,this work is licensed under a ,creative ,commons ,attribution #c4j ,unported ,license1 http3_/_/creativecommons4org_/ ,,zen ,,culture ,anyone who examines the ,zen arts is immediately struck by how modern they seem4 ,the ceramics of #afth-century ,zen artists could be interchanged with the rugged pots of our own contemporary crafts movement2 ancient calligraphies suggest the monochromes of ,franz ,kline or ,willem de ,kooning2 the apparent nonsense and illogic of ,zen parables 7and ,no theater and ,haiku poetry7 established the limitations of language long before the theater of the absurd2 #djj-year-old ,zen architecture seems to be a copy of modern design ideas such as modular sizing1 exposed woods1 raw materials1 bare walls1 uncluttered space and a ,california marriage of house and garden4 ,zen values experiencing things over analyzing them4 ,perhaps if we can take the power of direct perception1 sharpened by the devices of ,zen art1 back to everyday activities1 we will find a beauty in common objects that we previously ignored4 ,selected ,reviews ,the notoriously grumpy ,kirkus ,reviews said1 ,thomas ,hoover has a considerable gift for expressing his appreciation and understanding of various arts associated with ,zen4 4 4 4 ,these are deftly treated1 with a concise synopsis of the historical development of each2 and together ,hoover's discussions provide an excellent introduction to the aesthetics of ,japanese culture4 ,library ,journal said1 ,hoover covers the ground in an easy and informative way1 describing the origins of ,zen itself and the ,zen roots of swordsmanship1 architecture1 food1 poetry1 drama1 ceramics1 and many other areas of ,japanese life4 ,the book is packed with facts1 the bibliography is excellent1 the illustrations few but most appropriate1 and the style clear and smooth4 ,a most useful book for all collections4 ,asian ,studies declared1 ,highly recommended4 ,,zen ,,culture moves easily from the political climate that gave rise to ,zen to the cultural areas - art1 architecture1 theatre1 literature1 flower arrangement1 design1 archery1 swordsmanship - where ,zen has manifested itself4 ,as for the influence of the ,zen aesthetic1 the ,houston ,chronicle said1 ,hoover suggests we need only look around4 ,modern furniture is clean1 simple lines in unstained1 unadorned woods4 ,and that old fad became a habit1 houseplants4 ,these are all expressions of ideas born with ,zen3 understatement1 asymmetry1 intuitive perception1 nature worship1 disciplined reserve4 ,highly recommended1 said ,the ,center for ,teachers of ,asian ,studies4 ,western intellectuals have tried to represent the height of ,buddhist mysticism within the pages of mere books1 reducing an ineffable experience into a written report4 ,predictably such attempts have failed miserably4 ,,zen ,,culture by ,thomas ,hoover comes the closest to succeeding1 said ,hark ,publishing4 ,,zen ,,culture1 concerned as it is with the process of perception as much as with actual works of art1 can open our sense so that we experience anew the arts of both ,east and ,west1 ancient and modern4 declared the ,asian ,mail4 ,and to go multi-media1 ,,nyc-,,fm in ,new ,york said1 ,hoover takes us on a grand tour of ,zen archery and swordsmanship1 flower arranging1 drama1 food1 gardening1 painting1 poetry1 architecture4 ,his book is essentially one by a connoisseur4 ,,books ,,by ,,thomas ,,hoover ,nonfiction ,zen ,culture ,the ,zen ,experience ,fiction ,the ,moghul ,caribbee ,wall ,street ,samurai 7,the ,samurai ,strategy7 ,project ,daedalus ,project ,cyclops ,life ,blood ,syndrome ,all free as e-books at www4thomashoover4info ,throughout the entire ,far ,east of ,china1 ,korea1 and ,japan1 we see the system of a unique culture which originated in the sixth century1 reached its meridian in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and began to decline in the seventeenth century1 but which is still kept up in ,japan even in this day of materialism and mechanization4 ,it is called ,zen ,culture4 ,,sohaku ,,ogata1 ,zen for the ,west ,,zen ,,culture ,thomas ,hoover ,random ,house ,new ,york ,copyright 7,c7 #aigg by ,thomas ,hoover ,all rights reserved under ,international and ,pan-,american ,copyright ,conventions4 ,published in the ,united ,states by ,random ,house1 ,inc41 ,new ,york1 and simultaneously in ,canada by ,random ,house of ,canada ,limited1 ,toronto4 ,,isbn #j-cid-dajgb-f ,manufactured in the ,united ,states of ,america ,key ,words3 ,author3 ,thomas ,hoover ,title3 ,zen ,culture ,zen ,history1 ,haiku1 ,zen1 ,ceramics1 ,archery1 ,landscape ,garden1 ,stone ,garden1 ,ink ,landscape1 ,zen ,architecture1 ,sword1 ,katana1 ,no ,theater1 ,noh ,theater1 ,japanese ,tea ,ceremony1 ,tea ,ceremony1 ,flower arranging1 ,ikebana1 ,zen ,ceramic ,art1 ,raku1 ,shino1 ,ryoanji-ji ,,permissions ,grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint previously published material3 ,,ams ,press1 ,inc43 ,two three-line poems from page #ge of ,diaries of ,court ,ladies of ,old ,japan2 ,doubleday ,company1 ,inc43 ,eight ,haiku poems from ,an ,introduction to ,haiku by ,harold ,g4 ,henderson4 ,copyright 7,c7 #aieh by ,harold ,g4 ,henderson2 ,the ,hokuseido ,press ,co4 ,ltd43 ,poem on page #ce of ,the ,kobin ,waka-,shu1 translated by ,h4 ,h4 ,honda4 ,poem on page #hb of ,history of ,haiku1 ,vol4 ,,ii by ,r4 ,h4 ,blyth2 ,penguin ,books ,ltd43 ,a tanka from ',ise ,monogatari' by ,ariwara ,narihira4 ,reprinted from page #ga of ,the ,penguin ,book of ,japanese ,verse1 translated by ,geoffrey ,bownas and ,anthony ,thwaite 7#aifd74 ,copyright 7,c7 #aigd by ,geoffrey ,bownas and ,anthony ,thwaite2 ,shambala ,publications1 ,inc4 7,berkeley1 ,california73 ,poems on pages #ae and #ah of ,the ,sutra of ,hui-,neng2 ,stanford ,university ,press3 ,poem on page #ia of ,an ,introduction to ,japanese ,court ,poetry by ,earl ,miner2 ,charles ,e4 ,tuttle ,company1 ,inc43 ,three lines of verse from page #acj of ,the ,noh ,drama2 ,university of ,california ,press3 ,four-line ,haiku poem from page #ajd of ,the ,year of ,my ,life3 ,a ,translation of ,issa's ,oraga ,haru1 translated by ,nobuyuki ,yuasa4 ,copyright 7,c7 ,i#ifj1 #aigb by ,the ,regents of the ,university of ,california4 ,acknowledgments ,,the ,,author',s ,,thanks go to ,anne ,freedgood for editing the manuscript and for her many helpful suggestions2 to ,professor ,ronald ,f4 ,miller for critical advice on things ,western1 ranging from art to aesthetics2 to ,professor ,gary ,d4 ,prideaux for introducing the author to both ,japan and ,japanese linguistics2 to ,tatsuo and ,kiyoko ,ishimoto for assistance in interpreting ,japanese architecture2 and to others who have graciously reviewed the manuscript at various stages and provided helpful suggestions1 including ,julie ,hoover1 ,lynn ,grifo1 ,anna ,stern and ,ellen ,o',hara4 ,i am also grateful for guidance from ,professors ,shigeru ,matsugami and ,takashi ,yoshida1 formerly of ,tottori ,university1 and from the garden artist ,masaaki ,ueshima4 ,the insights of yet others1 lost in years of questioning and research1 are acknowledged here in spirit if not1 unfortunately1 in name4 ,japanese ,chronology ,,jomon ,,culture 7#bjjj ,b4,c4 8-ca4 #cjj ,b4,c4 7 ,,yayoi ,,period 7ca4 #cjj ,b4c-ca4 ,a4,d4 #cjj7 ,,mound ,,tomb ,,era 7ca4 ,a4,d4 #cjj-eeb7 ,,asuka ,,period 7#eeb-fde7 ,buddhism introduced 7#eeb7 ,chinese government and institutions copied ,,early ,,nara ,,period 7#fde-gaj7 ,,late ,,nara ,,period 7#gaj-gid7 ,japan ruled from replica of ,chinese capital of ,ch'ang-an built at ,nara 7#gaj7 ,bronze ,buddha largest in world dedicated at ,nara 7#geb7 ,compilation of early poetry anthology ,manyoshu 7#ghj7 ,scholarly ,buddhist sects dominate ,nara ,,heian ,,period 7#gid-aahe7 ,capital established at ,heian-kyo 7,kyoto7 7#gid7 ,saicho 7#gfg-hbb7 introduces ,tendai ,buddhism from ,china 7#hjf7 ,kukai 7#ggd-hce7 introduces ,shingon ,buddhism from ,china 7#hjh7 ,last mission to ,tang court ends direct ,chinese influence 7#hch7 ,tale of ,genji written by ,lady ,murasaki 7ca4 #ajjb-ajai7 ,honen 7#aacc-abab7 founds ,pure ,land1 or ,jodo1 sect 7#aage7 ,taira clan takes control of government1 ousting aristocracy 7#aaei7 ,minamoto clan replaces ,taira 7#aahe7 ,,kamakura ,,period 7#aahe-accc7 ,warrior outpost in ,kamakura becomes effective capital 7#aahe7 ,eisai 7#aada-abae7 introduces koan-oriented ,rinzai sect of ,zen on ,kyushu 7#aaia7 ,minamoto ,yoritomo 7#aadg-aaii7 becomes shogun 7#aaib7 ,hojo clan assumes real power in ,kamakura 7#abje7 ,shinran 7#aagc-abfb7 founds rival ,amidist sect called ,true ,pure ,land1 or ,jodo ,shin 7#abbd7 ,dogen 7#abjj-abec7 founds zazen-oriented ,soto ,zen 7#abcf7 ,nichiren 7#abbb-abhb7 founds new sect stressing chants to ,lotus ,sutra 7#abec7 ,,ashikaga ,,period 7#aacc-aegc7 ,hojo regency ended2 ,kamakura destroyed 7#accc7 ,emperor ,godaigo briefly restores imperial rule 7#accd7 ,ashikaga ,takauji 7#acje-aceh7 ousts ,godaigo1 who establishes rival court 7#accf7 ,takauji becomes shogun1 beginning ,ashikaga era proper 7#acch7 ,muso ,soseki 7#abge-acea7 convinces ,takauji to found sixty-six ,zen temples throughout ,japan 7#acch7 ,landscape gardens evolve to reflect ,zen aesthetic ideals ,ashikaga ,yoshimitsu 7#aceh-adjh7 establishes relations with ,ming ,china 7#adja7 ,zeami 7#acfc-addc71 encouraged by ,yoshimitsu1 creates ,no theater ,golden ,pavilion built by ,yoshimitsu 7begun #acid7 ,sung monochromes imported1 inspiring re-creation of ,chinese schools 7fourteenth century7 ,yoshimasa 7#adce-adij7 becomes shogun 7#addc7 ,onin ,war begins1 to devastate ,kyoto for ten years 7#adfg7 ,silver ,pavilion built by ,yoshimasa2 ,zen architecture 7#adhb7 ,tea ceremony begins to take classic shape as a celebration of ,zen aesthetics ,sesshu ,toyo 7#adbj-aejf71 greatest ,japanese landscape artist ,abstract stone gardens appear 7ca4 #adij7 ,general anarchy envelops country 7ca4 #aejj7 ,portuguese discover ,japan1 introduce firearms 7#aedb7 ,francis ,xavier arrives to preach 7#aedi7 ,ashikaga shogunate overthrown by ,oda ,nobunaga 7#aecd-aehb7 ,,momoyama ,,period 7#aegc-afae7 ,nobunaga begins unification of ,japan 7#aegc7 ,nobunaga assassinated 7#aehb7 ,hideyoshi 7#aecf-aeih7 assumes control and continues unification 7#aehb7 ,sen no ,rikyu 7#aebj-aeia7 propagates ,zen aesthetics through tea ceremony ,city of ,edo 7,tokyo7 founded 7#aeij7 ,hideyoshi unsuccessfully invades ,korea1 returns with ,korean ceramic artists 7#aeib7 ,momoyama ,castle built by ,hideyoshi1 giving name to the age 7#aeid7 ,rise of elaborate arts in opposition to ,zen aesthetic ideals ,tokugawa ,ieyasu 7#aedb-afaf7 appointed shogun 7#afjc7 ,ieyasu defeats forces supporting ,hideyoshi's heir 7#afae7 ,,tokugawa ,,period 7#afae-ahfh7 ,ieyasu founds ,tokugawa shogunate 7#afae7 ,daimyo forced to begin system of attendance on ,tokugawa in ,edo ,basho 7#afdd-afid71 greatest ,haiku poet ,popular arts of ,kabuki and woodblock prints arise in ,edo ,classic ,zen culture no longer supported by shogunate ,hakuin 7#afhe-agfh7 revives ,zen and broadens appeal ,zen culture influences popular arts and crafts ,,major ,,chinese ,,periods ,han dynasty 7#bjf ,b4,c4-,a4,d4 #bbj7 ,six ,dynasties 7#bbj-ehi7 ,sui dynasty 7#ehi-fah7 ,tang dynasty 7#fah-ijg7 ,five ,dynasties 7#ijg-ifj7 ,northern ,sung dynasty 7#ifj-aabg7 ,southern ,sung dynasty 7#aabg-abgi7 ,yuan 7,mongol7 dynasty 7#abgi-acfh7 ,ming dynasty 7#acfh-afdd7 ,,zen ,,culture ,foreword ,,anyone ,,who ,,examines the ,zen arts is immediately struck by how modern they seem4 ,many of the most famous stone gardens are abstract expressionism pure and simple1 created out of found objects4 ,the ceramics of the sixteenth-century ,zen artists could be interchanged with the rugged pots of our own contemporary crafts movement and few people would notice a difference4 ,ancient ,zen calligraphies1 bold and slashing1 suggest the monochromes of ,franz ,kline or ,willem de ,kooning1 and if the word impressionistic has any real meaning left1 the spontaneous1 intuitive1 impulsive ,zen painters should have first claim to it4 ,the apparent nonsense and illogic of ,zen parables established the limitations of language long before the theater of the absurd decided to ridicule our modern doublespeak2 indeed1 our new-found skepticism about language as a medium for communication was a commonplace to ,japanese artists who created both a drama 7the ,no7 and a poetry 7the ,haiku7 that neatly circumvent reliance on mere words for expression--and in two entirely different ways4 ,four-hundred-year-old ,zen architecture appears to be virtually a copy of contemporary design ideas3 modular sizing1 exposed woods and materials1 movable partitions1 multifunctional rooms1 bare walls and uncluttered space1 indirect lighting effects1 and a ,california marriage of house and garden4 ,the celebrated tea ceremony might be considered an early form of ,japanese group therapy1 while ,zen landscape gardens are nothing less than a masterful deception masquerading as the natural look4 ,if all this were not coincidence enough1 consider for a moment our present-day artistic conventions and aesthetic ideals4 ,like much of what we consider modern1 ,zen arts tend to be as simple as possible1 with clean1 even severe1 lines4 ,decoration for its own sake is virtually nonexistent2 ,zen artists had no more taste for the ornate than we do today4 ,the works of medieval ,zen artists were rough and asymmetrical1 with a skillful exploitation of deliberate imperfections and blemishes to make the viewer aware of both the materials used and the process of creation4 ,if it is true that classic art makes one aware of the form and romantic art makes one aware of the artist1 ,zen art makes one aware of the work of art itself4 ,we have absorbed into our ,western culture almost unawares such ,zen cultural forms and aesthetic principles as ,japanese ideas of architecture1 gardens1 and flower arranging4 ,other forms1 such as ,haiku poetry and ,zen-style ceramics1 we have borrowed in a more open-handed way1 freely acknowledging the source4 ,actually1 none of the ,zen arts is really out of our reach1 and a critical following has developed in the ,west for almost all of them4 ,the great ,irish poet and dramatist ,william ,butler ,yeats embraced the ,zen-inspired ,no drama1 although he probably knew next to nothing about ,zen4 7,for that matter1 we should recall that no ,english-language books were written on ,zen until well into the twentieth century47 ,it seems fair to say that the ,zen arts have touched us because they express some view of the world that we have1 several hundred years later1 quite independently come to share4 ,yet for all the seeming familiarity1 there remains an alien quality4 ,we are not always aware of the really quite extraordinary mind manipulation inherent in ,zen art4 ,why1 for instance1 does a ,japanese garden often seem much larger than it really is8 ,how does the ,japanese- style room alter human perception in such a way that people's experience of each other is intensified8 ,why do ,zen ceramics always manage to make one take special notice of their surface8 ,this subtle manipulation of perception is all done by ingenious but carefully hidden tricks4 ,but since the ,zen arts appear so modern1 we are lulled out of looking below the surface to find the fundamental differences4 ,most important of all1 it is easy to miss what is surely the most significant quality of ,zen arts--their ability to unlock our powers of direct perception4 ,since ,zen teaches that categories and systematic analysis hinder real understanding of the outer 7or inner7 world1 many ,zen arts are specifically designed to awaken our latent ability to perceive directly4 ,they appear innocent enough on the surface1 but they involve a subtle mind- massage not obvious to a casual observer4 ,it is this added dimension of ,zen art that truly sets it apart from anything we have produced in the twentieth century4 ,in these pages ,i will attempt to trace the history and characteristics of both ,zen and the ,zen arts--to explain where they came from1 why they arose1 what they were intended to do1 and how they go about doing it4 ,i have also included some ,western-style analysis of their very non- ,western qualities4 ,the aesthetic ideas embedded in ,zen culture and its perception-inducing works of art are among the most stunning achievements in world art history4 ,zen culture1 concerned as it is with the process of perception as much as with actual works of art1 can open our senses so that we experience anew the arts of both ,east and ,west1 ancient and modern4 ,contents ,,part ,i3 ,the ,beginnings3 ,prehistory to #accc #a4 ,zen ,culture and the ,counter ,mind #b4 #c4 ,the ,prelude to ,zen ,culture #d4 #e4 ,the ,rise of ,japanese ,buddhism #f4 #g4 ,the ,chronicles of ,zen #h4 #i4 ,zen ,archery and ,swordsmanship #aj4 ,,part ,,ii3 ,the ,age of ,high ,culture3 ,ashikaga 7#accc-aegc7 #aa4 ,the ,great ,age of ,zen #ab4 #ac4 ,zen and the ,landscape ,garden #ad4 #h4 ,the ,stone ,gardens of ,zen #i4 ,zen and the ,ink ,landscape #aj4 ,the ,zen ,aesthetics of ,japanese ,architecture #aa4 #ab4 ,the ,no ,theater #ac4 ,,part ,,iii3 ,the ,rise of ,popular ,zen ,culture3 #aegc to the ,present #ad4 ,bourgeois ,society and ,later ,zen #ae4 #af4 ,the ,tea ,ceremony #ag4 #ah4 ,zen ,ceramic ,art #ai4 #bj4 ,zen and ,haiku #ba4 #bb4 ,private ,zen3 ,flowers and ,food #bc4 #bd4 ,the ,lessons of ,zen ,culture #be4 ,,references ,,bibliography ,,glossary ,part ,i ,,the ,,beginnings3 ,,prehistory ,,to #accc ,,chapter ,,one ,zen ,culture and the ,counter ,mind ,consider the lilies of the field1 how they grow4 ,matthew #f3bh ,pre-,buddhist clay figure 7haniwa7 ,,the ,,zen ,,tradition extends back some fifteen hundred years to a wandering ,indian teacher of meditation named ,bodhidharma4 ,as ,indian gurus are fond of doing1 ,bodhidharma left his homeland and journeyed abroad1 following what was in those days a well-beaten trail to ,china4 ,upon reaching ,nanking1 he paused to visit the ,chinese ,emperor ,wu1 a man known to be a particularly devout ,buddhist4 ,the emperor was delighted to receive his famous ,indian guest and proceeded immediately to boast of his own accomplishments4 ,i have built many temples4 ,i have copied the sacred sutras4 ,i have led many to the ,buddha4 ,therefore1 ,i ask you3 ,what is my merit3 ,what reward have ,i earned8 ,bodhidharma reportedly growled1 ,none whatsoever1 your ,majesty4 ,the emperor was startled but persisted1 ,tell me then1 what is the most important principle or teaching of ,buddhism8 ,vast emptiness1 ,bodhidharma replied1 meaning1 of course1 the void of nonattachment4 ,not knowing what to make of his guest1 the emperor backed away and inquired1 ,who exactly are you who stands before me now8 ,to which ,bodhidharma admitted he had no idea4 ,sensing that the emperor was not yet prepared for such teachings1 ,bodhidharma left the palace and traveled to a mountain monastery to begin a long career of meditation4 ,over the years his reputation for wisdom gradually attracted many followers--dissident ,chinese who rejected classical ,buddhism and all its rigmarole in favor of ,bodhidharma's meditation1 or dhyana1 a ,sanskrit term they pronounced as ,ch'an--later to be called ,zen by the ,japanese4 ,this teaching of meditation and vast emptiness shared very little with other branches of ,chinese ,buddhism4 ,ch'an had no sacred images because it had no gods to worship1 and it de-emphasized the scriptures1 since its central dogma was that dogma is useless4 ,handed down from master to pupil was the paradoxical teaching that nothing can be taught4 ,according to ,ch'an 7and ,zen71 understanding comes only by ignoring the intellect and heeding the instincts1 the intuition4 ,thus ,zen became the religion of the antirational1 what might be called the counter mind4 ,the counter mind has taken on more concrete significance in recent years with the discovery that the human mind is not a single entity but is divided into two quite different functional sections4 ,we now know that the left hemisphere of the brain governs the logical1 analytical portion of our lives1 whereas the right hemisphere is the seat of our intuitive1 nonverbal perception and understanding4 ,as far back as the ancient ,greeks1 we in the ,west have maintained an almost unshakable belief in the superiority of the analytical side of the mind1 and this belief may well be the most consistent distinguishing quality of ,western philosophy4 ,by contrast1 the ,east in general and ,zen in particular have advanced the opposite view4 ,in fact1 ,zen masters have deliberately developed techniques 7like illogical riddles or koan7 to discredit the logical1 verbal side of the mind so that the intuitive perceptions of the right hemisphere1 the counter mind1 may define reality4 ,what is the counter mind really like8 ,what is there about it that has caused ,western thinkers to disavow its functions for so many centuries8 ,the answer to these questions is not simple1 but the path leading to it is directly before us4 ,zen has produced a rich culture which we may now examine at length4 ,as the scholar-diplomat ,sir ,george ,sansom has pointed out1 ,the influence of ,zen upon ,japan has been so subtle and pervading that it has become the essence of her finest culture4 ,and in the classical culture of ,japan it is possible to find the most revealing examples of the arts of the counter mind4 ,zen culture invites us to experience reality without the intervening distractions of intellect1 categories1 analysis4 ,here we may find the best evidence of what the intuitive side of the mind can produce--evidence all the more fascinating because it repudiates many of the most cherished assumptions of ,western civilization4 ,when examined closely1 ,zen culture in ,japan reveals at least three interrelated aspects or faces4 ,first there are the fine arts1 creations of beauty but also devices whereby the ,zen masters transmit otherwise inexpressible insights4 ,interestingly enough1 the ,zen masters did not trouble to invent new art forms but rather co-opted existing ,japanese 7and sometimes ,chinese7 forms and revised them to suit ,zen purposes4 ,during medieval times1 the ,chinese-style gardens so favored by the ,japanese aristocracy were adopted for use around ,zen temples1 but not before they were first converted into small-scale landscape paintings and later into monochrome abstractions4 ,chinese ink painting1 both that of the ,sung academy and that of eccentric ,chinese ,ch'an monks1 was imported and made the official art of ,zen4 ,ideas from ,shinto architecture were combined with design details from mainland ,ch'an monasteries to produce the ,zen-inspired classic ,japanese house4 ,various types of rustic dramatic skits popular among the ,japanese peasants were converted by ,zen aesthetes into a solemn theater experience called the ,no1 whose plays and narrative poetry are so austere1 symbolic1 and profound as to seem a kind of ,zen ,mass4 ,in the later years of popular ,zen culture1 poets revised the standard ,japanese poetic form1 which might be compared loosely to the ,western sonnet1 into a shorter1 epigrammatic expression of the ,zen outlook--the seventeen-syllable ,haiku4 ,zen ceramics are a curious mixture of ,japanese folk craft and ,chinese technical sophistication2 flower arranging is a link between ,zen and the ,japanese love of nature1 blossoms and beauty2 even formal ,japanese cuisine is often more a celebration of ,zen ideals than a response to hunger4 ,the famous ,japanese tea ceremony evolved from a ,chinese party game into a solemn episode for the celebration of ideal beauty1 inner calm1 and the ,zen concept of living4 ,the second face of ,zen culture is best seen in the way in which ,japanese life differs from our own4 ,this is not to suggest that every ,japanese is a living exemplar of ,zen1 but rather that many of the peculiarities--both good and bad--of the way of life we now think of as ,japanese are traceable to attitudes stemming from ,zen4 ,in the military sphere1 ,zen influence began as a special approach to swordsmanship and archery and ended as a disciplined contempt for death beyond what any other religion has inspired1 save possibly in a few saints4 ,in the military arts1 as in other areas of life1 ,zen both led and followed ,japanese culture--molding that culture and also presenting a vehicle for the expression of tendencies far older than ,zen1 among them the historic ,japanese love of nature1 the acceptance of hardship as uplifting to the spirit1 the refusal to distinguish between the religious and the secular1 and the capacity for the most unpleasant sorts of self-discipline4 ,it might be said that the ideals of ,zen struck a respondent chord in the ,japanese character1 bringing harmony where once there had been random notes4 ,zen also brought something new to the ,japanese which might be described as a religion of tranquility1 or the idea that tranquility is the main objective of religion4 ,the underside of this tranquility is its sense of humor4 ,zen1 with its absurdist koan1 laughs at life much the way the ,marx brothers did4 ,what exactly can you make of a philosophical system whose teacher answers the question1 ,how do you see things so clearly8 with the seeming one-liner1 ,i close my eyes8 ,zen has long used the comic view of life to deflate those who start believing in their own systems and categories4 ,it is easier to be tranquil about existence when you recognize the pointlessness of solemnity4 ,the other side of the religion of tranquility is the need to maintain peace of mind in the face of chaos4 ,sitting quietly in meditation is the traditional mainstay of ,eastern religion1 but ,zen manages to carry the mental repose born of meditation back into daily life4 ,this equanimity is the product of inner resources brought into being by spiritual training4 ,you need not study ,zen to have it1 but it is ,zen's most tangible goal4 ,the ,japanese1 whose ability to ignore external distractions in a hectic world is possibly their best-known national trait1 have deliberately used ,zen and ,zen arts 7such as the tea ceremony1 flower arranging1 or ink painting7 to counteract the stresses of modern life4 ,the follower of ,zen is protected from the incursions of the world by an inverted 7in our ,western terms7 understanding of what is real and what illusory4 ,one of the all-time favorite koan helps to make this clear4 ,the koan describes three monks watching a banner flutter in the breeze4 ,one monk observes1 ,the banner is moving1 but the second insists1 ,the wind is moving4 ,finally1 the third monk says1 ,you are both wrong4 ,it is your mind that is moving4 ,the point here is that1 in modern times1 most ,westerners view the physical world as the operative reality and the unseen1 nonphysical world as an abstraction 7comforting or not1 depending upon our beliefs or immediate needs1 the spiritual world is said to grow less abstract to those in foxholes74 ,but ,zen takes the opposite tack2 it holds that true reality is the fundamental unity of mind and matter1 inner spirit and external world4 ,when life is viewed in such terms1 there can be no success or failure1 happiness or unhappiness2 life is a whole1 and you are simply part of it4 ,there are no dualities1 hence there is nothing to worry about4 ,the result is perfect tranquility4 ,of course1 one small thread remains to be tied4 ,what do you do about daily life1 where the world carries on as though it really does exist1 dualities and all8 ,quite simply1 ,zen would have you treat the physical world exactly as followers of ,western religions sometimes treat the spiritual world--as a convenient fiction whose phenomena you honor as though they existed1 although you know all the while that they are illusions4 ,the world of strife and relative values may trouble those who mistake it for the real thing1 but the ,zen-man echoes the words of ,hamlet1 ,we that have free souls1 it touches us not4 ,the world is in fact meaningless4 ,it is one's mind that is moving4 ,however startling such a doctrine may be to ,western rationalists1 it has engendered such ,japanese phenomena as the samurai swordsmen and the kamikaze pilot1 both of whom could1 in the ,japanese phrase1 live as if already dead4 ,on a less dramatic scale1 it allows the modern ,japanese to be spiritually content and enjoy mental repose in a crowded subway1 or to find solitude in a paper-walled house amid noisy neighbors4 ,they wrap their cocoon of tranquility about them and become spiritually apart4 ,again1 it is possible to enjoy this inner repose without ,zen1 but only in a ,zen culture could it become a national trait4 ,the third face of ,zen1 the deep concern with and understanding of what constitutes beauty1 also preceded ,zen culture in ,japan to some degree4 ,as with many of the existing ,japanese art forms1 the native sense of taste was co-opted by ,zen culture and bent to the rules of ,zen4 ,aesthetic discernment was as important for social advancement in medieval1 pre-,zen ,japan as good grammar is in the ,west today1 and the characteristic attention to small details1 the genuine ability to notice things1 from the feathered pastel hues of a partially opened blossom to the colored refractions in a drop of dew1 was already well developed4 ,in the centuries before ,zen1 the notion that aesthetics in ,japan could reflect a philosophical point of view would have seemed strange4 ,but to the taste-makers of ,zen culture the arts were the handmaiden of spiritual ideas2 their arts had to make a statement1 and as a result art became an expression of religion1 not so much a direct1 point-blank depiction of religious motifs as in ,christian art1 but rather a belief that art itself is an inherently religious concern--an idea ,zen shares with the ancient ,greeks4 ,but whereas the ,greeks strove for perfect form as an exemplification of man's kinship with the gods1 the ,zen artist carefully avoids final perfection1 not wishing to idealize a physical world whose very existence he finds problematical4 ,perhaps the most noticeable principle of ,zen art is its asymmetry2 we search in vain for straight lines1 even numbers1 round circles4 ,furthermore1 nothing ever seems to be centered4 ,our first impulse is to go into the work and straighten things up--which is precisely the effect the artist intended4 ,symmetrical art is a closed form1 perfect in itself and frozen in completeness2 asymmetrical art invites the observer in1 to expand his imagination and to become part of the process of creation4 ,the absence of bilateral symmetry mysteriously compels the observer to reach past surface form and touch the individuality of a work4 ,even more important1 ,zen asymmetry forcefully draws one away from any mental connection one might have between completed form and notions of completion and timelessness in material things4 ,zen denies the significance of the external world and underscores the point by never depicting it in static1 stable1 or closed terms4 ,greek art was a tribute to perfection2 ,zen art is a statement1 if only implicit1 that the objective world should never be taken too seriously4 ,the ideas taught by asymmetry in the visual arts are paralleled in the literary arts by the device of suggestion4 ,this quality1 first seen in pre-,zen aristocratic poetry1 was brought to new heights by the ,zen ,haiku poets4 ,among other things1 a ,haiku poem sets you up for the last line1 which kicks your imagination spinning into imagery4 ,the most famous ,haiku poem of all probably demonstrates this quality as well as any3 ,an ancient pond2 ,a frog leaps in3 ,the sound of water4 ,try to stop yourself from hearing that splash in your imagination1 or try to stifle the images and details your mind wants to fill in4 ,just as with the off-balance picture or garden1 the ,zen poet has forced you to be a part of his creation4 ,but more significantly1 he has achieved a depth and reverberation impossible with mere words4 ,explicit art ends with itself2 suggestive art is as limitless and profound as one's imagination can make it4 ,another obvious quality of ,zen art is its simplicity4 ,again one thinks of the spareness and purity in ,greek art1 and again the connection is wrong4 ,a more useful comparison would be with the diverse1 textured arts of ,india1 whether sensuous statuary or fabrics decorated over every square inch4 ,indian art is a celebration of life and vigor1 whereas ,zen1 with its philosophy that categories and distinctions do not exist1 is naturally unsympathetic to decorative multiplicity4 ,the happy result of this rather sober outlook is that ,zen art seems surprisingly modern2 it is never cluttered1 busy1 gaudy1 overdone4 ,the forms--whether in the classic ,japanese house1 the stone garden1 or a simple ceramic pot--are invariably clean and elegant4 ,and by avoiding overstatement1 the ,zen artist manages to convey the impression of disciplined restraint1 of having held something in reserve4 ,the result is a feeling of strength1 the sense that one has only glimpsed the power of the artist rather than experienced everything he had to offer4 ,the ,zen artist may deny one voluptuousness1 but in the empty spaces one senses a hidden plenitude4 ,along with simplicity goes naturalness and lack of artifice4 ,zen art always seems spontaneous and impulsive1 never deliberate1 thought-out1 or contrived4 ,to achieve this1 the artist must so master his technique that it never interferes with his intentions4 ,again the lesson is contempt for the material world2 one must never give the impression of having taken one's art1 or indeed life itself1 too seriously4 ,this deceiving sense of naturalness is particularly striking in the later ,zen ceramic art1 in which potters went out of their way to give their bowls a coarse1 uneven finish4 ,they tried very hard to give the impression that they were not trying at all4 ,the joinery of the ,japanese house is first assembled with the care even an early ,european cabinetmaker might find excessive2 and then it is left unpolished1 to age naturally6 ,such is the inverted snobbery of ,zen aesthetics4 ,another quality of ,zen art is its understatement or restraint4 ,it does not yield all its secrets on first viewing2 there are always depths which become apparent with further study4 ,this storehouse of latent profundity is frequently found in the narrative poetry of the ,no drama1 which1 although suggestive in something like the manner of the lighter ,haiku poems1 has a cutting edge capable of slowly penetrating the deeper emotions4 ,through language seemingly concerned only with externalities1 the characters of the ,no give us the full sense of their inner anguish1 somehow communicating to us sorrows too deep for words4 ,in the same way1 ,zen-inspired stone gardens have hidden qualities4 ,unlike formal ,european or ,persian gardens1 which are mainly surface and reward the viewer with all their decorative beauty on the first visit1 ,zen gardens present you with new pleasures and insights each time you study them4 ,because it conceals its profundity1 ,zen art is never fully knowable on first acquaintance2 there is always something more when one is prepared to receive it4 ,perhaps the most puzzling1 yet curiously rewarding1 aesthetic principle in ,zen art is its seeming celebration of the ravages of time4 ,the ,zen ,japanese consider a taste for newness the mark of the aesthetic parvenu4 ,to be sure1 ,westerners who have acquired a preference for antiques are sometimes looked upon as more sophisticated than those preferring the latest machine-made item2 yet ,zen taste has an important difference--the ,japanese would never restore an antique4 ,the signs of age and wear are to them its most beautiful qualities4 ,this convoluted attitude actually began in pre-,zen aristocratic times1 when courtiers concluded that the reason cherry blossoms or autumn leaves were so beautiful was their short season4 ,soon1 the more perishable something was1 the more aesthetically satisfying it became4 7,one unfortunate result of this point of view was a lot of mediocre poetry about the dew47 ,later1 ,zen took over this attitude1 extending it to things that perish slowly1 and before long1 things old and worn out--already perished1 in a sense--were thought the most beautiful of all4 ,this idea fitted well with the ,zen notion that material things were dross and should not be accorded excessive importance4 ,the curious thing is that the idea works2 old objects1 desiccated and apparently used up1 have a nobility that makes one contemplate eternity and scorn the fashions of the moment4 ,broken and patched tea bowls or frayed scrolls seemingly falling apart are indeed more beautiful than they were when new4 ,the patina of age is a lesson that time is forever and that you1 creature of an hour1 would do well to know humility in the face of eternity4 ,finally1 the aesthetic principles of ,zen culture's third face also reflect the practical concerns of its second face1 tranquility4 ,zen art exudes an unmistakable calm and repose of the spirit4 ,contemplating a stone garden or viewing the measured movements of the tea ceremony1 one realizes that ,zen art is certain of itself1 and it imparts this certainty1 this gentle voice of inner calm1 to one's spirit4 ,the things that matter are settled1 and those that do not are winnowed out like chaff in the wind4 ,and here you realize that ,zen art is1 last and foremost1 a virile creation of strength and surety4 ,perhaps the most startling thing about the ,zen creations of the counter mind is that few ,japanese are willing even to discuss them1 let alone analyze them4 ,zen is the enemy of analysis1 the friend of intuition4 ,analysis is to art what grammar is to a living language1 the dull afterthought of the scholar1 and ,zen culture despises excessive interpretation as a leech on the spirit of life4 ,the ,zen artist understands the ends of his art intuitively1 and the last thing he would do is create categories2 the avowed purpose of ,zen is to eliminate categories6 ,the true ,zen-man holds to the old ,taoist proverb1 ,those who know do not speak4 ,those who speak do not know4 ,ask a ,japanese to explain a ,zen rock garden and he will inspect you blankly1 uncomprehending4 ,the question will never have occurred to him1 and he may try to spare you embarrassment by pretending you never asked or by changing the subject4 ,should you persist1 he may go out and take its dimensions for you1 thinking by this objective1 modern response to satisfy your ,western requirements4 ,when you stop asking and surrender to a kind of intuitive osmosis1 you will have begun the journey into the culture of the counter mind4 ,,chapter ,,two ,the ,prelude to ,zen ,culture ,it was a clear1 moonlit night 4 4 4 ,her ,majesty 4 4 4 sat by the edge of the veranda while ,ukon no ,naishi played the flute for her4 ,the other ladies in attendance sat together1 talking and laughing2 but ,i stayed by myself1 leaning against one of the pillars between the main hall and the veranda4 ',why so silent8' said ,her ,majesty4 ',say something4 ,it is so sad when you do not speak4' ',i am gazing into the autumn moon1' ,i replied4 ',ah yes1' she remarked1 ',that is just what you should have said4' ,from ,the ,pillow ,book of ,sei ,shonagon1 ca4 ,a4,d4 #iie ,,zen ,,culture did not spring upon the ,japanese islands as an alien force1 dislodging native beliefs1 ideals1 and values4 ,it could indeed be argued that precisely the opposite happened1 that the ,japanese actually used ,zen as a framework over which to organize their own eclectic beliefs about reverence toward nature1 aesthetics1 anti- intellectualism1 artistic forms and ideals1 and basic attitudes toward life4 ,the truth1 however1 lies somewhere between3 ,zen did not reshape ,japan1 but neither did ,japan reshape ,zen4 ,rather1 the two melted together1 with the resulting amalgam often seeming to be all ,zen1 while actually being1 in many instances1 merely older ,japanese beliefs and ideals in a new guise4 ,some of the most fundamental qualities of ,japanese civilization had their origins in high antiquity1 when the ,japanese had no writing and worshiped gods found among fields and groves4 ,these early ,japanese had no religious doctrines other than respect for the natural world and the sanctity of family and community4 ,there were no commandments to be followed1 no concept of evil4 ,such moral teachings as existed were that nature contains nothing that can be considered wicked1 and therefore man1 too1 since he is a child of nature1 is exempt from this flaw4 ,the only shameful act is uncleanliness1 an inconsiderate breach of the compact between man and nature4 ,the early ,japanese left no evidence that they brooded about nature or required rituals to subdue it4 ,rather1 the natural world was welcomed as a joyous if unpredictable companion to life1 whose beauty alone was sufficient to inspire love4 ,this reverence for nature1 which lay deep within the ,japanese psyche1 was in later centuries to become a fundamental part of ,zen culture4 ,like the early ,japanese1 the followers of ,zen believed the world around them was the only manifestation of god and did not bother with sacred icons or idols1 preferring to draw religious symbolism directly from the world as it stood4 ,the first arrivals on the ,japanese archipelago were a ,stone ,age people1 known today as ,jomon1 who left artifacts across a time span beginning in the fourth millennium ,b4,c4 and lasting until the early ,christian ,era4 ,arriving in ,japan from northeast ,asia via a land bridge now submerged1 they remained primarily in the north1 where they lived in covered pits1 buried their dead in simple mounds1 and1 most importantly for the later ,japanese1 developed a ceramic art of low-fired vessels and figurines whose loving awareness of material and form re-emerged centuries later as a characteristic of ,zen art4 ,the free1 semi-nomadic life of the ,jomon was disrupted around the time of ,aristotle by the arrival of various groups of invaders known collectively as the ,yayoi4 ,these ,bronze ,age warriors eventually replaced the ,jomon1 first driving them farther into the north and finally eradicating them entirely4 ,the gods and culture of the ,yayoi indicate a tropical origin1 perhaps the vicinity of ,south ,china4 ,they settled in the southern islands1 where they erected tropical dwellings and began the cultivation of rice4 ,soon they were making implements of iron1 weaving cloth1 and molding pottery using the wheel and high- temperature kilns4 ,the descendants of the ,yayoi became the ,japanese people4 ,for the first several hundred years of ,yayoi hegemony1 their ceramics1 although technically more sophisticated1 showed less artistic imagination than those of the ,jomon4 ,in the fourth century ,a4,d41 however1 after the consolidation of their lands into a unified state1 a new era of artistic production began4 ,from this time until the introduction of ,buddhism in the sixth century1 an interlude known as the ,mound ,tomb era1 the arts of ,japan blossomed1 producing some of the finest sculpture in the ancient world4 ,the ,yayoi mound tombs1 often many acres in size1 were filled with the implements of their aristocratic owners 7much as were the pyramid tombs of ,egyptian pharaohs71 and around their perimeters were positioned hollow clay statues1 presumably as symbolic guardians4 ,these realistic figures1 ordinarily two or three feet in height1 are today known as haniwa4 ,fashioned in soft brown clay1 they portrayed virtually all the participants in early ,japanese life3 warriors in armor1 horses standing at the ready1 courtiers1 rowdy farmers1 fashionable la,thes-in-waiting1 and even wild boar4 ,the making of haniwa died out after the sixth century1 as ,chinese ,buddhist culture gradually took hold among the ,japanese aristocracy1 but the underlying aesthetic values were too fundamental to perish4 ,when ,zen culture came to flower in medieval times1 all the early artistic values awoke from what seems to have been only a slumber2 monk-artisans returned to an emphasis on natural materials--whether in soft clay tea bowls1 in unworked garden rocks1 in the architecture of unfinished woods1 or in a general taste for unadorned simplicity4 ,these men created their art and architecture from seemingly rough and imperfect materials out of deliberate choice rather than necessity--a preference rare if not unique in human experience4 ,during the years following the introduction of pre-,zen ,buddhism1 the ,japanese disowned their native values and artistic instincts as they slavishly copied ,chinese culture and reproduced the ornate and elaborate arts of mainland ,buddhism4 ,the nature-worshiping tribes of ,japan were awed by the seemingly powerful religion of ,china4 ,they were no less impressed by the manner in which the ,chinese emperor ruled his land1 and shortly after becoming acquainted with ,china they set about copying the ,chinese form of government4 ,equally important1 the previously illiterate ,japanese adopted a ,chinese system of writing--a confusing arrangement whereby ,chinese symbols were used for their phonetic value rather than for their meaning4 ,this lasted for several centuries1 until the ,japanese finally gave up and created a simplified system which included their own syllabary or alphabet4 ,having borrowed ,chinese administration and ,chinese writing1 the ,japanese next decided to re-create a ,chinese city1 and in the year #gaj they consecrated ,nara1 a miniature replica of the ,t'ang capital of ,ch'ang-an4 ,the city was soon overflowing with ,chinese temples and pagodas4 ,newly ordained ,japanese priests chanted ,buddhist scriptures they scarcely understood1 while the native aristocracy strode about in ,chinese costume reciting verses of the ,t'ang poets4 ,japan had never really had a city before ,nara1 and its population quickly rose to some #bjj1jjj4 ,yet less than a century after its founding it was abandoned by the court--possibly because the new ,buddhist priesthood was getting out of hand-- and a new capital was laid out on the site of present-day ,kyoto4 ,this new city1 founded at the beginning of the ninth century and known as ,heian1 was deliberately kept free of ,buddhist domination1 and within its precincts the first truly native high culture arose as ,chinese models were gradually transcended4 ,no longer copiers1 the aristocrats of ,heian turned inward to bring forth a highly refined secular civilization4 ,to understand the foundations of ,zen beauty1 it is necessary to examine this ,heian culture in some detail1 for many of the ,zen arts and the aesthetic rules later associated with ,zen arose in these early aristocratic years4 ,if civilization may be gauged by the extent to which relations are mediated by artificiality1 this would surely be the finest example in all history4 ,etiquette and sentimentality were the touchstones4 ,the courtiers occupied their days with elaborate ceremonies1 extravagant costumes1 and lightweight versifying1 and their nights with highly ritualized amorous intrigues1 conducted in a fashion so formal that the courtly love of ,provence seems brusque in comparison4 ,initially the court had modeled its behavior on the ,t'ang dynasty1 but in the year #hid1 a hundred years after the founding of ,heian1 relations with the ,t'ang court were suspended4 ,there were few formal contacts with ,china until the coming of ,zen several centuries later4 ,since the country was unified and at peace1 interest in affairs of state gradually disappeared altogether1 freeing the aristocracy to create a misty1 artificial world all its own4 ,this period1 whose aesthetic values were the precursor of ,zen art1 was also ,japan's great age of literature4 ,the idleness of the court provided an abundance of free time and equally abundant boredom-- circumstances that brought into being rich1 textured psychological novels1 some of the earliest and most revealing diaries of the world's literature1 and a concern with poetry never equaled elsewhere1 before or since4 ,these works of literature depict a society preoccupied with beauty1 where life and art merged1 and founded on a conviction1 later to become ingrained in ,japanese life and ,zen art1 that the ability to appreciate beauty was the most important characteristic an individual could possess4 ,perhaps the most unusual aspect of this great age of literature is the fact that the work was produced almost entirely by women4 ,theirs was the aesthetic legacy that later became the foundation for ,zen taste1 including the overwhelming importance of brushstroke calligraphy1 the subtle sense of what constitutes beauty and what excess1 the vocabulary of aesthetics1 the elaborate concern with the use of color1 and the refinement of the poetic form that eventually led to ,zen ,haiku4 ,taste in the use of color is an excellent place to begin examining the ,heian heritage1 for in later years the ,zen arts would be characterized by muted1 carefully matched natural shades whose application followed sophisticated rules of taste4 ,the seriousness with which colors were matched by ,heian courtiers is revealed in a famous diary of the era3 ,one of the court ladies' dresses had a little fault in the color combination at the wrist opening4 ,when she went before the royal presence to fetch something1 the nobles and high court officials noticed it4 ,afterwards1 she regretted it deeply4 ,it was not so bad2 only one color was a little too pale4#a ,episodes in another diary reveal the importance attached to properly matched shades3 ,it is dawn and a woman is lying in bed after her lover has taken his leave4 ,she is covered up to her head with a light mauve robe that has a lining of dark violet4 4 4 4 ,the woman 4 4 4 wears an unlined orange robe and a dark crimson skirt of stiff silk4 4 4 4 ,near by another woman's lover is making his way home in the misty dawn4 ,he is wearing loose violet trousers1 an orange hunting costume1 so lightly coloured that one can hardly tell whether it has been dyed