective, self and other, through a discerning mind, but spirituality is a state of knowledge that exists before such knowledge. D.T. called this "non-discriminating wisdom."

This state of non-discriminating wisdom, before the discriminating mind begins, where there is no distinction between self and other, is also called "great wisdom." If we can reach this position of great wisdom, the walls that separate us from others will begin to crumble.

A person who has great wisdom can feel the suffering of others as their own direct suffering. This is "great compassion," or mercy. Because a person who has great wisdom loses the distinction between self and other, they can feel the suffering of others as their own direct suffering. Great wisdom and great compassion are two sides of the same coin.

This differs from modern ethical views. Sympathizing with others is an act of reaching out to others after making a distinction between self and other. However, Daisetsu preached a fundamental ethical view that, in reality, the self and other are inseparable, and the suffering of others is also one's own suffering.

Daisetsu said:

"Rather than first distinguishing between self and other, saying I am like this, and then how about others, and then applying that to myself in order to elicit sympathy, I would like to think that since self and other are not distinguishable from the beginning, there is something inherent within each of us that moves us and transcends self and others. We can see the suffering of so-called 'others' in comparison to our own suffering."

The word "concrete" means something inherent and fundamental. Each of us has spirituality, and if we can awaken to that spirituality, we can gain great wisdom and great compassion. This is the idea that social communities should be formed from this.

Perhaps the greatest modern practitioner of this state of mind where self and other are undistinguished is Michiko Ishimure. Ishimure's spirit of "the writhing god," in which she took on the suffering of Minamata disease patients as her own, is the very embodiment of great compassion, and she exemplified in her way of life what Daisetsu Suzuki said: "Where there is great wisdom, there is great compassion, and where there is great compassion, there is also great wisdom."

Shimura Fukumi's dyeing and weaving and spirituality

Here, we will consider the relationship between specific creative activities and spirituality using Shimura Fukumi's dyeing and weaving as an example.

Daisetsu focused on the "materiality" inherent in Japanese crafts, that is, the attitude of thinking not based on ideas or logic but on the "things" in front of one's eyes. This is a way of thinking that accepts the existence of "things" as they are.

Yanagi Muneyoshi formulated this idea of ​​crafts into a philosophy known as "Mingei." Shimura Fukumi, who continued her dyeing and weaving activities under Yanagi's influence, came to feel a deep sense of "spirituality" in her work.

I quote from Shimura Fukumi's "Playing Colors."

"In the long years since I began my career in dyeing and weaving, the colors of the plants and trees that I have received from nature have showered me so abundantly that this humble vessel could not contain them all. I have continued to weave threads dyed with plants and trees with the joy of a child given paint.

I had no intention of praying to the echoes, but gradually I began to wonder where these countless colors were coming from, and whether these colors were not just colors, but that there was some other world behind them.

One day, I had a strange experience: I fell, as if tumbling through a small hole, into the world behind the plants.

There, the door was slightly open, and I could catch a glimpse of the deep forest sparkling in the early autumn sunlight and a slight breeze. Every single leaf on the trees, just about to turn red, was painstakingly dyed, and an otherworldly light filled the forest. I couldn't see them, but I could sense the spirits of the plants and trees everywhere, and before I knew it, I felt a sense of ecstasy, as if my life and the lives of the plants had merged into one." - Shimura Fukumi, "Playing with Colors"

In my workshop, we dye threads using the colors of life found in various plants, such as cherry blossoms, plum blossoms, safflower, and kariyasu.

Shimura Fukumi's question is where the countless colors of these plants come from. It is not simply that the colors themselves are beautiful as a phenomenon. It is only when we connect the spirituality and life world of the plants behind the colors with the colors before our eyes that we can appreciate the intrinsic beauty of the plants.

When we relate this to spirituality, it is said that the colors of plants give us a sense of a state in which our own lives and the lives of the plants are combined into one, a state in which there is no distinction between self and other.

Going beyond the narrow boundaries of the self, one's own life becomes one with the lives of plants and nature. "Ecstasy" is the moment when one feels what Nishida calls "pure experience." Shimura Fukumi states that the experience of one's own life and the life of another person becoming one is the happiest experience a human being can have.

This is exactly the state in which the individual self, the whole world, nature, and the world of plants and trees are in a free and unhindered relationship. It can be said that through the practice of creation, she has caught a glimpse of the world of the Dharma realm, where all things are unhindered. Shimura Fukumi's experience shows that spirituality is not a mere concept, but something that can be experienced through concrete activities.

The ideas of Daisetsu Suzuki that are relevant today

Finally, we will consider how D.T. Suzuki's ideas can be applied to the modern day. Approximately 80 years ago, his book "Japanese Spirituality" was published, and he put forward the idea of ​​"spirituality" as a guide for Japan during and after the war.

The essence of this vision lies in the proposal of a new vision of "a nation without a center, a network without a center."

In today's world, where nationalism and globalization are swirling and division and conflict are becoming more serious, Daisetsu proposes a type of network in which things are born through interactions between people as if they were in a world of freedom.

Breaking away from closed nationalism, he advocated a world in which each being reflects the other. All existence is contained within oneself, and oneself is contained entirely within the existence of others. He advocated this Indra-net world in which we reflect and support each other as a universal philosophy.

It could be said that it is precisely because we live in modern times that this Kegon-style worldview of the Dharma realm, where all things are free from obstacles, is becoming increasingly important.

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We have delivered D.T. Suzuki's "Japanese Spirituality" over three installments. Thank you for watching this time as well.

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