or not1 a white robe of stiff silk1 and a scarlet robe of glossy1 beaten silk4#b ,this interest in the colors 7and textures7 of materials remains a ,japanese characteristic to this day1 perpetuated by ,zen and post-,zen aesthetes1 who sensibly realized that this outgrowth of their culture surpassed that found anywhere else in the world4 ,as may be gathered from the passage above1 celibacy was not part of the fashionable world of ,heian ,japan4 ,marriages were sanctioned only after the sexual compatibility of the couple had been established1 a ritual carried out by a young man calling at a young lady's quarters for several nights running before officially announcing his intentions to her parents4 ,the secret visits were1 of course1 secret to no one1 and at times a young lady might initiate the test by an open invitation4 ,such a letter also allowed the man to judge her handwriting in advance and thus not waste his time courting a girl wanting in accomplishment4 ,the following diary passage reveals the curious ,heian association of penmanship and sex3 ,i remember a certain woman who was both attractive and good-natured and who furthermore had excellent hand-writing4 ,yet when she sent a beautifully written poem to the man of her choice1 he replied with some pretentious jottings and did not even bother to visit her4 4 4 4 ,everyone1 even people who were not directly concerned1 felt indignant about this callous behavior1 and the woman's family was much grieved4#c ,in a society where brushwork was a primary test of social acceptability1 it is not hard to find the roots of ,japan's later great age of ,zen monochrome painting1 for1 as ,sir ,george ,sansom has pointed out1 to write beautifully is to solve certain fundamental problems of art--particularly when that writing is executed with the brush4 ,the writing materials used by ,heian courtiers and the calligraphy they set down became important tools for the ,zen arts4 ,writers made use of what the ,chinese called the ,four ,treasures3 a brush of animal hair or bristle1 a block of solid ink made of lampblack and glue1 a concave inkstone for grinding and wetting the dried ink1 and a paper or silk writing surface4 ,these materials are all thought to have been introduced into ,japan by a ,korean ,buddhist priest sometime near the beginning of the seventh century1 but they already had a long history in ,china--possibly as much as a thousand years4 ,with these materials the ,heian calligrapher--and later the ,zen monochrome artist--created a subtle world of light and shade4 ,the preparation for writing 7and later1 painting7 is itself a ritual of almost religious significance4 ,the ink1 called sumi1 must be prepared fresh each time it is used3 a small amount of water is introduced into the concave portion of the inkstone1 and the slightly moistened ink block is slowly rubbed against the stone until the proper shade is realized4 ,the brush is soaked thoroughly in water1 dried by stroking it on a scrap of paper1 dipped into the new ink1 and applied directly to the writing surface4 ,the writer or artist holds the brush perpendicular to the paper and spreads the ink in quick strokes1 which allow for no mistakes or retouching4 ,where the male scholars of the ,heian period labored with complex ,chinese ideograms1 the female artists and calligraphers were able to work in a new1 simplified syllabary of approximately fifty symbols1 which had been invented by a ,buddhist priest in the early ,heian era4 ,since this new script was less angular and geometrically formal than ,chinese writing1 it lent itself to a sensuous1 free style of calligraphy whose rules later spilled over into ,zen aesthetics4 ,the new women's script called for brushstrokes that were a pirouette of movement and dynamic grace1 requiring the disciplined spontaneity that would become the essence of ,zen painting4 ,indeed1 all the important technical aspects of later ,zen monochrome art were present in early ,heian calligraphy3 the use of varying shades of ink1 the concentration on precise yet spontaneous brushwork1 the use of lines flexible in width and coordinated with the overall composition1 and the sense of the work as an individual aesthetic vision4 ,the lines record the impulse of the brush as it works an invisible sculpture above the page2 the trail of the brush--now dry1 now flushed with ink--is a linear record of nuances in black across the white space beneath4 ,the total mastery of brushwork and the ink line gave the monochrome artists a foundation of absolute technical achievement1 and the ,zen calligrapher-poets a tradition of spontaneity in keeping with ,zen ideals4 ,another legacy to ,zen artists was the creation of spontaneous verse1 which also sharpened the faculties and required a sure mastery of technique4 ,since virtually all communication was in the form of poems1 to move in polite circles a man or woman had to be able to compose a verse on any subject at a moment's notice4 ,a famous female novelist and diarist recalled a typical episode3 ,the ,lord ,prime ,minister 4 4 4 breaks off a stalk of a flower-maiden which is in full bloom by the south end of the bridge4 ,he peeps over my screen and says1 ,your poem on this6 ,if you delay so much the fun is gone and ,i seized the chance to run away to the writing box1 hiding my face-- ,flower-maiden in bloom-- ,even more beautiful for the bright dew1 ,which is partial1 and never favors me4 ,so prompt6 said he1 smiling1 and ordered a writing box to be brought for himself4 ,his answer- ,the silver dew is never partial4 ,from her heart ,the flower-maiden's beauty4#d ,the quality of such impromptu verse is necessarily strained1 but the spirit of impulsive art revealed in this episode survived to become an important quality of ,zen creations4 ,the ,heian era bequeathed many artistic forms and techniques to later ,zen artists1 but even more important was the attitude toward beauty developed by the ,heian courtiers4 ,their explicit contributions were a sense of the value of beauty in life and a language of aesthetics by which this value could be transmitted4 ,one of the more lasting attitudes developed was the belief that transience enhanced loveliness4 7,the idea of transience seems to be one of the few ,buddhist concepts that entered ,heian aesthetics47 ,beauty was all the more arresting for the certainty that it must perish4 ,the perfect symbol for this1 naturally enough1 was the blossom of the cherry tree1 as may be seen from a poem taken at random from a ,heian-period compilation4 ,o cherry tree1 how you resemble this transitory world of ours1 for yesterday you were abloom and gone today your flowers4#e ,many of the later verities of ,zen art can be traced to this first philosophical melancholy over life's transience which developed in the ,heian era4 ,the vehicle for this heritage was a special vocabulary of aesthetic terms 7providing distinctions few ,westerners can fully perceive7 which could describe subtle outer qualities of things--and the corresponding inner response by a cultivated observer--by the use of fine-grained aesthetic distinctions4#f ,the word that described the delicate discernment of the ,heian courtiers was miyabi1 which was used to indicate aspects of beauty that only a highly refined taste could appreciate3 the pale shades of dye in a garment1 the fragile geometry of a dew-laden spider web1 the delicate petal of a purple lotus1 the texture of the paper of a lover's letter1 pale yellow clouds trailing over a crimson sunset4 ,if the beauty were more direct and less muted1 it was described as en1 or charming1 a term marking the type of beauty as sprightly or more obvious4 ,the most popular aesthetic term was aware1 which refers to a pleasant emotion evoked unexpectedly4 ,aware is what one feels when one sees a cherry blossom or an autumn maple4 7,this internalization of aesthetic qualities was later to have great import for the ,zen arts1 whose reliance on suggestiveness shifted a heavy responsibility to the perceiver47 ,as the notion of beauty's transience became stronger1 the term also came to include the feeling of poignancy as well as pleasure and the awareness that delight must perish4 ,these terms of refined aristocratic discernment became thoroughly ingrained in ,japanese life and were passed on to ,zen aesthetics1 which added new terms that extended the ,heian categories to reverence for beauty past its prime and for objects that reflect the rigors of life4 ,the ,zen aesthetes also added the notion of yugen1 an extension of aware into the region of poignant foreboding4 ,at a brilliant sunset one's mind feels aware1 but as the shadows deepen and night birds cry1 one's soul feels yugen4 ,thus the ,zen artists carried the ,heian aesthetic response into the inner man and turned a superficial emotion into a universal insight4 ,the most important aspect of the ,japanese character to surface during the ,heian era1 at least from the standpoint of later ,zen culture and ideals1 was faith in the emotions over the intellect4 ,it was during this period that the ,japanese rejected for all time a rigorously intellectual approach to life4 ,as ,earl ,miner wrote in his description of pre-,zen ,heian society1 ,the respect accorded to correct or original ideas in the ,west has always been given in ,japan to propriety or sincerity of feeling4 ,and just as someone without an idea in his head is archetypally out of our civilization1 so the person without a true feeling in his heart is archetypally out of the ,japanese4#g ,from such an attitude it is not far to the ,zen intuitive approach to understanding4 ,the early years of ,japanese isolation saw a people with a rich nature religion whose arts revealed deep appreciation for material and form4 ,the coming of ,chinese culture brought with it ,buddhism1 which became a national religion and provided a vehicle for the dissemination of ,zen4 ,finally1 the aristocratic civilization of the ,heian era developed ,japanese sensitivity to remarkable levels1 providing later generations with a valuable framework of taste and standards4 ,the court civilization of ,heian was ultimately dethroned by medieval warriors1 who themselves soon came under the sway of ,zen4 ,although the ,zen artist-monks of the medieval era brought into being a new culture with its own rules of taste and behavior1 they were always in the debt of the earlier ages4 ,,chapter ,,three ,the ,rise of ,japanese ,buddhism ,the new doctrine of the ,buddha is exceeding excellent1 although difficult to explain and comprehend4 7,message accompanying the first image of the ,buddha to enter ,japan1 ca4 ,a4,d4 #eeb7 ,,pre-,,buddhist ,,shinto ,,shrine ,,during ,,the ,,sixth ,,century ,b4,c41 in the rich and reflective civilization flourishing in what is today northeast ,india and ,nepal1 a child was born to the high-caste family of ,gautama4 ,he was later known by various names1 including ,siddhartha 7the one who has reached the goal71 ,sakyamuni 7sage of the ,sakyas71 or simply ,buddha 7the enlightened74 ,his childhood was idyllic1 and at the age of sixteen he took a wife1 who bore him a son4 ,as a youth he was completely sheltered from the sorrows of the flesh through the offices of his father1 who commanded the servants never to let him leave the palace compound4 ,yet finally1 the legends relate1 he managed to escape this benign prison long enough to encounter old age1 sickness1 and death4 ,understandably distressed1 he began pondering the questions of human mortality and suffering1 a search which led him to a holy man1 whose devoutness seemed to hold the answers4 ,true to his convictions1 he renounced wealth1 family1 and position and embarked upon the life of an ascetic4 ,a spiritual novice at the age of twenty-nine1 he traveled for the next six years from sage to sage1 searching for the teachings that might release him from the prison of flesh4 ,finally1 with disciples of his own1 he left all his teachers and devoted himself to meditation for another six years1 at the end of which he was close to death from fasting and privation4 ,but he was no nearer his goal1 and abandoning the practices of traditional religion1 he set out to beg for rice4 ,although his disciples immediately deserted him as unworthy to be a teacher1 he was undeterred and enjoyed his first full meal since leaving his father's palace4 ,he then had a deep sleep and learned in a dream that realization would soon be his4 ,he proceeded to a wood and began his final meditation under the now legendary ,bodhi tree--where he at last found enlightenment4 ,gautama had become the ,buddha4 ,for the next forty-nine years he traveled the length of ,india preaching a heretical doctrine4 ,to appreciate what he taught1 one must grasp what he preached against4 ,at the time1 the predominant religious system was ,brahmanism1 which was based upon the ,upanishads1 a collection of early ,vedic writings4 ,according to this system1 the universe was presided over by the ,brahman1 an impersonal god-form which was at once a pantheistic universal soul and an expression of the order1 or dharma1 of the cosmos4 ,this universal god-form was also thought to reside in man1 in the form of the atman1 roughly translatable as the soul2 and the individual was believed to be able to rise above his physical existence and experience the uniting of this atman with the larger god-form through practice of a rigorous physical and mental discipline1 which became known as yoga4 ,not surprisingly1 all formal communications with the universal god-form had to be channeled through a special priest class1 who called themselves ,brahmans4 ,the ,buddha disputed these beliefs4 ,he taught that there was no universal god and hence no internal soul1 that there is1 in fact1 no existence in the world4 ,all perception to the contrary is illusory4 ,enlightenment therefore consists not of merging one's atman with the greater god-head1 but rather in recognizing that there actually is nothing with which to merge4 ,consequently the aim is to transcend the more troublesome aspects of perception1 such as pain1 by turning one's back on the world--which is nonexistent in any case--and concentrating on inner peace4 ,the ,buddha stressed what he called the ,four ,noble ,truths and the ,eightfold ,path4 ,the ,four ,noble ,truths recognized that to live is to desire and hence to suffer1 and the ,eightfold ,path 7right views1 right resolve1 right speech1 right conduct1 right livelihood1 right effort1 right mindfulness1 right concentration7 provided a prescription for the resolution of this suffering4 ,followers of the ,eightfold ,path understand that the external world is illusory and that its desires and suffering can be overcome by a noble life1 guided by mental fixation on the concept of nonexistence4 ,the original teachings of the ,buddha are more a philosophy than a religion1 for they admit no supreme god1 nor do they propose any salvation other than that attainable through human diligence4 ,the aim is temporal happiness1 to be realized through asceticism--which was taught as a practical means of turning one's back on the world and its incumbent pain4 ,there were no scriptures1 no sacred incantations1 no soul1 no cycle of rebirth1 nothing beyond one's existential life4 ,since the ,buddha left no writings or instructions regarding the establishment of a religion in his name1 his followers called a council some ten years after his death to amend this oversight4 ,this first council produced the earliest canon of ,buddhist teachings1 a group of sutras or texts purporting to reproduce various dialogues between the ,buddha and his disciples4 ,a second council was held exactly one hundred years later1 supposedly to clarify points raised in the first meeting4 ,but instead of settling the disagreement which had arisen1 the meeting polarized the two points of view and shattered monolithic ,buddhism once and for all4 ,as ,buddhism spread across ,india into ,ceylon and ,southeast ,asia1 a distinct sectarian split developed1 which might be described as a controversy between those who strove to preserve the teachings of the ,buddha as authentically as possible and those who were willing to admit 7some might say compromise with7 other religions4 ,the purer form1 which was established in ,southeast ,asia1 came to be called ,hinayana1 or the ,lesser ,vehicle 7purportedly because of the exclusionary strictness of its views74 ,the other branch1 comprising the beliefs that spread to ,china and thence to ,japan1 was described as ,mahayana1 or the ,greater ,vehicle4 ,this division also resulted in two versions of the sutras being canonized4 ,that revered by the ,hinayanists is known as the ,pali ,canon and was set down in the ,pali language 7a dialect of ,indian ,sanskrit7 around #ajj ,b4,c4 ,the sutras of the eclectic ,mahayanists grew over the centuries1 with additions in ,sanskrit1 ,tibetan1 and1 later1 ,chinese4 ,in addition to the original thoughts of the ,buddha1 they included large sections of commentary or secondary material4 ,the ,chinese1 particularly1 had strong speculative minds and thought nothing of amending the teachings of a simple ,indian teacher4 ,the ,indians also found the ,buddha's thought a shade too austere for their tastes1 but instead of embellishing it as the ,chinese did1 they gradually plowed it back into the theological melange of pantheistic ,hinduism until it finally lost any separate identity4 ,buddhism is said to have officially reached ,china during the first century ,a4,d41 and after some three hundred years of adjusting it to suit their established teachings of ,confucianism and ,taoism1 the ,chinese embraced it as their own4 7,it was the admittance of ,taoist beliefs into ,chinese ,buddhism that laid the foundations for the school of ,ch'an ,buddhism1 the parent of ,japanese ,zen47 ,buddhism did not replace the two earlier ,chinese religions but1 rather1 provided an alternative spiritual framework wherein the ,chinese1 structured1 ,confucianist bent of mind could be merged with their ,taoist yearning for mystical philosophy to produce a native religion at once formal and introspective4 ,during the third1 fourth1 and fifth centuries a virtual parade of ,indian ,mahayana ,buddhist teachers traveled north around the high ,himalayas and into ,china1 there to dispense their own respective brands of the ,buddha's thought4 ,the ,chinese1 on their part1 set about importing ,indian ,sanskrit sutras and translating them via a process whereby ,indian philosophical concepts were rendered directly by pre- existing ,chinese terms--the literal pounding of round ,indian pegs into square ,chinese holes4 ,since no more effective way has yet been found to destroy the originality of foreign ideas than to translate them word for word into the nearest native approximation1 ,chinese ,buddhism became1 in many ways1 merely a rearrangement of existing ,chinese philosop,thes4 ,the date ,chinese ,buddhism was introduced to ,japan has traditionally been set at ,a4,d4 #eeb4 ,in that year1 the records state1 a ,korean monarch1 fearful of belligerent neighbors1 appealed to the ,japanese for military assistance1 accompanying his plea with a statue of the ,buddha and a missal of sutras4 ,since the ,japanese had for many centuries reserved their primary allegiance for their sun-goddess1 whose direct descendant the emperor was thought to be1 they were wary of new faiths that might jeopardize the authority of the native deities4 ,after much high-level deliberation it was decided to give the ,buddha a trial period to test his magical powers1 but unfortunately no sooner had the new image been set up than a pestilence1 apparently smallpox1 swept the land4 ,the new ,buddha was swiftly consigned to a drainage canal by imperial decree4 ,twenty years later a new emperor came to the throne1 and he was persuaded to give the ,buddha another try by a political faction which thought a new religion might undermine the theological position of the established nobility4 ,by odd coincidence1 no sooner had a new ,buddha been imported than another plague broke out4 ,the new ,buddha statue and all accompanying trappings were disposed of1 but the plague only worsened1 allowing the pro-,buddhist faction to turn the tragedy to their advantage by blaming those who had desecrated the statue4 ,after more political maneuvering1 this faction took the somewhat unprecedented step of assassinating the hesitant emperor in order to ensure a place for ,buddhism in ,japanese life4 ,finally the faith did catch hold1 and1 by the beginning of the seventh century1 temples and pagodas were being built4 ,as interest grew in both the doctrines of the ,buddha and the political innovations of the new ,t'ang dynasty1 which had come to power in ,china in #fah1 the ,japanese aristocracy began to copy ,chinese civilization1 gradually abandoning much of their indigenous culture4 ,although new ,japanese monks were soon writing and reciting ,chinese sutras1 ,buddhist ideas1 now twice removed from their ,indian origins1 were grasped imperfectly if at all by most ,japanese4 ,indeed1 few of the early aristocracy who professed ,buddhism viewed it as anything other than a powerful new form of magic--a supplement to the native gods1 or kami1 who presided over harvests and health4 ,given the difficulty ,japanese scholars had in understanding ,chinese texts1 it is easy to sympathize with later ,zen monks who claimed the sutras were mainly a barrier to enlightenment4 ,three fundamental types of ,buddhism preceded ,zen in ,japan3 the early scholarly sects which came to dominate ,nara2 the later aristocratic schools whose heyday was the noble ,heian era2 and1 finally1 popular1 participatory ,buddhism1 which reached down to the farmers and peasants4 ,the high point of ,nara ,buddhism was the erection of a giant ,buddha some four stories high whose gilding bankrupted the tiny island nation but whose psychological impact was such that ,japan became the world center of ,mahayana ,buddhism4 ,the influence of the ,nara ,buddhist establishment grew to such proportions that the secular branch of government1 including the emperor himself1 became nervous4 ,the solution to the problem was elegantly simple3 the emperor simply abandoned the capital1 leaving the wealthy and powerful temples to preside over a ghost town4 ,a new capital was established at ,heian 7present-day ,kyoto71 far enough away to dissipate priestly meddling4 ,the second type of ,buddhism1 which came to prominence in ,heian1 was introduced as deliberate policy by the emperor4 ,envoys were sent to ,china to bring back new and different sects1 enabling the emperor to fight the ,nara schools with their own ,buddhist fire4 ,and this time the wary aristocracy saw to it that the ,buddhist temples and monasteries were established well outside the capital--a location that suited both the new ,buddhists' preference for remoteness and the aristocracy's new cult of aesthetics rather than religion4 ,the first of the ,heian sects1 known as ,tendai after the ,chinese ,t'ien- t'ai school1 was introduced into ,japan in #hjf by the ,japanese priest ,saicho 7#gfg-hbb74 ,the ,tendai stressed the authority of the ,lotus ,sutra1 which recognized the ,buddha as both an historical person and the realization in human form of the universal spirit--an identity implying the oneness of the latent ,buddha nature in all matter1 animate and inanimate4 ,although the school was avowedly eclectic1 embracing all the main ,mahayana doctrines1 it was bitterly opposed by the ,nara schools1 which campaigned unsuccessfully to convert ,tendai novices4 ,saicho countered their opposition by pointing out that his ,buddhism was based on an actual sutra1 purportedly the ,buddha's own words1 whereas the schools of ,nara had contented themselves primarily with wrangling over commentaries or secondary interpretations of the ,buddha's teachings4 ,saicho also introduced the question of individual morality1 a concern conspicuously absent in ,nara ,buddhism4 ,the ,tendai sect became dominant during the ninth and tenth centuries1 when its center on ,mt4 ,thei 7on the outskirts of ,kyoto7 swelled to over three thousand buildings4 ,although ,saicho himself appears to have been benign in nature1 practicing the principles of morality he taught1 in later years the ,mt4 ,thei ,tendai complex became the base for an army of irascible monks who frequently descended upon ,kyoto to harass courtiers and citizens alike4 ,in the late sixteenth century1 the entire complex was burned to the ground and thousands of monks slaughtered by a fierce shogun who was determined to stop the intervention of ,tendai monks in public affairs4 ,tendai survives today as a religion primarily of the upper classes1 with a membership of something over a million1 but even by the end of the ,heian era it had become mainly ceremonial4 ,the other ,buddhist sect to gain prominence during the ,heian era was ,shingon1 founded by a younger contemporary of ,saicho named ,kukai 7#ggd- #hce74 ,he also went to ,china1 where he studied teachings of the ,che-yen school1 a type of ,buddhism known as esoteric because of its kinship to the mystical ,tantrism of ,tibet4 ,the elaborate rituals of the ,japanese ,shingon temples were an immediate success with the ceremonially minded ,heian aristocracy4 ,shingon was superb theater1 with chants1 incantations1 sacred hand signs 7mudra71 and meditation on the sacred mandala--geometrical diagrams purportedly containing the key to the cosmological meaning of reality4 ,the headquarters for the ,shingon school was established on ,mt4 ,koya1 near ,kyoto but sufficiently removed that the monks were not tempted to dabble in state affairs4 ,nevertheless1 in later years it too became a stronghold for mercenary warrior-monks1 with the result that it also was chastened by an outraged shogun4 ,today there are ,shingon monasteries in remote mountain areas1 standing regal and awesome in their forested isolation1 and the sect still claims over nine million practitioners1 scattered among a host of offshoots4 ,the popular1 participatory ,buddhism which followed the aristocratic sects was home-grown and owed little to ,chinese prototypes4 ,much of it centered around one particular figure in the ,buddhist pantheon1 the benign1 sexless ,amida1 a ,buddhist saint who presided over a ,western ,paradise or ,pure ,land of milk and honey accessible to all who called on his name4 ,amida has been part of the confusing assemblage of deities worshiped in ,japan for several centuries1 but the simplicity of his requirements for salvation made him increasingly popular with the ,heian aristocrats1 who had begun to tire of the elaborate rigmarole surrounding magical-mystery ,buddhism4 ,and as times became more and more unstable during the latter part of the ,heian era1 people searched for a messianic figure to whom they could turn for comfort4 ,so it was that a once minor figure in the ,buddhist ,therarchy became the focus of a new1 widespread1 and entirely ,japanese cult4 ,the figure of ,amida1 a gatekeeper of the ,western ,paradise1 seems to have entered ,buddhism around the beginning of the ,christian ,era1 and his teachings have a suspiciously familiar ring3 ,come unto me all ye who are burdened and ,i will give you rest2 call on my name and one day you will be with me in ,paradise4 ,in ,india at this time there were contacts with the ,near ,east1 and ,amida is ordinarily represented as one of a trinity1 flanked by two minor deities4 ,however1 he is first described in two ,indian sutras which betray no hint of foreign influence4 ,during the sixth and seventh centuries1 ,amida became a theme of ,mahayana literature in ,china1 whence he entered ,japan as part of the ,tendai school4 ,in the beginning1 he was merely a subject for meditation and his free assist into ,paradise did not replace the personal initiative required by the ,eightfold ,path4 ,around the beginning of the eleventh century1 however1 a ,japanese priest circulated a treatise declaring that salvation and rebirth in the ,western ,paradise could be realized merely by pronouncing a magic formula in praise of ,amida1 known as the nembutsu3 ,namu ,amida ,butsu1 or ,praise to ,amida ,buddha4 ,this exceptional new doctrine attracted little notice until the late twelfth century1 when a disaffected ,tendai priest known as ,honen 7#aacc- #abab7 set out to teach the nembutsu across the length of ,japan4 ,it became an immediate popular success1 and ,honen1 possibly unexpectedly1 found himself the ,martin ,luther of ,japan1 leading a reformation against imported ,chinese ,buddhism4 ,he preached no admonitions to upright behavior1 declaring instead that recitation of the nembutsu was in itself sufficient evidence of a penitent spirit and right-minded intentions4 ,it might be said that he changed ,buddhism from what was originally a faith all ethics and no god to a faith all god and no ethics4 ,what ,honen championed was actually a highly simplified version of the ,chinese ,jodo school1 but he avoided complicated theological exercises1 leaving the doctrinal justifications for his teachings vague4 ,this was intended to avoid clashes with the priests of the older sects while simultaneously making his version of ,jodo as accessible as possible to the uneducated laity4 ,the prospect of ,paradise beyond the ,river in return for minimal investment in thought and deed gave ,jodo wide appeal1 and this improbable vehicle finally brought ,buddhism to the ,japanese masses1 simple folk who had never been able to understand or participate in the scholarly and aristocratic sects that had gone before4 ,not surprisingly1 the popularity of ,honen's teachings aroused enmity among the older schools1 which finally managed to have him exiled for a brief period in his last years4 ,jodo continued to grow1 however1 even in his absence1 and when he returned to ,kyoto in #abaa he was received as a triumphal hero4 ,gardens began to be constructed in imitation of the ,western ,paradise1 while the nembutsu resounded throughout the land in mockery of the older schools4 ,the followers of ,jodo continued to be persecuted by the ,buddhist establishment well into the seventeenth century1 but today ,jodo still claims the allegiance of over five million believers4 ,an offshoot of the ,jodo sect1 destined to become even more popular1 was started by a pupil and colleague of ,honen called ,shinran 7#aagc-abfb71 who also left the ,tendai monastery on ,mt4 ,thei to become a follower of ,amida4 ,his interpretation of the ,amida sutras was even simpler than ,honen's3 based on his stu,thes he concluded that only one truly sincere invocation of the nembutsu was enough to reserve the pleasures of the ,western ,paradise for the lowliest sinner4 ,all subsequent chantings of the formula were merely an indication of appreciation and were not essential to assure salvation4 ,shinran also carried the reformation movement to greater lengths1 abolishing the requirements for monks 7which had been maintained by the conciliatory ,honen7 and discouraging celibacy among priests by his own example of fathering six children by a nun4 ,this last act1 justified by ,shinran as a gesture to eliminate the division between the clergy and the people1 aroused much unfavorable notice among the more conservative ,buddhist factions4 ,shinran was also firm in his assertion that ,amida was the only ,buddha that need be worshiped1 a point downplayed by ,honen in the interest of ecumenical accord4 ,the convenience of only one nembutsu as a prerequisite for ,paradise1 combined with the more liberal attitude toward priestly requirements1 caused ,shinran's teachings to prosper1 leading eventually to an independent sect known as ,jodo ,shin1 or ,true ,pure ,land4 ,today the ,jodo ,shin1 with close to fifteen million followers1 enjoys numerical dominance over other forms of ,japanese ,buddhism4 ,the ,amadist salvation movement was confronted by its only truly effective detractor in the person of the extremist ,rencho 7#abbb-abhb71 who later took for himself the name of ,nichiren1 or ,sun ,lotus4 ,an early novice in the ,tendai monastery1 he took a different tack from the ,amida teachers1 deciding that all essential ,buddhist truth was contained in the ,lotus ,sutra itself4 ,although the ,tendai school had originally been founded on the study of the ,lotus ,sutra1 he believed the school had strayed from the sutra's precepts4 ,denouncing all sects impartially1 he took a fundamentalist1 back-to-the-,lotus text for his sermons4 ,sensing that most of his followers might have trouble actually reading a sutra1 he produced a chanting formula of his own which he claimed would do just as well4 ,this ,lotus nembutsu was the phrase namu myoho renge-kyo1 or ,praise to the ,lotus ,sutra4 ,the chanting ,amidists had met their match4 ,the ,tendai monks on ,mt4 ,thei did not receive this vulgarization of their teachings kindly1 and their urgings1 together with his intemperate pronouncements regarding imminent dangers of a ,mongol invasion1 led in #abfa to ,nichiren's banishment to a distant province4 ,three years later the truth of his warnings became all too apparent and he was recalled by the government4 ,but on his return he overplayed his hand1 offering to save the nation only if all other ,buddhist sects were eliminated4 ,this was too much for the ,japanese ruling circles2 they turned instead to a new band of warriors trained in ,zen military tactics who promptly repelled the invasion without ,nichiren's aid4 ,persecution of his sect continued1 reaching a high point in the mid- sixteenth century1 when a band of rival ,tendai monks burned twenty-one ,nichiren temples in ,kyoto1 slaughtering all the priests1 including a reputed three thousand in the last temple4 ,the sect has survived1 however1 and today ,nichiren ,shoshu and its lay affiliate1 the ,soka ,gakkai1 or ,value ,creation ,society1 claim the membership of one ,japanese in seven and control of the country's third largest political party4 ,the ,soka ,gakkai recently dedicated a vast new temple at the foot of ,mt4 ,fuji1 said to be the largest religious structure in existence4 ,with services that often resemble political conventions1 the ,nichiren sect has achieved might once have been thought impossible3 it has simplified even further the ingenuous philosophy of its founder1 embellishing the praise of the ,lotus ,sutra with marching bands and gymnastic displays in sports-stadium convocations4 ,the ,japanese reformation represented by ,amidism and ,nichiren was a natural outcome of the contempt for the average man that characterized the early sects4 ,it also opened the door for ,zen1 which found an appeal among the non-aristocratic warrior class to equal that of the popular ,buddhist sects among the peasantry and bourgeoisie4 ,as it happened1 the warriors who became fired with ,zen also took control of the government away from the aristocracy after the twelfth century1 with the result that ,zen became the unofficial state religion of ,japan during its great period of artistic activity4 ,,chapter ,,four ,the ,chronicles of ,zen ,a special transmission outside the sutras2 ,no reliance upon words and letters2 ,direct pointing to the very soul2 ,seeing into one's own essence4 7,traditional ,homage to ,bodhidharma7 ,bodhidharma ,,there ,,is ,a ,,zen tradition that one day while the ,buddha was seated at ,vulture ,peak he was offered a flower and requested to preach on the law4 ,he took the flower1 and holding it at arm's length1 slowly turned it in his fingers1 all the while saying nothing4 ,it was then that his most knowing follower smiled in understanding1 and the silent teaching of ,zen was born4 ,that wordless smile is believed to have been transmitted through twenty-eight successive ,indian patriarchs1 ending with the famous ,bodhidharma 7ca4 ,a4,d4 #dgj-ecd71 who traveled to ,china in #ebj and founded the school of ,ch'an ,buddhism1 becoming the first ,chinese patriarch4 ,what ,bodhidharma brought to ,china was the ,indian concept of meditation1 called dhyana in ,sanskrit1 ,ch'an in ,chinese and ,zen in ,japanese4 ,since the transmission of the wordless insights of meditation through a thousand years of ,indian history must1 by definition1 have taken place without the assistance of written scriptures or preaching1 the identity and role of the twenty-eight previous ,indian patriarchs must be approached with caution4 ,it has been suggested that the later ,chinese ,ch'an ,buddhists1 striving for legitimacy of their school in the eyes of colleagues from more established sects1 resurrected a line of patriarchs from among the names of obscure ,indian monks and eventually went on to enshroud these faceless names with fanciful biographies4 ,these ,indian patriarchs reportedly transmitted one to the other the wordless secrets of dhyana1 thereby avoiding any need to compose sutras1 as did the lesser-gifted teachers of the other schools4 ,although ,bodhidharma clearly was an historical figure1 he made no personal claims to patriarchy and indeed was distinguished more by individuality than by attempts to promulgate an orthodoxy4 ,arriving from ,india to teach meditation1 he was greeted by an emperor's boasts of traditional ,buddhism's stature in ,china4 ,bodhidharma scoffed and marched away1 reportedly crossing the ,yangtze on a reed to reach the ,shao-lin monastery1 where he sat in solitary meditation facing a cliff for the next nine years4 ,this famous interview and ,bodhidharma's response were the real foundation of ,zen4 ,bodhidharma seems to have gone essentially unnoticed by his contemporaries1 and in the first record of his life--,biographies of the ,high ,priests1 compiled in #fde--;he is included simply as one of a number of devout ,buddhists4 ,he is next mentioned in ,the ,transmission of the ,lamp1 a sourcebook of ,zen writings and records assembled in the year #ajjd4 ,in point of fact1 ,bodhidharma1 like the ,buddha1 seems not to have left a written account of his teachings1 although two essays are extant which are variously attributed to him and which probably maintain the spirit if not necessarily the letter of his views on meditation4 ,the most quoted passage from these works1 and one which encapsulates the particular originality of ,bodhidharma1 is his praise of meditation1 or pi-kuan1 literally wall gazing4 ,this term supposedly refers to the legendary nine years of gazing at a cliff which has become part of the ,bodhidharma story1 but it also may be taken as a metaphor for staring at the impediment that reason places in the path of enlightenment until at last the mind hurdles the rational faculties4 ,his words are reported as follows3 ,when one1 abandoning the false and embracing the true1 and in simpleness of thought abides in pi-kuan1 one finds that there is neither selfhood nor otherness4 4 4 4 ,he will not then be guided by any literary instructions1 for he is in silent communication with the principle itself1 free from conceptual discrimination1 for he is serene and not-acting4#a ,this emphasis on meditation and the denial of reason formed the philosophical basis for the new ,chinese school of ,ch'an4 ,by returning to first principles1 it was a denial of all the metaphysical baggage with which ,mahayana ,buddhism had burdened itself over the centuries1 and naturally enough there was immediate opposition from the more established sects4 ,one of ,bodhidharma's first and most ardent followers was ,hui-k'o 7#dhg-eic71 who1 according to ,the ,transmission of the ,lamp1 waited in vain in the snows outside ,shao-lin monastery1 hoping to receive an au,thence with ,bodhidharma1 until at last1 in desperation1 he cut off his arm to attract the ,master's notice4 ,some years later1 when ,bodhidharma was preparing to leave ,china1 he left this pupil his copy of the ,lankavatara ,sutra and bade him continue the teachings of meditation4 ,today the one-armed ,hui-k'o is remembered as the ,second ,patriarch of ,ch'an4 ,it seems odd that one who scorned literary instruction should have placed such emphasis on a sutra1 but on careful reading the ,lankdvatara1 a ,sanskrit text from the first century1 proves to be a cogent summary of early ,ch'an teachings on the function of the counter mind4 ,according to this sutra1 ,transcendental intelligence rises when the intellectual mind reaches its limit and1 if things are to be realized in their true and essence nature1 its processes of mentation 4 4 4 must be transcended by an appeal to some higher faculty of cognition4 ,there is such a faculty in the intuitive mind1 which as we have seen is the link between the intellectual mind and the ,universal ,mind4#b ,regarding the achievement of self-realization by meditation1 the sutra states1 ,disciples may think they can expedite the attainment of their goal of tranquilisation by entirely suppressing the activities of the mind system4 ,this is a mistake 4 4 4 the goal of tranquilisation is to be reached not by suppressing all mind activity but by getting rid of discriminations and attachments4 4 4 4#c ,this text1 together with the ,taoist ideas of the ,t'ang ,chinese1 became the philosophical basis for early ,ch'an4 ,indeed1 traditional ,zen owes much of its lighthearted irreverence to the early ,taoists1 who combined their love of nature with a wholesome disregard for stuffy philosophical pronouncements1 whether from scholarly ,confucianists or ,indian sutras4 ,the ,taoists were also enemies of attachments1 as exemplified by an admonition of the famous ,chuang ,tzu1 the fourth-century ,b4,c4 ,taoist thinker who established much of the philosophical basis for this uniquely ,chinese outlook toward life3 ,do not be an embodier of fame2 do not be a storehouse of schemes2 do not be an undertaker of projects2 do not be a proprietor of wisdom4 4 4 4 ,be empty1 that is all4 ,the ,perfect ,man uses his mind like a mirror-- going after nothing1 welcoming nothing1 responding but not storing4#d ,bodhidharma1 practitioner of wall-gazing meditation1 probably knew nothing of ,taoism1 but he seems to have sensed correctly that ,china would provide a home for his ,buddhism of nonattachment4 ,the ,chinese of the ,tang era 7#fah-ijg7 did indeed find in his teachings a system remarkably congenial to their own thousand-year-old philosophy of tao1 or ,the ,way4 ,even the practice of dhyana1 or meditation1 resembled in a sense the ,chinese tradition of the ascetic1 solitary hermit1 musing on the essence of nature in a remote mountain retreat4 ,whether ,ch'an was really ,buddhism masquerading as ,taoism or ,taoism disguised as ,buddhism has never been fully established3 it contains elements of both4 ,but it was the first genuine merging of ,chinese and ,indian thought1 combining the ,indian ideas of meditation and nonattachment with the ,chinese practice of nature reverence and nature mysticism 7something fundamentally foreign to the great body of ,indian philosophy1 either ,hindu or ,buddhist74 ,the ,third ,patriarch after ,bodhidharma was also a wandering mendicant teacher1 but the ,fourth chose to settle in a monastery4 ,this introduction of monastic ,ch'an coincided roughly with the beginning of the ,t'ang dynasty1 and it brought about a dramatic rise in the appeal of ,ch'an to the ,chinese laity4 ,it made the new faith respectable and an acceptable alternative to other sects1 for in the land of ,confucius1 teachers who wandered the countryside begging had never elicited the respect that they enjoyed in ,india4 ,before long1 the ,fourth ,patriarch had a following of some five hundred disciples1 who constructed monastery buildings and tilled the soil in addition to meditating on the sutras4 ,the ability to combine practical activities with the quest for enlightenment became a hallmark of later ,zen1 accounting for much of its influence in ,japan4 ,the ,fifth ,patriarch1 ,hung-jen 7#fje-fge71 continued the monastery1 although at another spot1 which was to be the location of an historic turning point in the history of ,ch'an4 ,out of it was to come the ,sixth ,patriarch1 ,hui-neng 7#fch-gac71 sometimes known as the second founder of ,chinese ,ch'an1 whose famous biographical treatise1 ,the ,sutra of ,hui- neng1 is revered as one of the holy books of ,zen4 ,in this memoir he tells of coming to the monastery of the ,fifth ,patriarch as an illiterate but precocious youth1 having been spiritually awakened by happening to hear a recitation of the ,vajracchedika ,sutra1 better known as the ,diamond ,sutra4 ,he made the mistake of revealing his brilliance and was immediately banished by the ,fifth ,patriarch to pounding rice1 lest he embarrass the more experienced brothers and be in peril of his safety4 ,according to his account1 he lived in obscurity for many months until one day the ,fifth ,patriarch called an assembly and announced that the disciple who could compose a stanza which would reveal an understanding of the essence of ,mind would be made the ,sixth ,patriarch4 ,all the monks assumed that the leading scholar of the monastery1 ,shen- hsiu1 would naturally win the contest1 and all resolved not to bother composing lines of their own4 ,the story tells that ,shen-hsiu struggled for four days and finally mounted his courage to write an unsigned verse on a wall corridor at midnight4 ,our body is the ,bodhi-tree1 ,and our mind a mirror bright4 ,carefully we wipe them hour by hour1 ,and let no dust alight4#e ,this verse certainly demonstrated the concept of the mind's nonattachment to phenomena1 but perhaps it showed an attachment of the mind to itself4 ,in any case1 it did not satisfy the ,fifth ,patriarch1 who recognized its author and advised ,shen- hsiu privately to submit another verse in two days4 ,before he had a chance1 however1 the illiterate ,hui-neng1 between sessions of rice pounding1 chanced along the hallway and asked that the verse be read to him4 ,upon hearing it1 he dictated a stanza to be written next to it4 ,there is no ,bodhi-tree1 ,nor stand of a mirror bright4 ,since all is void1 ,where can the dust alight8#f ,the story says that all were amazed1 and the ,fifth ,patriarch immediately rubbed away the stanza lest the other monks become jealous4 ,he then summoned ,hui-neng late at night1 expounded the ,diamond ,sutra to him1 and presented him with the robe and begging bowl of ,bodhidharma-- together with advice to flee south in the interest of safety4 ,thus ,hui-neng became the ,sixth ,patriarch1 began the ,southern school of ,ch'an1 which would later be transmitted to ,japan1 and established the ,diamond ,sutra as the faith's primary scripture4 ,and so it was that the ,lankavatara ,sutra of ,bodhidharma1 a rich moral and spiritual treatise1 was replaced by the more easily understood ,diamond ,sutra1 a repetitive and self- praising document whose message is that nothing exists3 notions of selfhood1 personality1 entity1 and separate individuality1 as really existing1 are erroneous--these terms are merely figures of speech4 4 4 4 ,develop a pure1 lucid mind1 not depending upon sound1 flavor1 touch1 odor1 or any quality 4 4 4 develop a mind which alights upon no thing whatsoever4#g ,with this sutra as text1 the ,southern ,ch'an masters turned ever farther away from intellectual inquiry1 since even the mind itself does not exist4 7,it has even been suggested that the biography of the founder of ,southern ,ch'an was revised in later vears to render him as unschooled and illiterate as possible1 the better to emphasize the later ,ch'an's contempt for scholars and scholarship47 ,by the time of ,hui-neng's death1 ,china was basking in the cultural brilliance of the ,tang dynasty4 ,oddly enough1 the sect of ,southern ,ch'an1 which was at odds with the intellectual life of the ,t'ang1 was the ,buddhist sect most prospering4 ,the ,t'ang became the golden age of ,ch'an1 producing the vast majority of great ,zen thinkers as well as the classic techniques for teaching novices4 ,perhaps the fact that ,ch'an was outside the mainstream of ,chinese culture during the ,t'ang period contributed to the independent character of its teachers2 during the later ,sung dynasty1 when ,zen became fashionable among scholars and artists1 few dynamic teachers were to be found4 ,the main objective of the ,ch'an teachers was to inculcate a basically ,taoist view of the world using a ,buddhist framework4 ,such famous ,taoists as ,chuang ,tzu had long demonstrated the irrelevance of logical inquiry into the mind through the use of absurdist stories which confounded conventional understanding4 ,to this the ,ch'an teachers added the ,buddhist teaching that the mind cannot understand external reality because it is itself the only reality4 ,the hand cannot grasp itself2 the eye cannot see itself2 the mind cannot perceive itself4 ,quite obviously1 no amount of logical introspection can elicit this truth2 therefore the mind must abandon its pointless questing and simply float with existence1 of which it is merely an undifferentiated part4 ,but how can such a truth be taught8 ,teaching ideas is the transmission of logical constructions from one mind to another1 and the essence of ,zen is that logical constructions are the greatest impediment to enlightenment4 ,in answer1 the ,zen masters took a page from the ,taoists and began using nonsense conundrums1 later known as koan1 as well as frustrating question-and-answer sessions1 known as mondo1 to undermine a novice's dependence on rational thought4 ,a new monk would be presented with an illogical question or problem by the head of a monastery1 who would then monitor his response4 7,examples might include3 ,why did ,bodhidharma come from the ,west1 that is1 from ,india to ,china8 ,does a dog have ,buddha-nature8 ,what was your face before your mother was born87 ,if the novice struggled to construct a response using logical thought processes1 he faded2 if he intuitively and nondiscursively grasped the truth within the koan1 he passed4 ,this pass-or-fail technique differentiated ,ch'an from all previous ,buddhist sects2 ,ch'an allowed for no gradual progress upward in the spiritual ,therarchy through the mastery of rituals4 ,in the early days of the ,tang dynasty1 when the number of initiates was small1 the great masters of ,ch'an directly tested the non-rational understanding of novices2 in the later years of the ,sung dynasty it was necessary to develop a more impersonal procedure1 such as handing out the same koan to a number of novices during a lecture4 ,the more effective exchanges between the old ,t'ang masters and their pupils began to be reused by later teachers in the ,sung1 who had neither the genius to create new challenges for their novices nor the time to tailor-make a special problem for each new face appearing at the monastery4 ,out of this there was gradually canonized what are now the classic koan of ,zen4 ,late in the ,tang and early in the ,sung period the koan themselves began to be written down and used as the scriptures1 resulting in a catalog said to number around seventeen hundred today4 ,the koan is a uniquely ,zen creation1 a brilliant technique developed by the ,t'ang masters for transmitting a religion which revered no scriptures and had no god4 ,it appears nowhere else in the vast literature of world mysticism4 ,several of the greatest masters of the ,t'ang developed their own schools of ,ch'an1 and the two most successful--the ,lin-chi 7,japanese ,rinzai7 and the ,ts'ao-tung 7,japanese ,soto7--were later transmitted to ,japan4 ,the ,rinzai school pursued a technique of sudden enlightenment2 the ,soto school1 gradual enlightenment4 ,these terms can be misleading1 however1 for sudden enlightenment may require more time than gradual4 ,the gradual school taught that by sitting in meditation 7,japanese zazen7 for long periods of time--kept awake by thrashings if necessary--one's mind slowly acquires a detachment from the world of false reality perceived by one's discriminating senses and thus achive enlightenment4 ,it is a slow1 cumulative process4 ,by contrast1 the sudden school de-emphasizes zazen in favor of study of koan4 ,the student struggles with koan1 building up a kind of hopeless tension which may last for years1 until at last his logical processes suddenly short-circuit and he attains enlightenment4 ,practitioners of the sudden school also use shouts and beatings to jolt novices out of their linear1 sequential thought patterns4 ,students of the gradual school are also invited to study koan1 and those in the sudden school are encouraged to practice zazen1 but each school believes its own approach is best4 ,although the latter ,t'ang era saw the persecution of ,buddhism in ,china1 with the coming of the ,sung dynasty1 ,ch'an basked in the official encouragement of the court4 ,the koan of ,t'ang masters were compiled and stu,thed1 while the sutras of orthodox ,buddhism suffered from neglect4 ,but the real future of ,ch'an ,buddhism was to lie with the ,japanese4 ,in the latter part of the twelfth century a ,japanese ,tendai monk named ,eisai 7#aada-abae71 concluding that ,japanese ,buddhism had become stagnant and lifeless1 journeyed to ,china to learn the developments that had taken place during the years that ,japan had isolated herself4 ,he naturally went to a ,t'ien-t'ai monastery1 which had been the source of so much ,japanese ,buddhism1 but there he discovered ,chinese ,buddhists immersed in ,ch'an4 ,the new faith seemed a healthy answer to ,japanese needs1 and on a second visit he stu,thed ,ch'an until he received the seal of enlightenment4 ,a fully accredited ,zen master1 he returned to ,japan in #aaia to found the first ,rinzai temple1 on the southern island of ,kyushu4 ,although his introduction of a new sect inspired the customary opposition from the ,tendai monks on ,mt4 ,thei1 the new faith challenging the usefulness of scholarship found a receptive audience among the newly emergent warrior class4 ,basically illiterate1 the warriors often felt themselves intellectually inferior to the literary aristocracy1 and they were delighted to be informed that a scholarly mind was an impediment rather than an asset in life4 ,they also found ,zen's emphasis on the quick1 intuitive response agreeably in accord with their approach to armed combat4 ,eisai soon found himself invited to head a temple in ,kyoto and later in the new warrior capital of ,kamakura4 ,perhaps his most practical move was the composition of a treatise designed to win for ,zen a place in the hearts of the nationalistic military establishment and at the same time to conciliate the ,tendai monks on ,mt4 ,thei4 ,in his ,propagation of ,zen for the ,protection of the ,country he described ,zen as follows3 ,in its rules of action and discipline1 there is no confusion of right and wrong4 4 4 4 ,outwardly it favors discipline over doctrine1 inwardly it brings the ,highest ,inner ,wisdom4#h ,although it may seem paradoxical that a pacifist religion like ,zen found immediate favor with the rough warrior class of ,japan1 it had an obvious appeal4 ,as ,sir ,george ,sansom has explained it1 ,for a thoughtful warrior1 whose life always bordered on death1 there was an attraction1 even a persuasion1 in the belief that truth comes like the flash of a sword as it cuts through the problem of existence4 ,any line of religious thought that helped a man understand the nature of being without arduous literary stu,thes was likely to attract the kind of warrior who felt that the greatest moments in life were the moments when death was nearest4#i ,the ,japanese warriors were captured by the irreverent1 anti- scholastic qualities of ,rinzai1 with its reliance upon anecdotal koan and violent jolts of enlightenment4 ,thus the ruling warriors of ,japan began studying koan1 even as the peasantry at large was chanting praises to ,amida and the ,lotus ,sutra4 ,the aristocratic priest ,dogen 7#abjj-abec71 who also left the ,tendai monastery for ,china and returned to establish the meditative1 gradual school of ,soto ,zen1 is generally considered the second founder of ,japanese ,zen4 ,although he grudgingly acknowledged the usefulness of koan as an aid to instruction1 ,dogen considered zazen meditation the time-proven method of the ,buddha for ac,theving enlightenment4 ,for scriptural support1 he preferred to go back to the earlier ,hinayana sutras for their more authentic accounts of the words of the ,buddha1 rather than to rely on ,mahayana sources1 which had been corrupted over the centuries by an elaborate metaphysics and polytheism4 ,dogen had not originally planned to start a school of ,zen but merely to popularize zazen1 to which end he wrote a small treatise1 ,general ,teachings for the ,promotion of ,zazen1 which has become a classic4 ,this was followed a few years later by a larger1 more generalized work which was to become the bible of ,japanese ,soto ,zen1 ,shobogenzo1 or ,treasury of ,knowledge ,regarding the ,true ,dharma4 ,in this work he tried to stress the importance of zazen while at the same time acknowledging the usefulness of instruction and koan where required4 ,there are two ways in which to set body and mind right3 one is to hear the teaching from a master1 and the other is to do pure zazen yourself4 ,if you hear the teachings the conscious mind is put to work1 whilst zazen embraces both training and enlightenment2 in order to understand the ,truth1 you need both4#aj ,unlike the conciliatory ,eisai1 ,dogen was uncompromising in his rejection of the traditional schools of ,buddhism1 which he felt had strayed too far from the original teachings of ,gautama4 ,he was right1 of course2 the chanting1 savior-oriented popular ,buddhists in ,japan were1 as ,edwin ,reischauer has noted1 practicing a religion far closer to ,european ,christianity of the same period than to the faith started by the ,buddha--an atheistic self-reliance aimed at finding release from all worldly attachments4 ,dogen's truths did not rest well with the ,buddhist establishment of his time1 however1 and for years he moved from temple to temple4 ,finally1 in #abcf1 he managed to start a temple of his own1 and gradually he became one of the most revered religious teachers in ,japanese history4 ,as his reputation grew1 the military leaders invited him to visit them and teach1 but he would have no part of their life4 ,possibly as a result of ,dogen's attitude1 ,soto ,zen never became associated with the warrior class1 but remained the ,zen of the common people4 ,today ,soto 7with approximately six and a half million followers7 is the more popular version of ,zen1 whereas ,rinzai 7with something over two million followers7 is the ,zen of those interested in theological daring and intellectual challenge4 ,historically a religion at odds with the establishment--from ,bodhidharma to the eccentric ,t'ang masters--,zen in ,japan found itself suddenly the religion of the ruling class4 ,the result was a ,zen impact in ,japan far greater than any influence ,ch'an ever realized in ,china4 ,,chapter ,,five ,zen ,archery and ,swordsmanship 7,,the ,,kamakura ,,era--#aahe-accc7 ,the anti-scholasticism1 the mental discipline--still more the strict physical discipline of the adherents of ,zen1 which kept their lives very close to nature--all appealed to the warrior caste4 4 4 4 ,zen contributed much to the development of a toughness of inner fiber and a strength of character which typified the warrior of feudal ,japan4 4 4 4 ,edwin ,reischauer1 ,japan3 ,past and ,present ,,the ,,beginnings of the ,zen era are about the middle of the twelfth century1 when the centuries-long ,heian miracle of peace came to an end4 ,the ,japanese aristocracy had ruled the land for hundreds of years practically without drawing a sword1 using diplomatic suasion so skillful that ,heian was probably the only capital city in the medieval world entirely without fortifications4 ,this had been possible partly because of the ruling class's willingness to let taxable lands slip from their control--into the hands of powerful provincial leaders and rich monasteries--rather than start a quarrel4 ,for occasions when force was required1 they delegated the responsibility to two powerful military clans1 the ,taira and the ,minamoto1 who roamed the land to collect taxes1 quell uprisings1 and not incidentally to forge allegiances with provincial chieftains4 ,the ,taira were in charge of the western and central provinces around ,kyoto1 while the ,minamoto dominated the frontier eastern provinces1 in the region one day to hold the warrior capital of ,kamakura4 ,the astounding longevity of their rule was a tribute to the aristocrats' skill in playing off these two powerful families against each other1 but by the middle of the twelfth century they found themselves at the mercy of their bellicose agents1 awakening one day to discover ruffians in the streets of ,kyoto as brigands and armed monks invaded the city to burn and pillage4 ,the real downfall of the ancien regime began in the year #aaef1 when a dispute arose between the reigning emperor and a retired sovereign simultaneously with a disagreement among the aristocracy regarding patronage4 ,both sides turned to the warriors for support--a formula that proved to be extremely unwise4 ,the result was a feud between the ,taira and ,minamoto1 culminating in a civil war 7the ,gempei ,war7 that lasted five years1 produced bloodshed on a scale previously unknown in ,japan1 and ended in victory for the ,minamoto4 ,a chieftain named ,minamoto ,yoritomo emerged as head of a unified state and leader of a government whose power to command was beyond question4 ,since ,yoritomo's position had no precedent1 he invented for himself the title of shogun4 ,he also moved the government from ,kyoto to his military headquarters at ,kamakura and proceeded to lay the groundwork for what would be almost seven hundred years of unbroken warrior rule4 ,the form of government ,yoritomo instituted is generally1 if somewhat inaccurately1 described as feudalism4 ,the provincial warrior families managed estates worked by peasants whose role was similar to that of the ,european serfs of the same period4 ,the estate-owning barons were mounted warriors1 new figures in ,japanese history1 who protected their lands and their family honor much as did the ,european knights4 ,but instead of glorifying chivalry and maidenly honor1 they respected the rules of battle and noble death4 ,among the fiercest fighters the world has seen1 they were masters of personal combat1 horsemanship1 archery1 and the way of the sword4 ,their principles were fearlessness1 loyalty1 honor1 personal integrity1 and contempt for material wealth4 ,they became known as samurai1 and they were the men whose swords were ruled by ,zen4 ,battle for the samurai was a ritual of personal and family honor4 ,when two opposing sides confronted one another in the field1 the mounted samurai would first discharge the twenty to thirty arrows at their disposal and then call out their family names in hopes of eliciting foes of similarly distinguished lineage4 ,two warriors would then charge one another brandishing their long swords until one was dismounted1 whereupon hand-to-hand combat with short knives commenced4 ,the loser's head was taken as a trophy1 since headgear proclaimed family and rank4 ,to die a noble death in battle at the hands of a worthy foe brought no dishonor to one's family1 and cowardice in the face of death seems to have been as rare as it was humiliating4 ,frugality among these ,zen-inspired warriors was as much admired as the soft living of aristocrats and merchants was scorned2 and life itself was cheap1 with warriors ever ready to commit ritual suicide 7called seppuku or harakiri7 to preserve their honor or to register social protest4 ,yoritomo was at the height of his power when he was killed accidentally in a riding mishap4 ,having murdered all the competent members of his family1 lest they prove rivals1 he left no line except two ineffectual sons1 neither of whom was worthy to govern4 ,the power vacuum was filled by his in-laws of the ,hojo clan1 who very shortly eliminated all the remaining members of the ,minamoto ruling family and assumed power4 ,not wishing to appear outright usurpers of the office of shogun1 they invented a position known as regent1 through which they manipulated a hand-picked shogun1 who in turn manipulated a powerless emperor4 ,it was an example of indirect rule at its most ingenious4 ,having skillfully removed the ,minamoto family from ruling circles1 the ,hojo ,regency governed ,japan for over a hundred years1 during which time ,zen became the most influential religion in the land4 ,it was also during this time that ,zen played an important role in saving ,japan from what was possibly the greatest threat to its survival up to that time3 the invasion attempts of ,kublai ,khan4 ,in #abfh the ,great ,khan1 whose ,mongol armies were in the process of sacking ,china1 sent envoys to ,japan recommending tribute4 ,the ,kyoto court was terrified1 but not the ,kamakura warriors1 who sent the ,mongols back empty-handed4 ,the sequence was repeated four years later1 although this time the ,japanese knew it would mean war4 ,as expected1 in #abgd an invasion fleet of ,mongols sailed from ,korea1 but after inconclusive fighting on a southern beachhead of ,kyushu1 a timely storm blew the invaders out to sea and inflicted enough losses to derail the project4 ,the ,japanese had1 however1 learned a sobering lesson about their military preparedness4 ,in the century of internal peace between the ,gempei ,war and the ,mongol landing1 ,japanese fighting men had let their skills atrophy4 ,not only were their formalized ideas about honorable hand-to-hand combat totally inappropriate to the tight formations and powerful crossbows of the ,asian armies 7a samurai would ride out1 announce his lineage1 and immediately be cut down by a volley of ,mongol arrows71 the ,japanese warriors had lost much of their moral fiber4 ,to correct both these faults the ,zen monks who served as advisers to the ,hojo insisted that military training1 particularly archery and swordsmanship1 be formalized1 using the techniques of ,zen discipline4 ,a system of training was hastily begun in which the samurai were conditioned psychologically as well as physically for battle4 ,it proved so successful that it became a permanent part of ,japanese martial tactics4 ,the ,zen training was urgent1 for all of ,japan knew that the ,mongols would be back in strength4 ,one of the ,mongols' major weapons had been the fear they inspired in those they approached1 but fear of death is the last concern of a samurai whose mind has been disciplined by ,zen exercises4 ,thus the ,mongols were robbed of their most potent offensive weapon1 a point driven home when a group of ,mongol envoys appearing after the first invasion to proffer terms were summarily beheaded4 ,along with the ,zen military training1 the ,japanese placed the entire country on a wartime footing1 with every able-bodied man engaged in constructing shoreline fortifications4 ,as expected1 in the early summer of #abha the ,khan launched an invasion force thought to have numbered well over #ajj1jjj men1 using vessels constructed by ,korean labor4 ,when they began landing in southern ,kyushu1 the samurai were there and ready1 delighted at the prospect of putting to use on a common adversary the military skills they had evolved over the decades through slaughtering one another4 ,they harassed the ,mongol fleet from small vessels1 while on shore they faced the invaders man for man1 never allowing their line to break4 ,for seven weeks they stood firm1 and then it was ,august1 the typhoon month4 ,one evening1 the skies darkened ominously in the south and the winds began to rise1 but before the fleet could withdraw the typhoon struck4 ,in two days the armada of ,kublai ,khan was obliterated1 leaving hapless onshore advance parties to be cut to ribbons by the samurai4 ,thus did the ,zen warriors defeat one of the largest naval expeditions in world history1 and in commemoration the grateful emperor named the typhoon the ,divine ,wind1 ,kamikaze4 ,the symbols of the ,zen samurai were the sword and the bow4 ,the sword in particular was identified with the noblest impulses of the individual1 a role strengthened by its historic place as one of the emblems of the divinity of the emperor1 reaching back into pre-,buddhist centuries4 ,a samurai's sword was believed to possess a spirit of its own1 and when he experienced disappointment in battle he might go to a shrine to pray for the spirit's return4 ,not surprisingly1 the swordsmith was an almost priestly figure who1 after ritual purification1 went about his task clad in white robes4 ,the ritual surrounding swordmaking had a practical as well as a spiritual purpose2 it enabled the early ,japanese to preserve the highly complex formulas required to forge special steel4 ,their formulas were carefully guarded1 and justifiably so3 not until the past century did the ,west produce comparable metal4 ,indeed1 the metal in medieval ,japanese swords has been favorably compared with the finest modern armorplate4 ,the secret of these early swords lay in the ingenious method developed for producing a metal both hard and brittle enough to hold its edge and yet sufficiently soft and pliable not to snap under stress4 ,the procedure consisted of hammering together a laminated sandwich of steels of varying hardness1 heating it1 and then folding it over again and again until it consisted of many thousands of layers4 ,if a truly first-rate sword was required1 the interior core was made of a sandwich of soft metals1 and the outer shell fashioned from varying grades of harder steel4 ,the blade was then heated repeatedly and plunged into water to toughen the skin4 ,finally1 all portions save the cutting edge were coated with clay and the blade heated to a very precise temperature1 whereupon it was again plunged into water of a special temperature for just long enough to freeze the edge but not the interior core1 which was then allowed to cool slowly and maintain its flexibility4 ,the precise temperatures of blade and water were closely guarded secrets1 and at least one visitor to a master swordsmith's works who sneaked a finger into the water to discover its temperature found his hand suddenly chopped off in an early test of the sword4 ,the result of these techniques was a sword whose razor- sharp edge could repeatedly cut through armor without dulling1 but whose interior was soft enough that it rarely broke4 ,the sword of the samurai was the equivalent of a two-handed straight razor1 allowing an experienced warrior to carve a man into slices with consummate ease4 ,little wonder the ,chinese and other ,asians were willing to pay extravagant prices in later years for these exquisite instruments of death4 ,little wonder1 too1 that the samurai worshiped his sidearm to the point where he would rather lose his life than his sword4 ,yet a sword alone did not a samurai make4 ,a classic ,zen anecdote may serve to illustrate the ,zen approach to swordsmanship4 ,it is told that a young man journeyed to visit a famous ,zen swordmaster and asked to be taken as a pupil1 indicating a desire to work hard and thereby reduce the time needed for training4 ,toward the end of his interview he asked about the length of time which might be required1 and the master replied that it would probably be at least ten years4 ,dismayed1 the young novice offered to work diligently night and day and inquired how this extra effort might affect the time required4 ,in that case1 the master replied1 it will require thirty years4 ,with a sense of increasing alarm1 the young man then offered to devote all his energies and every single moment to studying the sword4 ,then it will take seventy years1 replied the master4 ,the young man was speechless1 but finally agreed to give his life over to the master4 ,for the first three years1 he never saw a sword but was put to work hulling rice and practicing ,zen meditation4 ,then one day the master crept up behind his pupil and gave him a solid whack with a wooden sword4 ,thereafter he would be attacked daily by the master whenever his back was turned4 ,as a result1 his senses gradually sharpened until he was on guard every moment1 ready to dodge instinctively4 ,when the master saw that his student's body was alert to everything around it and oblivious of all irrelevant thoughts and desires1 training began4 ,instinctive action is the key to ,zen swordsmanship4 ,the ,zen fighter does not logically think out his moves2 his body acts without recourse to logical planning4 ,this gives him a precious advantage over an opponent who must think through his actions and then translate this logical plan into the movement of arm and sword4 ,the same principles that govern the ,zen approach to understanding inner reality through transcending the analytical faculties are used by the swordsman to circumvent the time-consuming process of thinking through every move4 ,to this technique ,zen swordsmen add another vital element1 the complete identification of the warrior with his weapon4 ,the sense of duality between man and steel is erased by ,zen training1 leaving a single fighting instrument4 ,the samurai never has a sense that his arm1 part of himself1 is holding a sword1 which is a separate entity4 ,rather1 sword1 arm1 body1 and mind become one4 ,as explained by the ,zen scholar ,d4 ,t4 ,suzuki3 ,when the sword is in the hands of a technician-swordsman skilled in its use1 it is no more than an instrument with no mind of its own4 ,what it does is done mechanically1 and there is no nonintellection discernible in it4 ,but when the sword is held by the swordsman whose spiritual attainment is such that he holds it as though not holding it1 it is identified with the man himself1 it acquires a soul1 it moves with all the subtleties which have been imbedded in him as a swordsman4 ,the man emptied of all thoughts1 all emotions originating from fear1 all sense of insecurity1 all desire to win1 is not conscious of using the sword2 both man and sword turn into instruments in the hands1 as it were1 of the unconscious4 4 4 4#a ,zen training also renders the warrior free from troubling frailties of the mind1 such as fear and rash ambition--qualities lethal in mortal combat4 ,he is focused entirely on his opponent's openings1 and when an opportunity to strike presents itself1 he requires no deliberation3 his sword and body act automatically4 ,the discipline of meditation and the mind-dissolving paradoxes of the koan become instruments to forge a fearless1 automatic1 mindless instrument of steel-tipped death4 ,the methods developed by ,zen masters for teaching archery differ significantly from those used for the sword4 ,whereas swordsmanship demands that man and weapon merge with no acknowledgment of one's opponent until the critical moment1 archery requires the man to become detached from his weapon and to concentrate entirely upon the target4 ,proper technique is learned1 of course1 but the ultimate aim is to forget technique1 forget the bow1 forget the draw1 and give one's concentration entirely to the target4 ,yet here too there is a difference between ,zen archery and ,western techniques3 the ,zen archer gives no direct thought to hitting the target4 ,he does not strain for accuracy1 but rather lets accuracy come as a result of intuitively applying perfect form4 ,before attempting to unravel this seeming paradox1 the equipment of the ,japanese archer should be examined4 ,the ,japanese bow differs from the ,western bow in having the hand grip approximately one-third of the distance from the bottom1 rather than in the middle4 ,this permits a standing archer 7or a kneeling one1 for that matter7 to make use of a bow longer than he is tall 7almost eight feet1 in fact71 since the upper part may extend well above his head4 ,the bottom half of the bow is scaled to human proportions1 while the upper tip extends far over the head in a sweeping arch4 ,it is thus a combination of the conventional bow and the ,english longbow1 requiring a draw well behind the ear4 ,this bow is unique to ,japan1 and in its engineering principles it surpasses anything seen in the ,west until comparatively recent times4 ,it is a laminated composite of supple bamboo and the brittle wood of the wax tree4 ,the heart of the bow is made up of three squares of bamboo sandwiched between two half-moon sections of bamboo which comprise the belly 7that side facing the inside of the curve7 and the back 7the side away from the archer74 ,filling out the edges of the sandwich are two strips of wax-tree wood4 ,the elimination of the deadwood center of the bow1 which is replaced by the three strips of bamboo and two of waxwood1 produces a composite at once powerful and light4 ,the arrows too are of bamboo1 an almost perfect material for the purpose1 and they differ from ,western arrows only in being lighter and longer4 ,finally1 the ,japanese bowstring is loosed with the thumb rather than the fingers1 again a departure from ,western practice4 ,if the equipment differs from that of the ,west1 the technique1 which verges on ritual1 differs far more4 ,the first ,zen archery lesson is proper breath control1 which requires techniques learned from meditation4 ,proper breathing conditions the mind in archery as it does in zazen and is essential in developing a quiet mind1 a restful spirit1 and full concentration4 ,controlled breathing also constantly reminds the archer that his is a religious activity1 a ritual related to his spiritual character as much as to the more prosaic concern of hitting the target4 ,breathing is equally essential in drawing the bow1 for the arrow is held out away from the body1 calling on muscles much less developed than those required by the ,western draw4 ,a breath is taken with every separate movement of the draw1 and gradually a rhythm settles in which gives the archer's movements a fluid grace and the ritual cadence of a dance4 ,only after the ritual mastery of the powerful bow has been realized does the archer turn his attention to loosing the arrows 7not1 it should be noted1 to hitting the target74 ,the same use of breathing applies1 the goal being for the release of the arrow to come out of spontaneous intuition1 like the swordsman's attack4 ,the release of the arrow should dissolve a kind of spiritual tension1 like the resolution of a koan1 and it must seem to occur of itself1 without deliberation1 almost as though it were independent of the hand4 ,this is possible because the archer's mind is totally unaware of his actions2 it is focused1 indeed riveted in concentration1 on the target4 ,this is not done through aiming1 although the archer does aim--intuitively4 ,rather1 the archer's spirit must be burned into the target1 be at one with it1 so that the arrow is guided by the mind and the shot of the bow becomes merely an intervening1 inconsequential necessity4 ,all physical actions-- the stance1 the breathing1 the draw1 the release--are as natural and require as little conscious thought as a heartbeat2 the arrow is guided by the intense concentration of the mind on its goal4 ,thus it was that the martial arts of ,japan were the first to benefit from ,zen precepts1 a fact as ironic as it is astounding4 ,yet meditation and combat are akin in that both require rigorous self-discipline and the denial of the mind's overt functions4 ,from its beginning as an aid in the arts of death1 ,zen soon became the guiding principle for quite another form of art4 ,in years to come1 ,zen would be the official state religion1 shoguns would become ,zen patrons extraordinaire1 and a totally ,zen culture would rule ,japan4 ,part ,,ii ,,the ,,age ,,of ,,high ,,culture3 ,,ashikaga 7#accc-aegc7 ,,chapter ,,six ,the ,great ,age of ,zen ,for we are lovers of the beautiful1 yet simple in our tastes1 and we cultivate the mind without loss of manliness4 ,pericles1 ca4 #dcj ,b4,c4 ,,silver ,,pavilion1 ,,kyoto #adhb ,golden ,pavilion1 ,kyoto ,,the ,,flowering of ,zen culture might be described as the ,periclean age of ,japan4 ,as with fifth-century ,greece1 this was the era that produced ,japan's finest classical art at the same time that rampant plagues and internecine warfare bled the land as never before4 ,government1 such as it was1 rested in the hands of the ,ashikaga clan1 men ever ready to sacrifice the general good in furtherance of personal interests4 ,that these interests happened to include ,zen and the ,zen arts probably brought scant solace to their subjects1 but today we can weigh their selfishness against the culture they sponsored4 ,in any case1 all who admire the classic ,zen cultural forms should be aware that their price included the heartless taxation of and disregard for the entire peasant population of ,japan4 ,the historical backdrop for the ,ashikaga era reads like a ,jacobean tragedy peopled by cutthroat courtiers ever alert to advantage in chambers or in battle4 ,the political shape of the ,ashikaga era began to emerge in the early years of the fourteenth century as the once invincible ,kamakura rule of the ,hojo family dissolved1 plunging ,japan into a half-century of war and feuding over the identity of the rightful emperor4 ,throughout much of the century the provincial daimyo warlords and their samurai warred up and down the length of the land1 supporting first one emperor1 then another4 ,it was during this time and the two centuries following that ,zen became the official state religion and ,zen monks served as foreign diplomats1 domestic advisers1 and arbiters of taste4 ,the political troubles that ended the ,kamakura warrior government and unseated the ,hojo seem to be traceable to the war against the ,mongols4 ,it was a long and costly operation which left most of the samurai impoverished and angered at a government that could give them only cheerful thanks rather than the lands of the vanquished as was traditional practice4 ,the general discontent found a focus in the third decade of the fourteenth century when a ,kyoto emperor named ,godaigo attempted to unseat the ,hojo and re-establish genuine imperial rule4 ,after some minor skirmishes1 the ,hojo commissioned an able general nanied ,ashikaga ,takauji 7#acje-aceh7 from an old ,minamoto family to march on ,godaigo and settle the difficulty4 ,along the way ,takauji must have thought things over1 for when he reached ,kyoto instead of attacking the emperor's forces he put the ,hojo garrison to the sword4 ,shortly thereafter1 another general supporting the imperial cause marched out to ,kamakura and laid waste the ,hojo capital4 ,the last few hundred ,hojo supporters committed suicide en masse1 and the ,kamakura age was ended4 ,godaigo gleefully set up the new ,japanese government in ,kyoto1 and soon it was like old times1 with aristocrats running everything4 ,in a serious miscalculation1 he assumed that the provincial warlords had joined his cause out of personal loyalty rather than the more traditional motive of greed1 for he gave the ,hojo estates to his favorite mistresses while regarding warriors like ,takauji as hardly more than rustic figures of fun4 ,as might have been expected1 another war soon broke out4 ,this time the conflict lasted for decades1 with almost unbelievable convolutions1 including a number of decades in which ,japan had two emperors4 ,at one point ,takauji found it necessary to poison his own brother1 and it has been estimated that his military exploits cost some sixty thousand lives1 not to mention the general ruin of the country at large4 ,the end result was that the forces of ,godaigo were defeated1 leaving ,japan in the hands of the ,ashikaga family4 ,for all his bloodletting1 ,takuji was also a patron of the ,zen sect1 giving it a formal place in the national life and encouraging its growth and dissemination4 ,one of his closest advisers was the great ,zen prelate ,muso ,soseki 7#abge-acea71 whose influence made ,rinzai ,zen the official religion of the ,ashikaga era4 ,an astutely practical man1 ,muso established the precedent for doctrinal flexibility which allowed ,zen to survive while emperors and shoguns came and went3 ,clear-sighted masters of the ,zen sect do not have a fixed doctrine which is to be held to at any and all times4 ,they offer whatever teaching the occasion demands and preach as the spirit moves them1 with no fixed course to guide them4 ,if asked what ,zen is1 they may answer in the words of ,confucius1 ,mencius1 ,lao ,tzu or ,chuang ,tzu1 or else in terms of the doctrines of the various sects and denominations1 and also by using popular proverbs4#a ,like many ,zen teachers1 ,muso enjoyed the company of the powerful4 ,he began his career in statecraft as a supporter and confidant of the ill- fated ,emperor ,godaigo4 ,when ,godaigo was deposed1 he adjusted his allegiance and became the high priest of the ,ashikaga house4 ,he was soon the constant companion of ,takauji1 advising him on policy1 flattering his taste in ,zen art1 and secretly trying to give him a bit of polish4 ,although ,takauji could scarcely have had time for extensive meditation amid his continual bloodletting1 ,muso preached to him in odd moments and soothed his occasionally guilty conscience4 ,since ,takauji was clearly haunted by his treatment of ,godaigo1 ,muso suggested that the former emperor's ghost might find repose if a special ,zen temple was built in his memory4 ,the project was well underway when funds ran low1 whereupon the resourceful ,muso suggested sending a trading vessel to ,china to raise foreign-exchange cash4 ,the venture was so successful that before long regular trade was established-- naturally enough under the guidance of ,zen monks4 ,in later years a special branch of government was established devoted exclusively to foreign trade and directed by well-traveled prelates of ,zen4 7,the ,chinese regarded this trade as the exchange of ,chinese gifts for ,japanese tribute1 but the ,japanese were willing to overlook the insult in the interest of profit47 ,muso's other lasting contribution to the growth of ,zen influence was persuading ,takauji to build a ,zen temple in each of the sixty-six provinces1 thereby extending state support of the religion outside of ,kyoto ruling circles4 ,takauji was the founder of a line of ,ashikaga shoguns who gave their name to the next two centuries of ,japanese history4 ,his entire life was spent on the battlefield1 where he concentrated his energies on strengthening the shogunate through the liberal application of armed might4 ,in a sense he prefigured the attitude of ,john ,adams1 who once lamented that he must study war so that his grandsons might fashion art and architecture4 ,indeed1 ,takauji's grandson was the famous aesthete ,ashikaga ,yoshimitsu 7#aceh-adjh71 who ascended to shogun in #acfh and soon thereafter brought to flower a renaissance of the ,zen artistic tradition of ,sung ,china4 ,yoshimitsu was only nine years of age when he became shogun1 so the early years of his reign were guided by regents of the ,hosokawa clan1 who put to rest any remaining dissidence4 ,consequently1 when ,yoshimitsu came of age1 he felt secure enough in his office to tour the country1 visiting religious shrines and establishing his place in the pageant of ,japanese history4 ,more significantly for the rise of ,zen culture1 he also turned his eyes abroad1 encouraging the trade with ,china by stabilizing political relations and becoming the best customer for the silks1 brocades1 porcelains1 and--most important--,sung paintings brought back by the ,zen monks4 ,in a very short time1 ,yoshimitsu had become addicted to the ,chinese finery and antique ,ch'an art of the ,sung which his monks were importing4 ,he was fortunate that the country was stable and peaceful enough to allow him his whims1 especially since he almost entirely lost interest in all functions of government save taxation1 which he found necessary to apply to the peasants in ever greater measure in order to support his patronage of the arts4 ,absorbed with aesthetics and ,zen art1 he became a cloistered sovereign whose luckless subjects were left on their own to weather fortunes that alternated between starvation and the plague1 leavened by intermittent wars among provincial chieftains4 ,the peasantry1 however1 was not blind to his callous priorities1 and it is said that his reputation survived into the nineteenth century1 maintained by country folk who would trek to a certain temple to revile an old statue of the ,ashikaga shogun4 ,his personal failings notwithstanding1 ,yoshimitsu was the key figure in bringing about the rise of ,zen art4 ,his contributions were manifold3 he founded a ,zen monastery which became the school for the great landscape painters of the era2 his personal patronage was largely responsible for the development of the ,no drama2 his example and encouragement did much to bring into being the identification of ,zen with landscape garden art2 his own practice of zazen under the guidance of a famous ,zen monk set an example for the warrior court2 his interest in tea and poetry served both to set the stage for the development of the tea ceremony as an aesthetic phenomenon and to temper the literary tastes of his warrior followers2 and1 finally1 his interest in ,zen-inspired architecture was responsible for the creation of one of the most famous ,zen chapels in ,japan4 ,when ,yoshimitsu retired in #acid to enter ,zen orders1 leaving the government to his nine-year-old son1 he ensconced himself in a palace in the ,kyoto suburbs and proceeded to build a chapel for ,zen meditation4 ,the ,golden ,pavilion1 or ,kinkaku-ji1 as it came to be known1 was a wooden teahouse three stories high whose architectural beauty is now legendary4 ,there were few if any previous examples of this type of multistory structure1 although it has been suggested that the idea may have been copied from a comparable temple in southern ,china4 7,the turn-of-the- century ,american critic ,ernest ,fenollosa suggested that it was modeled after the structure ,kublai ,khan constructed for a garden in ,shang-tu1 which ,coleridge called ,xanadu1 after the translation of the name by ,marco ,polo3 ,in ,xanadu did ,kubla ,khan_/,a stately pleasure-dome decree47 ,whatever its origins1 the building superficially resembled a low-rising pagoda--each successive story was a more or less smaller version of the one below4 ,the two lower floors were used for evening entertainments of music1 poetry1 and incense1 while the top floor was a tiny meditation chapel 7whose ceiling was covered with gold leaf1 thereby giving the building its name74 ,set in the midst of a beautiful landscape garden1 the sweeping roofs1 painstaking wooden joinery1 and exquisite unpainted woods of the ,golden ,pavilion were a landmark of ,zen taste destined to influence the course of ,japanese architecture for centuries4 ,the ,golden ,pavilion was the crowning act of ,yoshimitsu's career1 a fitting monument to the man who1 more than any other1 was responsible for the rise of ,zen culture4 ,under his rule1 ,japanese monks first brought back from ,china the finest examples of ,ch'an-inspired art1 from which they derived and mastered the artistic principles of the vanished ,sung era and went on to re-create if not surpass the great ,sung age of artistic production4 ,the momentum for ,zen culture produced by ,yoshimitsu lasted through the reign of his grandson ,yoshimasa 7#adce- #adij71 the last great ,ashikaga patron of ,zen art4 ,as a shogun1 ,yoshimasa was even more distracted by ,zen than his famous grandfather4 ,he concentrated on encouraging the school of ,sung-style ink painting1 the ,zen ritual of ceremonial tea1 the art of flower arranging1 and new styles of ,zen-influenced architecture4 ,unfortunately1 his apparently hereditary absence of interest in affairs of state ultimately brought about the disintegration of the ,japanese political fabric4 ,as the office of shogun weakened to the point of symbolism1 ,yoshimasa's power to tax became so frail that he was finally forced to borrow from the ,zen monasteries4 ,the real power in the land passed to the local feudal lords1 or daimyo1 men who governed entire domains1 raised their own armies1 and exercised far greater power than the samurai of earlier times4 ,what remained of ,yoshimasa's power came to be exercised by his mistresses and his scheming wife1 ,tomi-ko4 ,by his late twenties he was ready to retire entirely1 the better to pursue ,zen and its arts1 but none of the women in the palace had yet presented him with a son who could become titular shogun4 ,by #adfd ,yoshimasa's patience was exhausted and he turned to one of his brothers who was in monastic orders and persuaded him to begin an apprenticeship for the shogunate4 ,the brother wisely hesitated1 pointing out that ,tomi-ko1 who was still in her twenties1 might yet produce a son2 but ,yoshimasa won him over with solemn assurances that all sons who arrived would be made priests4 ,less than a year later ,tomi-ko did indeed bear a son1 setting the stage for the struggle that would eventually destroy ,kyoto and signal the decline of the ,ashikaga age of ,zen culture4 ,as it happened1 there was already an animosity between ,yoshimasa's principal adviser1 ,hosokawa ,katsumoto1 and ,hosokawa's father-in-law1 ,yamana ,sozen4 ,when the child was born1 ,hosokawa1 a member of the historic family of ,ashikaga regents1 favored retaining ,yoshimasa's brother as shogun1 so the ambitious ,tomi-ko turned to ,yamana to enlist his aid in reverting the office of shogun back to ,yoshimasa and thence to her son4 ,with a natural excuse for conflict finally at hand1 the two old enemies ,yamana and ,hosokawa gathered their armies--both numbering near eighty thousand-- outside ,kyoto4 ,the impending tragedy was obvious to all1 and ,yoshimasa tried vainly to discourage the combatants4 ,by that time1 however1 his voice counted for nothing1 and in #adfg the inevitable conflict1 now known as the ,onin ,war1 began4 ,the war raged for a decade1 until virtually all the majestic temples of ,kyoto were burned and pillaged4 ,ironically1 one of the few temples to escape destruction was ,yoshimitsu's ,golden ,pavilion1 which fortunately had been situated well outside the precincts of the main city4 ,although both ,hosokawa and ,yamana ,thed in #adgc1 the fighting continued1 as participants on both sides defected1 changed leaders1 and fought among themselves until no one could recall what the original war had been about4 ,finally1 after ten full years of almost constant fighting1 it became apparent that the carnage had accomplished nothing4 ,one dark night the two armies folded their tents and stole away--and the war was no more4 ,a remarkably senseless conflict1 even by modern-day standards1 the ,onin ,war effectively obliterated all evidence in ,kyoto of the marvelous ,heian civilization1 as well as the early ,ashikaga1 leaving nothing but a scorched palette for the final century of ,zen art4 ,yoshimasa1 in the meantime1 had long since removed himself from affairs of state4 ,since his shogun brother had switched sides during the war and become a general for ,yamana1 the succession question was simplified4 ,tomi-ko took time out from her vigorous war-profiteering to prevail upon ,yoshimasa to appoint her son1 then four years old1 shogun4 ,she thereby became de facto shogun herself1 encouraging ,yoshimasa in his desire to retire while enriching herself handsomely with imaginative new taxes4 ,the war proved a windfall for ,tomi-ko1 who lent funds to both sides to keep it going1 and her cupidity played no small role in the final destruction of ancient ,kyoto4 ,immersed as he was in the world of ,zen and ,zen culture1 ,yoshimasa seemed oblivious to the sea of official corruption around him1 and indeed there was probably little he could have done to prevent it4 ,he loved the refined company of women and avoided warriors1 whose rough manner offended him but in whose hands lay the only real power in the country4 ,as the government disintegrated1 he made his own contribution as a connoisseur and patron of the fine arts1 bringing to culmination the movement in ,zen art that left ,japan a legacy far more lasting than any that mere diplomacy could have left4 ,like his ,european counterparts1 the ,medici1 ,yoshimasa balanced his failings in politics with faultless aesthetic judgment1 endowing the ,zen arts with new standards in architecture1 painting1 gardening1 the ,no theater1 the tea ceremony1 and ceremonial flower arranging4 ,perhaps he should not be faulted for doing what he understood best4 ,yoshimasa also left a physical monument intended to rival the ,golden ,pavilion4 ,in #adff1 as he contemplated retirement1 he began plans to construct a villa for meditation4 ,with the outbreak of war he was forced for a number of years to devote his attentions to the repair of the imperial residence1 but after the war he renewed his intentions to retire into ,zen aesthetics4 ,his decision was strengthened by family troubles1 including ,tomi-ko's displeasure with the number of his mistresses1 a problem that finally exploded when her young son1 the shogun1 demanded to marry one of them rather than a girl of ,tomi-ko's choosing4 ,in #adhb1 amid the general ruin and confusion1 ,yoshimasa resolved to begin the construction of his retirement villa4 ,financial circumstances had changed since his original plan eighteen years earlier1 and his interest in ,zen was even deeper1 so instead of the sumptuous palace once planned1 he built a small pavilion of exquisite taste and restraint4 ,it stands today1 a forerunner of the traditional house1 and is known as the ,silver ,pavilion1 or ,ginkaku-ji1 because of the popular belief that he originally planned to cover portions with silver leaf4 ,ginkaku-ji has two stories1 the first in ,zen temple style and the second in shoin style4 ,the deliberately unpainted wood exterior of the two-story chapel has weathered to the color of bark1 and it has all the dignity its five hundred years demand4 ,there were almost a dozen ,ashikaga shoguns after ,yoshimasa1 but none had any influence on the course of history4 ,the century after his retirement is known as the ,age of the ,country at ,war1 and it is remembered for almost continuous civil strife among daiymo1 the provincial chieftains who had swallowed up the samurai4 ,in this period ,japan was less a nation than several hundred small fiefdoms1 each controlled by a powerful family and constantly in arms against its neighbors4 ,little wonder that many of the greatest ,zen artists left ,kyoto never to return2 the capital was a desolate ruin1 without power and without patrons4 ,this condition prevailed until late in the sixteenth century1 when individuals of sufficient military genius to reunite the country again appeared4 ,the influence of ,zen was probably as pervasive in medieval ,ashikaga ,japan as ,christianity was in medieval ,europe4 ,a ,zen monk was the first ,ashikaga shogun's closest adviser1 and in later years ,zen monasteries virtually took over foreign policy4 7,indeed1 ,zen monks were the only ,japanese educated enough to deal with the ,chinese47 ,yoshimitsu formalized the relationship between ,zen and the state1 setting up an official ,therarchy among the ,zen temples in ,kyoto 7the so-called ,five ,mountains or ,gozan1 of ,tenryu-ji1 ,shokoku-ji1 ,kennin-ji1 ,tofuku-ji1 and ,manju-ji74 ,these state temples became the resident schools for ,zen painters and artists and also provided diplomats and government officials for the ,china trade4 7,they made ,yoshimitsu so ardent a ,sinophile that he once had some ,japanese pirates who were troubling ,chinese trading vessels captured and boiled alive47 ,under the reign of ,yoshimasa the ,china trade dwindled1 but ,zen monks continued to influence the government in directions that best suited their own interests4 ,wealthy from their commercial undertakings1 they were in a position to finance some of ,yoshimasa's more lavish projects1 and in later years they helped him design the garden of the ,silver ,pavilion1 including a detached building for tea drinking and meditation--the forerunner of the modern teahouse4 ,this was the finest hour of ,zen influence in official circles1 for ,yoshimasa was the last ,ashikaga shogun whose preferences had any influence on the course of ,japanese life4 ,after his death1 the artists who had surrounded him scattered to the provinces to find patrons4 ,within a decade the ,silver ,pavilion and its garden were virtually abandoned4 ,zen as a religion also went to the provinces1 and gradually its following grew as sympathetic teachers who no longer cared for the company of the mighty were content to explain the rewards of nonattachment to the people at large4 ,the many faces of ,japanese ,zen were paradoxical indeed4 ,the ,kamakura warriors turned to ,zen for strength on the battlefield1 whereas the ,ashikaga court found in it aesthetic escapism and spiritual solace in a crumbling world4 ,that an age such as the ,ashikaga could have nourished high arts has puzzled historians for centuries1 and no entirely satisfactory explanation has yet been advanced4 ,perhaps art flourishes best when social unrest uproots easy conventions4 ,fifth-century ,athens produced its most enduring art at a time when the land was rent by the fratricidal ,peloponnesian ,war and the city itself was haunted by the plague4 ,renaissance ,florence is another example4 ,today ,kyoto1 like modern ,athens and modern ,florence1 is a living museum1 concerned more with traffic and tourist hotels than with the long-forgotten blood baths which once raged in its streets4 ,seemingly forgotten1 too1 are the warring ,ashikaga1 at whose behest the noble ,zen arts of ,japan were shaped4 ,,chapter ,,seven ,zen and the ,landscape ,garden ,to see a ,world in a grain of sand1 ,and a ,heaven in a wild flower1 ,hold ,infinity in the palm of your hand1 ,and ,eternity in an hour4 ,william ,blake ,renge-ji ,temple1 ,kyoto ,tenryu-ji ,temple1 ,kyoto1 ca4#acdc ,,for ,,at ,,least a millennium before the coming of ,zen to ,japan1 gardens had been constructed in ,china which were founded on underlying religious motives1 but only with the rise of ,zen in ,japan did gardens become deliberately symbolic of the human quest for inner understanding4 ,during the ,heian era ,japanese aristocrats copied ,chinese pleasure parks1 and during the ,kamakura many of them were translated by practitioners of the ,jodo sect into fanciful reproductions of ,amida's ,western ,paradise4 ,after the rise of ,zen influence among artists and intellectuals of the ,ashikaga age1 the gay polychrome of these earlier gardens was supplanted by a sober blend of rocks1 trees1 sand1 and water--,japanese copies of1 first1 ,sung ,chinese gardens and1 later1 ,sung monochrome landscape paintings4 ,in their landscape painting gardens1 ,zen artists captured the reverence for nature which1 for them1 was a cornerstone of ,zen philosophy4 ,the origins of ,far ,eastern landscape gardens have been traced to an obscure ,chinese legend which predates the ,christian ,era4 ,it describes five holy islands1 situated off the shores of ,shantung province1 whose peaks soared thousands of feet into the ocean mist and whose valleys were a paradise of perfumed flowers1 snow-white birds1 and immortals who plucked the trees for pearls4 ,these islanders1 who lived in palaces of precious metals1 enjoyed eternal youth and had the capacity to levitate at will1 although for extended journeys they might choose to ride on the backs of docile flying cranes4 ,however1 like ,adam and ,eve1 these paradise dwellers wanted more4 ,since their islands were floating rather than attached to bedrock1 they complained to the ruling deity1 requesting more substantial support4 ,the supreme ruler of ancient ,china was more understanding than the ,god of ,mesopotamia2 instead of evicting the island immortals1 he obligingly sent out a flotilla of giant tortoises to hold the islands on their backs and secure them in place4 ,during the ,han era 7#bjf ,b4,c4-,a4,d4 #bbj7 various ,chinese emperors reportedly sent out expeditions to locate these islands1 but they were always unsuccessful4 ,finally1 the ,han ,emperor ,wu hit upon the notion that if he were to construct an idealized landscape on his estate1 the immortals might abandon their misty ocean isles for his park1 bringing with them the secrets of eternal life4 ,a garden park was built on a scale intended to rival that of paradise2 and to make the immortals feel even more welcome1 various rocks symbolizing cranes and tortoises were installed1 items the ,japanese would one day include in their gardens as symbols of longevity4 ,no immortals materialized1 but the ,chinese landscape garden was launched in considerable style4 ,during the ensuing ,six ,dynasties era 7,a4,d4 #bbj-ehi71 ,chinese gardens began to reflect the beliefs of the new religion of ,buddhism4 ,the lake-and-island gardens of the aristocracy ceased to represent the legend of the misty isles and became instead a symbol of the ,western ,paradise of ,amida ,buddha4 ,as time passed1 the growing influence of ,taoism deepened the ,chinese feeling for nature itself without reference to any particular legend4 ,in later years1 as scholars sought out mountain retreats in the rugged south of ,china1 soaring peaks came to be part of the standard landscape garden1 a need sometimes realized by situating the garden against a backdrop of distant mountains or by piling up rocks on the island in the garden lake4 ,the interest in garden art continued to grow during the ,t'ang dynasty 7#fah-ijg71 as poets and philosophers increasingly turned to nature for religious and artistic inspiration4 ,interestingly enough1 their perception of nature was not idealized in the manner of the ,florentine landscapists but rather emphasized the rugged1 untamed qualities of the mountains and streams4 ,it was this sense of nature as the embodiment of a free spirit that they tried to capture in their gardens4 ,theirs was a reverence for nature as it was in the wild2 if it must be domesticated into a garden1 the sense of freedom should be preserved as far as possible4 ,when the ,shinto nature worshipers of ,japan encountered the advanced civilization of ,china1 they may have recognized in the ,chinese ,taoist feeling for nature a similarity to their own beliefs4 ,it had never occurred to the ,japanese to construct a domestic abstraction of nature for contemplation1 but the new idea of a garden seems to have had its appeal4 ,when a copy of the ,chinese capital was created in ,nara1 the ,japanese architects were careful to include a number of landscape gardens around the imperial palace4 ,after the government moved to ,kyoto and launched the regal ,heian era1 a rage for things ,chinese became the consuming passion of the ,japanese aristocracy2 ,heian nobles built ,chinese-style houses and lake-and-island gardens1 complete with ,chinese-style fishing pavilions extending out over a lake4 ,since these pleasure parks were intended for parties of boaters and strollers1 they had few religious overtones4 ,instead the lake became a thoroughfare for pleasure barges1 on which idle courtiers cruised about dressed in ,chinese costume1 and reciting ,chinese verses4 ,these gardens were rich with plum and cherry trees1 pines1 willows1 and flowering bushes1 and often included a waterfall near at hand1 in keeping with ,chinese convention4 ,the central island gradually lost its original symbolism as an ,elysian holy isle as the nobles linked it to shore with stone footbridges4 ,in these grand parks the ,heian nobles gave some of the most sophisticated garden parties ever seen4 ,after relations with ,china fizzled to a stop around the beginning of the tenth century1 the ,japanese garden began to evolve on its own4 ,it was always an emblem of power1 making it essential that when the warrior government moved to ,kamakura a leader no less imposing than ,minamoto ,yoritomo should oversee the creation of the main garden at the new capital4 ,significantly1 the garden in ,kamakura was constructed as part of the ,buddhist establishment1 rather than as an extension of ,yoritomo's private estate4 ,perhaps this transformation of the garden into ,buddhist temple art was a consequence of the ,western ,paradise beliefs of ,amadism 7a forerunner had been the late-,heian ,western ,paradise garden outside ,kyoto at ,uji72 perhaps it was the first implicit acknowledgment of the nature mysticism of ,zen2 or perhaps the ,kamakura warriors simply believed that a private garden would smack too much of the decadence of ,kyoto4 ,whatever the reason1 the coming of ,zen seems to have been coincidental with a new attitude toward the connection between gardens and religion4 ,the frivolous polychrome of the ,heian pleasure park was clearly a thing of the past2 gardens became solemn and1 as the influence of ,zen grew1 increasingly symbolic of religious ideas4 ,the monks who visited ,china to study ,ch'an 7as well as ,ch'an monks who migrated to ,japan7 were1 of course1 familiar with the landscape gardens of the ,sung ,chinese4 ,these gardens had purged many of the more decorative elements of the ,t'ang-period pleasure parks and reflected the reverential attitudes of the ,taoists and ,ch'an ,buddhists toward the natural world4 ,at least one of these ,sung-style gardens was produced in ,kyoto during the early years of renewed contacts with ,china4 ,oddly enough1 however1 it was the ,sung ink paintings that would eventually have the greatest influence on ,zen landscape gardens4 ,the ,sung paintings captured perfectly the feeling ,japanese ,zen monks had for the natural world1 leading them to conclude that gardens too should be monochromatic1 distilled versions of a large landscape panorama4 ,not surprisingly1 the attitude that a garden should be a three- dimensional painting sparked the long march of ,japanese garden art into the realm of perspective and abstraction4 ,in fact1 the manipulation of perspective advanced more rapidly in the garden arts than in the pictorial4 ,without going into the ,chinese system of perspective in landscape painting1 let it be noted that whereas the ,chinese relied in part upon conventions regarding the placement of objects on a canvas to suggest distance 7for example1 the relative elevation of various tiers of landscape elements on the canvas was often an indication of their distance71 the ,zen artists learned to suggest distance through direct alteration of the characteristics our eye uses to scale a scene4 ,and since many of these gardens were meant to be viewed from one vantage point1 they became a landscape painting executed in natural materials4 ,the manipulation of perspective may be divided roughly into three main categories3 the creation of artificial depth through overt foreshortening1 thereby simulating the effects of distance on our visual sense2 the use of psychological tricks that play on our instinctive presumptions regarding the existence of things unseen2 and the masterly obliteration of all evidence of artifice1 thereby rendering the deception invisible4 ,zen gardeners' discovery of the use of foreshortening in a garden took place at almost the same time that the ,florentine artist ,uccello 7#acig- #adge7 began experimenting with natural perspective in his landscape oils4 ,although this example of artistic convergence can hardly be more than coincidence1 certain of the devices were similar4 ,as the ,american garden architect ,david ,engel has observed1 the ,japanese learned that the apparent depth of a scene could be enhanced by making the objects in the distance smaller1 less detailed1 and darker than those in the foreground4#a 7,in the garden of ,yoshimitsu's ,golden ,pavilion1 for example1 the rocks on the spectator side of the garden lake are large and detailed1 whereas those on the far side are smaller and smoother47 ,as time went by1 the ,japanese also learned to use trees with large1 light-colored leaves at the front of a garden and dark1 small-leafed foliage farther back4 ,to simulate further the effects of distance1 they made paths meandering toward the rear of a garden grow narrower1 with smaller and smaller stones4 ,the pathways in a ,japanese garden curve constantly1 disrupting the viewer's line of sight1 until they are finally lost among trees and foliage set at carefully alternated levels2 streams and waterfalls deceptively vanish and reappear around and behind rocks and plantings4 ,zen artists also found that garden walls would disappear completely if they were made of dark natural materials or camouflaged by a bamboo thicket1 a thin grove of saplings1 or a grassy hillock4 ,many methods of psychological deception in a ,zen garden exploit instinctive visual assumptions in much the same way that a judo expert uses his victim's body for its own undoing4 ,a common trick is to have a pathway or stream disappear around a growth of trees at the rear of a garden in such a way that the terminus is hidden1 leading the viewer to assume it actually continues on into unseen recesses of the landscape4 ,another such device is the placement of intermittent obstructive foliage near the viewer1 causing the diminution in perception that the mind associates with distance4 ,japanese gardeners further enhance the sense of size and depth in a garden plot by leaving large vacant areas1 whose lack of clutter seems to expand the vista4 ,dwarfing of trees is also a common practice1 since this promotes the illusion of greater distance4 ,and finally1 flowers are rigidly excluded1 since their appearance would totally destroy all the subtle tricks of perspective4 ,zen garden masters prefer to display their flowers in special vase arrangements1 an art known as ,ikebana4 ,the manipulation of perspective and the psychological deception of the ,zen garden are always carefully disguised by giving the garden an appearance of naturalness and age4 ,garden rocks are buried in such a manner that they seem to be granite icebergs1 extruding a mere tip from their ancient depths1 while the edges of garden stones are nestled in beds of grass or obscured by applications of moss1 adding to the sense of artless placement4 ,everything in the garden--trees1 stones1 gravel1 grass--is arranged with a careful blending of areas into a seemingly natural relationship and allowed to develop a slightly unkempt1 shaggy appearance1 which the viewer instinctively associates with an undisturbed natural scene4 ,it all seems as uncontrived as a virgin forest1 causing the rational mind to lower its guard and allowing the garden to delude the viewer with its artificial depth1 its psychological sense of the infinite4 ,the transformation in garden art the ,zen artists wrought can perhaps best be emphasized by comparing the traditional ,chinese garden with the abstract landscape created by ,japanese artists of the ,ashikaga and later eras4 ',the ,japanese regarded the garden as an extension of man's dwelling 7it might be more accurate to say that they saw the dwelling as an extension of the garden71 while the ,chinese considered the garden a counterpoise for the formality of indoor life1 a place to disown the obligations and conventions of society4 ,it has been suggested that the average ,chinese was culturally schizophrenic2 indoors he was a sober ,confucian1 obedient to centuries-old dictates of behavior1 but in his garden he returned to ,taoism1 the joy of splendor in the grass1 of glory in the flower4 ,in spite of this1 the ,chinese garden was more formal than the type that developed in ,japan1 and it included numerous complicated corridors and divisions4 ,the ,chinese gardens of the ,t'ang aristocracy were intended for strolling rather than viewing1 since the ,t'ang aesthetes participated in nature rather than merely contemplating it4 ,accordingly1 ,chinese gardens 7and ,heian copies of them7 included architectural features not included in the later ,zen landscapes4 ,the ,chinese apparently believed that if one is to duplicate the lakes and mountains1 then all the items normally seen in the countryside should be there1 including the artifacts of man4 ,the ,chinese garden welcomed the physical presence of man1 whereas the landscape gardens developed in ,japan are at their finest when viewed without people1 if only because the presence of man acts as a yardstick to destroy the illusion of perspective and exaggerated distance4 7,however1 a ,zen-inspired form of ,japanese stroll garden for use in connection with the tea ceremony did develop1 as will be noted later47 ,the plaster wall of a ,chinese garden was often an integral element of the decoration1 and its shape and topping were part of the overall aesthetic effect4 ,the ,japanese1 on the other hand1 chose to de- emphasize the presence of the wall4 ,stated differently1 the purpose of the wall around a ,chinese garden was to keep outsiders from seeing in1 whereas the wall of a ,japanese garden was to prevent those inside from having to see out--a fundamental difference in function and philosophy4 ,the dissimilarity in ,chinese and ,japanese attitudes toward garden rocks also deserves mention4 ,the ,japanese preferred interesting naturalness in their stones2 they avoided blandness1 but were wary of freakish1 distracting shapes4 ,the ,chinese1 in contrast1 were charmed by curiosities1 and they sought out garden rocks with fantastic1 even grotesque contours4 ,this preference seems to have grown out of a desire to duplicate the craggy mountainsides so often seen in ,sung landscape paintings4 ,they searched for unnaturally shaped stones in lake bottoms1 where the action of water had honeycombed them4 7,in fact1 this particular passion1 which became known as rockery1 led to a bit of forgery during the latter part of the ,ming era1 when ordinary rocks were carved to the desired shape and then placed under a waterfall until they were smoothed sufficiently to disguise the deception47 ,the presence of so many unnatural features in ,chinese gardens tended to give them a rococo quality1 which ,zen artists were careful to avoid1 and the hemispherical1 symmetrical motif of ,chinese gardens was transformed into the angular1 asymmetrical style that suited ,zen aesthetic theory4 ,the fundamental impression a ,chinese garden gives is that of skilled artifice1 of being a magical1 slightly fabulous landscape of dreams4 ,zen artists transformed this into a symbolic experience of the world at large1 distilled into a controlled space but suggesting the infinite4 ,the result was to change a form that has been essentially decorative into something as near to pure art as can be wrought with the primeval elements of tree1 water1 and stone4 ,gardens had been used before to approximate this or that monarch's conception of paradise1 but never before had they been employed to express an otherwise ineffable understanding of the moral authority of the natural world4 ,zen gardens differ even more greatly from ,western garden design4 ,the geometrical creations of ,europe1 such as the palace garden at ,versailles1 were fashioned to provide wide-open vistas reaching toward the horizon1 while the naturalistic ,zen garden is closed in upon itself like a form of curved space1 producing the illusion of an infinite wilderness in a few acres4 ,it is intended primarily for viewing2 there are no grassy dells for loitering4 ,it is expected to serve functions ordinarily reserved for art in the ,west3 it both abstracts and intensifies reality1 being at once symbolic and explicit in design1 and the emotion it evokes in the viewer gives him a deeper understanding of his own consciousness4 ,the four gardens in ,kyoto that perhaps best demonstrate the principles of early ,zen landscape were all constructed under the patronage of the ,ashikaga3 the first two1 ,saiho-ji 7ca4 #acci7 and ,tenryu-ji 7ca4 #acdc71 were designed by the ,zen monk ,muso under the reign of ,takauji2 the garden of the ,golden ,pavilion 7#acig7 was executed under the influence of ,yoshimitsu2 and the garden of the ,silver ,pavilion 7#adhd7 was guided by ,yoshimasa4 ,all four were created on the sites of earlier gardens dating from the ,heian or ,kamakura eras which ,zen artists both purified and modified1 making changes roughly analogous to the reworking of a rococo marble statue of a rotund courtier into a free-standing muscular nude4 ,it is also illustrative of the age that these one-time private estates were transformed into what were to become essentially public parks1 albeit under the management of ,zen temples4 ,the first of the gardens to be designed was the one at ,saiho-ji1 a temple on the western edge of ,kyoto1 popularly known as the ,moss ,temple1 or ,kokedera4 ,during the ,heian and ,kamakura eras this site belonged to a prominent family who constructed two temple gardens toward the close of the twelfth century in honor of ,amida and his ,western ,paradise4 ,fashioned long after contacts with ,china had been broken1 these ,amida gardens already disowned many of the decorative motifs in the earlier1 ,tang-style parks4 ,they were self-contained and natural and had no pretense of being symbolic4 ,this was to change1 however1 around the time that ,ashikaga ,takauji assumed power1 when the owner hit upon the notion of converting these gardens of the ,jodo sect into something appropriate to the new school of ,zen4 ,the project was begun with the understanding that the famous ,zen priest ,muso ,soseki would come to preside over the new temple as abbot1 and work was begun under his guidance4 ,the resulting garden is on two levels1 like the original dual garden of ,amida1 but the ,zen designer used the levels to suggest many of the features of a larger universe4 ,it was not yet a fully developed landscape1 but rather a contemplative retreat for strolling which strove to emphasize minor aspects of the natural features of rocks1 ponds1 trees1 grasses1 and moss4 ,even so1 many of the features of later landscape gardens are traceable to ,muso's design here1 particularly the rugged rockwork of the islands in the large lake on the lower level1 which later inspired the rockwork of ,yoshimitsu's ,golden ,pavilion garden4 ,located up the hill is a dry cascade1 suggested by the skillful arrangement of round1 flat-topped stones carefully set in a place where water never ran4 ,already1 the obligatory waterfall of the ,chinese garden had been abstracted into a quiet symbolism4 ,the garden bespeaks a sober1 ancient grace and dignity--and reveals aesthetic concepts peculiar to ,zen4 ,the garden of ,tenryu-ji is at the temple founded by ,takauji1 at the suggestion of ,muso1 as a site for the repose of the soul of the ,emperor ,godaigo1 whom ,takauji had driven out of ,kyoto4 ,it will be recalled that the expense associated with building this temple was the occasion of ,takauji's again opening trade with ,china1 an act that led to the real explosion of ,zen art4 ,muso also became the official abbot of the temple and is thought to have contributed to the redesign of its garden--it had previously been part of an imperial country villa4 ,muso's contribution is questionable1 however1 since the garden shows evidence of influence from the landscape-painting design of ,sung ,china and the peculiarly ,sung usage of rockery4 ,it may have been laid out earlier by some emigrant ,chinese ,ch'an monk who was aware of the latest ,sung garden theory4 ,the rock shapes are not grotesque1 however1 but rather show the crisp angularity later to become a ,japanese trademark4 ,a small islet of three stones suggests the three levels of a landscape painting1 and at the back there is a simulated waterfall of rugged dry stones4 ,the lake and its islands are monochromatic and severe1 and the footbridge traditional to ,sung landscape gardens is represented by three long flat stones crossing a narrow portion of the rear part of the lake4 ,this garden is probably the only ,sung-style creation in ,japan1 but its impact on ,zen gardeners was considerable1 since it showed the effects ,ch'an ,buddhism had had on ,chinese garden art4 ,muso undoubtedly recognized the garden as a worthy model for ,zen artists1 and he probably did no more than put a few final ,japanese touches on the work4 ,by the time of ,ashikaga ,yoshimitsu1 builder of the third ,zen landscape garden1 ,ch'an garden concepts were undoubtedly better understood in ,japan than in ,china4 ,yoshimitsu had often gone to ,saiho-ji to meditate in the garden1 and he knew exactly what was required for the landscape garden to surround his ,golden ,pavilion4 ,he selected a site known as the ,north ,hill ,villa1 an estate originally built by an aristocratic family using funds they had got serving as spies to report the activities of the ,kyoto aristocracy to the ,kamakura warlords4 ,constructed in #abbd1 the original garden represented the last flowering of the ,heian- 7or ,t'ang ,chinese7 style garden2 that is1 it was a purely decorative boating pond4 ,when ,yoshimitsu acquired the site1 he immediately demolished the ,chinese-style residence with its fishing pavilion projecting out onto the lake4 ,then he turned his attention to the garden1 paring down the central island and adding smaller islands by bringing in massive stones from the surrounding hills4 ,to obtain the necessary trees1 he simply selected those that caught his eye in the gardens of the powerless aristocracy4 ,today the garden at the ,golden ,pavilion covers approximately four and a half acres 7although it seems much larger71 with a lake occupying about one-third of the total area4 ,the pavilion sits at the lake's edge1 but in past times before the waters shifted1 it was in its midst4 ,when viewed from the pavilion1 as was the original intention1 the garden seems a landscape vista4 ,several of the small islets scattered about the lake have their own dwarf pines1 while others are no more than massive protruding stones1 chosen for an abstract resemblance to a tortoise or cane4 ,in the portion of the lake closest to the pavilion everything is wrought in great detail1 whereas stones on the far side are vague and diffuse1 so that the distant shoreline seems lost in misty recesses4 ,the hillsides surrounding the garden are covered with foliage1 and there is no clear demarcation between the garden and the hills4 ,executed at a time when resources were almost limitless1 the garden of the ,golden ,pavilion is one of the finest ,zen landscape gardens ever created4 ,it stands as a watershed between the modification of ,chinese styles and the maturity of ,japanese ,zen art4 ,yoshimasa1 architect of the fourth great ,zen landscape garden1 was also fond of ,saiho-ji and had studied its garden1 as well as that of the ,golden ,pavilion1 with great care4 ,but the ,silver ,pavilion and its garden were built after the disastrous ,onin ,war1 when the available resources were nothing like those of the earlier ,ashikaga shoguns4 ,although he was surrounded by a coterie of ,zen aestheticians1 it appears ,yoshimasa designed the garden himself1 assisted by a new class of professional garden workers drawn from the outcast eta class 7outcast because they were associated with the meat and hides industry and thus pariahs to all good ,buddhists71 who had been engaged by the ,zen priests to take care of the heavy work involved in stone movement and placement4 ,many of these eta became famous for their artistic discernment1 and one1 the famous ,zen-ami1 is regarded as one of the foremost garden architects of the ,ashikaga era4 ,the garden at the ,silver ,pavilion was modeled after the one at ,saiho-ji and made the same use of bold1 angular stones-- a mixture of flat- topped1 straight-sided platform rocks and tall slim stones reminiscent of ,sung landscape paintings of distant mountains4 ,like ,saiho-ji1 the garden is on two levels1 with the rear reminiscent of a mountain waterfall4 ,at one side of the garden the pond is spanned by a stone footbridge connecting either side of the shore with the central island4 ,shaped dwarf pines abound1 and the surface of the water1 interrupted here and there with massive stones1 is peaceful and serene4 ,little wonder ,yoshimasa preferred his tasteful pavilion and its distilled microcosm of landscape to the ravaged ruins of ,kyoto4 ,here he could rest in meditation1 letting his eye travel over the placid waters1 past the flowering trees which framed the symbolic waterfall1 upward to the silhouette of the towering pines on the far hillside to watch the moon rise in the evening1 bathing his world in silver4 ,in this peaceful setting he could relish the last1 closing years of the great ,ashikaga age of ,zen art4 ,the art of the landscape garden did not end with ,yoshimasa1 of course2 rather1 it shifted in its direction and purpose4 ,already beginning was the next phase of ,zen garden art1 the abstract sand-and-stone gardens4 ,,chapter ,,eight ,the ,stone ,gardens of ,zen ,and this our life1 exempt from public haunt1 ,finds tongues in trees1 books in the running brooks1 ,sermons in stones 4 4 4 ,as ,you ,like ,it ,daisen-in ,temple1 ,kyoto1 ca4 #aeac ,ryoan-ji1 ,kyoyo1 #adij ,,in ,,the ,,closing decade of the fifteenth century1 the long evening parties of ,zen aesthetics were over2 ,kyoto lay in ruins after the ,onin ,war1 and a new1 sober mood gripped the land4 ,virtually all the temples and estates in ,kyoto1 together with their gardens1 were abandoned relics2 and the once indulgent patronage of aristocrats and shoguns was gone forever4 ,a reflective1 contemplative mood settled over the houses of ,zen4 ,out of this era of penurious disarray developed a style of temple garden which many hold to be the most profound expression of ,zen art3 the dry landscape1 or kare sansui4 ,fashioned from the most austere materials1 sand and stone1 these waterless vistas were the final step in the creation of three-dimensional reproductions of ,sung ink paintings4 ,they condensed the universe into a single span1 and they were primarily1 if not wholly1 monochromatic4 ,more importantly1 they were intended exclusively for meditation4 ,whereas earlier landscape gardens had always striven for a quality of scenic beauty1 these small temple gardens were meant to be a training ground for the spirit1 a device wherein the contemplative mind might reach out and touch the essence of ,zen4 ,these later ,zen gardens were also reduced in size and scope1 since a temple yard in such diminished times could not accommodate the spacious parks once available to the aristocracy4 ,stylized1 often abstract representations of nature1 they dispensed with all decorative possibilities the better to promote the serious business of meditation4 ,perhaps the best example of this type of monochrome painting garden is the famous creation at ,daisen-in1 a part of the ,daitoku-ji temple compound in ,kvoto4 ,the sand-and-stone garden here is on all sides of the temple building1 placing the viewer literally in the middle of a ,sung landscape4 ,the focus of the painting1 however1 is in one small corner of the grounds1 where a pair of head-high vertical stones have been used to represent ,sung mountain peaks while striated white sand placed around and among the larger background mountains1 together with smaller flat-topped rocks in the foreground1 suggest the inrush of water from a symbolic waterfall4 ,the simulated stream of white sand winds among river rocks as it passes across the front of the viewing platform4 ,included in the design are a stone bridge crossing one portion of the sandy stream and a large boat-shaped stone enhancing the symbolism of water4 ,the water seems to disappear under the temple veranda and emerge on the other side as a shimmering white sea4 ,adjacent to the tall mountain stones are several ancillary rocks approximately waist-high1 over which flow rivulets of white sand1 suggesting a cataract captured in monochrome4 ,just as an expert ,zen painter extracts the details of a scene in a few strokes of the brush1 so the master of ,daisen-in succeeded in distilling from the natural world precisely those elements that excite the spirit4 ,this classical kare sansui garden is thought to have been designed around #aeac1 reconstructed from one of the run-down temples left after the ,onin ,war4 ,credit for the design is traditionally 7but probably erroneously7 given to the artist ,so'ami 7#adgb-aebe71 a well-known painter4 ,the distinction between painting and garden art was necessarily blurred1 since these gardens were in fact intended to copy paintings more than nature4 ,the true mark of a ,zen painter was his ability to handle rocks and mountains in the prescribed manner1 with sharp1 angular brushstrokes devoid of softness or sentimentality4 ,naturally enough1 stones with this same quality were essential for the kare sansui gardens1 but such stones were extremely rare and prized almost beyond price4 ,trees could be grown2 stones had to be found in the mountains and moved somehow to ,kyoto4 ,during the heyday of the ,kamakura and ,ashikaga glory1 there were resources at hand to find1 move1 and position stones--and at times armies of over a thousand men were impressed into service for this task4 ,after the ,onin ,war no such battalions were available1 but there was a ready source of superb stones3 the burned-out temple and estate gardens of old ,kyoto4 ,furthermore1 monks from many of the earlier temples had systematically pillaged the estates of ,heian nobles for stones1 using the cream of the stone collections from earlier centuries to create their small gardens4 ,so when the builders of ,daisen-in began to collect stones1 they had the finest examples of centuries of collecting at their disposal4 ,hence the magnificent stones at ,daisen-in actually represent the creme de la creme of garden stonework1 rising phoenix-like out of the destruction of older estates4 ,what were the qualities of these stones that they should have been hauled for hundreds of miles and prized by shoguns and ,zen aesthetes alike8 ,what did ,zen artists look for when they scavenged the surrounding mountains for special rocks8 ,they wanted rocks that looked like the mountains and crags in ink paintings4 ,this meant light-colored stones with striated sides and sharp edges1 with no hint of the hand of man about them4 ,they looked not so much for odd formations as for natural shapes that possessed an authoritative1 monumental quality4 ,one particularly prized shape was flat-topped and vertical-sided1 looking like a massive tree stump cut off about a foot above the ground4 ,another valuable stone was shaped like a steep-sided volcanic island which1 nestled in a bed of sand1 gave the impression of rising from the depths of the ocean4 ,oblong stones with lengthwise striations or incisions were valued for their similarity to towering vertical mountains2 and rounded1 flat-bottomed stones1 for their resemblance to natural river rocks4 ,the subjective feel of a stone was important2 perfectly smooth stones or those with no memorable characteristics had no place in kare sansui4 ,those used must have the vigorous face of centuries1 the weathered texture of antiquity4 ,daisen-in was unquestionably the best of the ,zen painting gardens3 possibly designed by an experienced ,zen painter1 it contained the finest stones from an entire era of intensive collecting2 and it was heir to centuries of garden mastery1 from which was distilled the essence of landscape art4 ,its understated authority is the product of a long development of such ,zen ideals as simplicity1 starkness1 austerity1 and spareness4 ,one would be tempted to declare it the finest example of the ,zen kare sansui art were it not for an even more striking garden of the same era3 ,ryoan-ji4 ,unlike ,daisen-in1 the garden at ,ryoan-ji is not a symbolic mountain scene4 ,it is instead a work of abstract art on a canvas of sand which goes beyond a symbolic representation of a landscape scene to provide a distillation of the very universe4 ,it is internationally regarded as the very essence of ,zen1 and it is almost impossible to describe1 in either words or pictures4 ,it has a spirit that seems to rise up for those who come into its presence1 evoking an immediate response even in someone who has no understanding of ,zen4 ,ryoan-ji was apparently built around #adij1 which makes it roughly contemporaneous with ,yoshimasa's ,silver ,pavilion4 ,as early as #ihe the site of ,ryoan-ji had been used as the location of a private chapel for retired ,heian emperors1 and in the twelfth century a government minister of the ,heian took it over and constructed a country villa1 to which his grandson added a lavish ,chinese-style lake and island garden in #aahi4 ,thus the site had abundant water1 something missing from other kare sansui gardens--although the style dictated that no water be used in the final ,zen garden4 ,after the fall of ,heian and throughout the ,kamakura deluge1 the lake became a sort of lingering ancien regime touch1 recalling the elegance of former days4 7,the remains of the lake1 undoubtedly much modified through the centuries1 still survive as part of the ,ryoan-ji temple complex47 ,the original ,heian owners retained possession of the site until approximately #adej1 when it was purchased by ,katsumoto ,hokusawa1 adviser to the ,ashikaga and one of the instigators of the ,onin ,war4 ,during his period of ownership1 ,katsumoto built a country villa overlooking the lake-and-island garden1 and like ,yoshimitsu1 he requested that his villa be made into a ,zen temple when he ,thed4 ,as it turned out1 the ,onin ,war caused his wishes to be executed sooner than he might have expected2 shortly after the villa was built the estate was transferred to the ,myoshin-ji branch of the ,rinzai sect1 which also controlled a nearby temple called ,ryoan-ji4 ,not long after ,katsumoto's death1 his villa and other estate buildings were set on fire during the ,onin ,war and joined the general ruin of much of the rest of ,kyoto4 ,in the last decade of the fifteenth century the burned-out estate was restored by ,katsumoto's son1 but in replacing the buildings he chose a new style of ,zen architecture known as shoin1 which included a special bay window and desk modeled after those in ,chinese ,ch'an monasteries4 ,the shoin style had been recently popularized in ,kyoto by ,yoshimasa1 who chose the design for several buildings surrounding his ,silver ,pavilion4 ,the shoin window overlooked the lake-and-island garden1 but since the later ,zen monks who controlled the estate had no interest in decorative landscape art1 they walled off a small courtyard in front of the window and installed a flat kare sansui garden for contemplation1 which soon eclipsed in interest the older lake-and- island landscape4 ,shortly thereafter the shoin building was in turn destroyed by fire1 giving the monks an excuse to bring in a pavilion with a long viewing veranda from the neighboring ,seigen-in temple4 ,this veranda1 which was positioned along the long axis of the kare sansui garden1 now permits group meditation1 something not possible from the single window of the earlier shoin structure4 ,modern visitors to ,ryoan-ji still pass through the older landscape garden en route to the main temple pavilion4 ,from this vantage point only the outer wall of the sand-and-stone garden can be seen2 there is no hint of what lies inside4 ,on the temple steps the fragrance of incense mingles with the natural perfume of the ancient trees which line the pathways of the lake4 ,as one enters the dimly lighted hallway of the temple1 street shoes are replaced by noiseless1 cushioned slippers4 ,shod in silence1 visitors walk along the temple hallways onto the long hojo veranda facing the garden1 where the brilliance of the shimmering sand washes unexpectedly over the senses4 ,the effect is sudden and striking4 ,what one sees1 in purely prosaic terms1 is an area of rippled sand about the size of a tennis court1 set about with fifteen not particularly unusual 7by ,ashikaga standards7 stones arrayed in five distinct clusters4 ,the white sand is raked lengthwise 7a routine task for a lay brother71 and concentric circles are traced around each of the stones1 imparting an illusion of ripples4 ,in the garden proper there is not a tree1 indeed not a blade of grass1 to be seen2 the only suggestion of living matter is the bed of ancient moss in which each group of stones lies nestled4 ,on the three sides of the garden opposite the veranda stands the ancient courtyard wall1 whose oil-stained earthen brown contrasts splendidly with the pure white sand4 ,above the wall1 which is capped with black clay tile in ,chinese fashion1 one can see the tall trees of the landscape garden1 obscuring what must once have been a grand view of old ,kyoto to the south4 ,each of the five clusters of stones seems balanced around its own center of gravity1 and the clusters1 in turn1 appear to be balanced with one another--with the two groups of stones on the left being approximately equal in mass to the three groups on the right4 ,as is the case in most ,ashikaga gardens1 each grouping is dominated by one obviously assertive member1 against which the smaller1 less authoritative stones strain for prominence1 producing a sense of tension4 ,simultaneously1 there is a feeling of strength about each of the groups1 since each cluster is set on an island of mossy soil1 which acts as a base to unite the assemblages4 ,aesthetic stability is also achieved by the placement of the stones at sufficient depth 7or apparent depth7 within their nest of moss so that only their tips seem to protrude above the floor of the garden4 ,the stones are set in two groups of two stones1 two groups of three1 and one group of five4 ,each of these groupings displays one or another of the various ,ashikaga garden conventions4 ,both groups of two stones make explicit use of contrasting shapes between their members1 a standard ,zen device4 ,one of the pairs is composed of a long1 vertical rock set like an upturned blade in the sand1 with a companion that is hardly more than a negligible lump1 a token foil4 ,the other pair has one sharp-sided vertical stone with a flat plateau as a top1 accompanied by a larger round rock which spreads at the base4 ,as has been noted1 the ,ashikaga gardeners prized flat-topped stones highly because of their resemblance to the angular brushstrokes of certain ,zen ink painters4 ,life1 in this case1 was made to imitate art1 or rather sculptural art was made to imitate the pictorial4 ,both pairs of stones are situated slightly off the lengthwise axis of the garden1 maintaining the asymmetry considered so essential4 ,in the two groups of three stones1 the intent is to establish the visual pre-eminence of the largest member and to flank it with two comparatively insignificant smaller stones--usually differentiated in shape and attitude--thereby forming a vertical triangle with the peak of the largest stone representing the apex4 ,this particular arrangement was so common in ,ashikaga gardens that it became known as the three- deity stone setting1 supposedly a pious reference to a ,buddhist legend but probably merely a convenient tag for a standardized artistic device4 ,the last grouping is five stones1 since arrangements of four were considered too symmetrical by ,zen gardeners4 ,in this case1 the group is dominated by one large central boulder with four ancillary rocks spread about its base like the feet of a granite beast4 ,such1 in physical terms1 is the arrangement of the garden1 and when so described it seems undeserving of all the acclaim4 ,its subjective qualities tell a bit more of the story4 ,it seems clear that the inclination of the stones is intended to evoke a sense of motion1 for they have all been placed with their longer axis corresponding to that of the garden4 ,this quality is further enhanced by the practice of raking the sand lengthwise1 which makes the observer's eye sweep from left to right or right to left4 ,and although the overall purpose of the garden is to induce mental repose1 it has a dynamic tension1 such as a high-speed photograph of surging rapids in a mountain stream might catch4 ,but the sand1 like the blank spaces in a ,chinese ink drawing1 is as important as the placement of the stones4 ,the empty areas both emphasize the stones and invite the mind to expand in the cosmological infinity they suggest4 ,this interaction between form and space is one of the keys to ,ryoan- ji's compelling suggestiveness4 ,evoking a sense of infinity in a strictly confined space1 it is a living lesson in the ,zen concept of nothingness and nonattachment4 ,it expresses a timelessness unknown in earlier landscape gardens1 particularly those of the ,heian era1 which1 with their fading blossoms and falling leaves1 were attuned to the poignant transience of life4 ,in the ,ryoan-ji garden1 the ,heian aesthetic concept of aware1 the thought that beauty must die1 has been replaced by the ,zen idea of yugen1 which means1 among other things1 profound suggestiveness1 a reduction to only those elements in a creative work that move the spirit1 without the slightest concession to prettiness or ornament4 ,the number and placement of stones seem arbitrary1 but they are intuitively perfect--like a phrase from ,beethoven that1 with the alteration of a single note1 could be transformed into a comic tune4 ,like all masterpieces1 ,ryoan-ji has simplicity1 strength1 inevitability4 ,between them1 the gardens at ,daisen-in and at ,ryoan-ji encompass the range of kare sansui gardening in ,ashikaga ,japan4 ,the first is a symbolic landscape of parched waterfalls and simulated streams drawn in monochromatic granite2 the second1 a totally non-representative abstraction of stone arrangements in the sand-covered flat-garden style4 ,the kare sansui flat-garden style1 in particular1 has no real counterpart in world art4 ,imagine the ,egyptians1 ,greeks1 or ,florentines collecting rocks1 strewing them about a bed of sand in a courtyard1 and calling it religious art4 ,ryoan-ji seems strikingly modern today and in fact it was only after a critical following for abstract art developed in the ,west that the ,zen kare sansui was discovered4 ,as recently as the #aicjs ,ryoan-ji was ignored1 an unkempt sandpile the monks rarely bothered to rake2 and only in #aifa was the garden at ,daisen-in restored to what is believed to be its original condition4 ,ryoan-ji is now the most celebrated site in ,japan and so internationally appreciated that a full-sized replica has been constructed in the ,brooklyn ,botanic ,gardens1 ,new ,york4 ,zen gardeners were sophisticated aestheticians1 and one can recognize in their work at least two artistic techniques that the ,west did not discover until this century4 ,the first is the ,surrealist principle1 derived from the earlier ,dadaist idea1 of objets trouves1 that is1 the use of aesthetically interesting natural or accidental materials as part of an artistic composition4 ,the stones of ,ryoan-ji and other ,ashikaga gardens were left in the condition in which they were discovered and used in the gardens as stones1 yet they were also symbols for something larger than themselves4 ,the second modern artistic principle found in ,zen gardens is the reliance on abstract expressionism4 ,flat gardens like ,ryoan-ji are not meant to depict a natural scene2 they are exercises in the symbolic arrangement of mass and space4 ,the ,zen gardeners actually created a new mode of artistic expression1 anticipating the ,west by several centuries4 ,perhaps ,ryoan-ji went unnoticed for so long because it was not explicitly intended as a work of art1 but rather as a statement in physical terms of the essence of mystical truth4 ,one's reaction upon first coming into the presence of ,ryoan-ji is like the famous ,western mystic ,meister ,eckhart's description of the realization of ,oneness1 called satori in ,zen3 ,then at once1 ,god comes into your being and faculties1 for you are like a desert1 despoiled of all that was particularly your own4 4 4 4 ,ryoan-ji presents this desert in physical terms1 a place of no attachments and no antagonistic polarities4 ,this is ,zen art at its most noble2 beauty and aesthetics are present1 but they are secondary to a realm of the spiritual4 ,,chapter ,,nine ,zen and the ,ink ,landscape ,heard melodies are sweet1 but those unheard ,are sweeter2 therefore1 ye soft pipes1 play on2 ,not to the sensual ear1 but1 more endeared1 ,pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone4 ,john ,keats ,sesshu 7#adbj-aejf7 ,shin style ,,ashikaga ,,monochrome ink painting is one of the finest moments of ,japanese art4 ,monochrome painting1 which began in ,china as a logical extension of brush calligraphy1 came to be the ultimate medium for the transmission of ,japanese ,zen4 ,a ,zen painter has been described as a man who studies technique for twenty years and then throws himself on the mercy of inspiration4 ,the works of ,zen artists often seem to have been tossed off without effort1 but this is the deliberate deception of the consummate master4 ,like the slash of the ,zen swordsman1 the absolute accuracy of the ,zen artist's brushstroke can come only from one whose mind and body are one4 ,the purpose of ,zen painting is to penetrate beyond the perceptions of the rational mind and its supporting senses1 to show not nature's surface but its very essence4 ,the artist paints the enlightenment of a moment1 and there is therefore no time to labor over each stroke2 the technique must flow thoughtlessly1 from deep within1 capturing the fleeting images of the inner sense1 beyond mind and beyond thought4 ,to watch a ,zen painter is to receive a lesson in the discipline of ,zen4 ,as he sets out to create a work1 he first brings to hand the essential artistic materials3 brush1 inkstone1 ink1 paper4 ,kneeling on the floor1 he spreads the paper out before him1 and as he grinds and mixes the ink1 begins to envision the outline and scope of his work4 ,like a samurai warrior before a battle1 he banishes thoughts of the world and in a state of contemplation organizes his energies for a burst of action4 ,when the ink is ready1 the paper smoothed1 an appropriate brush tested for point and feel1 and his spirits composed1 he strikes4 ,the ink is absorbed almost immediately by the fibrous rice paper preferred by ,zen artists1 allowing no alteration of a line once it has been set down4 ,if the artist is dissatisfied with a stroke1 he attempts no corrections but tears up the work and begins another4 ,in contrast to conventional ,western oil painting1 which allows for retouching1 an ink brushstroke on paper 7or silk1 which is sometimes used7 becomes dull and lifeless if it is painted over1 and corrections are always obvious when the painting dries4 ,the work must flow out of the ,zen discipline of no-mind4 ,the artist never pauses to evaluate his work2 the ink flows in an unending flurry of strokes--heavy or sparing1 light or dark1 as required--producing a sense of rhythm1 movement1 form1 and the artist's vision of life's inner music4 ,the discipline of ink painting was only one of the qualities that endeared it to ,zen painters4 ,equally important was the understated1 suggestive art it made possible4 ,learning from the ,chinese1 ,ashikaga ,japanese discovered that black ink1 carefully applied to suggest all the tones of light and shade1 could be more expressive and profound than a rainbow of colors4 7,a similar lesson has been learned by modern photographers1 who often find black and white a medium more penerating than color47 ,the ,chinese painters of the ,t'ang and ,sung dynasties were the first to discover that black ink could be made to abstract all pigments and thereby suggest1 more believably than actual color paintings1 the real tones found in nature4 ,whereas the medium of ink has been used in the ,west primarily for line drawings and lithographs1 the ,eastern artists use ink to produce the illusion of color--an illusion so perfect that viewers must at times remind themselves that a scene is not in full polychrome4 ,and just as the seemingly unfinished artistic statement nudges the viewer into participating in a work1 the suggestive medium of monochrome with its implied rather than explicit hues tricks the viewer into unwittingly supplying his own colors4 ,the ,zen insight that the palette of the mind is richer than that of the brush has been best described by a ,japanese artist and critic1 who explained the rich suggestiveness of black ink1 called sumi by the ,japanese3 ,at first glance1 this bit of ink on a sheet of white paper seems dull and plain1 but as one gazes at it1 it transforms itself into an image of nature--a small part of nature1 to be sure1 seen dimly1 as though through a mist1 but a part that may guide one's spirit to the magnificent whole4 ,armed with pigments by the dozen1 artists have tried for centuries to reproduce the true colors of nature1 but at best theirs has been a limited success4 ,the sumi-e ink painting1 by reducing all colors to shades of black1 is able1 paradoxically1 to make one feel their genuine nuances4 4 4 4 ,by recognizing that the real colors of nature cannot be reproduced exactly1 the sumi-e artist has grasped one of the most fundamental truths of nature4 ,he is1 therefore1 more in tune with her than the painter who tries to engage her in oils and water colors4#a ,zen painting seems to have been created1 like the religion itself1 by antischolastic thinkers of the latter ,t'ang dynasty4 ,the eccentric monks who invented koan paradoxes also seem to have been fond of calligraphy and monochrome painting4 ,these monks1 together with non- ,buddhist painters at odds with academic styles1 loved to outrage their conservative colleagues by flinging ink at the paper and smearing it about with their hands1 their hair1 or sometimes the body of an assistant4 ,even those who restricted themselves to the brush delighted in caricature and unconventional styles4 ,the school of painting represented by disaffected ,tang literati and ,ch'an monks came to be well respected 7much like the abstract expressionist school of today7 and was given the name of untrammeled class4 ,during the ,sung dynasty1 ,ch'an monks became respectable members of ,chinese society1 and gradually three distinct types of ,ch'an-influenced painting were established4 ,one1 known in ,japanese as zenkiga1 featured didactic figure paintings 7zenki-zu7 illustrating ,ch'an parables1 depicting ,bodhidharma in some legendary situation1 recording the critical moment of a koan1 or simply illustrating a ,zen adept practicing self- discipline through some humble task4 ,the second type was portraiture1 known as chinzo4 ,these solemn1 reverential studies of well-known teachers1 sometimes executed in muted pastels as well as in ink1 clearly were intended to represent the physical likeness of the sitter as closely as possible4 ,they must be ranked among the world's finest portraits4 ,the insight into character in the chinzo is not so harsh as that of ,rembrandt nor so formal as that of the ,renaissance ,florentines1 but as sympathetic psychological studies they have rarely been surpassed4 ,the third type of painting associated with ,ch'an is the monochrome landscape4 ,landscape was not originally a major ,ch'an subject1 but ,ch'an monks experimented with the traditional ,chinese treatment of such scenes and so influenced ,chinese landscape painting that even academic paintings during the ,sung dynasty reflected the spontaneous insights of ,ch'an philosophy4 ,landscapes represent ,chinese painting at its finest1 and the ,japanese ,zen painters who embraced the form made it the great art of ,zen4 ,the technical mastery of landscape painting had been achieved late in the ,t'ang dynasty when the problems of perspective1 placement1 and vantage point were solved4 ,the classic rules for the genre1 which were formalized during the early ,sung dynasty1 were respected for several hundred years thereafter in both ,china and ,japan4 ,one must appreciate these rules if one is to understand the ,far ,eastern landscape4 ,to begin with1 the objective is not photographic accuracy1 but a representation of an emotional response to nature1 capturing the essentials of a landscape rather than the particular elements that happen to be present in a single locale4 7,in fact1 ,japanese ,zen landscapists frequently painted ,chinese scenes they had never seen47 ,nature is glorified as a source of meditative insight1 and the artist's spontaneity is expressed within a rigid framework4 ,certain specific items are expected to appear in every painting3 mountains1 trees1 rocks1 flowing water1 roads1 bridges1 wildlife1 houses 7or at least thatched huts74 ,the mountainsides vary with the seasons1 being lush and sensuous in spring1 verdant and moist in summer1 crisp and ripe in autumn1 and austerely bare in winter4 ,the tiny human figures show the dignity of retired ,sung officials at a hermitage2 there are no genuine farmers or fishermen4 ,the paintings have no vanishing point2 receding lines remain parallel and do not converge4 ,the position of the viewer is that of someone suspended in space1 looking down on a panorama that curves up and around his range of sight4 ,to depict distances extending from the immediate foreground to distant mountain ranges1 a painting is divided into three distinct tiers1 each representing a scene at a particular distance from the viewer4 ,these include a near tableau close enough to show the individual leaves on the trees and ripples on the water1 a middle section where only the branches of three trees are delineated and water is usually depicted as a waterfall1 and a far section containing mountain peaks4 ,since these three levels represent quantum jumps in distance1 fog or mist is often introduced to assist in slicing the painting into three planes4 ,these landscape conventions were the subject of volumes of analysis and interpretation during the ,sung dynasty4 ,according to the painter ,han ,cho in a work dated #aaba3 ,in paintings of panoramic landscapes1 mountains are placed in ranges one above the other2 even in one foot's space they are deeply layered2 4 4 4 and proper order is adhered to by first arranging the venerable mountains followed by the subservient ones4 ,it is essential that 4 4 4 forests cover the mountain4 ,for the forests of a mountain are its clothes1 the vegetation its hair1 the vapor and mists its facial expressions1 the scenic elements its ornaments1 the waters its blood vessels1 the fog and mists its expressions of mood4#b ,two characteristics of ,sung landscape paintings that were later to become important elements in the canon of ,zen aesthetic theory were the use of empty space as a form of symbolism1 later to be found in all of ,zen art from rock gardens to the ,no theater1 and the specific treatment of rocks and trees1 elements that the ,zen school would one day take as metaphors for life itself4 ,these characteristics have been eloquently described by the ,western critics ,osvald ,siren and ,ernest ,fenollosa1 respectively3 ,we hardly need dwell on the well-known fact that the ,chinese painters1 and particularly those who worked in ,indian ink1 utilized space as a most important means of artistic expression1 but it may be pointed out that their ideas of space and their methods of rendering it were far from the same as in ,european art4 ,space was not to them a cubic volume that could be geometrically constructed1 it was something illimitable and incalculable which might be1 to some extent1 suggested by the relation of forms and tonal values but which always extended beyond every material indication and carried a suggestion of the infinite4#c ,the wonderful twisted trees1 mighty mountain pines and cedars1 loved by these early ,chinese and later ,japanese1 which our ,western superficial view first ascribed to some barbarian taste for monstrosities1 really exhibit the deep ,zen thinker in their great knots and scaly limbs that have wrestled with storms and frosts and earthquakes--an almost identical process through which a man's life-struggles with enemies1 misfortunes1 and pains have stamped themselves into the wrinkles and strong muscular planes of his fine old face4 ,thus nature becomes a vast and picturesque world for the profound study of character2 and this fails to lead to didactic overweighting and literary conceit1 as it would do with us1 because character1 in its two senses of human individuality and nature individuality1 are seen to become one4#d ,during the early years of the ,sung dynasty1 two distinct styles of landscape painting developed1 which today are known as ,northern and ,southern1 reflecting their geographical locations4 ,although it is extremely dangerous to venture generalizations about painting schools1 it might be said that the ,northern school produced comparatively formal1 symmetrical works done in sharp1 angular1 ax-like brushstrokes which distinguished clearly between ink line and ink wash and in which the distant mountains were generally portrayed as crisply as the foreground4 ,in contrast1 the ,southern school as a rule preferred a more romantic treatment of landscape elements1 with rounded hills and misty valleys4 ,distant mountains were portrayed in graded washes of ink1 suggesting mysterious recesses bathed in fog1 while the middle ground was filled with rolling hills mellowed by a sense of diffuse lighting4 ,a ,chinese critic of the period described a ,northern artist's work as all brush and no ink1 and a ,southern artist's as all ink and no brush--a simplified but basically accurate characterization of the two schools4 ,the ,northern style was originally centered around the northern capital of ,kaifeng and the ,southern around ,nanking in the ,yangtze valley1 but when the ,sung court fled to the ,south after the fall of the northern capital in #aabg1 the styles of the two schools were merged to some degree in a new academy that was established in the lovely southern city of ,hangchow4 ,painters of the ,southern ,sung dynasty1 as this later era came to be known1 often were masters of both styles1 sometimes producing jagged ,northern landscapes1 sometimes misty ,southern vistas1 or sometimes combining the two in a single painting4 ,in time1 however1 as the mood of the age grew increasingly romantic and ,ch'an ,buddhism became more influential in academic circles1 the jagged brushstrokes of the ,northern painters retreated farther and farther into the mist1 leaving the landscapes increasingly metaphorical1 with contorted trees and rugged1 textured rocks4 ,this new lyrical style1 which predominated in the last century of the ,sung painting academy1 was primarily the creation of two artists1 ,ma ,yuan 7active ca4 #aaij-abbd7 and ,hsia ,kuei 7active ca4 #aahj-abcj71 whose works were to become the models for ,ashikaga ,zen landscapes4 ,they both experimented with asymmetry and the deliberate juxtaposition of traditional landscape elements4 ,space became an element in its own right1 particularly in the works of ,ma ,yuan1 whose one-corner compositions were often virtually blank save for a bottom corner4 ,an eclectic stylist1 he frequently depicted the foreground in the ax-cut brushstrokes and sharp diagonals of the ,north1 while distant mountains in the same painting were treated by the soft1 graded washes of the ,south4 ,hsia ,kuei did much the same1 except that he took a marked interest in line and often painted foreground trees and rocks in sharp silhouette4 ,in later years1 after the ,ming dynasty came to power1 ,chinese tastes reverted to a preference for the ,northern style1 but in ,japan the so-called ,ma-,hsia lyric school was revered and copied by ,zen artists who found the subjective treatment of nature a perfect expression of ,zen doctrines concerning intuitive insight4 ,the ,southern ,sung academy did not deliberately produce ,ch'an art2 it was the ,japanese who identified the ,ma-,hsia style explicitly with ,zen4 ,however1 during the early years of the thirteenth century1 an expressionist1 ,ch'an school of art-- the heir of the earlier ,t'ang eccentrics--arose and produced a spontaneous style of painting as unpredictable as ,zen itself4 ,the center for this protest school of landscape art was not the ,sung academy but rather a ,ch'an monastery near ,hangchow1 and its leader was a monk named ,mu-ch'i 7ca4 #abaj-;ca4 #abhj71 who painted all subjects--landscapes1 ,ch'an koan1 and expressionistic still-lifes--with brushstrokes at once skillfully controlled and deceptively casual4 ,his was a disciplined spontaneity4 ,a master of technique1 he deliberately disregarded all the conventions4 ,as time passed1 various staid painters of the ,sung academy heard his siren call of ecstasy and abandoned their formal styles1 ending their days drinking with the ,ch'an monks in monasteries around ,hangchow1 lost in the sheer exhilaration of ink and brush4 ,when ,japanese monks began traveling to ,china1 their first encounter with landscape painting was in these monasteries4 ,consequently1 the styles and the paintings of the ,ch'an ,mu-ch'i school were the first to be sent to ,japan4 ,in later years1 after the ,northern school of painting was again in vogue in ,china1 ,ming ,chinese were only too happy to unload outdated ,southern ,sung monochromes on the eager ,japanese4 ,the emissaries of ,yoshimitsu 7as well as earlier traveling monks7 had their pick of these works1 with the result that the very best examples of the spontaneous ,mu-ch'i and the lyric ,ma-,hsia styles of ,sung painting are today in ,japan4 ,the paintings of ,mu-ch'i1 the first ,chinese monochrome art to be seen in ,japan1 were an instant success1 and ,zen monks rapidly took up the style4 ,the most successful imitator was a ,japanese priest-painter named ,mincho 7#acea-adca71 who before long was producing landscapes virtually indistinguishable from ,mu-ch'i's4 ,it was almost as though ,mu-ch'i had risen from the dead and begun a new career in ,japan a century later4 ,subsequently1 the landscapes of the ,ma-,hsia school found their way to ,japan1 and before long a second ,sung dynasty was in full swing under the ,ashikaga4 ,japanese ,zen had found its art1 and soon ,yoshimitsu had established a painting academy at the temple of ,shokoku-ji1 where painter-monks gathered to study each new boatload of ,sung works and to vie with one another in imitating ,chinese brush styles4 ,the head of the ,zen academy was the priest ,josetsu 7active ca4 #adjj- #adac71 who took full control after ,yoshimitsu's death in #adjh4 ,josetsu's famous ,man ,catching a ,catfish with a ,gourd1 a parable of the elusiveness of true knowledge1 is a perfect example of ,japanese mastery of ,sung styles1 with its sharp foreground brushwork and misty distant mountains4 ,the ,zen academy dominated ,japanese art until well after the ,onin ,war1 exploring and copying the great ,sung works1 both those in the lyric academic style and those in the spontaneous ,ch'an style4 ,josetsu was succeeded by his pupil ,shubun 7flourishing #adbc-;d4 ca4 #adfj71 whose vast 7attributed7 output of hanging scrolls and sixfold screens was a precise re-creation of the ,sung lyric style4 ,he was not a mere imitator1 but rather a legitimate member of a school long vanished1 with a genuine understanding of the ideals that had motivated the ,southern ,sung artists4 ,shubun was a perfect master1 a ,zen ,raphael1 who so disciplined his style that it seemed effortless4 ,his paintings are things of beauty in which the personality of the artist has disappeared1 as was the intention of the ,sung masters1 resulting in works so perfectly of a type that they stand as a foundation on which others might legitimately begin to innovate4 ,however1 under ,shubun's successor ,sotan 7#adad-adha71 the academy continued to copy the techniques of dead ,sung artists 7as so often happens when art is institutionalized71 producing works that showed no glimmer of originality4 ,zen art had reached maturity and was ready to become its own master2 but it needed an artist who would place more trust in his own genius than in the dictates of the academy4 ,the individual who responded to this need is today looked upon as the finest ,japanese artist of all time4 ,sesshu ,toyo 7#adbj-aejf7 was a pupil of ,shubun and very nearly the contemporary of ,sotan4 ,painting out of a profound sense of the spirit of ,zen1 ,sesshu was able to dismantle the components of ,sung landscapes and reassemble them into an individual statement of ,zen philosophy4 ,it is thought that he became a ,zen priest early in life and spent his formative years in an obscure rural village on the ,inland ,sea4 ,however1 records show that at the age of thirty- seven he was a priest in a reasonably high position at ,shokoku-ji1 under the patronage of ,yoshimasa1 and a member of the academy presided over by ,shubun4 ,he apparently studied under ,shubun until shortly before the ,onin ,war1 when he left ,kyoto for a city on the southwestern coast and soon was on his way to ,china aboard a trading vessel4 ,traveling as a ,zen priest and a painter of some reputation1 ,sesshu was immediately welcomed by the ,ch'an centers of painting on the mainland and by the ,ming court in ,peking4 ,although he was able to see and study many ,sung paintings not available in the ,kyoto ,ashikaga collection1 he was disappointed in the ,ming artists he encountered and returned to ,japan declaring he had found no worthy teacher in ,china except her streams and mountains4 ,he also pronounced ,josetsu and ,shubun the equals of any ,chinese painters he had met--probably the first time in history such a statement could have gone unchallenged4 ,he never again returned to ,kyoto1 but established a studio in a western seaside village1 where he received the mighty and passed his years in painting1 ,zen meditation1 and pilgrimages to temples and monasteries4 ,according to the traditional account1 he declined an opportunity to become ,sotan's successor as head of the ,kyoto academy1 recommending that the post be given to ,kano ,masanobu 7#adcd-aecj71 who did in fact assume a position as official painter to the shogun in the #adhjs4 ,it later passed to ,masanobu's son ,kano ,motonobu 7#adgf-aeei74 ,this launched the decorative ,kano school of painting which dominated ,japanese art for centuries thereafter4 ,sesshu was a renegade stylist who mastered the ,sung formulas of ,shubun early in his career and then developed striking new dimensions in ink painting4 ,despite his scornful assessments of ,ming art1 he learned a great deal in ,china which he later used1 including an earthy realism that freed him from ,shubun's sublime perfection1 a sense of design that allowed him to produce large decorative sixfold screens which still retained the ,zen spirit1 and1 perhaps most importantly1 the ,ch'an- inspired ''flung ink technique which took him into the realm of semi- abstraction4 ,in his later years he became famous for two distinct styles which1 though not without ,chinese precedents1 were strongly individualistic4 ,in the first of these1 known as shin1 the polished formulas of ,shubun were supplanted by a controlled boldness1 with rocks and mountains outlined in dark1 angular brushstrokes seemingly hewn with a chisel4 ,the landscapes were not so much sublimely unattainable as caught and worked to his will4 ,the reverence for nature remained1 but under his hand the depiction was almost cubist2 the essence of a vista was extracted in an intricate1 dense design of angular planes framed in powerful lines4 ,delicacy was replaced by dominance4 ,precursors of this style can be found in the works of ,ma ,yuan and ,hsia ,kuei1 both of whom experimented in the hard1 ,northern-influenced techniques of brushstroke1 but it was ,sesshu who was the true master of the technique4 ,writing in #aiab1 the ,american critic ,ernest ,fenollosa declared him to be the greatest master of the straight line and angle in the history of the world's art4 ,sesshu's second major style was so1 an abstraction in wash combining the tonal mastery of the ,southern ,sung school with the flung ink1 or haboku1 of the ,ch'an school--a style in which line is almost entirely ignored1 with the elements of the landscape being suggested by carefully varied tones of wash4 ,a viewer familiar with the traditional elements of the ,sung landscape can identify all the required components1 although most are acknowledged only by blurred streaks and seeming dabs of ink which appear to have been applied with a sponge rather than a brush4 ,in contrast to the cubist treatment of the shin style1 the so defines no planes but allows elements of the landscape to blend into one another through carefully controlled variations in tonality4 ,as effortless as the style appears to be1 it is in fact a supreme example of mastery of the brush1 an instrument intended for carving lines rather than subtle shading and blending of wash4 ,because ,sesshu chose to live in the secluded provinces1 he did not perpetuate a school1 but artists in ,kyoto and elsewhere drew on his genius to invigorate ,zen painting4 ,one artist inspired by him was ,so'ami1 a member of the ,ami family which flourished during the academy's heyday4 ,the earlier members of the family had produced acceptable works in the standard ,sung style1 but ,so'ami distinguished himself in a number of styles1 including the so4 ,the other artist directly influenced by ,sesshu was the provincial ,sesson 7ca4#aejb- ca4#aehi71 who took part of the earlier master's name as his own and became adept in both shin and so techniques4 ,although he1 too1 avoided strife-ridden ,kyoto1 he became famous throughout ,japan1 and his works suggest what the academy might have produced had ,sesshu chosen to remain part of the ,zen establishment4 ,yet even in ,sesson's work one can detect a polished1 effortless elegance that seems to transform ,sesshu's hard-earned power into an easy grace1 a certain sign that the creative phase of ,zen art had ended4 ,the ,ashikaga era of ,japanese monochrome landscape is really the story of a few inspired individuals1 artists whose works spanned a period of something more than one hundred and fifty years4 ,as men of ,zen1 they found the landscape an ideal expression of reverence for the divine essence they perceived in nature4 ,to contemplate nature was to contemplate the universal god1 and to contemplate a painting of nature1 or better still to paint nature itself1 was to perform a sacrament4 ,the landscape painting was their version of the ,buddhist icon1 and its monochrome abstraction was a profound expression of ,zen aesthetics4 ,like the artists of the ,renaissance1 the ,ashikaga artists worshiped through painting4 ,the result is an art form showing no gods but resonant with spirituality4 ,,chapter ,,ten ,the ,zen ,aesthetics of ,japanese ,architecture ,architecturally the ,zen-inspired ,silver ,pavilion's chief interest lies in the compromise which it exhibits between religious and domestic types1 and a new style of living apartments 7called shoin7 which specialists regard as the true forerunner of the ,japanese dwelling4 ,george ,b4 ,sansom1 ,japan3 ,a ,short ,cultural ,history ,traditional ,zen-style house ,traditional interior w_/ ,zen art alcove ,,ask ,,any ,,japanese why the traditional ,japanese house is bitterly cold in winter and uncomfortably hot in summer1 and he will unfailingly tell you that the design is historically adapted to the climate4 ,inquire about his purpose in rejecting furniture1 thus to kneel daylong on a straw floor mat1 and he will explain that the mat is more comfortable4 ,question his preference for sleeping on a wadded cotton floor pallet instead of a conventional mattress and springs1 and he will reply that the floor provides surer rest4 ,what he will not say1 since he assumes a ,westerner cannot comprehend it1 is that through these seeming physical privations he finds shelter for the inner man4 ,the exquisite traditional ,japanese house has been compared to an outsized umbrella erected over the landscape1 not dominating its surroundings but providing a shaded space for living amid nature4 ,the outside resembles a tropical hut1 while the inside is an interworking of ,mondrian geometries4 ,together they represent the culmination of a long tradition of defining and handling interior space1 using natural materials1 and integrating architecture and setting4 ,the ,japanese house is one of those all too rare earthly creations that transcend the merely utilitarian1 that attend as closely to man's interior needs as to his physical comfort4 ,the classic house evolved over two millennia through the adaptation and blending of two dissimilar architectural traditions--the tropical nature shrine1 which was part of the ,shinto religion of the early immigrants to ,japan1 and the ,chinese model1 beginning with the palace architecture of the ,t'ang dynasty and culminating in the designs used in the monasteries of ,chinese ,ch'an ,buddhism4 ,the early immigrants1 the ,yayoi1 today are believed to have arrived from points somewhere to the ,south1 bringing a theology that defied the earth1 the sun1 and all the processes of nature4 ,their shrines to these gods were like conventional ,oceanic huts4 ,thanks to a peculiar quirk of ,shinto1 which dictates that certain of these wood-and-thatch shrines be dismantled and built anew every two decades1 it is still possible to see these lovely structures essentially as they were two millennia ago4 ,spartan and elegant in their simplicity1 they were lyrically described by the nineteenth- century ,western ,japanophile1 ,lafcadio ,hearn3 ,the typical shrine is a windowless oblong building of un-painted timber with a very steep overhanging roof2 the front is a gable end2 and the upper part of the perpetually closed doors is a wooden latticework--usually a grating of bars closely set and crossing each other at right angles4 ,in most cases the structure is raised slightly above the ground on wooden pillars2 and the queer peaked facade1 with its visorlike apertures and the fantastic projections of beamwork above its gable-angle1 might remind the ,european traveler of old gothic forms of dormer ,there is no artificial color4 ,the plain wood soon turns1 under the action of rain and sun1 to a natural gray varying according to surface exposure from a silvery tone of birch bark to a somber gray of basalt4#a ,although the early immigrants lived first in caves and later in roofed pits dug into the earth1 by the beginning of the ,christian ,era the aristocracy was building elevated dwellings on posts1 with roofs supported not by the walls but by a central horizontal ridge pole suspended between two large columns at either end of the structure4#b ,it was1 in fact1 identical to the ,shinto shrine design described by ,hearn4 ,as a home for the ,shinto gods1 this tropical design may well have been adequate1 since nature spirits are presumably adapted to the rigors of a ,japanese winter1 but the ,yayoi must have found that it enforced an unwelcome communion with the seasons4 ,even so1 ,hearn's description could be applied almost without alteration to the external qualities of the traditional dwelling as it finally evolved4 ,one still finds the thatch roof1 the use of pillars to suspend the floor above the ground1 unfinished natural wood1 and the virtual absence of nails4 ,during the fifth and sixth centuries ,a4,d4 the early ,japanese became aware of the complex ,chinese culture on the ,asian mainland1 and by the beginning of the eighth century they had forsworn the primitive tropical architecture of ,shinto and begun to surround themselves with palaces and temples modeled on the ,chinese4 ,during the ,heian era1 a ,chinese-inspired aristocrat dwelling developed which represented a compromise between ,japanese requirements and ,chinese models4 ,although influenced by ,t'ang ,chinese palaces1 it was the first indigenous ,japanese architectural style and is known as shinden4 ,the shinden mansion was a sprawling complex dominated by a main building facing a pond1 around which were flanked ancillary structures connected to it by open galleries protected only by a roof4 ,these open galleries1 being very much the fashion1 were also built around the outside of all the larger rooms and served as passageways4 ,there were no solid walls inside the buildings2 privacy was obtained by curtains and two-part horizontal doors hinged at the top and attached to the ceiling4 ,adopting ,chinese construction methods1 ,japanese began roofing the buildings with dark clay tiles instead of native thatch1 and walls were frequently surfaced with clay rather than wood planks or woven straw4 ,exterior woods were painted ,chinese vermilion instead of being left to age naturally4 ,furnishings were meager1 and rooms were not identified according to usage2 the building was one large area temporarily divided according to the needs of the moment4 ,instead of chairs there were movable floor mats of woven straw1 while around the exterior of the rooms there were heavy shutters2 these could be removed in summer or replaced by light bamboo blinds1 which rolled down like window shades4 ,lighting was not a prominent feature of shinden mansions1 and in winter the aristocracy huddled around a smoky fire in almost total darkness1 the price of seeing being to open the blinds and freeze4 ,the shinden style suppressed for a time the indigenous affection for simplicity and unadorned natural materials revealed in the earlier1 pre-,heian dwellings4 ,however1 it was never really naturalized1 and it was eventually to be remembered in ,japan's architectural history largely as an aberrant interlude1 whose major legacy was the sense of openness or fluid space in the classic ,zen house4 ,when the samurai warriors of the ,kamakura era 7#aahe-- #accc7 assumed power1 they did not immediately disown the architectural styles of the ,heian nobles1 but merely added 7or1 in some cases1 removed7 features in response to their martial needs and their new ,zen outlook4 ,as the country was at war1 there was no logic in detached rooms and open galleries1 and the samurai immediately tightened up the design1 putting the entire house under one roof4 ,they eliminated the pond and added a surrounding board fence for protection1 even as interior curtains and hinged doors were replaced by sliding doors of paper over a wooden frame4 ,and as rooms became more clearly identified1 they were defined in terms of function4 ,the early influence of ,zen was seen most noticeably in the gradual disappearance of the ornamental aspects of shinden design as the samurai came to prize austerity and frugality4 ,during the ,ashikaga era 7#accc-aegc7 which followed1 when ,zen monks assumed the role of advisers and scribes for the illiterate military rulers1 a special writing desk1 called a shoin1 appeared in the houses of the more influential samurai4 ,the shoin was a window alcove with a raised sill1 which overlooked a private garden and was used by the monks for reading and writing4 ,next to this was a chigai-dana1 a wall cabinet recessed in a niche and used for storing papers and writing1 utensils4 7,these new domestic appointments had been lifted by the ,zen monks directly from the chief abbot's study in ,chinese ,ch'an monasteries47 ,the shoin study room immediately became a focus of fashion among the samurai1 even those who could neither read nor write1 and before long it was the finest room in a house4 ,guests began to be received there and another feature from ,zen monasteries was added3 the art-display alcove1 or tokonoma4 7,in ,chinese ,ch'an monasteries the tokonoma was a special shrine before which monks burned incense1 drank ceremonial tea1 and contemplated religious artwork4 ,that such a shrine should appear in a reception room of a social-climbing samurai's house is vivid testimony to the pervasive influence of the ,zen monk advisers47 ,the samurai also added an entry vestibule called a genkan1 still another feature drawn from ,zen temples4 ,as a result of all these additions and modifications1 shinden architecture was completely transformed into a functional samurai house whose style became known as shoin4 ,forgotten were the ,chinese tile roofs and vermilion paint2 thatch and unfinished woods reappeared4 ,paradoxically1 the supplanting of shinden design by shoin was in many ways merely the ousting of a ,t'ang ,chinese style by a ,sung ,chinese style4 ,however1 the ,t'ang architecture had been that of the ,chinese court1 whereas the ,sung was drawn from ,ch'an monasteries and coincidentally contained many of the aesthetic ideals of the earlier native ,japanese dwellings and shrines4 ,by the waning years of the ,ashikaga era1 the shoin design had influenced virtually every aspect of ,japanese architecture1 bringing into being almost all the qualities of what is now thought of as the traditional ,japanese house4 ,the movable floor mats were replaced by wall-to-wall tatami1 woven straw mats bound with a dark fabric band at either end and standardized to a size of approximately three by six feet4 ,soon rooms were being defined in terms of the number of tatami required for the floor--and modular architecture had been invented4 ,sliding1 but removable paper partitions called fusuma became the standard room dividers1 and the tokonoma became less a religious shrine than a secular display case where vertical monochrome scrolls and flower arrangements were put on view4 ,oddly enough1 one of the few ,chinese innovations the ,japanese persistently chose to ignore was the chair4 ,as a result1 a ,japanese residence has always maintained an entry vestibule where footwear is removed1 something unnecessary for the ,chinese1 who had no reason to consider the floor a couch and could keep their shoes on4 ,one important side effect of this choice is that eye level in the ,japanese room--that is1 the level from which the room1 its art1 and its appointments are viewed--has remained significantly lower than in houses with furniture1 a characteristic that influences the placement of art as well as the layout of the accompanying garden4 ,the culminating style of ,japanese architecture was the sukiya house1 essentially a free-hand rendering of the formal samurai shoin4 ,the sukiya style reflected a number of aesthetic and architectural ideas embodied in the ,zen-inspired ,japanese teahouse1 and it allowed for considerable experimentation with materials and design4 ,less powerful and more delicate than the shoin1 it was in many ways the ultimate extension of ,zen austerity1 even to the point where walls were often left unplastered4 ,the shoin had been the house of warriors2 the sukiya was a style for the common man and as such has contributed significantly to the overall tradition of ,japanese architecture4 ,shoin and sukiya houses1 heirs to the legacy of ,zen monks and later ,zen aesthetes1 are the reference point for what is now understood to be the traditional ,japanese dwelling4 ,the deceptively fragile appearance of the house makes it appear at first an impractical invention for a land faced with recurrent earthquakes4 ,yet its lightness and flexibility1 like those of a judo expert1 actually contribute to its safety4 ,part of the reason is its foundation1 which floats with the earth rather than being anchored rigidly4 ,the traditional house is not held up by walls but by stout columns1 almost a half-foot in diameter1 embedded at their base in niches sunk into large1 individually placed stones which are only partially buried4 ,these columns reach through the house to the ceiling1 whose weight secures them in their precarious foundation4 ,in ordinary houses1 the roof is a steeply sloping1 four-sided pyramid whose light underframe is covered with multiple layers of shingles made from the tough bark of the hinoki tree4 ,a second set of shorter posts1 similarly supported bv partially buried stones1 holds up the platform that is the floor1 a wooden deck of closely fitted planks set about two feet above the earth4 ,the outer perimeter of the flooring becomes a veranda or walkway1 called the engawa1 and the inner space is partitioned into rooms by light walls of paper1 plaster1 and wooden grillwork4 ,the outer walls of the house1 which serve no structural purpose1 are sliding latticework panels called shoji1 which are covered with translucent white rice paper1 bathing the exterior rooms in a soft daytime light4 ,the shoji1 ordinarily installed in pairs approximately six feet high and three feet wide1 unite rather than divide the interior and exterior2 during the summer they slide open to provide fresh air and direct communication with the outdoors4 ,if greater insulation or safety is required1 a second set of sliding panels1 or amado1 similar in appearance to ,western doors1 may be installed outside the shoji4 ,between columns too narrow to accommodate a pair of shoji there may be a solid wall consisting of a two-inch-thick layer of clay pressed into a bamboo and rice-straw framework and finished inside and out with a thin veneer of smooth white plaster4 ,similar walls may be built inside the house where appropriate1 and they and the columns are the house's only solid surfaces4 ,the dull white color and silken texture of the plaster walls contrast pleasantly with the exposed natural grain of the supporting columns4 ,interior rooms are separated by partitions consisting of light wooden frames covered in heavy opaque paper1 often decorated with unobtrusive designs4 ,these paper walls1 called fusuma1 are suspended from tracks attached to overhead crossbeams4 ,they slide to form instant doorways1 or when removed entirely1 convert two smaller rooms into one large apartment4 ,fusuma provide little privacy between rooms except a visual screen1 and it is rumored that this undesired communication increasingly inhibits lovemaking by modern parents4 ,the overhead crossbeams1 installed between the columns at a height of slightly over six feet1 are similar to the columns in diameter and appearance4 ,the ceiling of the rooms is roughly two feet above the crossbeams1 or kamoi1 with the intervening space usually filled either by a vertical open wooden latticework1 the ramma1 or a plaster-and-board combination1 the nageshi4 ,on exterior walls of the ramma is ordinarily a solid extension of the shoji which inhibits air flow from the outside4 ,the kamoi1 nageshi1 and ramma have a structural as well as aesthetic obligation2 they are the only solid lateral supports between the upright columns4 ,the ceiling itself is a light wood latticework over which has been laid a platform of thin boards still in their natural state1 as is all the woodwork4 ,visitors enter through the genkan portico1 where street shoes are replaced by soft-soled slippers1 to prevent scratches on the exposed wooden veranda and hallways4 ,at the entrance to a tatami-carpeted room1 the slippers too are relinquished1 and host and guests are both in stocking feet1 a state that encourages familiarity4 ,the reception room is empty as a cell1 and as it basks in the diffuse light of the shoji1 it seems suspended in time--heedless of the season4 ,the only furniture may be a small central table around which guests and host seat themselves on square cushions4 ,or perhaps there are lamps with rice-paper shades1 one or two knee-high chests of drawers1 and if the weather requires it1 one or more charcoal braziers1 either a small moveable hibachi for hand warming or a larger heater sunk into a center recess in the flooring1 often beneath the table1 or both4 ,the purpose of these is apparently more symbolic than functional1 for they do little to influence the temperature in the paper-walled rooms4 ,arrangements for summer cooling are equally metaphysical2 the shoji are simply thrown open in hopes of snaring wayward breezes1 whose meager cooling is enhanced psychologically by the tinkle of wind bells hung in the verandas4 ,the aesthetic focus of the room is the tokonoma1 or picture recess1 set into one of the plaster walls1 with a raised dais for its floor and an artificial1 lowered ceiling4 ,the tokonoma has a small shoji- covered window at one side which illuminates a hanging scroll1 and there is usually an incense burner 7in recognition of its original monastic function7 or a simple flower arrangement on its floor4 ,adjacent to the tokonoma is the chigai-dana1 a shelved storage area hidden by sliding panels1 which may be used to store kimonos or bedding rather than the writing implements of ,zen monks as in the past4 ,the tokonoma and chigai-dana are separated by a thin dividing wall whose outer edge is fronted by a single polished post1 the toko- bashira1 a natural tree trunk stripped of its bark to reveal its gnarled surface texture4 ,the toko-bashira has the quality of polished driftwood1 intended to bring a touch of raw nature to the otherwise austere and monastic ambience of the room4 ,as the guest kneels on the cushions and sips green tea1 the host may slide aside a rear shoji to reveal the roofless garden of the inner courtyard1 his private abstraction of the natural landscape4 ,flowers are purposely absent1 but in their place may be tiny shaped pines1 a pond1 and receding1 rocky pathways4 ,the mossy stones glisten with dew 7or with water from a recent dousing by the host in preparation for his guests71 and the air is fresh with the scent of greenery4 ,only upon careful inspection does the deception evaporate and the garden reveal itself to be a tiny plot surrounded by a bamboo and plaster fence2 the natural world has been extracted and encapsulated into a single view1 at once as authentic as the forest and as artfully detailed as a ,flemish miniature4 ,this view--a heritage of ,zen shoin design--is vital to the aesthetic magic of the house1 for it brings the works of man and nature together in a way that blurs their distinction4 ,exterior space is united with interior space just as ,zen philosophy identifies the external world as an extension of man's inner life4 ,indeed1 all the subjective aspects of the ,japanese house are ,zen- inspired4 ,the most apparent design feature is the clean lines that mark the boundaries of space1 from the geometrical delineation of floor areas1 brought out by the dark bindings of the tatami1 to the exposed skeletal framework of columns and horizontal beams4 ,by deliberately excluding curved lines 7whose implied sensuality would be at odds with ,zen ideals of austerity7 in the partitioning of space1 the house achieves a geometrical formality both elegant and pure4 ,this sense of free space is further realized by the rigorous exclusion of extraneous ornamentation 7again a ,zen aesthetic precept7 and by placing all essential furnishings in the center of the room rather than around the sides1 as in the ,west4 ,design aesthetics are also served by the emphasis on the natural texture of materials and the contrast realized when different materials 7such as clay walls and exposed wood7 are placed side by side4 ,finally1 the indirect lighting provided by the shoji gives daytime rooms a subjective sense of perpetual afternoon1 mellowing the visual properties of the materials1 softening harsh colors to pastels1 and enhancing the overall feeling of naturalness in the exposed woods4 ,the removable partitions1 both internal and external1 create a sense of interdependent yet fluid space so startling to ,westerners that it is often the first thing they notice in a ,japanese house4 ,the concept is1 of course1 derived from a basic philosophical presumption inherent in all ,zen art1 from ink paintings to ceramics1 that freedom is most keenly perceived when it is exercised within a rigorous framework of constraints and discipline4 ,more important1 and more difficult to define1 is the ,zen concept of shibui1 the studied restraint that might be described as knowing when to stop4 ,shibui1 perhaps more than any other aesthetic principle1 typifies the influence of ,zen on ,japanese ideals4 ,it means many things1 including the absence of all that is not essential2 a sense of disciplined strength deliberately held in check to make what is done seem effortless2 the absence of the ornate and the explicit in favor of the sober and the suggestive2 and the elegance that can be realized when the purest of natural materials are integrated in a formal1 balanced orchestration4#c ,in addition to the aesthetic aspects1 there is also a quality of psychological suggestion stemming from ,zen in the ,japanese house4 ,zen monks early realized that the cell-like austerity of a room could be used to manipulate the consciousness of those caught in its precincts4 ,the impact of this was well described by the early-twentieth-century traveler ,ralph ,adams ,cram3 ,there is something about the great spacious apartments1 airy and full of mellow light1 that is curiously satisfying1 and one feels the absence of furniture only with a sense of relief4 ,free from the rivalry of crowded furnishings1 men and women take on a quite singular quality of dignity and importance4#d ',the singular quality of dignity and importance is one of the most fundamental discoveries of ,zen interior designers4 ,in the absence of decorative distractions1 one must concentrate on his own mind and on the minds of others present4 ,host and guest find their focus on one another has been deliberately enhanced1 breaking down the barriers of separateness and individual identity4 ,each word1 each gesture is rendered richer1 more significant4 ,heinrich ,engel1 who understood the source of the mysterious effects which ,ralph ,adams ,cram could only describe in bewilderment1 has explained this phenomenon3 ,the individual interior room provides an environment that requires man's presence and participation to fill the void4 ,room in the ,western residence is human without man's presence1 for man's memory lingers in the multiple devices of decoration1 furniture1 and utility4 ,room in the ,japanese residence becomes human only through man's presence4 ,without him1 there is no human trace4 ,thus1 the empty room provides the very space where man's spirit can move freely and where his thoughts can reach the very limits of their potential4#e ,stated differently1 the ,japanese room forces introspection on those who enter it alone--a function completely in keeping with the interests of ,zen4 ,souls who have felt the weight of too much liberty 7and undeserved decorator's license7 will find here a solemn retreat and a heightened sense of internal awareness4 ,here as never before one's mind is one's own1 undistracted by the prosaic implements of living with which ,westerners ordinarily engulf themselves4 ,one should be warned1 however1 that this liberation of the consciousness is powerful stuff4 ,the ,japanese ,zen room is a concentration cell which1 although it can unite the minds of those who share it1 can often tell those who enter it alone more than they want to know about their own interior lives4 ,the restraining discipline taught by ,zen has both made the traditional ,japanese house possible and reconciled its inhabitants to the practical difficulties of living in it4 ,although few ,westerners would accept the inconvenience and sometime discomfort of these houses1 many of the early ,zen designers' ideals have begun to be seen in architecture and design in the ,west4 ,it is well known that the ,japanese integration of house and environment influenced ,frank ,lloyd ,wright and that a purging of ornamentation was the credo of the ,bauhaus4 ,the ,japanese principle of modular design is now influential in the ,west1 and we have finally discovered the possibilities for multiple uses of space1 with modern efficiency apartments that combine all living functions1 from dining to entertaining to sleeping1 in a single room4 ,interest has grown recently in the texture of interior materials1 which it is now realized provide a necessary visual warmth1 and there is increasing integration of living areas with gardens1 patios1 and the outdoors1 and a blessed reduction in superfluous decoration1 with the re-establishment of emphasis on clean lines1 open space1 and the quality of light4 ,perhaps most important of all1 we in the ,west are finally taking to heart what the ,japanese ,zen monks knew in medieval times3 that domestic architecture and interiors can and should fulfill a requirement in our lives that is ordinarily served by art4 ,,chapter ,,eleven ,the ,no ,theater ,it is not1 like our theatre1 a place where every fineness and subtlety must give way2 where every fineness of word or of word-cadence is sacrificed to the broad effect2 where the paint must be put on with a broom4 ,it is a stage where every subsidiary art is bent precisely upon upholding the faintest shade of difference2 where the poet may be silent while the gestures consecrated by four centuries of usage show meaning4 ,ezra ,pound and ,ernest ,fenollosa1 ,classic ,noh ,theatre of ,japan ,noh actor with mask ,noh stage with chorus ,,the ,,ashikaga age of ,zen art is remembered today not only for gardens1 painting1 and architecture but also for drama and poetry4 ,the leading political figure of the era1 ,ashikaga ,yoshimitsu1 was himself an accomplished poet in the short verse forms once so popular with ,heian courtier-aesthetes4 ,but the most exalted poetry of the age was that written for the ,no drama1 a literary art form born of ,zen and at once as austere as a stone garden and as suggestive as a monochrome painting4 ,the ,no is performed today virtually as it was six hundred years ago1 and in its ritual symbolism it seems at times a cross between the ,christian ,mass and an ,aeschylean tragedy4 ,the essence of ,zen aesthetic theory is evoked throughout its haunting poetry1 its understated but intense style of acting1 its delicately carved masks1 and its mournful music and songs4 ,like other ,zen arts1 the ,no was fashioned out of materials from distant times and places4 ,the first ,japanese dramatic arts were derived from various forms of ,chinese farces and court dances4 ,the farces1 or gigaku1 were popular with the ,nara aristocracy1 while the dances1 or bugaku1 came into favor with the more refined ,heian court4 ,although the bugaku form undoubtedly influenced ,japanese ideas on the blending of drama and dance1 by the end of the ,heian era it had become a lifeless ceremony for the emperor and his court--a role it still enjoys on occasions when performances are staged for the imperial family4 ,the real origins of the ,no are traceable to a somewhat lustier ,chinese import1 a circus-type entertainment called by the ,japanese sarugaku4 ,in addition to the display of various physical feats of daring1 the sarugaku included farcical playlets and suggestive1 sometimes indecent dances4 ,a common theme seems to have been the lampooning of clergy1 both ,buddhist and ,shinto4 7,in this respect1 the development of native drama in ,japan ran parallel with the resurgence of dramatic art in ,europe after the ,middle ,ages1 as citizens on both sides of the globe taunted the theological enslavement of feudal society by burlesques and dances ridiculing hypocritical authority figures47 ,the studied indecency of early sarugaku was undoubtedly intended to parody the pomposity of ,shinto rituals4 ,but as time went by1 the rustic dance-stories evolved into a more structured drama1 the sarugaku-no- ,no1 which was the thirteenth-century ,japanese equivalent of the ,european morality play4 ,the earlier farces were transformed into comedies known as kyogen 7in which wily servants repeatedly tricked their masters71 which today serve as interlude pieces to relieve the gravity of a program of ,no plays1 just as the early ,greek satyr plays were performed after a trilogy of tragedies in the ,athenian theater4 ,in the early versions of the sarugaku-no-,no1 the performers sang and danced1 but as the form matured a chorus was added to supply the verses during certain segments of the dance4 ,by the middle of the fourteenth century1 about the time of ,chaucer's birth1 ,japanese ,no was already an established dramatic form1 containing all the major elements it has today4 ,it was1 however1 merely village drama1 and so it might have remained except for a chance occurrence in the year #acgd4 ,in that year ,ashikaga ,yoshimitsu1 already shogun at age seventeen1 attended a performance of the sarugaku-no-,no for the first time4 ,the entertainment was a great favorite with his subjects1 and he was trying to establish himself as a man of the people4 ,a particularly well-known actor was scheduled to perform in ,kyoto1 and ,yoshimitsu went to see him4 ,the actor was ,kannami 7#accc-achd71 today famous as the father of the ,no4 ,yoshimitsu was excited by ,kannami1 but he was even more enthralled by the actor's handsome eleven-year-old son ,zeami 7#acfc- #addd71 who also appeared in the play4 ,yoshimitsu became ,kannami's patron1 but young ,zeami he took to his couch 7a common enough occurrence in samurai circles of the age74 ,zeami was devoted to the ,no1 even as ,yoshimitsu became devoted to ,zeami1 and thus began the long marriage of ,zen culture and the ,no theater4 ,through ,yoshimitsu the sarugaku-no-,no came under the influence of the circle of ,zen aesthetes surrounding him1 and what had once been a broad popular entertainment became an aristocratic art4 ,supported by ,yoshimitsu's patronage1 ,zeami became the ,shakespeare of the ,no1 writing the finest plays in the repertoire as well as several volumes of essays on aesthetic theories and acting technique4 ,although ,zeami claimed to have learned everything from his father1 the austere and poetic ,no that came to perfection during the ,ashikaga was largely his own creation4 ,his poetry has never been equaled1 and his handbook of technique has remained the ,no actor's bible4 ,yet he might never have been heard of had it not been for ,yoshimitsu1 who1 in the words of ,donald ,keene1 found the ,no brick and left it marble4 ,the classic ,no stage is a splendid example of ,zen-influenced architecture4 ,the stage is a platform of golden1 polished wood covered by a heavy arched roof supported by stout pillars at each of the four corners4 ,the entire structure projects out into the audience1 almost as though a wooden shrine had been reconstructed in the middle of the auditorium4 ,the actors approach the platform along a wide entry ramp that leads off stage right to a curtained entranceway at the rear of the auditorium4 ,the ramp has three small pine trees spaced evenly along its length1 while on the backdrop of the stage proper there is a painting of a massive gnarled pine4 ,as though to suggest ,shinto origins for the drama1 the stage and entrance ramp are symbolically separated from the audience by an encircling expanse of white sand1 spanned at the very front of the stage by a small symbolic wooden stair4 ,the acting platform is square1 approximately twenty feet by twenty1 with an additional rear area to accommodate the musicians and another area at stage left where the chorus kneels4 ,underneath the stage1 unseen by the audience1 are a number of large clay pots1 a traditional acoustic device to amplify the resonance of the actors' voices4 ,the few properties used in the plays are introduced and removed through an auxiliary entrance at the rear of the stage4 ,the beginning of the play is signaled offstage by the high- pitched wail of a bamboo flute4 ,two attendants with bamboo poles lift back the variegated brocade curtain covering the doorway to the ramp1 and the musicians1 either three or four in number1 enter single file and position themselves in the prescribed order along the rear of the stage--the flautist sitting on the floor ,japanese style1 and the two major drummers on stools they carry with them4 7,if a bass drum is required1 its player must join the flautist on the floor47 ,the ,no flute is not particularly unusual1 except for an exceptionally strident tone1 but the two primary ,no drums are unlike anything in the ,west4 ,although they are of different sizes1 both resemble a large hourglass with an ox hide drawn over either end and held taut by heavy leather cords4 ,the smaller drum1 whose hide surface the players must periodically soften with his breath1 is held on the player's right shoulder and struck with the right hand4 ,its sound is a muffled1 funereal boom1 lower in pitch than that of the other1 larger drum1 the larger drum is held on the player's left knee and struck with the fingers of the left hand1 which may be protected by thimbles of leather or ivory4 ,it produces a sharp1 urgent click1 used to punctuate the cadence of the performance4 ,the bass drum used in certain dramas is played with drumsticks in the ,western manner4 ,the drummers also sometimes provide rhythm by interjecting monosyllabic shouts between drumbeats4 ,as the musicians enter1 so does the chorus1 eight or ten men dressed in formal ,japanese black tie kimonos4 ,they seat themselves ,japanese style in two rows along stage left1 where they must remain immobile for the duration of the play 7which may be well over an hour74 ,since younger ,japanese are less resigned to the persistent ache accompanying the traditional seating posture than their elders1 the chorus usually tends to be well on in years4 ,the chorus fills in dialogue for the actors during dance sequences2 it makes no commentary on the action as does the chorus in ,greek tragedy1 nor does it have any special identity as part of the cast4 ,its members merely take up the voice of the actors from time to time like a dispassionate1 heavenly choir4 ,with chorus and orchestra present1 the overture begins4 ,the first sounds are the piercing lament of the flute and the insistent crack of the drums1 against which the drummers emit deep-throated1 strangled cries4 ,this stunning eruption of sound signals the entrance of the dramatis personae as the brocade curtain is again drawn aside for the first cast member1 usually a waki1 or supporting actor1 who enters with measured1 deliberate pace onto the entrance ramp1 where he advances with a sliding1 mechanical tread toward the stage4 ,the waki1 often representing an itinerant monk dressed in subdued black robes1 begins telling the story1 either in his own voice or aided by the chorus1 establishing the locale and circumstances of the scene about to unfold1 after which he retires to a corner of the stage and seats himself to await the entrance of the protagonist1 or shite4 ,the brocade curtain parts again to reveal the shite1 richly costumed and frequently masked1 who approaches to sing and dance out his story before the waiting waki4 ,the shite's splendid costume contrasts strikingly with the austerity of the stage and the other costumes4 ,on first appearance the shite ordinarily is intended to be a human form1 albeit often a troubled one1 but as his tale unfolds he becomes not so much an actual being as the personification of a soul4 ,if the play is in two parts1 in the second part he may assume his real identity1 often only hinted in the first1 of a spirit from the dead4 ,prefiguring the ,shakespearean soliloquy1 the confessional song of the shite speaks for the universal consciousness as he pours out his tortured inner emotions4 ,as the shite sings1 the knowing waki serves as confessor and provides a foil for any dialogue4 ,the play climaxes with the dance of the shite1 a stiff1 stylized1 sculptural sequence of mannered postures and gestures which draw heavily upon traditional ,shinto sacred dances4 ,with this choreographic resolution the play closes1 and all exeunt single file as they entered--to the restrained acknowledgment of the audience4 ,the ,no repertoire contains five primary categories of plays4 ,there are god plays1 in which the shite is a supernatural spirit1 frequently disguised1 whose divinity is made manifest during the final dance4 ,in warrior plays1 the shite may be a martial figure from the ,kamakura era who speaks in universal terms about his own personal tragedy4 ,woman plays are lyric evocations of a beautiful woman1 often a courtesan1 who has been wronged in love4 ,the fourth category includes a grab bag of dramas often focusing on an historical episode or on the shite being driven to madness by guilt or1 in the case of a woman1 jealousy4 ,finally1 there are demon plays1 in which the shite is a vengeful ogre1 often sporting a flowing red or white wig1 who erupts into a frenzied dance to demonstrate his supernatural displeasure over some event4 ,many of the classic plays are a study of the tortured mental world of the dead4 ,even in warrior plays and woman plays the central character is frequently a spirit from the nether world who returns to chronicle a grievance or to exact some form of retribution from a living individual4 ,plot is deliberately suppressed4 ,instead of a story1 the play explores an emotional experience or a state of mind--hatred1 love1 longing1 fear1 grief1 and occasionally happiness4 ,the traditional components of ,western drama--confrontation1 conflict1 characterization1 self-realization1 development1 resolution--are almost entirely absent4 ,in their place is the ritualized reading of an emotional state that rarely grows or resolves during the play2 it is simply described4 ,the artistic content of the ,no is embodied in the masks1 dances1 and poetry1 all of which deserve to be examined4 ,the masks carved for the ,no drama are the only representative sculptured art form of ,zen2 indeed1 ,zen was basically responsible for the disappearance of a several-hundred-year-old tradition of ,buddhist sculpture in ,japan4 ,during the late ,kamakura era1 ,japanese wood sculpture went through a phase of startling realism2 but the ,zen monks had no use for icons or statues of ,buddhist saints1 and by the beginning of the ,ashikaga era ,japanese statuary was essentially a thing of the past4 ,however1 the ,japanese genius for wood carving had a second life in the ,no masks4 ,no plays required masks for elderly men1 demons1 and sublime women of all ages4 7,the ,no rigidly excluded women from the stage1 as did the ,kabuki until recent times47 ,no masks1 especially the female1 have a quality unique in the history of theater3 they are capable of more than one expression4 ,no masks were carved in such a way that the play of light1 which could be changed by the tilt of the actor's head1 brought out different expressions4 ,it was a brilliant idea1 completely in keeping with the ,zen concept of suggestiveness4 ,no companies today treasure their ancient masks1 which frequently have been handed down within the troupe for centuries1 and certain old masks are as famous as the actors who use them4 ,for reasons lost to history1 the masks are somewhat smaller than the human face1 with the unhappy result that a heavy actor's jowls are visible around the sides and bottom4 ,they also cup over the face1 muffling to some extent the actor's delivery4 ,the guttural ,no songs1 which are delivered from deep in the chest and sound like a curious form of tenor gargling1 are rendered even more unintelligible by the mask4 ,this specialized ,no diction1 which entered the form after it had passed from popular entertainment to courtly art1 is extremely difficult to understand2 today even cognoscenti resort to libretti to follow the poetry4 ,the slow-motion movement around the stage1 which goes by the name of dance in the ,no1 is one of its more enigmatic aspects for ,western viewers4 ,as ,r4 ,h4 ,blyth has described it1 the stillness is not immobility but is a perfect balance of opposed forces4#a ,such movements as do transpire are subtle1 reserved1 and suggestive4 ,they are to ,western ballet what the guarded strokes of a haboku ink landscape are to an eighteenth-century oil canvas4 ,they are1 in fact1 a perfect distillation of human movement1 extracting all that is significant--much as a precious metal is taken from the impure earth4 ,the feeling is formal1 pure1 and intense4 ,as described in a volume by ,william ,theodore de ,bary3 ,when a ,no actor slowly raises his hand in a play1 it corresponds not only to the text he is performing1 but must also suggest something behind the mere representation1 something eternal--in ,t4 ,s4 ,eliot's words1 a moment in and out of time4 ,the gesture of an actor is beautiful in itself1 as a piece of music is beautiful1 but at the same time it is the gateway to something else1 the hand that points to a region as profound and remote as the viewer's powers of reception will permit4 ,it is a symbol1 not of any one thing1 but of an eternal region1 of an eternal silence4#b ,the evocation of an emotion beyond expression--of thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears--is the special ,zen aesthetic realm of yugen4 ,the quality1 heightened to almost unendurable levels by poetry1 is that of a ,zen landscape3 sparse1 monochromatic1 suggestive4 ,universal human emotions are cloaked in obscurity rather than set forth explicitly4 ,the passion is open-ended1 a foreboding sonnet with the last line left for the listener to complete4 ,zeami and other ,no poets believed that the deepest sentiments cannot be conveyed by language2 the poetry merely sets the stage and then sends the listener's imagination spinning into the realm of pure emotion1 there to discover an understanding too profound for speech4 ,in ,western terms1 if ,king ,lear were a shite1 he would speak in understated terms of the darkness of the heath rather than chronicle his own anguish4 ,the concept of yugen1 the incompleteness that triggers1 poetic emotions in the listener's mind is1 as has been previously noted1 an extension of the ,heian concept of aware4 ,like yugen1 aware describes not only the properties of some external phenomenon but also the internal response to that phenomenon4 ,aware originally meant the emotional lift and sense of poignancy experienced in contemplating a thing of beauty and reflecting on its transience4 ,yugen extends this into the realm of eternal verities2 not only beauty but all life fades1 happiness always dissolves1 the soul passes alone and desolate4 ,in an art form that transmits yugen1 none of this is stated2 one is forced to feel these truths through suggestion1 the degree of feeling depending1 of course1 upon the sensitivity of the individual4 ,one can find excellent examples of yugen in almost any ,no drama of the fifteenth century1 like the following from ,the ,banana ,tree 7,basho71 by ,komparu-,zenchiku3 ,already the evening sun is setting in the west1 ,shadows deepen in the valleys1 ,the cries of homing birds grow faint4#c ,here the sense of universal loneliness at nightfall1 the emptiness one feels in a desolate locale1 the ,gothic coldness that penetrates from the physical senses into one's interior emotions1 are all much more fully realized through the simple evocation of the scene than would be possible by detailing them explicitly4 ,the mournful call of evening birds in the bleak1 empty1 windswept fields cuts1 like the ,no flute1 to the very core of one's feelings4 ,the ,no is perhaps the most difficult ,zen art for ,westerners to enjoy4 ,the restrained action transmits virtually nothing of what is occurring onstage1 and the poetry does not translate well4 7,as ,robert ,frost once observed1 in translations of poetry1 it is the poetry that is lost47 ,the music is harsh to the ,western ear2 the chorus interrupts at intervals that seem puzzling2 the strange cries and dances befog the mind4 ,most important of all1 the concept of yugen is not a natural part of ,western aesthetics4 ,the measured cadences of the ,no have1 for the ,westerner1 all the mystery of a religious ceremony wrought by a race of pious but phlegmatic ,martians4 ,yet we can admire the taut surface beauty and the strangely twentieth-century atonality of the form4 ,its enigmatic remoteness notwithstanding1 the ,no remains one of the greatest expressions of ,ashikaga ,zen art4 ,some of ,zeami's texts are ranked among the most complex and subtle of all ,japanese poetry4 ,for six hundred years the ,no has been a secular ,zen ,mass1 in which some of mankind's deepest aesthetic responses are explored4 ,part ,,iii ,,the ,,rise ,,of ,,popular ,,zen ,,culture3 #aegc ,,to ,,the ,,present ,,chapter ,,twelve ,bourgeois ,society and ,later ,zen ,god has given us the ,papacy2 let us enjoy it4 ,pope ,leo ,x1 #aeac ,,the ,,ashikaga was the last era in ,japan entirely without knowledge of ,europe4 ,in #aedb a ,portuguese trading vessel bound for ,macao went aground on a small island off the coast of southern ,japan1 and the first ,europeans in history set foot on ,japanese soil4 ,within three years the ,portuguese had opened trade with ,japan1 and four years after that ,francis ,xavier1 the famous ,jesuit missionary1 arrived to convert the heathen natives to the ,church4 ,for the eclectic ,japanese1 who had received half a dozen brands of ,buddhism over the centuries1 one additional religion more or less hardly mattered1 and they listened with interest to the new preaching1 far from blind to the fact that the towns with the most new ,christians received the most new trade4 ,indeed1 the ,japanese appear to have first interpreted ,christianity as an exotic form of ,buddhism1 whose priests borrowed the ancient ,buddhist idea of prayer beads and venerated a goddess of mercy remarkably like the ,buddhist ,kannon4 ,in addition to bringing a new faith1 the ,portuguese1 whose armed merchant ships were capable of discouraging pirates1 were soon in full command of the trade between ,china and ,japan--a mercantile enterprise once controlled by ,zen monks4 ,still1 the direct influence of ,europe was not pronounced4 ,although there was a brief passion for ,european costume among ,japanese dandies 7similar to the ,heian passion for ,t'ang ,chinese dress71 the ,japanese by and large had little use for ,european goods or ,european ideas4 ,however1 one ,european invention won ,japanese hearts forever3 the smoothbore musket4 ,the ,japanese1 sensing immediately that the ,west had finally found a practical use for the ancient ,chinese idea of gunpowder1 soon made the musket their foremost instrument of social change4 ,overnight a thousand years of classical military tactics were swept aside1 while the ,japanese genius for metal-working turned to muskets rather than swords4 ,musket factories sprang up across the land1 copying and often improving on ,european designs1 and before long ,japanese warlords were using the musket with greater effect than any ,european ever had4 ,the well-meaning ,jesuits1 who had arrived with the mission of rescuing ,japanese souls1 had succeeded only in revolutionizing ,japanese capacity for combat4 ,the musket was to be an important ingredient in the final unification of ,japan1 the dream of so many shoguns and emperors in ages past4 ,the process1 which required several bloody decades1 was presided over by three military men of unquestioned genius3 ,oda ,nobunaga 7#aecd-aehb71 ,toyotomi ,hideyoshi 7#aecf-aeih71 and ,tokugawa ,ieyasu 7#aedb-afaf74 ,the character of these three men is portrayed in a ,japanese allegory describing their respective attitudes toward a bird reluctant to sing4 ,nobunaga1 the initiator of the unification movement and one of the crudest men who ever lived1 ordered bluntly1 ,sing or ,i'll wring your neck4 ,hideyoshi1 possibly the most skillful diplomat in ,japanese history1 told the bird1 ,if you don't want to sing1 ,i'll make you4 ,ieyasu1 who eventually inherited the fruits of the others' labor1 patiently advised the bird1 ,if you won't sing now1 ,i'll wait until you will4 ,today the years dominated by ,nobunaga and ,hideyoshi are known as the ,momoyama era1 and the following two centuries of peace presided over by ,ieyasu and his descendants are referred to as the ,tokugawa4 ,after the ,onin ,war1 which had destroyed the power of the ,ashikaga shogunate and the aristocratic ,zen culture of ,kyoto1 ,japan had become a collection of feudal fiefdoms4 ,the emperor and ,ashikaga shoguns in ,kyoto were titular rulers of a land they in no way governed4 ,into this regional balance of power came ,nobunaga1 who began his military career by killing his brother in a family dispute and taking control of his home province4 ,shortly thereafter he defeated a powerful regional warlord who had invaded the province with an army far outnumbering his own4 ,the victory made him a national figure overnight and destroyed the balance of dynamic tension that had preserved the system of autonomous daimyo fiefs4 ,rival daimyo1 covetous of their neighbors' lands1 rushed to enlist his aid until1 in #aefh1 he marched into ,kyoto and installed a shogun of his own choosing4 ,when the ,buddhists on ,mt4 ,hiei objected to ,nobunaga's practices of land confiscation1 he marched up the hill and sacked the premises1 burning the buildings to the ground and killing every last man1 woman1 and child4 ,this style of ecumenicity had been practiced often enough among the ,buddhists themselves as one sect warred against the other1 but never before had a secular ruler dared such a feat4 ,this act and the program of systematic persecution that followed marked the end of genuine ,buddhist influence in ,japan4 ,nobunaga's armies of musket-wielding foot soldiers were on the verge of consolidating his authority over all ,japan when he was unexpectedly murdered by one of his generals4 ,the clique responsible for the attempted coup was dispatched in short order by ,nobunaga's leading general1 the aforementioned diplomat ,hideyoshi4 ,hideyoshi1 who later became known as the ,napoleon of ,japan1 was not of samurai blood and had in fact begun his military career as ,nobunaga's sandal holder4 ,he was soon providing the warlord with astute military advice1 and it was only a matter of time until he was a trusted lieutenant4 ,he was the first 7and last7 shogun of peasant stock1 and his sudden rise to power caused aristocratic eyebrows to be raised all across ,japan4 ,physically unimposing1 he was one of the seminal figures in world history1 widely acknowledged to have been the best military strategist in the sixteenth-century world1 and he completed the process of unification4 ,the anecdotes surrounding his life are now cherished legends in ,japan4 ,for example1 a favorite military stratagem was to bring a recalcitrant daimyo to the very brink of ruin and then fall back1 offering an incredibly generous peace4 ,however unwise such a tactic might be in the ,west1 it had the effect in ,japan of converting a desperate enemy into an indebted subordinate4 ,with the country at peace1 foreign trade flourishing1 and a rigorous system of taxation in force1 ,hideyoshi found himself with an excess of time and money4 ,his response was to launch the ,momoyama age of ,japanese art4 ,with more power than any ruler since ,ashikaga ,yoshimitsu1 he was in a position to direct taste1 if not to dictate it4 ,this time there were few ,zen monks in attendance to advise him on expenditures 7,hideyoshi continued to keep the ,buddhists under close guard1 a practice as pleasing to the ,jesuits as his harem was displeasing71 and his flamboyant taste had full reign4 ,momoyama art became1 in many ways1 the antithesis of ,zen aesthetics4 ,hideyoshi ordered huge screens to be covered in gold leaf and decorated with explicit still-lifes painted in vibrant primary colors4 ,yet he was no stranger to ,zen ideals2 he kept a famous tea-ceremony aesthete as adviser and lavished huge sums on the special ceramics required for this ritual4 ,in many ways1 the ,zen tea ceremony and tea ceramics became for ,hideyoshi what ,zen gardens1 painting1 and the ,no were for the ,ashikaga4 ,his patronage not only inspired a flourishing of ceramic art2 the tea ceremony now became the vehicle through which ,zen canons of taste and aesthetics were transmitted to the common man4 ,the patronage of the ,ashikaga had furthered ,zen art among the samurai and the aristocracy2 ,hideyoshi's patronage opened it to the people at large4 ,ironically1 the ,zen arts profited from ,hideyoshi's military blunders as well as from his patronage4 ,at one point in his career he decided to invade ,china1 but his armies1 predictably1 never got past ,korea4 ,the enterprise was unworthy of his military genius1 and puzzled historians have speculated that it may actually have been merely a diversion for his unemployed samurai1 intended to remove them temporarily to foreign soil4 ,the most significant booty brought back from this disastrous venture 7now sometimes known as the pottery campaign7 was a group of ,korean potters1 whose rugged folk ceramics added new dimensions to the equipment of the tea ceremony4 ,having maneuvered the shogunate away from ,nobunaga's heirs1 ,hideyoshi became increasingly nervous about succession as his health began to fail1 fearing that his heirs might be similarly deprived of their birthright4 ,the problem was particularly acute1 since his only son1 ,hideyori1 was five years old and scarcely able to defend the family interests4 ,in #aeih1 as the end approached1 ,hideyoshi formed a council of daimyo headed by ,tokugawa ,ieyasu to rule until his son came of age1 and on his deathbed he forced them to swear they would hand over the shogunate when the time came4 ,needless to say1 nothing of the sort happened4 ,tokugawa ,ieyasu was no stranger to the brutal politics of the age1 having once ordered his own wife's execution when ,nobunaga suspected her of treason1 and he spent the first five years after ,hideyoshi's death consolidating his power and destroying rival daimyo4 ,when ,hideyoshi's son came of age1 ,ieyasu was ready to move4 ,hideyori was living in the family citadel at ,osaka defended by an army of disenfranchised samurai and disaffected ,christians1 but ,ieyasu held the power4 ,in the ensuing bloodbath ,hideyoshi's line was erased from the earth1 and the ,christians' faulty political judgment caused their faith eventually to be forbidden to all ,japanese under threat of death4 ,christianity continued to be practiced on a surreptitious basis1 however1 as the ,christians found shelter in1 of all places1 the ,zen monasteries4 ,with the passing of ,hideyoshi's line1 the ,tokugawa family became the only power in ,japan1 a land at last unified and with an imposed peace4 ,viewing foreign influences as a source of domestic unrest1 the ,tokugawa moved to bring down a curtain of isolationism around their shores3 ,christian ,europeans were expelled and ,japanese were forbidden to travel abroad4 ,ieyasu established a new capital at ,edo 7now ,tokyo7 and required the local daimyo to spend a large amount of time and money in attendance4 ,thus he craftily legitimatised his own position while simultaneously weakening that of the daimyo--a technique used with equal effect almost a century later by ,louis ,,xiv1 when he moved his court from ,paris to ,versailles to contain the ,french aristocracy4 ,content with the status quo1 members of the ,tokugawa family felt it could best be preserved by extreme conservatism1 so they sent forth a volley of decrees formalizing all social relationships4 ,time was brought to a stop1 permitting the ,tokugawa to rule unhindered until the middle of the nineteenth century1 when the country was again opened to foreign trade under the guns of ,american warships4 ,during the ,tokugawa regime another ,chinese religion assumed the place in the hearts of the shoguns that ,buddhism had enjoyed in centuries past4 ,this was ,confucianism1 more a philosophy than a religion1 which in its original form had taught a respect for learning1 the ready acceptance of a structured hierarchy1 and unquestioning obedience to authority 7that of both elders and superiors74 ,the ,tokugawa perverted ,confucianism to establish a caste system among their subjects1 separating them into the samurai class1 the peasant class1 and the merchant and artisan classes--the order given here denoting their supposed status4 ,however1 as the ,japanese social system began to evolve1 the idea backfired1 causing great difficulties for the government4 ,the reasons for this are interesting1 for they bear directly upon the eventual role of ,zen culture in ,japanese life4 ,for centuries1 ,japan's major source of income had been agriculture4 ,the samurai were local landholders who employed peasants to grow their rice and who were beholden to a local daimyo for protection4 ,money played no large part in the economy1 since most daily needs could be obtained by barter4 ,but the sudden wealth brought into being by the ,european traders had nothing to do with the amount of rice a samurai's peasants could produce2 it accrued instead to the merchants in port cities4 ,furthermore1 the accommodations required to keep the daimyo and their families in the capital city of ,edo called for artisans and merchants in great number4 ,thus the ,tokugawa government had mistakenly decreed the agricultural samurai and peasants the backbone of the economy at the very moment in history when ,japan was finally developing an urban1 currency-based culture4 ,predictably1 the urban merchants1 who were at the bottom of the ,confucianist social system1 soon had their supposed social betters1 the samurai1 completely in hock4 ,the ,tokugawa struggled hard to keep the townspeople1 now the controllers of the economy1 in their place4 ,merchants were forbidden to build elaborate houses or wear elaborate clothes1 and they were expected to defer to the penurious samurai in all things4 ,japan had never before had a bourgeoisie--the traditional divisions were aristocracy1 warriors1 and peasants-- and consequently popular taste had never really been reflected in the arts4 ,much to the dismay of the ,tokugawa 7and to the detriment of classical ,zen culture71 this was changing4 ,while the aristocrats and warrior families in ,kyoto preserved the older arts of ,zen1 in the bourgeois city of ,edo there were new popular art forms like the ,kabuki theater and the woodblock print1 both eons removed from the ,no and the monochrome landscape4 ,classical ,zen culture was largely confined to aristocratic ,kyoto1 while in boisterous ,edo the townspeople turned to explicit1 exciting arts full of color and drama4 ,in spite of this democratic turn of events1 the ,zen aesthetics of ,kyoto continued to be felt1 largely through the tea ceremony1 which had been officially encouraged in the ,momoyama age of ,hideyoshi4 ,later in the ,tokugawa era the poetic form of ,haiku developed1 and it too was highly influenced by the ,zen idea of suggestiveness4 ,domestic architecture also maintained the ideals of ,zen1 as did ,ikebana1 or flower arranging1 and the ,japanese cuisine1 which employed ,zen ceramics4 ,thus ,zen aesthetics seeped into middle-class culture in many forms1 tempering taste and providing rigid rules for much of what are today thought of as the traditional arts and crafts of the ,japanese4 ,traditional ,buddhism did not fare well during the ,momoyama and ,tokugawa ages3 the militaristic ,buddhist strongholds were either put to rout or destroyed entirely during the ,momoyama1 and ,confucianism had considerably more influence under the ,tokugawa than did ,buddhism4 ,the great upsurge of ,buddhism with its fiery teachers and believing shoguns was over1 as the faith settled into empty ritual and a decidedly secondary station in a basically secular state4 ,the only ,buddhist sect demonstrating any vigor at all was ,zen4 ,the brief flourishing of ,zen during the ,tokugawa era was actually a revival1 for the faith had become static and uninspired during the years of ,nobunaga and ,hideyoshi4 ,the formalized practice of ,zen at the end of the seventeenth century was described by a visiting ,jesuit ,father3 ,the solitary philosophers of the ,zenshu sect1 who dwell in their retreats in the wilderness1 do not philosophize with the help of books and treatises written by illustrious masters and philosophers as do the members of the other sects of the ,indian gymnosophists4 ,instead they give themselves up to contemplating the things of nature1 despising and abandoning worldly things2 they mortify their passions by certain enigmatic and figurative meditations and considerations koan which guide them on their way at the beginning4 4 4 4 so the vocation of these philosophers is not to contend or dispute with another with arguments1 but they leave everything to the contemplation of each one so that by himself he may attain the goal by using these principles1 and thus they do not teach disciples4#a ,the good ,father was describing a ,zen faith that had become a set piece1 devoid of controversy but also devoid of life4 ,the man who brought ,zen out of its slumber and restored its vigor was the mystic ,hakuin 7#afhe-agfh71 who revived the koan school of ,rinzai and produced the most famous koan of all times3 ,you know the sound of two hands clapping2 what is the sound of one hand clapping8 ,hakuin gave a new1 mystical dimension to the ,rinzai school of ,zen1 even as ,hui-neng created nonintellectual ,chinese ,ch'an ,buddhism out of the founding ideas of ,bodhidharma4 ,hakuin was also a poet1 a painter1 and the author of many commentaries on the sutras4 ,yet even when he enjoyed national fame1 he never lost his modesty or his desire for enlightenment4 ,hakuin lived the greater part of his life in the small rural village of his birth4 ,a sensitive1 impressionable child1 he was early tormented by an irrational fear of the fires of the ,buddhist hell as dwelt upon by the priests of his mother's sect1 the ,nichiren4 ,for relief he turned to the ,lotus ,sutra1 but nothing he read seemed to ease his mind4 ,finally he became a wandering ,zen monk1 searching from temple to temple for a master who could give him enlightenment4 ,he studied under various famous teachers and gradually achieved higher and higher levels of awareness4 ,at the age of thirty-two he returned to his home village and assumed control of the ramshackle local ,zen temple1 which he eventually made the center of ,rinzai ,zen in ,japan4 ,word of his spiritual intensity spread and soon novices were flocking to him4 ,his humility and humanity were a shining light in the spiritual dark age of the ,tokugawa1 and he breathed life and understanding back into ,zen4 ,despite ,hakuin1 official ,zen never regained its influence in ,japan4 ,someday perhaps the modern-day ,western interest in ,zen will give it new life somewhere outside ,japan1 but this life will almost certainly be largely secular4 ,indeed1 the influence of ,zen in the ,momoyama and ,tokugawa ages was already more pronounced in the secular world than in the spiritual4 ,the bourgeois arts of these later years were notably less profound than those of the ,ashikaga1 but the spirit of ,zen spread to become infused into the very essence of ,japanese life1 making the everyday business of living an expression of popular ,zen culture4 ,,chapter ,,thirteen ,the ,tea ,ceremony ,chazen ichimi 7,zen and tea are one47 ,traditional ,japanese expression ,the dewy path to teahouse ,,the ,,tea ,,ceremony combines all the faces of ,zen--art1 tranquility1 aesthetics4 ,it is in a sense the essence of ,zen culture4 ,yet this ,zen ritual has been explained to the ,west in so many volumes of wordy gush that almost any description1 including the above1 deserves to be met with skepticism4 ,there has to be more to the tea ceremony than meets the eye--and there is4 ,but before unraveling the unseen threads of this ,zen fabric1 let us pause for a moment to consider the beverage itself4 ,the drinking of tea seems almost to have been the world's second oldest profession4 ,one legend claims that tea was discovered in the year #bgcg ,b4,c41 when leaves from a tea bush accidentally dropped into the campfire cauldron of a ,chinese emperor- aesthete4 ,early ,chinese texts are sometimes vague about the identity of medicinal plants1 but it is clear that by the time of ,confucius 7around #ejj ,b4,c47 tea was a well-known drink4 ,during the ,tang dynasty 7#fah-ijg71 tea leaves were treated with smoke and compressed into a semimoist cake1 slices of which would subsequently be boiled to produce a beverage--a method that was perpetuated for many centuries in ,russia4 ,the ,chinese spiced this boiled tea with salt1 a holdover from even earlier times when a variety of unexpected condiments were added1 including orange peel1 ginger1 and onions4 ,the refined courtiers of the ,sung dynasty 7#ifj-abgi7 apparently found brick tea out of keeping with their delicate tastes1 for they replaced it with a drink in which finely ground tea leaves were blended with boiling water directly in the cup4 ,whipped with a bamboo whisk1 this mixture superficially resembled shaving lather in texture1 although the color could be a fine jade green if fresh leaves were used4 7,this green powdered tea was the drink one day to become enshrined in the ,zen tea ceremony47 ,the ,chinese chronicle of tea ends with the ,ming dynasty 7#acfh-afdd71 which saw the rise of the familiar steeping process1 now the commonly accepted practice worldwide4 ,our ignorance of the earlier methods of tea preparation may be attributed to the ,west's discovery of ,china after the older methods had been discarded4 ,unlike its misty origins in ,china1 the use of tea in ,japan is well authenticated4 ,in the year #gib the ,japanese emperor surprised the court by holding a large tea party at which ,buddhist monks and other notables were invited to sample a curious beverage discovered by his emissaries to the ,t'ang court4 ,tea drinking soon became a fashionable pastime1 occupying a position comparable to taking coffee in eighteenth-century ,europe1 but tea remained an expensive import and little thought was given to cultivation in ,japan4 ,this changed early in the ninth century when tea drinking came to be associated with the new ,buddhist sects of ,tendai and ,shingon4 ,under the supervision of the court1 tea growing was begun near ,kyoto1 where the emperor blessed the bushes with a special sutra in the spring and autumn4 ,tea remained an aristocratic habit for several centuries thereafter and did not become really popular until the late twelfth century1 when the famous ,zen teacher ,eisai reintroduced the beverage upon his return from ,china4 ,eisai also brought back new seeds for planting1 the progeny of which are still growing4 ,chinese ,ch'an monks had long been devoted to tea4 ,in fact1 a famous but apocryphal legend attributes the tea bush to ,bodhidharma1 relating that during his nine years of meditation outside ,shao-lin monastery he found himself nodding and in anger tore off his eyelids and flung them to the ground1 whereupon tea plants sprang forth4 ,there was a reason for the legend4 ,tea had long been used to forestall drowsiness during long periods of meditation4 7,a cup of modern steeped tea contains an average three-quarters of a grain of caffeine1 about half the amount in a cup of coffee47 ,the drinking of tea became ritualized in ,ch'an monasteries1 where the monks would congregate before an image of ,bodhidharma and take a sacrament of tea from a single shared bowl in his memory4 ,this ritual was gradually adopted by ,japanese ,zen monasteries1 providing the forerunner of the solemn moment of shared tea which became the basis of the tea ceremony4 ,the ,japanese aristocracy and the warrior class also took up tea1 and borrowing a custom from the ,sung court1 gave tea-tasting parties1 similar to modern wine-tasting affairs4 ,from the time of ,ashikaga ,takauji to ,ashikaga ,yoshimasa1 these parties were an accompaniment to many of the courtly evenings spent admiring ,sung ceramics and discussing ,sung art theories4 ,although ,zen monks played a prominent role in these aesthetic gatherings1 the drinking of tea in monasteries seems to have been a separate activity4 ,thus the ceremonial drinking of tea developed in two parallel schools3 the aristocracy used it in refined entertainments while the ,zen monks drank tea as a pious celebration of their faith4 ,these two schools were eventually merged into the ,zen- inspired gathering known simply as the tea ceremony1 cha-no-yu4 ,but first there was the period when each influenced the other4 ,zen aesthetic theory gradually crept into the aristocratic tea parties1 as taste turned away from the polished ,sung ceramic cups toward ordinary pottery4 ,this was the beginning of the tradition of deliberate understatement later to be so important in the tea ceremony4 ,zen ideals took over the warrior tea parties4 ,during his reign1 ,yoshimasa was persuaded by a famous ,zen monk-aesthetician to construct a small room for drinking tea monastery-style4 ,the mood in this room was all ,zen1 from the calligraphic scroll hanging in the tokonoma art alcove to the ceremonial flower arrangements and the single cup shared in a sober ritual4 ,after this1 those who would serve tea had first to study the tea rituals of the ,zen monastery4 ,furthermore1 warriors came to believe that the ,zen tea ritual would help their fighting discipline4 ,by the sixteenth century the discipline and tranquility of the ceremony had become fixed1 but the full development of cha-no-yu as a vehicle for preserving ,zen aesthetic theory was yet to come4 ,gradually1 one by one1 the ornate aspects of the earlier ,sung tea parties were purged4 ,the idea took hold that tea should be drunk not in a room partitioned off from the rest of the house1 but in a special thatch-roofed hut constructed specifically for the purpose1 giving tea drinking an air of conspicuous poverty4 ,the elaborate vessels and interior appointments favored in the fifteenth century were supplanted in the sixteenth by rugged1 folk-style pottery and an interior decor as restrained as a monastery4 ,by stressing an artificial poverty1 the ceremony became a living embodiment of ,zen with its distaste for materialism and the world of getting and spending4 ,it remained for a sixteenth-century ,zen teacher to bring all the aesthetic ideas in the tea ceremony together in a rigid system4 ,he was ,sen no ,rikyu 7#aeba-aeia71 who began as the tea instructor of ,nobunaga and continued to play the same role for ,hideyoshi4 ,hideyoshi was devoted to the tea ceremony1 and under his patronage ,rikyu formalized the classic rules under which cha-no-yu is practiced today4 ,the most famous anecdote from ,rikyu's life is the incident remembered as the tea party of the morning glory4 ,as the son of a merchant in a port city1 ,rikyu developed a taste for the new and exotic4 ,at one time he began the cultivation of imported ,european morning glories1 a novel flower to the ,japanese1 which he sometimes used for the floral display accompanying the tea ceremony4 ,hideyoshi1 learning of these new flowers1 informed ,rikyu that he wished to take morning tea with him in order to see the blossoms at their finest4 ,on the selected date1 ,hideyoshi arrived to find that all the flowers in the garden had been plucked2 not a single petal was to be seen4 ,understandably out of temper1 he proceeded to the tea hut--there to discover a single morning glory1 still wet with the dews of dawn1 standing in the tokonoma alcove1 a perfect illustration of the ,zen precept of sufficiency in restraint4 ,tea ceremonies today are held in special backyard gardens1 equipped for the purpose with a waiting shelter at the entrance and a tiny teahouse at the far end4 ,when one arrives at the appointed time1 one joins the two or three other guests in the garden shed for a waiting period designed to encourage a relaxed state of mind and the requisite ,zen tranquility4 ,the tea garden1 known as the roji1 or dewy path1 differs from conventional ,japanese temple gardens in that it is merely a passageway between the waiting shelter and the teahouse4 ,since the feeling is meant to be that of a mountain path1 there are no ponds or elaborate stone arrangements4 ,the only natural rocks in evidence are the stepping stones themselves1 but along the path are a carved stone in the shape of a water basin and a bamboo dipper1 so that one can rinse one's mouth before taking tea1 and a stone lantern to provide illumination for evening gatherings4 ,the unpretentious stones of the walkway1 set deep in natural mossy beds1 divide the garden into two parts1 winding through it like a curving1 natural path4 ,dotted about the garden are carefully pruned pine trees1 azalea bushes clipped into huge globes1 or perhaps a towering cryptomeria whose arching branches protect guests against the afternoon sun4 ,although the garden floor is swept clean1 it may still have a vagrant leaf or pine needle strewn here and there4 ,as one waits for the host's appearance1 the garden slowly begins to impose a kind of magic1 drawing one away from the outside world4 ,when all the guests have arrived1 they sound a wooden gong1 and the host silently appears to beckon them to the tea room4 ,each guest in turn stops at the water basin for a sip4 ,at closer range1 the teahouse turns out to be a rustic thatch-roofed hut with gray plaster walls and an asymmetrical supporting framework of hand-hewn woods4 ,the floor is pitched above the ground as in the traditional house1 but instead of a doorway there is a small square hole through which one must climb on his knees--a psychological design feature intended to ensure that all worldly dignity is left outside4 ,only the humble can enter here1 for each must kneel in the sight of the others present4 ,the interior of the tea room may feel cramped at first4 ,although the room is virtually bare1 there seems little space left after the other guests have knelt about the central hearth4 ,the room is in the sukiya style favored by ,rikyu1 with the walls a patchwork of dull plaster1 raw wood1 a few shoji rice-paper windows1 and a small tokonoma art alcove4 ,the only decoration is a single object on the tokonoma dais and the hanging scroll against the back wall4 ,this impression of simple rusticity is deliberately deceptive1 however1 for the tea room is actually fashioned from the finest available woods and costs considerably more per unit area than the host's home4 ,it is ironic that the sense of poverty and anti-materialism pervading the tea room can be achieved only at enormous expense1 yet this deceit is one of the outstanding creations of ,zen culture4 ,the room and its psychological impact have been eloquently analyzed by the ,zen scholar ,d4 ,t4 ,suzuki4 ,as ,i look around1 in spite of its obvious simplicity the room betrays every mark of thoughtful designing3 the windows are irregularly inserted2 the ceiling is not of one pattern2 the materials used1 simple and un-ornamental 4 4 4 the floor has a small square opening where hot water is boiling in an artistically-shaped iron kettle4 ,the papered shoji covering the windows admit only soft light1 shutting out direct sunshine4 4 4 4 ,as ,i sit here quietly before the fireplace1 ,i become conscious of the burning of incense4 ,the odor is singularly nerve soothing4 4 4 4 ,thus composed in mind1 ,i hear a soft breeze passing through the needle leaves of the pine tree2 the sound mingles with the trickling of water from a bamboo pipe into the stone basin4#a ,the tea ceremony is intended to engage all the senses1 soothing each in turn4 ,as described by ,suzuki1 the organs of sight1 hearing1 and smell are all embraced even before the ceremony begins4 ,the purpose1 of course1 is to create a feeling of harmony and tranquility conducive to the reverential spirit of the ,zen sacrament4 ,the surroundings massage your mind and adjust your attitude4 ,this point is particularly stressed by ,suzuki4 ,where tranquility is lacking1 the art will lose its significance altogether4 4 4 4 ,the massing of rocks1 the trickling of water1 the thatched hut1 the old pine trees sheltering it1 the moss-covered stone lantern1 the sizzling of the kettle water1 and the light softly filtering through the paper screens--all these are meant uniformly to create a meditative frame of mind4#b ,if a multicourse ceremony is in store1 a light meal of hors d'oeuvres and sake is served first4 ,if the dinner hour is near1 it may in fact be a substantial repast1 all of which is eaten from lacquer or porcelain bowls set on a tray on the floor4 ,after the food is consumed1 the guests file out of the teahouse and wait for the host to announce the beginning of the actual tea ceremony4 ,when they return1 the ambience of the tea room has been subtly changed3 the hanging scroll has vanished from the tokonoma to be replaced by a simple vase containing one or two partially opened buds2 and a cheerful charcoal fire1 seasoned with pine needles and a touch of incense1 glows from the sunken hearth in the center of the room there4 ,water is boiling in a kettle1 emitting a sound that suggests wind in a pine forest1 a subtle aural effect caused by small bits of iron attached to the bottom of the vessel4 ,beside the seated host are the implements of the ceremony3 a lacquer or ceramic tea caddy with the powdered green tea 7koicha71 a jar of cold water for replenishing the kettle1 a bamboo dipper1 a new bamboo whisk1 a receptacle for waste water1 a linen napkin for the bowl1 and1 finally1 the tea bowl itself1 best described as a ,zen loving cup or chalice4 ,all the utensils have been selected for their special aesthetic qualities1 but the bowl is always the unchallenged piece de resistance and may well be an heirloom from the hand of a seventeenth-century potter4 ,each guest is also provided with tiny sweet cakes1 to salve his mouth against the bitter tea4 ,with everything at hand1 the host begins to prepare the whipped green tea4 ,it is a seated dance1 an orchestrated ritual1 as deliberate1 paced1 and formal as the elevation of the host in a ,catholic ,mass4 ,all the gestures have been practiced for years1 until they fit together in a fluid motion4 ,first the bowl is rinsed with hot water from the kettle and wiped with a napkin4 ,next the bamboo scoop is used to transport the powdered koicha from the caddy into the bowl1 after which boiling water is added from the bamboo dipper4 ,the host then proceeds1 with measured motions1 to blend the tea with the bamboo whisk1 gradually transforming the dry powder and boiling water into a jade blend as exquisitely beautiful as it is harshly bitter4 ,the guest of honor has the first taste4 ,taking the bowl1 he salutes the host and then samples the preparation1 complimenting the host on its quality4 ,after two more precise sips1 he wipes the lip with a napkin he has brought for that purpose1 rotates the bowl1 and passes it to the next guest1 who repeats the ritual4 ,the last to drink must empty the bowl4 ,curiously enough1 only the host is denied a taste of his handiwork4 ,after the formal drinking of koicha1 the bowl is rinsed and a second batch of tea is made--this time a thinner variety known as usucha4 ,although it is also whipped ,sung-style1 it is considerably lighter in consistency and taste4 ,after the second cup of tea1 the formal part of the ceremony is completed1 and the guests are at liberty to relax1 enjoy sweets1 and discuss ,zen aesthetics4 ,the focus of conversation is usually the tea bowl1 which is passed around for all to admire in detail4 ,comments on the flower arrangement are also in order1 as is a bit of poetry appropriate to the season4 ,what is not discussed--indeed1 what no one wants to discuss--is the world outside the garden gate4 ,each guest is at one with himself1 his place1 and the natural setting4 ,values have been subtly guided into perspective1 spirits purified1 appreciation of beauty rewarded2 for a fleeting moment the material world of dualities has become as insubstantial as a dream4 ,the tea ceremony is the great parable of ,zen culture1 which teaches by example that the material world is a t,thef depriving us of our most valuable possessions--naturalness1 simplicity1 self-knowledge4 ,but it is also much more2 its underlying aesthetic principles are the foundation of latter-day ,zen culture4 ,it is a perfect blending of the three faces of ,zen4 ,first there are the physical art forms themselves3 the tea ceremony deeply influenced architectural tastes1 bringing into being the informal sukiya style to replace the rigid shoin formulas of the samurai house2 the art of flower arrangement1 or ,ikebana1 owes much to the floral arrangements required for the ceremony2 painting and calligraphy were influenced by the understated decorative requirements of the tokonoma hanging scroll2 lacquer ware developed in directions designed to complement the artistic principles of the ceremony utensils2 and1 finally1 the growth of ,japanese ceramic art from the fifteenth century onward was largely due to the particular aesthetic and practical needs of the tea ceremony4 ,the second face of ,zen1 tranquility in a troubled world1 found its finest expression in cha-no-yu1 which demonstrates as no sermon ever could the ,zen approach to life4 ,the third face of ,zen is that of aesthetics4 ,by becoming a vehicle for the transmission of ,zen aesthetic principles1 cha-no-yu has preserved ,zen culture for all times4 ,it has given the people at large a standard of taste1 guaranteeing that certain basic ideals of beauty will always be preserved against the ravages of mechanical civilization4 ,and it is in this connection that we must examine the special features of the tea ceremony introduced by ,hideyoshi's tea master1 ,sen no ,rikyu4 ,to the ancient ,zen ideas of yugen and sabi he brought the new concept of wabi4 ,yugen1 the realization of profundity through open-ended suggestion1 found its finest expression in ,no poetry4 ,sabi grew out of the ,heian admiration for lovely things on the verge of extinction4 ,by the period this curious attitude was extended to things already old1 and so entered the idea of sabi1 a term denoting objects agreeably mellowed with age4 ,sabi also brought melancholy overtones of loneliness1 of age left behind by time4 ,new objects are assertive and striving for attention2 old1 worn objects have the quiet1 peaceful air that exudes tranquility1 dignity1 and character4 ,although there is no word in a ,western language precisely equivalent to sabi1 the ideal is well understood4 ,for example1 we say that the sunburned face of a fisherman has more character than that of a beardless youth4 ,but to the ,japanese sabi is first and foremost the essence of beauty1 whether in a weathered house or temple1 the frayed golden threads of fabric binding a ,zen scroll1 a withered bough placed in the tokonoma alcove1 or an ancient kettle rusty with time4 ,the ideal of sabi1 which became part of the ,zen aesthetic canon of beauty1 was perfectly at home in the tea ceremony1 where even the utensils were deliberately chosen for their weathered look4 ,sabi1 however1 seemed an incomplete ideal to ,sen no ,rikyu4 ,the fact that rich objects are old does not make them less rich4 ,sabi can still encompass snobbery4 ,as tea master for both ,nobunaga and ,hideyoshi1 ,rikyu was so pained by their ostentation that he eventually revolutionized the tea ceremony and created a new aesthetic standard3 wabi1 a deliberate restraint1 which is exemplified in his tea party of the single morning glory4 ,wabi1 now a cornerstone of ,zen aesthetic theory1 is well described in a poem by ,rikyu1 which includes the lines3 ,how much does a person lack himself1 ,who feels the need to have so many things4 ,in a sense1 wabi is the glorification of artificial poverty1 artificial because there must be the element of forced restraint and in genuine poverty there is nothing to restrain4 ,the wabi tea ceremony permits no hint of wealth to be in evidence2 those who enter the tea garden must leave their worldly status at the gate4 ,similarly1 the sukiya-style teahouse must look like a rustic hut--not made out of something new1 for that would destroy sabi1 but not out of expensive antique woods1 either4 ,this ideal extends even to the floral arrangement1 one or at most two buds2 the clothes one wears1 simple not dressy2 the pots and cups1 plain and undecorated4 ,wabi purged the tea ceremony of all its lingering aristocratic qualities1 bringing into being cha-no-yu as it is practiced today4 ,today many ,japanese1 even those who practice neither tea drinking nor ,zen1 know and appreciate the ideals preserved in the ceremony4 ,in recent years the concept of wabi has become the rallying point for those who regret the intrusions of the modern ,west into traditional ,japanese culture1 and cha-no-yu is valued as never before as a lesson in life's true values4 ,,chapter ,,fourteen ,zen ,ceramic ,art ,thou1 silent form1 dost tease us out of thought ,as doth eternity4 ,john ,keats1 ,ode on a ,grecian ,urn ,shino tea bowl ,raku tea bowl ,,although ,,japan had been a nation of potters almost from prehistoric times1 it was only after the rise of ,zen influence and a popular interest in the tea ceremony that ceramics was raised from craft to high art4 ,the great age of ,japanese ceramics occurred several hundred years after the heroic periods of ,chinese ceramic art in the ,t'ang and ,sung dynasties1 but1 as in other cases1 the ,japanese eventually equaled and in some ways surpassed their mainland teachers4 ,the ,stone ,age ,jomon tribes in ,japan created some of the richest figurine art of any of the world's prehistoric peoples4 ,these ,jomon figurines1 fired at low temperatures and rarely over six or eight inches in height1 are a classic puzzle to anthropologists and art historians1 for they sometimes seem ,polynesian1 sometimes pre- ,columbian1 and sometimes pure abstraction in the modern sense of the term4 ,indeed1 certain ,jomon figurines could pass as works of ,picasso or ,miro4 ,at times the features of the body were rendered recognizably1 but usually they were totally stylized and integrated into the figure as part of some larger interest in material and pure form4 ,it was a noble beginning for what would be a permanent ,japanese interest in the look and feel of natural clay4 ,when the ,jomon were displaced around the third century ,b4,c4 by the ,yayoi1 their beautiful figurine art disappeared1 and for several centuries ,japan produced mainly pedestrian crocks and drinking vessels4 ,the few figurines created retained little of the sophisticated ,jomon abstraction4 ,around the turn of the fourth century ,a4,d41 however1 ,yayoi potters found their metier1 and began the famous haniwa figurines1 hollow-eyed statuettes in soft brown clay which were used to decorate aristocratic tombs1 and simple but elegant vases and water pots in low- fired brown clay1 which often were dyed with cinnabar and which give evidence of being thrown on some form of primitive wheel4 ,this domestic ware was in such demand that a class of professional potters came into being--inevitably leading to a gradual falling off of the individualistic character of the pots1 as craftsmen began to mass- produce what had previously been a personal art form4 ,the ,korean ,buddhist culture which reached ,japan in the fifth and sixth centuries brought the ,japanese new techniques for high-firing their stoneware pots1 introducing a process whereby ashes from the kiln were allowed to adhere to the surface of a piece to produce a natural glaze4 ,these new high-temperature pots had a hard surface texture and an ashen- gray color1 while the existing native wares of low-fired porous clays retained their natural brown hues4 ,typically the average ,japanese preferred the natural-colored1 soft clay vessels1 and so the two types of pottery continued to be produced side by side for several hundred years1 with the aristocracy choosing the hard-surfaced mainland-style gray works and the common people continuing to use the simpler1 underrated brown vessels1 which were often fashioned by hand4 ,the importance of this instinctive ,japanese reaction for the later acceptance of ,zen-inspired ceramic art cannot be over-stressed4 ,not only did the ,japanese love of natural clay make them reject glazes for centuries after they had learned the necessary techniques1 they also seem to have had little spontaneous interest in decorating their pots or using high-firing or mechanized techniques for their production1 perhaps because the technology came between man and object1 distancing the potter too far from his handiwork4 ,japanese potters cherished their regional individuality1 and they continued to express their personal sensibilities in their work1 so there were a multiplicity of rural kilns and a wide variety of styles4 ,the passion for ,chinese culture during the ,nara period of the eighth century led to a brief fling with ,tang ,chinese-style three-color glazed wares among the imitative ,japanese aristocracy2 but these seem to have been too much at odds with native instincts1 for they were soon forgotten4 ,after the government moved to ,kyoto and launched the ,heian era1 both the indigenous pottery techniques--the low-fired1 brown1 porous pots for the common people and the high-fired1 gray1 polished bowls for the aristocracy--continued to thrive side by side4 ,however1 technical advances in the high-firing kilns brought about subtle changes in the mock-glazes of the aristocratic wares4 ,it was discovered that if they were fired in an atmosphere where there was abundant oxygen1 the fused particles of fueled ash on the surface would turn amber1 whereas if oxygen was excluded from the kiln1 the surface ash would fuse to a pastel green4 ,thus by varying the baking process1 ,heian potters could produce a variety of light colors1 creating a pottery considerably more delicate than had been possible before4 ,aside from this refined technique for firing1 however1 the ,japanese steadfastly refused to change their traditional methods of making pots4 ,for this reason1 ,japanese ceramics were deliberately kept at a technically primitive stage until the early part of the thirteenth century while the ,chinese were making considerable advances in the art4 ,during the years from the ninth to the thirteenth century1 while the ,japanese isolated themselves from the mainland1 the ,sung ,chinese were learning of new glazes far more subtle and refined than those employed during the ,t'ang4 ,in the early years of the thirteenth century1 when ,japanese monks journeyed to ,china to study the new faith of ,zen1 they were dazzled by the sophisticated new ,chinese wares they encountered4 ,through the offices of ,zen a second revolution in ,japanese ceramics occurred4 ,the instrument for this second revolution 7according to tradition7 was the priest ,dogen1 founder of ,japanese ,soto ,zen1 who on one of his trips to ,china was accompanied by a ,japanese potter known as ,toshiro4 ,toshiro stayed in ,china for six years1 studying the ,sung techniques of glazing1 and on his return he opened a kiln at ,seto1 where he began copying ,sung glazed wares4 ,although he has been called the father of modem ,japanese ceramics1 his attempts to duplicate the highly praised ,sung products were not entirely successful4 ,furthermore1 the wares he did produce1 decorative and thick-glazed1 found no acceptance except among the aristocracy and priesthood1 both of whom favored ,seto wares for the new pastime of drinking ,chinese tea4 ,but while the ,zen aesthetes and tea drinkers amused themselves with ,seto's fake ,sung celadons1 the commoners continued to use unglazed stoneware4 ,all this changed dramatically around the middle of the sixteenth century with the rise of an urban middle class and the sudden popularity of the ,zen tea ceremony among this new bourgeoisie4 ,zen1 which had brought ,chinese glazes to ,japan in the thirteenth century1 sparked the emergence of a brilliant era of glazed ceramic art in the sixteenth4 ,no longer content with primitive stoneware or reproductions of ,chinese vessels1 the potters of ,japan finally developed native styles at once uniquely ,japanese and as sophisticated as any the world has seen4 ,it was another triumph for ,zen culture4 ,rural kilns with long traditions of stoneware water vessels converted to the production of tea-ceremony wares1 and throughout the land the search was on for colored glazes4 ,the craze reached such heights that the shogun generals ,nobunaga and ,hideyoshi rewarded their successful military commanders not with decorations but with some particularly coveted tea-ceremony utensils4 ,although ceramic tea caddies and water jars were required for the ceremony1 the real emphasis was on the drinking bowl1 for this was the piece that was handled and admired at close range4 ,a proper bowl1 in addition to being beautiful1 had to be large enough and deep enough to allow sufficient tea for three or four drinkers to be whisked2 it had no handle and consequently had to be of a light1 porous1 nonconducting clay with a thick1 rough glaze to act as a further insulator and to permit safe handling between drinkers2 the rim had to be thick and tilted slightly inward1 to provide the participants with a pleasant sensation while drinking and to minimize dripping4 ,in other words1 these bowls were as functionally specialized in their own way as a brandy snifter or a champagne glass of today4 ,a number of styles of tea bowl developed during the sixteenth century1 reflecting the artistic visions of various regional potters and the different clays available4 ,what these bowls had in common1 beyond their essential functional characteristics1 was an adherence to the specialized dictates of ,zen aesthetic theory4 ,equally important1 they were a tribute to the historic ,japanese reverence for natural clay4 ,even though they were glazed1 portions of the underlying clay texture were often allowed to show through1 and the overall impression was that the glaze was used to emphasize the texture of the underlying clay1 not disguise it4 ,the colors of the glazes were natural and organic1 not hard and artificial4 ,the social unrest preceding the rise of ,nobunaga caused a number of potters to leave the ,seto area1 site of the fake ,sung production1 and resettle in the province of ,mino1 where three basic styles of tea bowl eventually came to prominence4 ,first there was the ,chinese-style tea vessel1 which had been the mainstay of the older ,seto kilns4 ,yellow glazes1 once the monopoly of ,seto1 were also used at ,mino1 but different clays1 combined with advancing technical competence and a new willingness to experiment1 produced a new ,seto ware that was a rich yellow and considerably more ,japanese than ,chinese4 ,second there was a new1 thoroughly ,zen-style bowl developed by the ,mino potters4 ,it was broader-based than the ,chinese style1 with virtually straight sides1 and it was covered with a thick1 creamy off-white glaze4 ,warm and endearing in appearance1 with a flowing sensuous texture inviting to the touch1 it became known as ,shino4 ,some say ,shino bowls were named after a celebrated master of the tea ceremony1 while others maintain the term was taken from the ,japanese word for white1 shiro4 ,whatever the case1 this was the first glazed ware of truly native origins2 and it marked the beginning of a new ,japanese attitude toward pottery4 ,no longer inhibited by reverence for ,chinese prototypes1 the makers of ,shino let their spontaneity run wild4 ,the new white glaze was deliberately applied in a haphazard manner1 often covering only part of the bowl or being allowed to drip and run4 ,sometimes part of the glaze was wiped off after it had been applied1 leaving thin spots where the brown under-clay could show through after the firing4 ,or bubbles1 bums1 and soot were allowed to remain in the glaze as it was fired4 ,sometimes the white glaze was bathed in a darker coating in which incisions were made to allow the white to show through4 ,at other times1 sketchy designs1 seemingly thrown down with a half-dry brush1 were scribbled on the white bowls so that they appeared to be covered with ,zen graffiti4 ,throughout all these innovations1 the potters seemed to want to produce works as rough1 coarse1 and unsophisticated as possible4 ,before long they had a gray glaze as well1 and finally they produced a shiny black glaze whose precise formulation remains one of the unsolved mysteries of ,momoyama art4 ,the next color to enter the ,mino repertory1 after yellow1 white1 gray1 and black1 was a stunning green4 ,this was the third style of ,mino tea bowl1 and it was invented by a disciple of ,rikyu whose name1 ,oribe1 has been given to an incredible variety of wares--tea bowls1 tea caddies1 water jars1 incense burners1 and a host of dishes for serving food4 ,sometimes the wares were solid green1 but ,oribe also had a habit of splashing the green over one section of a piece1 or allowing it to run into one corner of a plate and freeze there in a limpid puddle4 ,the portions of ,oribe wares not covered with the splash of green were dull shades1 ranging from gray to reddish brown1 and on this background artists began to paint decorative designs- flowers1 geometrical figures1 even small sketches or still-lifes--something new and revolutionary for ,japanese ceramics1 but the forerunner of the profusion of decorative wares that appeared after the ,momoyama4 ,shino had broken the bonds of the centuries of unglazed stoneware and proper copies of ,chinese pots by introducing a native style of glazing and a new aesthetic freedom2 ,oribe led the way into a new world of anything- goes pottery1 with half-glazes1 painted decorative motifs1 and experimentation in new1 hitherto unknown shapes and types of vessels4 ,while the native ,japanese potters at ,mino were expanding their craft1 another important development with far-reaching consequences for the ,zen arts was taking place in the far south of the ,japanese archipelago near the ,korean peninsula4 ,the ceramic arts of ,korea were quite advanced at the beginning of the sixteenth century1 with high-fired glazed wares as heavy and sturdy as the peasant stock from which they sprang4 ,but the pots were made by building up coils of clay and beating them into a solid walled vessel rather than throwing them on a wheel4 ,this combination of high and low seems to have appealed to the ,japanese clans living near the ,korean mainland1 for they brought a number of ,korean potters to the southern city of ,karatsu and started an industry4 ,the staple product of the ,korean craftsman was a crude medium-sized bowl with sloping sides1 used in their homeland for individual servings of rice4 ,the primitive quality of these bowls perfectly suited the growing inverse snobbery of the tea ceremony1 and soon ,japanese aesthetes were drinking tea and admiring the ,zen beauty in the ,korean rice bowl4 ,while the ,mino potters were deliberately making the ,sung tea bowl rougher and rougher 7that is1 adding wabi71 those in ,karatsu found themselves with a foreign bowl ready-made for tea4 ,when ,hideyoshi invaded ,korea during the last decade of the sixteenth century1 he and his generals were careful to kidnap as many ,korean potters as possible1 whom they settled over a large part of ,japan4 ,no longer restricted to a small area in the south1 the ,koreans injected a vigorous transfusion of peasant taste into all of ,japanese ceramic art1 extinguishing the last remnants of the refined ,sung ideals4 ,the ,momoyama tea masters were given a new but still foreign standard of rustic chic perfectly in accord with wabi tea4 ,not surprisingly1 it was ,sen no ,rikyu who synthesized the new native freedom and the fresh influx of mainland technology to create the undisputed glory of ,japanese ceramics--the famous raku4 ,unquestionably ,japan's most original contribution to the history of ceramics1 raku is produced in a manner entirely different from earlier techniques1 and it is impossible to speak of raku without speaking of ,zen4 ,as might be expected1 raku was invented in the ,zen center of ,kyoto1 a city with no previous history of ceramic production1 and it came into being when ,rikyu happened to take a fancy to the roof tiles being produced by a ,korean workman named ,chojiro4 ,rikyu hit upon the notion that the texture and feel of these tiles would be perfect for wabi- style tea1 and he encouraged ,chojiro in the making of a few tea bowls with the materials and firing techniques used for tiles4 ,the bowls ,chojiro made were neither thrown on a wheel nor built up from coils1 but molded and carved like sculpture4 ,a mixture of clays was first blended to gain the desired consistency of lightness and plasticity1 after which a spatula and knife were used to shape a rough-sided1 textured bowl whose sense of process was flaunted rather than obscured--an overt tactile quality perhaps first seen in the ,west in the rough-hewn sculptures of ,rodin4 ,these bowls were fired in a most unconventional manner3 rather than being placed cold in a wood- burning kiln and gradually heated1 baked1 and cooled over a period of days1 they1 like the tiles1 were thrust directly into a torrid charcoal kiln for a blistering thermal shock1 which gave them an instant look of the ravaged face of ancient sabi4 ,raku wares were first made in black with an iron-like glaze that is almost like frozen lava1 but the later repertory included glazes that were partly or wholly red or off-white4 ,unlike the ,shino and ,oribe bowls1 raku pieces were not decorated with designs or spots of color2 they were wabi and sabi with unpretentious1 weathered grace4 ,the last term you think of when seeing raku is ornate4 ,rikyu found raku bowls perfect for the tea ceremony2 they were austere1 powerful1 seemingly wrenched from melted rock4 ,in shape they were broad-based with gently rounded1 one might almost say organically rounded1 sides leading to an undulating lip1 wrapping in slightly over the tea1 thereby holding the heat and preventing drips4 ,not only were they light and porous1 allowing for minimal heat conduction and comfortable handling1 their center of gravity was so low they were almost impossible to tip over1 permitting easy whisking of the powdered tea as they rested on the tatami-matted floor of the tea room4 7,it should be noted that special bowls for summer usage de-emphasized certain of these characteristics3 they were thinner-walled and shallower1 since the object in hot months was to dissipate heat rather than conserve it47 ,but the most appealing qualities of the raku were its sculptural sense of natural plastic form and its soft1 bubbly1 almost liquid glaze1 which virtually invites one to hold it in his lips4 ,also1 the colors of the glazes just happen to contrast beautifully with the pale sea-green of the powdered tea4 ,this was the end of the search for the perfect ,zen tea bowl1 and ,hideyoshi was so pleased with ,chojiro's handiwork that he gave the potter's family a seal bearing the word that would give the form its name3 raku1 meaning pleasure or comfort4 ,chojiro's descendants became the raku dynasty1 as generation after generation they set the standards for others to follow4 ,hideyoshi's act of official recognition meant that ,japanese potters were no longer merely craftsmen1 but fully accredited artists4 ,in later years1 ,japanese ceramics became distinguished in many areas--from the traditional wares produced at a multiplicity of local kilns to a vast new nationwide porcelain industry producing decorative works for both export and home consumption4 ,tea-ceremony vessels were created in great profusion as well1 but1 unfortunately1 genuine art cannot be mass- produced4 ,by the eighteenth century1 the great age of ,zen ceramic art was over1 never to be recovered4 ,today the early wares of the ,zen ,momoyama artists command their weight in gold1 perhaps platinum4 ,this is the great irony of the wabi tea vessels1 if not of all ,zen culture4 ,tea bowls1 the major expression of ,zen art1 seem at once both primitive and strikingly modern4 ,to begin to understand this contradiction we must go back to our own nineteenth century in the ,west1 when tastes ran to decoration for its own sake and the rule of perfect1 symmetrical1 polished form was the aesthetic ideal4 ,into this smug1 serene sea of aesthetic sureties1 which in some ways reached back to the ancient ,greeks1 the ,english critic ,john ,ruskin threw a boulder when he wrote3 ,never demand an exact finish for its own sake1 but only for some practical or noble end4 4 4 4 the demand for perfection is always a sign of a misunderstanding of the ends of art4 4 4 4 ,imperfection is in some sort essential to all we know of life4 ,it is the sign of life in a mortal body4 4 4 4 ,to banish imperfection is to destroy expression1 to check exertion1 to paralyze vitality4 ,all things are literally better1 lovelier1 and more beloved for the imperfections which have been divinely appointed4#a ,ruskin was rediscovering a large piece of ,zen aesthetic theory while laying the groundwork for many of our modern ideals of beauty4 ,to see the similarity1 let us examine for a moment a few of the finer points of ,zen aesthetic theory as exemplified in the classic tea bowls4 ,in form the bowls are frequently asymmetrical and imperfect2 the glaze seems to be a species of moss still in the process of spreading over portions of the sides it somehow never managed to reach1 and it is uneven1 marred by cracks1 lumps1 scratches1 and foreign contaminants4 ,if imperfection is the goal1 these bowls extend well beyond ,ruskin's original standards4 ,but not only are they imperfect1 they also seem old and weathered1 with the natural patina of a dried-up riverbed4 ,they show absolutely no evidence that any conscious attempt was made to create a work of art2 they appear to be completely functional4 ,it is all a deception4 ,master potters spend literally decades perfecting the ,zen art of the controlled haphazard4 ,one of the first principles they honor is wabi1 which deplores nonfunctional decorative objects1 polished surfaces1 artificiality in shape or color1 and anything unnatural to the materials used4 ,works of art without wabi may have superficial external beauty1 but they forfeit inner warmth4 ,bowls out of shape1 with cracks1 blobs1 and ashes in the glaze1 invite us to partake of the process of creation through their asymmetry and imperfection4 ,they also lead us past the surface by virtue of its being deliberately marred4 ,making a bowl with wabi is considerably more difficult than making a smooth1 symmetrical1 perfectly glazed piece4 ,the creation of contrived accidents1 on which much of the illusion of artlessness depends1 is particularly difficult4 ,everywhere there are scars1 contaminants1 spotty glaze--all as deliberate as the decoration on a ,dresden plate2 connoisseurship consists in admiring how the artist managed to make it seem so natural and unavoidable4 ,the same skill goes to make a piece look old1 the essential quality of sabi4 ,by suggesting long years of use1 the bowls acquire humility and richness4 ,there is no need to wear the new off in order to give them character2 they are already mellow and unpretentious4 ,the potter's genius has gone to create the sense of wear1 a quality considerably more difficult to realize than an aura of newness4 ,the potter wants the ,zen connoisseur to understand what he has done3 to see the clay1 to feel and admire its texture1 to appreciate the reasons for the type and color of the glaze4 ',the pieces are carefully contrived to draw attention to both their original elements and the process by which these elements were blended4 ,for example1 a bowl whose glaze only partially covers its clay provides a link with the natural world from which it came4 ,its texture springs out1 like that of a piece of natural driftwood4 ,at the same time1 the bald clay1 the streaks of glaze1 the hand-formed sculpture1 allow one to recognize the materials and the process of formation4 ,when the potter keeps no secrets1 one enters into the exhilaration of his moment of creation4 ,once again1 this is a deliberate aesthetic device1 reminding one that the potter is an individual artist1 not a faceless craftsman4 ,the look and feel of ,zen ceramics make them seem forerunners of the modern craft-pottery movement1 but few modern potters are blessed with the rich legacy of ,zen aesthetic ideals that made these ceramics possible4 ,the secret lies deep in ancient ,zen culture1 which taught the ,momoyama masters how the difficult could be made to seem effortless4 ,,chapter ,,fifteen ,zen and ,haiku ,music1 when soft voices die1 ,vibrates in the memory-- ,percy ,bysshe ,shelley ,,haiku ,,is ,,regarded by many as the supreme achievement of ,zen culture4 ,the supposedly wordless doctrine of ,zen has been accompanied throughout its history by volumes of koan riddles1 sutras1 and commentaries1 but until ,haiku was invented it had never enjoyed its own poetic form1 nor might it ever have if the rise of popular ,zen culture had not happily coincided with a particularly receptive stage in the evolution of traditional ,japanese poetry--an accident seized upon by a great lyric poet of the early ,edo period to create an exciting new ,zen form4 ,haiku today is a worldwide cult1 with ,california poets striving to capture in ,english the spareness and fleeting images that seem so effortless in the ,japanese of the early ,zen masters4 ,on first acquaintance ,japanese seems an unlikely language for poetry4 ,it is a syllabic tongue with each syllable ending in a vowel or the nasal n2 consequently there are only five true rhymes in the entire language4 ,italian poets overcame a somewhat similar handicap1 but their language is stressed1 which ,japanese is not4 ,with no usable rhymes and no stress1 how can the music of poetry be created8 ,over the centuries1 the ,japanese solved this problem by replacing meter with a system of fixed syllables--either five or seven--for each line4 7,this means that some lines of ,japanese poetry may have only one word1 but the system seems to work47 ,in place of rhyme1 ,japanese poets learned to orchestrate the pitch of individual vowels within a single line to give a sense of music4 ,this device was illustrated by the ,american poet ,kenneth ,rexroth using a poem from the classical era4 7,the vowels are pronounced as in ,italian47 ,fu-ta-ri yu-ke-do ,yu-ki su-gi ga-ta-ki ,a-ki ya-ma wo ,i-ka-de ka ki-mi ga ,hi-to-ri ko-ge na-mu ,in his analysis of this particular poem1 ,rexroth has pointed out that the first and last lines contain all five vowels in the language1 whereas the middle lines contain various combinations and repetitions1 which produce a pronounced musical effect4#a ,the ability to create such music without rhyme1 one of the finer achievements of ,japanese poetry1 is far more difficult than might at first be imagined and leads naturally to assonance1 or the close repetition of vowel sounds1 and alliteration1 the repetition of similar consonant sounds4 ,some of the vowels have psychological overtones1 at least to the sensitive ,japanese ear3 u is soft1 a is sharp and resonant1 o connotes vagueness tinged with profundity4#b ,various consonants also convey an emotional sense in a similar manner4 ,another clever device of the early ,japanese versifiers was the use of words with double meanings4 ,one example of this is the so-called pivot word1 which occurs approximately halfway through a poem such as the above and serves both to complete the sense of the first part of the poem with one meaning and to begin a new sense and direction with its second meaning4 ,this can at times produce a childish effect1 and it does not always elevate the overall dignity of the verse4 ,another use of double meaning is far more demanding4 ,since the ,japanese kana script is entirely phonetic and allows for no distinction in spelling between homonyms1 words which sound alike but have different meanings1 it is possible to carry two or more ideas through a poem4 7,a somewhat labored example in ,english might be1 ,my tonights hold thee more1 ,my two knights hold the moor4 ,if these were written alike and pronounced alike1 then the poem could mean either or both47 ,the first meaning may be a concrete example of a lover pining for his love1 and the second a metaphor4 ,ideally1 the two meanings support each other1 producing a resonance said to be truly remarkable4 ,the early ,japanese poets overcame the limitations of the ,japanese language both by attuning their ears to the music of the words and by capitalizing on the large incidence of homonyms4 ,they settled the matter of meter1 as noted1 by prescribing the number of syllables per line1 with the principal form being five lines with syllable counts of #e1g1e1g1 and #g4 ,this thirty-one-syllable poem1 known as the waka1 became the ,japanese sonnet and by far the most popular poetic form during the ,heian era4 ,almost all a poet can do in five lines1 however1 is to record a single emotion or observation4 ,the medium governed the message1 causing ,japanese poets early on to explore their hearts more than their minds4 ,the waka became a cry of passion2 a gentle confirmation of love2 a lament for the brevity of blossoms1 colored leaves1 the seasons1 life itself4 ,a sampling of waka from the early classical era shows the aesthetic sense of the seasons and lyric charm of these verses4 ,tsuki ya aranu ,can it be that the moon has changed8 ,haru ya mukashi no ,can it be that the spring ,haru naranu ,is not the spring of old times8 ,waga mi hitotsu wa ,is it my body alone ,moto no mi nishite ,that is just the same8#c ,judged on its concentrated power alone1 for this is virtually all an ,english reader can evaluate1 this poem is a masterpiece4 ,its content can be condensed into five lines because much of its impact lies in its suggestiveness4 ,it is1 however1 closed-ended1 with no philosophical implications other than a wry look at human perceptions4 ,haiku added new dimensions to ,japanese poetry4 ,the early aristocratic era gave ,japanese poetry its form1 the five-line waka1 and its subject matter1 nature and the emotions4 ,later the familiar ,japanese idea that life is but a fleeting moment and all things must blossom and fade was added4 ,one critic has noted that as this idea took hold1 poems gradually changed from praise of the plum blossom1 which lasts for weeks1 to praise of the cherry blossom1 which fades in a matter of days4 ,hisakata no ,on a day in spring ,hikari nodokeki ,when the light throughout the sky ,haru no hi ni ,warms with tranquility4 ,shizugokoro naku ,why is it with unsettled heart ,hana no chiru ran ,that the cherry flowers fall8#d ,japanese poetry of the pre-,zen period has been handed to us primarily in a few famous collections4 ,the first great anthology of ,japanese poetry is the ,manyoshu1 a volume of verses from the middle of the eighth century4 ,a glance through the ,manyoshu shows that the earliest poets did not confine themselves to five-line verses1 but indulged in longer verses on heroic subjects1 known as choka4 ,the tone1 as ,donald ,keene has observed1 is often more masculine than feminine1 that is1 more vigorous than refined4 ,as sensibilities softened in the early part of the ,heian era and native verse became the prerogative of women1 while men struggled with the more important language of ,china1 the feminine tone prevailed to such an extent that male writers posed as women when using the native script4 ,the next great collection of verse1 the ,kokinshu1 published in the tenth century1 was virtually all five- line waka concerned with seasons1 birds1 flowers1 and fading love1 and embracing the aesthetic ideals of aware1 miyabi1 and yugen4 ,as the aristocratic culture gradually lost control in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries1 a new verse form1 derived from the waka1 came into being3 renga4 ,this form consisted of a string of verses in the repeated sequence of #e1g1e and #g1g syllables per line--in reality a related series of waka but with the difference that no two consecutive two-or three-line verse sequences could be composed by the same individual4 ,at first this new form seemed to offer hope of freeing poets from the increasingly confining range of subject matter prescribed for the waka4 ,unfortunately1 the opposite happened4 ,before long the renga was saddled with a set of rules covering which verse should mention what season2 at what point the moon1 cherry blossoms1 and the like should be noted2 and so forth4 ,little creativity was possible under such restrictions4 ,versifying became1 in fact1 a party game much in favor with provincial samurai and peasants alike in times4 ,while the remaining ,kyoto aristocrats tried to keep their renga in the spirit of the classical waka1 with allusions to ,chinese poems and delicate melancholy1 the provincials threw renga parties whose only aesthetic concern was adherence to the rules of the game4 ,during the ,ashikaga age1 renga and sake parties were the most popular forms of entertainment1 but renga's only genuine contribution to ,japanese poetry was the use of the vernacular by provincial poets1 which finally broke the stranglehold of ,heian feminine aesthetics4 ,by the beginning of the ,momoyama era1 linked verse had run its course and the time was ripe for a new form4 ,the new form was ,haiku1 which was nothing more than the first three lines of a renga4 ,the waka had been aristocratic1 and the best renga provincial1 but the ,haiku was the creation of the new merchant class4 7,to be rigorously correct1 the form was at first called haikai1 after the first verse of the renga1 which was called the hokku4 ,the term ,haiku actually came into use in the nineteenth century47 ,although the ,haiku was a response to the demands of the merchant class1 its composers almost immediately split into two opposing groups1 superficially similar in outlook to the older classical and provincial schools4 ,one group established a fixed set of rules specifying a more or less artificial language1 while the other turned to epigrams in the speech of the people4 ,the form was on the way to becoming yet another party game when a disenchanted follower of the second school broke away and created a personal revolution in ,japanese verse4 ,this was the man now considered ,japan's finest poet1 who finally brought ,zen to ,japanese poetry3 the famous ,haiku master ,basho 7#afdd-afid74 ,basho was born a samurai in an age when it was little more than an empty title1 retained by decree of the ,edo 7,tokyo7 government4 ,he was fortunate to be in the service of a prosperous daimyo who transmitted his interest in ,haiku to ,basho at an early age4 ,this idyllic life ended abruptly when ,basho was twenty-two3 the lord died1 and he was left to shift for himself4 ,his first response was to enter a monastery1 but after a time went to ,kyoto to study ,haiku4 ,by the time he was thirty he had moved on to ,edo to teach and write4 ,at this point he was merely an adequate versifier1 but his technical competence attracted many to what became the ,basho school1 as well as making him a welcome guest at renga gatherings4 ,his poems in the ,haiku style seem to have relied heavily on striking similes or metaphors3 ,red pepper pods6 ,add wings to them1 and they are dragonflies6#e ,this verse is certainly open-ended insofar as it creates a reverberation of images in the mind1 and1 what is more1 the effect is achieved by the comparison of two concrete images4 ,there is no comment2 the images are simply thrown out to give the mind a starting point4 ,but the overall impact remains merely decorative art4 ,it reflects the concept of aware1 or a pleasing recognition of beauty1 rather than yugen1 the extension of awareness into a region beyond words4 ,when he was about thirty-five1 ,basho created a ,haiku that began to touch the deeper regions of the mind4 ,this is the famous ,kare-eda ni ,on a withered branch karasu-no tomari-keri a crow has settled-- aki-no-kure autumn nightfall4#f ,as a simple juxtaposition of images the poem is striking enough1 but it also evokes a comparison of the images1 each of which enriches the other4 ,the mind is struck as with a hammer1 bringing the senses up short and releasing a flood of associations4 ,its only shortcoming is that the scene is static2 it is a painting1 not a happening of the sort that can sometimes trigger the sudden sense of ,zen enlightenment4 ,perhaps ,basho realized that his art had not yet drunk deeply enough at the well of ,zen1 for a few years after this poem was written he became a serious ,zen student and began to travel around ,japan soaking up images4 ,his travel diaries of the last years are a kind of ,haiku poetics1 in which he extends the idea of sabi to include the aura of loneliness that can surround common objects4 ,zen detachment entered his verses2 all personal emotion was drained away1 leaving images objective and devoid of any commentary1 even implied4 ,more important1 the ,zen idea of transience appeared4 ,not the transience of falling cherry blossoms but the fleeting instant of ,zen enlightenment4 ,whereas the antilogic koan anecdotes were intended to lead up to this moment1 ,basho's ,haiku were the moment of enlightenment itself1 as in his best-known poem3 ,furu-ike ya ,an ancient pond kawazu tobi-komu ,a frog jumps in mizu-no-oto ,the sound of water4 ,these deceptively simple lines capture an intersection of the timeless and the ephemeral4 ,the poem is said to have described an actual occurrence1 an evening broken by a splash4 ,the poet immediately spoke the last two lines of the poem1 the ephemeral portion1 and much time was then devoted to creating the remaining static and timeless part4 ,this was as it should be1 for the inspiration of a ,haiku must be genuine and suggest its own lines at the moment it occurs4 ,zen eschews deliberation and rational analysis2 nothing must come between object and perception at the critical moment4 ,with this poem ,basho invented a new form of ,zen literary art1 and ,haiku was never the same afterward4 ,to write this kind of poem1 the artist must completely disengage--if only for an instant--all his interpretive faculties4 ,his mind becomes one with the world around him1 allowing his craft to operate instinctively in recording the image he perceives4 ,for a moment he is privy to the inexpressible truth of ,zen--that the transient is merely part of the eternal--and this instantaneous perception moves directly from his senses to his innermost understanding1 without having to travel through his interpretive faculties4 ,earlier ,zen writings in both ,japan and ,china had described this process1 but none had captured the phenomenon itself4 ,by catching the momentary at the very instant of its collision with the eternal1 ,basho could produce a high-speed snapshot of the trigger mechanism of ,zen enlightenment4 ,in a modern metaphor1 the ,haiku became a ,zen hologram1 in which all the information necessary to re-create a large three-dimensional phenomenon was coded into a minuscule key4 ,any interpretation of the phenomenon would be redundant to a ,zen adept1 since the philosophical significance would re-create itself spontaneously from the critical images recorded in the poem4 ,thus a perfect ,haiku is not about the moment of ,zen enlightenment2 it is that moment frozen in time and ready to be released in the listener's mind4 ,haiku is the most dehumanized of all poetry4 ,instead of the artist's sensations and feelings1 we get simply the names of things4 ,by ,western standards they are hardly poems at all1 merely a rather abbreviated list4 ,as the critic-poet ,kenneth ,yasuda has pointed out1 a ,haiku poet does not give us meaning1 he gives us objects that have meaning2 he does not describe1 he presents4#g ,and unlike the poetry of the ,no1 ,haiku seems a form strangely devoid of symbolism4 ,the tone seems matter-of- fact1 even when touching upon the most potentially emotional of subjects4 ,take1 for example1 ,basho's poem composed at the grave of one of his beloved pupils4 ,tsuka mo ugoke ,grave mound1 shake too6 waga naku koe wa ,my wailing voice-- aki-no-kaze the autumn wind4#h ,no betrayal of emotion here1 simply a comparison of his grief- ridden voice1 a transient thing1 with the eternal autumn wind4 ,it is a ,zen moment of recognition1 devoid of emotion or self-pity1 and yet somehow our sympathies spring alive1 touching us in a way that the early classical poems on the passage of time never could4 ,love in ,haiku is directed toward nature as much as toward man or woman4 ,part of the reason may be the stylistic requirement that every ,haiku tell the reader the season4 ,this is done by the so-called season word1 which can either be an outright naming of the season 7such as the autumn wind above7 or some mention of a season-dependent natural phenomenon1 such as a blossom1 a colored leaf 7green or brown71 a summer bird or insect1 snow1 and so on4 ,the tone is always loving1 never accusatory 7a tribute to the nature reverence of ancient ,japan71 and it can be either light or solemn4 ,chirps of insects1 songs of birds1 scents of blossoms1 usually serve as the transient element in a ,haiku1 whereas water1 wind1 sunshine1 and the season itself are the eternal elements4 ,ume-ga-ka ni ,with the scent of plums notto hi-no deru on the mountain road--suddenly1 yama-ji kana sunrise comes6#i ,this is nature poetry at its finest1 full of all the detached reverence and affection of ,zen4 ,it is also impassive and accepting3 nature is there to be enjoyed and to teach the lessons of ,zen4 ,basho's ,haiku discover an instant of heightened awareness and pass it on unaltered and without comment4 ,the poem is as uncolored with emotion as is the world it so dispassionately describes4 ,it is up to the reader to know the proper response4 ,it hardly needs to be said that ,basho's poems must be interpreted on several levels3 not only do they describe a moment in the life of the world1 they are also symbols or metaphors for deeper truths1 which cannot be stated explicitly4 ,underneath a vivid image of a physical phenomenon is a ,zen code pointing toward the nonphysical4 ,not only was ,basho ,japan's finest lyric poet1 he was also among the finest interpreters of ,zen4 ,basho left a large following4 ,the ,haiku was established as ,japan's foremost poetic form1 and to touch upon every ,haiku poet would require an encylopedia4 ,however1 three other ,haiku masters were outstanding4 ,the first is ,buson 7#agae-aghc71 also a well-known painter1 whose blithe if somewhat mannered style reflected the gradual dissolution of severe ,zen ideals in favor of the lighter touch preferred by the prosperous merchant class4 ,buson was also master of the classical double entendre so beloved by the aristocratic poets of the classical era4 ,the first example given here is a subtle reference to the theme of transience1 set in the context of an exchange of love poems1 while the second is a somewhat ribald jest about the one-night stand4 ,hen-ka naki ,no poem you send ao-nyobo yo in answer--,oh1 young lady6 kure-no haru ,springtime nears its end4#aj ,mijika yo ya ,the short night is through3 kemushi-no ue ni on the hairy caterpillar1 tsuyu-no-tama little beads of dew4#aa ,buson could also be serious and moving when he tried1 as with the following1 one of his most admired works4 ,mi-ni-shimu ya ,the piercing chill ,i feel3 bo-sai-no kushi my dead wife's comb1 in our bedroom1 neya ni fumu under my heel 4 4 4#ab ,buson clearly had less ,zen about him than ,basho1 but his verses suited the temper of his age1 and he strongly influenced both students and contemporaries1 although not the next great ,haiku master1 ,issa 7#agfb- #ahbf71 who was a romantic provincial through and through1 immune to the fancy phrasing of the sophisticated ,buson school4 ,issa is the sentimental favorite in the canons of ,japanese ,haiku4 ,he used simple1 even colloquial language1 and he brought heartfelt love to all things he touched1 great and small4 ,although he was not immersed in the heavier aspects of ,zen1 his lighthearted approach to life was well in accord with the latter clays of the ,zen revival4 ,his ,haiku style seems the literary equivalent of the comic ,zen drawings of ,hakuin 7#afhe--agfh7 or ,sengai 7#agea-ahcg74 ,there is also a ,zen quality to his rejection of the literary conventions of the time4 ,yet ,issa was not consciously a rebel2 rather1 he was a simple1 sincere man who wrote sincerely of simple things4 ,his approach to nature was as honest in its own way as ,basho's1 but ,issa was happy to let his own personality and response shine through1 while ,basho deliberately circumvented his own emotions4 ,orphaned at an early age and seeing to the grave all the children born during his lifetime 7as well as two of his three wives71 ,issa seems to have known little but hardship4 ,much of his life was spent as an itinerant poet-priest1 an occupation that allowed him to learn the life of the people while also keeping him close to the earth4 ,a compendium of his life's experiences and a fine sampling of his ,haiku were recorded in his famous book ,the ,year of ,my ,life1 which seems to have been his answer to ,basho's travel diaries4 ,however1 his humanity was far distant from ,basho's lonely sabi4 ,for condensed effect1 compare the following with ,wordsworth's ,solitary ,reaper4 ,yabu-kage ya ,in the thicket's shade1 tatta hitori-no and all alone1 she's singing-- ta-ue-uta the rice-planting maid4#ac ,perhaps his most touching poem1 which shames into oblivion all the transient dew posturing of a thousand years of classical ,japanese verse1 is the famous ,haiku written on the death of one of his children4 ,tsuyu-no-yo wa ,the world of dew tsuyu-no-yo nagara ,is the world of dew sari nagara ,and yet 4 4 4 ,and yet 4 4 4#ad ,issa's rustic1 personal voice was not a style to be copied1 even if the city poets had wished to do so1 and ,haiku seems to have fallen into the hands of formula versifiers during the mid- nineteenth century4 ,in the waning years of the century1 the last of the four great ,haiku masters rose to prominence3 ,shiki 7#ahfg-aijb71 whose life of constantly failing health was as adversity-plagued as ,issa's1 but who actively took up the fight against the insincere parlor versifiers then ruling ,haiku4 ,no wandering poet-priest1 ,shiki was a newspaperman1 critic1 and editor of various ,haiku little magazines4 ,the ,zen influence that ruled ,basho's later poetry is missing in ,shiki1 but the objective imagery is there-- only in a tough1 modern guise4 ,shiki's verse is an interesting example of how similar in external appearance the godless austerity of ,zen is to the existential atheism of our own century4 7,this superficial similarity is undoubtedly the reason so much of ,zen art seems modern to us today--it is at odds with both classical and romantic ideals47 ,thus a completely secular poet like ,shiki could revolutionize ,haiku as a form of art-for-art's-sake without having to acknowledge openly his debt to ,zen4 ,hira-hira to ,a single butterfly ,kaze ni nigarete ,fluttering and drifting ,cho hitotsu ,in the wind4#ae ,with the poems of ,shiki1 the influence of ,zen had so permeated ,haiku that it was taken for granted4 ,much the same had occurred with all the ,zen arts2 as the dynamic aspects of the faith faded away1 all that was left were the art forms and aesthetic ideals of ,zen culture4 ,the rules of the ancient ,zen masters were there as a theme for the modern arts1 but mainly as a theme on which there could be variations4 ,zen culture as an entity was slowly dissolving1 becoming in modern times merely a part of a larger cultural heritage4 ,,chapter ,,sixteen ,private ,zen3 ,flowers and ,food ,european food-- ,every wretched plate ,is round4 ,traditional ,japanese poem ,,the ,,spread ,,of ,,zen culture from the mansions of the samurai to the houses of the bourgeoisie meant ultimately that ,zen aesthetics would touch even the most routine features of daily life4 ,nowhere1 perhaps1 is this more noticeable than in ,japanese cuisine and flower arranging4 ,as we have seen1 the tea ceremony was the great preserver of higher ,zen ideals of art1 but this ceremony1 for all its pretensions to refined poverty1 is essentially the province of the prosperous4 ,it requires space for a garden1 a special--and frequently expensive--house1 and utensils whose properly weathered look can be obtained only at a price4 ,even a simple ,zen garden is hardly available to a modern ,japanese living in a cinderblock apartment building4 ,everyone1 however1 can practice the classical art of arranging flowers in a manner reflecting the precepts of ,zen4 ,a flower arrangement is to a large garden what a ,haiku is to an epic poem--a symbolic1 abbreviated form whose condensed suggestiveness can encapsulate the larger world4 ,similarly1 the ,zen ideals of wabi1 or deliberate understatement1 and sabi1 the patina of time1 can be captured almost as well in the display of food--in both its artistic arrangement on a plate and the tasteful ceramics employed--as in the arts and ceramics of the tea ceremony4 ,thus a properly conceived serving of seasonal and subtly flavored foods accompanied by a ,zen-inspired flower arrangement can be an evervday version of the tea ceremony and its garden1 embodying the same aesthetic principles in a surrogate form just as demanding of ,zen taste and sensibility4 ,it will be recalled that ,zen itself is said to have originated when the ,buddha silently turned a blossom in his hand before a gathering on ,vulture ,peak4 ,the lotus blossom was one of the foremost symbols of classical ,buddhism for many centuries2 indeed the earliest ,japanese flower arrangements may have been merely a lotus floating in a water- filled vessel set before a ,buddhist altar4 ,to the ancient ,buddhists1 the flower was a symbol of nature1 a momentary explosion of beauty and fragrance embodying all the mysteries of life's cycle of birth and death4 ,the early ,japanese1 who saw in nature the expression of life's spirit1 naturally found the flower a congenial symbol for an abstract philosophy like ,buddhism4 ,in the years preceding ,zen's arrival in ,japan1 a parallel but essentially secular taste for flowers permeated the aristocratic court civilization of the ,heian1 where lovers attached sprays of blossoms to letters and eulogized the plum and cherry as symbols of life's transient happiness4 ,indeed1 it is hardly an exaggeration to describe blossoms as the foremost symbol of ,japan's great age of love poetry4 ,exactly when the ,japanese began the practice of arranging flowers in pots for decorative purposes has never been satisfactorily determined4 ,perhaps not surprisingly1 the first well- known exponent of floral art seems to have been the famous ,zen aesthete ,ashikaga ,yoshimasa 7#adce-adij71 builder of the ,silver ,pavilion4 ,however1 ,yoshimasa merely popularized an art that was considerably more ancient4 ,ikebana1 or flower arranging1 had for some time been transmitted as a kind of secret cult by a line of priests who had called themselves ,ikenobo4 ,just what role ,zen and ,zen art theory played in this priestly art is questionable1 for early styles were florid and decorative4 ,at first glance1 it may seem strange that the flower arrangements of the ,ikenobo priests should have captured the interest of ,yoshimasa and his circle of ,zen aesthetes during the high age of ,zen culture1 since the ,ikebana of this period1 far from showing the spareness characteristic of ,zen garden arts1 was an exuberant symbol of the world at large1 rather like a complex mandala diagram of some esoteric sect wherein all components of the universe are represented in a structured spatial relationship4 ,this early style of formal flower arranging1 now known as ,rikka1 was later codified into seven specific elements1 each symbolizing some aspect of nature--the sun1 the shade1 and so forth4 ,there were three main branches in an arrangement and four supporting branches1 each with a special name and a special aesthetic-symbolic function4 ,as with most art forms preceding the modern age1 the distinction between religious symbolism and purely aesthetic principles was not well defined1 and artists often preferred to use philosophical explanations as a means of transmitting those rules of form they instinctively recognized to be most satisfying4 ,not surprisingly1 given the ,zen ideals of the age1 ,rikka-style flower arrangements were asymmetrical and intended to suggest naturalness as far as possible4 ,although complex1 they were by no means artificial1 seeming instead a happy accident of nature4 ,as with ,zen gardens1 great artifice was used to give the impression of naturalness4 ,since the elaborate ,rikka style was supported by an equally elaborate theory and required total discipline1 flower arranging acquired many of the qualities of a high art4 ,certainly the arrangement of flowers in the ,west never approached anything like the formality and rules of technique surrounding ,japanese floral displays1 and for this reason we sometimes have difficulty in accepting the idea that it can be considered a genuine art form4 ,but then we have never seriously considered the flower a primary religious symbol--a role that1 to the ,eastern mind1 automatically makes it a candidate for artistic expression4 ,the religion of ,zen1 with no particular god to deify1 turned to flowers and gardens as symbols of the spirit of life4 ,the influence of ,zen on the ,rikka arrangement was more implicit than direct1 and a wholly ,zen flower style had to await the coming of the famous tea-ceremony master1 ,sen no ,rikyu4 ,rikyu predictably found the ,rikka style entirely too lavish for understated wabi aesthetics and introduced a new style known as ,nageire1 which was informal and spontaneous in appearance4 ,since it was for display at the tea ceremony1 it was called chabana1 or tea flowers4 ,instead of an elaborate seven-point design1 the teahouse ,nageire-style consisted of one or two blossoms stuck in a pot without any hint of artificiality4 ,the ,nagiere was not1 of course1 an undisciplined art--it was merely intended to seem so4 ,great care was taken to position the bud and its few surrounding sprigs into a perfect artistic composition that would seem natural and spontaneous4 ,the chabana version of the ,nageire style is the ultimate ,zen statement in living materials4 ,pared down from the ,rikka style1 it became a powerful1 direct expression of ,zen ideals4 ,the difference has been well expressed by ,shozo ,sato3 ,rikka arrangements grew ultimately from a philosophic attempt to conceive of an organized universe1 whereas ,nageire arrangements represent an antiphilosophic attempt to achieve immediate oneness with the universe4 ,the ,rikka arrangement is an appropriate offering to be placed before one of the many icons of traditional ,buddhism1 but the ,nageire arrangement is a direct link between man and his natural surroundings4 ,one style is conceptual and idealistic2 the other1 instinctive and naturalistic4 ,the difference is similar to that between the arduous philosophic study associated with traditional ,buddhism and the direct enlightenment of ,zen ,buddhism4 7,the ,art of ,arranging ,flowers4 ,new ,york3 ,abrams1 #aife74 ,although the ,nageire is still the preferred style for the teahouse1 it is a bit too austere1 not to mention demanding1 for the average ,japanese home4 ,the rising middle class of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries sought a compromise between the ,rikka and ,nageire1 and finally developed a simplified ,rikka style known as ,seika1 which made use of only the three main stems of the full ,rikka arrangement4 ,today various styles flourish1 together with experimental modern schools which permit rocks1 driftwood1 and other natural materials in their compositions4 ,yet throughout all the schools--and they number in the thousands--the idea remains that flowers are a shorthand representation of man's connection with nature4 ,zen ideals are never far distant1 even in the most abstract modern compositions4 ,if the ,japanese attitude toward flowers differs from that of the ,west1 their approach to dining differs even more4 ,the almost universal ,western attitude toward ,japanese cuisine was voiced many centuries ago by the ,european visitor ,bernardo do ,avila ,giron1 who declared1 ,i will not praise ,japanese food for it is not good1 albeit it is pleasing to the eye1 but instead ,i will describe the clean and peculiar way in which it is served4#b ,beauty counts as heavily as taste at a formal table1 and to say ,japanese food is served is like calling the members of a string quartet fiddlers4 ,the ,japanese devote more artistic resources to the rites of food than any other people on earth4 ,entire magazines are devoted to supplying housewives with the latest culinary creations3 not new recipes but new ways to display dishes created according to well-known formulas4 ,a new condiment is not sought so much as a new color1 and a new sauce is of less interest than a new saucer4 ,indeed1 a fine restaurant may prize its ceramics almost as much as its chef4 ,yet for all its beauty1 the food seems to be oddly deficient in pronounced flavors4 ,this characteristic a ,japanese will be the first to admit1 but with pride rather than apology4 ,strong flavors are to a modern ,japanese what bold colors were to the ,heian aesthetes--unrefined1 obvious gratifications for those lacking in cultivated discernment4 ,a connoisseur is one who can distinguish the subtle difference in taste among various species of raw mushrooms or different fermentations of bean curd4 ,a cultivated ,japanese can tell you not only what species of raw fish he is tasting1 but the number of hours it has been away from the sea4 ,a conscientious ,japanese chef would no more think of serving a vegetable not scrupulously fresh than he would drown it in a heavy sauce4 ,furthermore1 he would most prefer to serve it entirely raw1 thereby preserving intact all its subtle natural flavor and texture4 ,japanese cuisine1 which is a water-based art as compared to the oil- based cooking of ,china or the butter-based dishes of ,france1 is now known and appreciated worldwide4 ,dining in a ,japanese restaurant in the far-flung corners of the globe can be as formal as a fine ,continental meal or as expedient as a grilled-chicken-and-noodle emporium4 ,however1 whether formal or casual1 it will lack the air of solicitude that a really discerning ,japanese host can bring to a specially planned banquet4 ,since dining at his own home would do no honor to you1 the guest1 chances are he will entertain you at an inn or restaurant where he knows the chef1 but he will still plan the meal1 working out all the finer details with the cook4 ,there will be few surprises on the menu1 for the food is governed by the season4 ,only the freshest vegetables-- preferably those ripening to their finest that week--and the primest sea fare will be permitted4 ,upon entering the dining room you will know you have been selected as the guest of honor when you are requested to sit with your back to the art alcove1 or tokonoma1 a practice dating from rowdier days of the ambush when this represented the one location in a paper-walled room sure to be backed by a solid wall4 ,after seating formalities are resolved1 the host will call for tea4 ,if the season is spring1 the variety selected may be shincha1 a dainty green brew steeped from the freshly plucked early leaves of the ,japanese tea bush4 ,when you realize that even your beverage has been brought fresh from the fields1 you begin to understand the subtleties of seasonal tastes in store4 ,indeed1 in late spring and summer the table will present delicacies only hours from the soil4 ,first to arrive may be a tray crowded with ceramic saucers1 no two alike in shape or glaze1 each offering a condiment or plant of the season4 ,slices of dark1 pickled ginger1 the traditional astringent1 may be arranged on a diminutive round plate of blue and white porcelain1 which stands adjacent to a rough-textured1 gray square bowl heaped with slivers of fresh cucumber1 its brilliant green contrasting with the splash of vellow from a bouquet of its own blossoms sprinkled across one corner of the dish4 ,these may be joined by tender bamboo shoots from the hillside4 7,slowly you begin to notice that the color and texture of each dish has been chosen to contrast and complement those of its contents47 ,added to this fanciful course may be a pale brown dish of lotus-root slivers1 each garnished with a mound of green horseradish4 ,next at hand might well be a pale yellow saucer holding sheets of dried seaweed alongside a thin slice of the porous white ,japanese turnip1 sliced so thin as to be transparent4 ,if the season is fall instead of spring1 there could be a thin rectangular dish with a crinkled black glaze containing a single maple leaf1 on which might be displayed thinly sliced raw mushrooms skewered with pine needles and set in a display of gourd strands4 ,next may come a cold omelet1 whose fluffy strata of egg have been wrapped like a cinnamon roll around layers of dark seaweed4 ,the omelet's exterior will have been glazed to an almost ceramic polish and garnished with a white radish sauce1 light and piquant4 ,after the omelet may come fish1 raw sashimi in a plethora of varieties from freshwater carp to sea bream to the 7sometimes lethal7 fugu4 ,the subtleties in taste and texture between the many species available are to the ,japanese what fine wines are to the ,western connoisseur4 ,yet the chef's real genius has gone into the careful cutting and display of the fish4 ,the red back meat of the tuna must be cut into thick slices because of its tenderness1 but the fatty pink meat from the belly can be cut into thin strips4 ,the size of the slices governs how they are displayed4 ,the display and garnishing of the sashimi is an important testing ground for the chef's artistic originality4 ,after all1 the fish are raw1 and beyond making sure that they are fresh and of high quality1 there is little to be done about the flavor4 ,therefore the chef must become an artist if the sashimi are to be memorable4 ,the banquet may continue with soup1 often created from fish stock and fermented soybean paste called miso4 ,the soup arrives in closed lacquer bowls1 on the lids of which will be embellished a design of the season1 perhaps a bamboo shoot or a chrysanthemum blossom4 ,beneath this lid is a tranquil sea of semitransparent marine broth1 tinted amber and seasoned with delicate green scallion rings and cubes of bland white soybean curd4 ,the bottom of the bowl may shelter a family of thumbnail- sized baby clams1 still nestled in their open shells4 ,the soup hints of the field and the sea1 but in delicate nuances1 like an ink painting executed in a few suggestive strokes4 ,the parade of tiny dishes continues until the host's imagination falters or your appetite is conquered4 ,green beans1 asparagus1 lotus root1 carrots1 tree leaves1 legumes 4 4 4 the varieties of plants will seem virtually endless4 ,each taste and texture will be slightly different1 each color subtly orchestrated4 ,yet it all seems perfectly natural1 as though the world of mountain and sea had somehow presented itself at your table to be sampled4 ,you become acutely aware of the natural taste of the plants ripening in the fields outside at that very moment4 ,but to enjoy this cuisine you must sharpen your senses2 no flavor is allowed to be dominant1 no spice overwhelming4 ,you must reach out with your sensibilities and attune yourself to the world around you4 ,the haute cuisine of ,japan is known as kaiseki1 the name of the special meal served with the ,zen tea ceremony4 ,kaiseki is the great preserver of cuisine aesthetics in ,japan4 ,the tea ceremony1 the supreme transmitter of ,zen culture1 also happens to be the preserver of ,japan's finest ideals in the realm of food4 ,the governing principle of kaiseki is that the foods served should be natural1 even as an unpainted traditional house reveals its fresh woods4 ,whereas artificiality would draw a diner's spirit away from the real world1 naturalness brings him closer to it4 ,the colors1 of both the foods and the ceramics1 are meant to suggest nature4 ,the servings are simple1 never elaborate or contrived1 and the foods chosen must never be obviously expensive4 ,a host is expected to display his skill and imagination in combining delicate flavors1 not his wealth or extravagance in being able to buy the most expensive items he can find4 ,again it is the ,zen idea of wabi1 a deliberate turning away from the ostentatious4 ,but to speak of ,zen dining in terms of flavor is to miss a good part of the pleasure4 ,the display of glazed ceramic dishes on a ,japanese table is carefully orchestrated by color and shape to form a unified1 naturalistic1 asymmetrical aesthetic whole4 ,the sensitive ,japanese regards the ,western weakness for marshaled arrays of matched china as a demonstration of limited artistic vision4 ,all the concepts of beauty developed in the tea ceremony have been transmitted to the ,japanese formal dining experience1 and a dimension has been added3 in a formal meal the ceramics are decorated with foods2 the various foods are positioned1 down to the last bean1 with care almost worthy of the stones in a ,zen garden1 and the color and texture of each is attuned to the color and texture of its dish4 ,thus dining becomes a display of art and design that tests the aesthetic discernment of both host and guest4 ,perhaps in no other land is the serving of food so manifestly both a form of art and an expression of philosophy4 ,but it seems less incredible if viewed merely as the last convolution of ,zen culture4 ,from monks to modern housewives1 ,zen culture has touched every aspect of ,japanese life4 ,there are1 of course1 other voices and other rooms in the complex world of ,japanese cultural history1 but when you think of the finest moments in ,japanese civilization1 more often than not you find yourself thinking of ,zen4 ,,chapter ,,seventeen ,the ,lessons of ,zen ,culture ,it is not surprising if the religious need1 the believing mind1 and the philosophical speculations of the educated ,european are attracted to the symbols of the ,east1 just as once before the heart and mind of men of antiquity were gripped by ,christian ideas4 ,carl ,gustav ,jung1 ,archetypes of the ,collective ,unconscious ,,every ,,major ,,zen cultural form is designed to operate on the mind in some manipulative1 non-,western fashion4 ,if we look carefully1 we find that not one of the ,zen forms has a real counterpart in ,western culture4 ,zen archery and swordsmanship seem almost a species of hypnotism4 ,zen gardens are a bag of tricks and specifically designed to deceive one's perception4 ,zen painting is a product of the nonrational counter mind2 although it requires training at least as rigorous as any that a ,western academy could supply1 at the critical moment the training is forgotten and the work becomes wholly spontaneous4 ,no drama uses clever devices of suggestion to push the mind into areas of understanding too profound for words1 while the open-ended ,haiku is a spark igniting an explosion of imagery and nonrational perception in the listener's mind4 ,the traditional ,japanese house is a psychological chamber from floor to ceiling4 ,zen ceramics by subtle deceptions destroy our impulses to categorize1 forcing us to experience directly materials1 process1 and form4 ,the tea ceremony is still another exercise in deliberately altering one's state of mind1 this time under the guise of a simple social occasion4 ,it seems almost as if the ,zen arts were intended to be an object lesson to us on the limitations of the senses in defining reality4 ,just as the koan taunt the logical mind1 the ,zen arts1 by toying with perception1 remind us that there is a reality not subject to the five senses4 ,in ,eastern philosophy1 although seeing involves the senses1 it must ultimately transcend them4 ,zen culture has been devised over the centuries to bring us in touch with a portion of ourselves we in the ,west scarcely know--our nonrational1 nonverbal side4 ,whereas ,ch'an masters of a thousand years ago were devising mind exercises to short-circuit and defeat the limiting characteristics of the rational side of the mind1 the idea of the counter mind has only recently found experimental validation--and hence intellectual respectability--in the rationalist ,west4 7,as one example of many1 recent experiments at ,harvard ,university found that questions demanding 4 4 4 verbal 4 4 4 processes result in the greatest left brain hemispherical activation 4 4 4 while emotional questions elicit the greatest right hemispheric activation4#a7 ,apparently not only did the ,ch'an masters intuitively realize the existence of the nonverbal half of the mind during the ,t'ang era 7#fah- #ijg71 but they1 and later the ,japanese1 used it to create a spectrum of art and cultural forms which exploits1 strengthens1 and sharpens these same nonverbal faculties4 ,zen cultural forms are the perfect physical proof of the strength of the counter mind4 ,even those using language 7the ,no and ,haiku7 rely more on suggestion than on words4 ,indeed1 the very language of ,japan was recently described by a ,japanese scholar in terms that make it sound almost like an intuitive1 counter-mind phenomenon3 ,english is a language intended strictly for communication4 ,japanese is primarily interested in feeling out the other person's mood1 in order to work out one's own course of action based on one's impression4#b ,this difference in approach to language1 in which it is seen as a virtual barrier to communicating what is really significant 7one's subjective response71 appears to be a side effect of ,zen culture4 ,as a ,japanese critic recently observed1 ,a corollary to the ,japanese attitude toward language might be called the aesthetics of silence---making a virtue of reticence and a vulgarity of verbalization or open expression of one's inner thoughts4 ,this attitude can be traced to the ,zen ,buddhist idea that man is capable of arriving at the highest level of contemplative being only when he makes no attempt at verbalizations and discounts oral expression as the height of superficiality4#c ,finally1 ,zen cultural forms use the nonverbal1 nonrational powers of the mind to produce in the perceiver a complete sense of identification with the object4 ,if a ,zen art work is truly successful1 the perceiver has no sense of ,i and it4 ,if reflection or analysis is required1 the work is of no more use than a joke whose punch line needs explanation4 ,one's mind must immediately experience something beyond the work4 ,even as the eye cannot see itself without a mirror1 so it is with the mind4 ,the inducing of introspection turns out to be a deliberate function of ,zen art--the forcing of the mind past the surface form of an art work and into a direct experience of a greater truth4 ,the ,zen arts are1 we realize at last1 completely internalized4 ,they depend as much on the perception of the viewer or participants as they do on any of their own inherent qualities4 ,for this reason they can be sparing and restrained4 7,they also happen to be perfectly suited to a land that1 over the centuries1 has been as physically impoverished as ,japan47 ,by using small- scale1 suggestive arts that depend to a large extent on the special perception of the audience for their impact1 ,zen artists were able to provide immense satisfaction with only a minor investment of resources4 ,it is rather like the relation of radio to television drama4 ,given an audience with a good imagination1 a radio dramatist or a ,zen artist can achieve the intended effect through suggestion4 ,this is what ,sir ,george ,sansom had in mind when he remarked upon the important part played by aesthetic feeling in the enrichment of ,japanese life4 ,among ,japanese of all classes1 an instinctive awareness of beauty seems to compensate for a standard of well-being which to ,western judgement seems poor and bleak4 ,their habit of finding pleasure in common things1 their quick appreciation of form and color1 their feelings for simple elegance1 are gifts which may well be envied by us who depend so much for our happiness upon quantity of possessions and complexity of apparatus4 ,such happy conditions1 in which frugality is not the enemy of satisfaction1 are perhaps the most distinctive features in the cultural history of ,japan4#d ,zen culture1 working with the already highly developed vocabulary and capacity for perception developed in the ,heian era1 unlocked powerful new techniques that have made ,japanese culture a special case in the annals of world civilization4 ,perhaps the best case in point is the stone garden at ,ryoan-ji1 which is a triumph of pure suggestiveness4 ,it is clearly a symbol--but a symbol of what8 ,it is clearly an invitation to open one's perception--but open it to what8 ,the work gives no hint4 ,with ,ryoan-ji ,zen artists finally perfected the device of suggestiveness to the point where it could stand on its own4 ,the garden seems almost to be a natural object1 like a sunset or a piece of driftwood4 ,the impact of a traditional ,zen room is similar4 ,it simply amplifies whatever powers of understanding the viewer already possesses4 ,of itself it is a void4 ,by relying so strongly on perception1 the ,japanese have created a strikingly original way of using and experiencing art4 ,western critics for several hundred years have argued about the function of art1 the responsibilities of the audience vis-a-vis a work of art1 the varying types of perception1 and so on1 but they have never dealt with the peculiar phenomenon of ,zen art1 where the work can be merely a device to start the mind going4 ,how do you write a critical analysis of a work of art that only takes shape after it gets inside your head8 ,it is interesting to watch critic after critic struggling with ,ryoan-ji1 trying to explain its power1 only to collapse at last in defeat4#e ,similarly1 the most effective ,haiku are those about which the least can be said4 ,ryoan-ji takes your breath away when you first see it2 like a good ,haiku it slams you against a moment of direct experience4 ,yet when you try to analyze it1 you find there is nothing significant to say4 ,ryoan-ji may not even be a work of art by our ,western definition2 it may be some sort of mind device for which we have no word4 ,similarly1 ,haiku's relation to ,western poetry may be limited to typography4 ,the arts of the ,west--painting1 poetry1 drama1 literature1 sculpture--are all enhanced by critical analysis4 ,when we speak of ,milton1 we really speak of ,milton as seen through many layers of critical explanation and interpretation4 ,the ,zen arts have inspired no such body of critical analysis1 perhaps because they do not have many of those qualities we normally think of as aesthetic4 ,does ,ryoan-ji have beauty in any conventional sense8 ,it merely exists4 ,it is1 if anything1 anti-art4 ,if we in the ,west wish to borrow from the complex world of ,zen culture1 we must first begin to train and intensify our powers of perception4 ,in this regard1 one is tempted to speculate that the ,japanese must have learned to turn these powers down as well as up4 ,how else can one explain the ,japanese ability to ignore so much of the blight of modern civilization while maintaining a national fetish for such purely aesthetic phenomena as cherry blossoms8 ,as ,donald ,richie observed1 ,japan is the most modern of all countries perhaps because1 having a full and secure past1 it can afford to live in the instantaneous present4#j ,alongside all the aesthetic indignities of the twentieth century1 the ancient sense of taste appears to have survived undiminished4 ,a concern for beauty is still very much a part of everyday life in ,japan4 ,whereas the appreciation of art is usually the pursuit of a privileged few in ,western countries1 in ,japan the aesthetic quality of everyday objects is commonly acknowledged to be fully as important as their function4 ,it is not uncommon to discover a rustic day laborer arranging flowers1 practicing the tea ceremony1 or fashioning a garden in his spare time4 ,the peasant may be as sure a judge of tea bowls as the prince4 ,even the match boxes from the sleaziest bars are minor works of art1 as are bundles and packages from even the most modern commercial establishments4 ,a sense of beauty is not considered unmanly2 indeed1 it is regarded as essential to the good life1 harking all the way back to the virile samurai4 ,zen culture's primary lesson is that we should start trying to experience art and the world around us rather than analyzing them4 ,when we do this1 we find that everything suddenly comes alive4 ,if we can take this power of direct perception1 sharpened by the devices of ,zen art1 back to everyday activities1 we will find a beauty in common objects that we previously ignored4 ,flowers--indeed individual petals--become objects of the most intense loveliness4 ,when we see the world with a ,zen-honed awareness1 our sense of the beauty in objects supplants our desire to possess them4 ,if we allow the ancient creators of ,zen culture to touch our lives1 we open wider the doors of perception4 99 99 99 ,references ,,chapter #b ,,the ,,prelude ,,to ,,zen ,,culture #a4 ,the ,diary of ,murasaki ,shikibu1 from ,diaries of ,court ,ladies of ,old ,japan1 trans4 ,omori1 ,annie ,shepley1 and ,kochi ,doi 7,tokyo1 #aice2 reprint ed41 ,new ,york1 ,,ams ,press71 p4 #adg4 #b4 ,the ,pillow ,book of ,sei ,shonagon1 trans4 ,ivan ,morris 7,new ,york3 ,columbia ,university ,press1 #aifg71 p4 #dj4 #c4 ,ibid41 p4 #bad4 #d4 ,the ,diary of ,murasaki ,shikibu1 p4 #gd4 #e4 ,the ,kokin ,waka-shu1 trans4 ,h4 ,h4 ,honda 7,tokyo3 ,hoku-seido ,press1 #aigj71 p4 #ce4 #f4 ,see ,wm4 ,theodore de ,bary1 ed41 ,sources of ,japanese ,tradition1 vol4 #a 7,new ,york3 ,columbia ,university ,press1 #aieh74 #g4 ,earl ,miner1 ,an ,introduction to ,japanese ,court ,poetry 7,stanford1 ,calif43 ,stanford ,university ,press1 #aifh71 p4 #i4 ,,chapter #d ,,the ,,chronicles ,,of ,,zen #a4 ,essays in ,zen ,buddhism3 ,first ,series1 trans4 ,d4 ,t4 ,suzuki 7,london3 ,grove ,press1 #aidi71 p- #aha4 #b4 ,translated in ,a ,buddhist ,bible1 ed4 ,dwight ,goddard 7,boston3 ,beacon ,press1 #aigj71 p4 #cae4 #c4 ,ibid41 p4 #cbc4 #d4 ,chuang ,tzu1 ,basic ,writings1 trans4 ,burton ,watson 7,new ,york3 ,columbia ,university ,press1 #aifd71 p4 #id4 #e4 ,the ,sutra of ,hui ,neng1 trans4 ,a4 ,f4 ,price and ,wong ,mou- ,lam 7,berkeley3 ,shambala1 #aifi7 p4 #a #e4 #f4 ,ibid41 p4 #ah4 #g4 ,the ,diamond ,sutra1 trans4 ,a4 ,f4 ,price and ,wong ,mou-,lam 7,berkeley3 ,sliambala1 #aifi71 p4 #cg4 #h4 de ,bary1 ,sources of ,japanese ,tradition1 #a3 #bcf4 #i4 ,george ,sansom1 ,a ,history of ,japan to #accd 7,stanford1 ,calif43 ,stanford ,university ,press1 #aieh71 p4 #dbi4 #aj4 ,dogen ,zenji1 ,selling ,water by the ,river1 trans4 ,jiyu ,kennett 7,new ,york3 ,pantheon1 #aigb71 p4 #aae4 ,,chapter #e ,,zen ,,archery ,,and ,,swordsmanship #a4 ,d4 ,t4 ,suzuki1 ,zen and ,japanese ,culture 7,princeton1 ,n4,j43 ,princeton ,university ,press1 #aiei71 p4 #adf4 ,,chapter #f ,,the ,,great ,,age ,,of ,,zen #a4 de ,bary1 ,sources of ,japanese ,tradition1 #a3 #bee4 ,,chapter #g ,,zen ,,and ,,the ,,landscape ,,garden #a4 ,david ,h4 ,engel1 ,japanese ,gardens for ,today 7,rutland1 ,vt43 ,tuttle1 #aiei74 ,,chapter #i ,,zen ,,and ,,the ,,ink ,,landscape #a4 ,seiroku ,noma1 ,artistry in ,ink 7,new ,york3 ,crown1 #aieg71 p4 #c4 #b4 ,two ,twelfth-,century ,texts on ,chinese ,painting1 trans4 ,r4 ,j4 ,maeda 7,ann ,arbor3 ,university of ,michigan ,papers in ,chinese ,studies1 ,no4 #h1 #aigj71 p4 #ag4 #c4 ,osvald ,siren1 ,the ,chinese on the ,art of ,painting 7,new ,york3 ,schocken1 #aifc71 p4 #ig4 #d4 ,ernest ,f4 ,fenollosa1 ,epochs of ,chinese and ,japanese ,art 7,new ,york3 ,dover1 #aifc71 #b3 #aa4 7,reprint47 ,,chapter #aj ,,the ,,zen ,,aesthetics ,,of ,,japanese ,,architecture x4 ,lafcadio ,hearn1 ,gleanings in ,buddha-,fields 7,rutland1 ,vt43 ,tuttle1 #aiga71 p4 #a4 7,reprint47 #b4 ,for a fuller discussion of early ,japanese architecture1 see ,arthur ,drexler1 ,the ,architecture of ,japan 7,new ,york3 ,arno ,press1 #aiee7 #c4 ,an excellent discussion of shibui may be found in ,anthony ,west's essay1 ,what ,japan ,has ,that ,we ,may ,profitably ,borrow1 ,house ,beautiful1 ,august #aifj4 #d4 ,ralph ,adams ,cram1 ,impressions of ,japanese ,architecture 7,new ,york3 ,dover1 #aiff7 p4 #abg4 7,reprint47 #e4 ,heinrich ,engel1 ,the ,japanese ,house 7,rutland1 ,vt43 ,tuttle1 #aifd7 pp4 #cgc-cgd4 ,,chapter #aa ,,the ,,no ,,theater #a4 ,r4 ,h4 ,blyth1 ,eastern ,culture 7,tokyo3 ,hokuseido1 #aidi71 #a3 #adf4 #b4 de ,bary1 ,sources of ,japanese ,tradition1 #a3 #bgh4 #c4 ,charles ,k4 ,tuttle1 ,the ,noh ,drama 7,nippon3 ,giakujutsu ,shinkokai1 #aiee71 p4 #acj4 ,,chapter #a #b ,,bourgeois ,,society ,,and ,,later ,,zen #a4 ,joao ,rodrigues1 ,this ,island of ,japan1 trans4 ,michael ,cooper 7,tokyo3 ,kodansha1 #aigc71 pp4 #bgb-bgc4 ,,chapter #ac ,,the ,,tea ,,ceremony #a4 ,suzuki1 ,zen and ,japanese ,culture1 p4 #bii4 #b4 ,ibid41 p4 #cje4 ,,chapter #ad ,,zen ,,ceramic ,,art #a4 ,ruskin1 ,john1 ,the ,stones of ,venice1 ,volume ,,ii 7#ahec71 from ,selected ,prose of ,ruskin1 ,matthew ,hodgart1 ed4 7,new ,york3 ,new ,american ,library1 #aigj71 pp4 #aai and #abd4 #b4 ,,chapter #ae ,,zen ,,and ,,haiku #a4 ,see ,kenneth ,rexroth1 ,one ,hundred ,poems from the ,japanese 7,new ,york3 ,new ,directions1 #aifd74 #b4 ,see ,geoffrey ,bownas and ,anthony ,thwaite1 eds41 ',i'he ,penguin ,book of ,japanese ,verse 7,baltimore3 ,penguin1 #aifd74 #c4 ,ibid41 p4 #ga4 #d4 ,miner1 ,an ,introduction to ,japanese ,court ,poetry1 p4 #ia4 #e4 ,harold ,g4 ,henderson1 ,an ,introduction to ,haiku 7,garden ,city1 ,n4,y43 ,doubleday ,anchor1 #aieh71 p4 #ah4 #f4 ,ibid41 p4 #ah4 #g4 ,see ,kenneth ,yasuda1 ,the ,japanese ,haiku 7,rutland1 ,vt43 ,tuttle1 #aieg74 #h4 ,henderson1 ,an ,introduction to ,haiku1 p4 #ci4 #i4 ,ibid41 p4 #di4 #aj4 ,ibid41 p4 #id4 #aa4 ,ibid41 p4 #ajh4 #ab4 ,ibid41 p4 #aac4 #ac4 ,ibid41 p4 #adf4 #ad4 ,issa1 ,the ,year of ,my ,life1 trans4 ,nobuyuki ,yuasa 7,berkeley3 ,university of ,california ,press1 #aifj71 p4 #ajd4 #ae4 ,r4 ,h4 ,blyth1 ,a ,history of ,haiku 7,tokyo3 ,hokuseido1 #aifd71 #b3 #hb4 ,,chapter #af ,,private ,,zen3 ,,flowers ,,and ,,food #a4 ,sato1 ,shozo4 ,the ,art of ,arranging ,flowers4 ,new ,york3 ,abrams1 #aife4 #b4 #c4 ,quoted in ,michael ,cooper1 ed41 ,they ,came to ,japan 7,university of ,california ,press1 #aife71 p4 #aid4 #d4 ,,chapter #ag ,,the ,,lessons ,,of ,,zen ,,culture #a4 ,gary ,e4 ,schwartz1 ,richard ,j4 ,davidson1 and ,foster ,maer1 ,right ,hemisphere ,lateralization for ,emotion in the ,human ,brain3 ,interactions with ,cognition1 ,science1 ,october #ag1 #aige1 p4 #bhg4 #b4 ,frank ,gibney1 ,the ,japanese and ,their ,language1 ,encounter1 ,march #aige1 p4 #ce4 #c4 ,masao ,kunihiro1 ,indigenous ,barriers to ,communication1 ,the ,wheel ,extended1 ,spring #aigd1 p4 #ac4 #d4 ,george ,sansom1 ,japan3 ,a ,short ,cultural ,history1 rev4 ed4 7,new ,york3 ,appleton-,century-,crofts1 #aifb74 #e4 ,the best analysis to date is ,eliot ,deutsch1 ,an ,invitation to ,contemplation1 ,studies in ,comparative ,aesthetics1 ,monographs of the ,society for ,asian and ,comparative ,philosophy1 ,no4 #b1 ,university of ,hawaii ,press1 #aige4 #f4 ,donald ,richie1 ,the ,inland ,sea 7,new ,york3 ,weatherhill1 #aiga71 p4 #fj4 ,bibliography ,,general ,,history de ,bary1 ,wm4 ,theodore1 ed4 ,sources of ,japanese ,tradition4 #b vols4 ,new ,york3 ,columbia ,university ,press1 #aieh4 ,hall1 ,john ,whitney4 ,japan1 ,from ,prehistory to ,modern ,times4 ,new ,york3 ,delacorte1 #aigj4 ,hane1 ,mikiso4 ,japan1 ,a ,historical ,survey4 ,new ,york3 ,scribners1 #aigb4 ,morris1 ,ivan4 ,the ,world of the ,shining ,prince3 ,court ,life in ,ancient ,japan4 ,new ,york3 ,knopf1 #aifd4 ,murdoch1 ,james4 ,history of ,japan4 #c vols4 ,new ,york3 ,ungar1 #aifd 7reissue74 ,reischauer1 ,edwin ,o4 ,japan3 ,past and ,present4 #crd ed4 ,new ,york3 ,knopf1 #aifd4 ,sansom1 ,george ,b4 ,a ,history of ,japan4 #c vols4 ,stanford1 ,calif43 ,stanford ,university ,press1 #aieh-aifc4 4 ,japan3 ,a ,short ,cultural ,history4 ,rev4 ed4 ,new ,york3 ,appleton-,centurv-,crofts1 #aifb4 ,varlev1 ,h4 ,paul4 ,the ,onin ,war4 ,new ,york3 ,columbia ,university ,press1 #aifg4 4 ,japanese ,culture3 ,a ,short ,history4 ,new ,york3 ,prager1#aigc ,wheeler1 ,post4 ,the ,sacred ,scriptures of the ,japanese4 ,new ,york3 ,schuman1 #aieb4 ,,general ,,arts ,,and ,,culture ,benedict1 ,ruth4 ,the ,chrysanthemum and the ,sword4 ,rutland1 ,vt43 ,tuttle1 #aied4 ,boger1 ,batterson4 ,the ,traditional ,arts of ,japan4 ,new ,york3 ,crown1 #aifd4 ,boscaro1 ,adriana4 #aja ,letters of ,hideyoshi4 ,tokyo3 ,kawata ,press1 #aige ,hall1 ,john ,whitney4 ,twelve ,doors to ,japan4 ,new ,york3 ,mc,graw- ,hill1 #aife4 ,hasegawa1 ,nyozekan4 ,the ,japanese ,character3 ,a ,cultural ,profile4 ,palo ,alto1 ,calif43 ,kodansha1 #aiff4 ,hearn1 ,lafcadio4 ,japan3 ,an ,interpretation4 ,rutland1 ,vt43 ,charles ,e4 ,tuttle1 #aiee 7reprint74 ,hisamatsu1 ,shin'ichi4 ,zen and the ,fine ,arts4 ,palo ,alto1 ,calif43 ,kodansha1 #aiga4 ,janeira1 ,armando ,martins4 ,japanese and ,western ,literature4 ,rutland1 ,vt43 ,tuttle1 #aigj4 ,keene1 ,donald1 trans4 ,essays in ,idleness4 ,new ,york3 ,columbia ,university ,press1 #aifg4 ,koestler1 ,arthur4 ,the ,lotus and the ,robot4 ,new ,york3 ,harper ,row1 #aifj4 ,moore1 ,charles ,a41 ed4 ,the ,japanese ,mind4 ,honolulu3 ,university of ,hawaii ,press1 #aifg4 ,munsterberg1 ,hugo4 ,zen and ,oriental ,art4 ,rutland1 ,vt43 ,tuttle1 #aife4 4 ,the ,arts of ,japan1 ,rutland1 ,vt43 ,tuttle1 #aieg4 ,paine1 ,robert ,treat1 and ,soper1 ,alexander4 ,the ,art and ,architecture of ,japan4 ,rev4 ed4 ,baltimore3 ,penguin1 i#ifj4 ,rodrigues1 ,joao4 ,this ,island of ,japan4 ,translated by ,michael ,cooper4 ,tokvo3 ,kodansha1 #aigc4 ,sansom1 ,george ,b4 ,an ,historical ,grammar of ,japanese4 ,london3 ,oxford ,university ,press1 #aibh4 ,seckel1 ,dietrich4 ,the ,art of ,buddhism4 ,new ,york3 ,crown1 #aifc4 ,suzuki1 ,d4 ,t4 ,zen and ,japanese ,culture4 ,princeton1 ,n4,j43 ,princeton ,university ,press1 #aiei4 ,ueda1 ,makota4 ,literary and ,art ,theories in ,japan4 ,cleveland3 ,press of ,case ,western ,reserve ,university1 #aifg4 von ,durckheim1 ,karlfried ,graf4 ,the ,japanese ,cult of ,tranquility4 ,london3 ,rider1 #aifj4 ,,buddhism ,,and ,,japanese ,,buddhism ,anesaki1 ,masaharu4 ,history of ,japanese ,religion4 ,london3 ,kegan ,paul1 ,trench1 ,trubner1 #aicj 7reissue1 ,rutland1 ,vt43 ,tuttle1 #aifc74 ,bapat1 ,p4 ,v4 #bejj ,years of ,buddhism4 ,new ,delhi3 ,government of ,india1 ,ministry of ,information1 #aief4 ,bunce1 ,william ,k4 ,religions in ,japan4 ,rutland1 ,vt43 ,tuttle1 #aiee4 ,ch'en1 ,kenneth4 ,buddhism in ,china4 ,princeton1 ,n4,j43 ,princeton ,university ,press1 #aifd4 ,conze1 ,edward4 ,buddhism1 ,its ,essence and ,development4 ,new ,york3 ,harper1 #aiei4 ,cowell1 ,e4 ,b4 ,buddhist ,mahayana ,texts4 ,new ,york3 ,dover1 #aifi 7originally published in #ahid as volume #di of ,the ,sacred ,books of the ,east74 ,eliot1 ,sir ,charles4 ,japanese ,buddhism4 ,new ,york3 ,barnes ,noble1 #aifi4 ,goddard1 ,dwight1 ed4 ,a ,buddhist ,bible4 ,boston3 ,beacon ,press1 #aigj4 ,hanayama1 ,shinsho4 ,a ,history of ,japanese ,buddhism4 ,tokyo3 ,bukkyo ,dendo ,kyokai1 #aiff4 ,kato1 ,bunno1 ,tamura1 ,yoshiro1 and ,miyasaka1 ,kojiro1 trans4 ,the ,threefold ,lotus ,sutra4 ,new ,york3 ,weatherhill_/,kosei1 #aige4 ,kern1 ,h4 ,saddharma-pundarika or the ,lotus of the ,true ,law 7,the ,lotus ,sutra74 ,new ,york3 ,dover1 #aifc 7originally published in #ahhd as volume #ba of ,the ,sacred ,books of the ,east74 ,ramanan1 ,k4 ,venkata4 ,nagarjuna's ,philosophy4 ,new ,delhi3 ,motilal ,banarsidass1 #aige4 ,ross1 ,nancy ,wilson4 ,three ,ways of ,asian ,wisdom4 ,new ,york3 ,simon ,schuster1 #aiff4 ,saunders1 ,e4 ,dale4 ,buddhism in ,japan4 ,philadelphia3 ,university of ,pennsylvania ,press1 #aifd4 ,shoko1 ,watanabe4 ,japanese ,buddhism3 ,a ,critical ,appraisal4 ,tokyo3 ,japanese ,cultural ,society1 #aigj4 ,suzuki1 ,d4 ,t4 ,studies in the ,lankavatara ,sutra4 ,london3 ,rout- ledge ,kegan ,paul1 #aieb4 4 ,outlines of ,mahayana ,buddhism4 ,new ,york3 ,shocken1 #aifc4 ,benoit1 ,hubert4 ,the ,supreme ,doctrine3 ,psychological ,studies in ,zen ,thought4 ,new ,york3 ,pantheon1 #aiee4 ,blofield1 ,john1 trans4 ,the ,zen ,teaching of ,huang ,po4 ,new ,york3 ,grove ,press1 #aieh4 4 ,the ,zen ,teaching of ,hui ,hai on ,sudden ,illumination4 ,new ,york3 ,samuel ,weiser1 #aigb4 ,blyth1 ,r4 ,,ii4 ,zen in ,english ,literature and ,oriental ,classics4 ,new ,york3 ,dutton1 #aifj4 4 ,zen and ,zen ,classics4 #e vols4 ,tokyo3 ,hokuseido ,press1 #aifj-aigj4 ,chang1 ,chung-,yuan1 trans4 ,original ,teachings of ,chan ,buddhism 7,the ,transmission of the ,lamp74 ,new ,york3 ,random ,house1 #aifi4 ,chang1 ,garma ,c4 ,c4 ,the ,practice of ,zen4 ,new ,york3 ,harper ,row1 #aiei4 ,cleary1 ,thomas1 and ,cleary1 ,j4 ,c41 trans4 ,the ,blue ,cliff ,record4 ,berkeley3 ,shambala ,publications1 ,inc41 #aigg4 ,dogen ,zenji4 ,selling ,water by the ,river4 ,jiyu ,kennett1 trans4 ,new ,york3 ,pantheon1 #aigb4 ,dumoulin1 ,heinrich4 ,a ,history of ,zen ,buddhism4 ,new ,york3 ,random ,house1 #aifj4 ,hirai1 ,tomio4 ,zen ,meditation ,therapy4 ,tokyo3 ,japan ,publications1 #aige4 ,hoffman1 ,yoel4 ,the ,sound of ,one ,hand4 ,new ,york3 ,basic ,books1 #aige4 ,humphreys1 ,christmas4 ,zen ,buddhism4 ,new ,york3 ,macmillan1 #aidi4 ,hyers1 ,conrad4 ,zen and the ,comic ,spirit4 ,philadelphia3 ,westminster ,press1 #aigc4 ,kapleau1 ,philip1 ed4 ,the ,three ,pillars of ,zen4 ,new ,york3 ,weather- hill1 #aife4 ,kubose1 ,gyomay ,m4 ,zen ,koans4 ,chicago3 ,regnery1 #aigc4 ,luk1 ,charles4 ,ch'an and ,zen ,teachings4 #c vols4 ,london3 ,rider1 #aifb4 4 ,the ,transmission of the ,mind ,outside the ,teaching4 ,new ,york3 ,grove ,press1 #aigd4 ,miura1 ,isshu1 and ,sasaki1 ,ruth ,fuller4 ,the ,zen ,koan4 ,new ,york3 ,harcourt1 ,brace and ,world1 #aife4 4 ,zen ,dust4 ,new ,york3 ,harcourt1 ,brace and ,world1 #aiff4 7,contains ,the ,zen ,koan plus additional material47 ,price1 ,a4 ,f41 and ,wong1 ,mou-,lam1 trans4 ,the ,diamond ,sutra and the ,sutra of ,hui ,neng4 ,berkeley1 ,calif43 ,shambala1 #aifi4 ,ross1 ,nancy ,wilson1 ed4 ,the ,world of ,zen4 ,new ,york3 ,random ,house1 #aifj4 ,sasaki1 ,ruth ,fuller1 ,iriya1 ,yoshitaka1 and ,fraser1 ,dana ,r4 ,the ,recorded ,sayings of ,layman ,pang3 ,a ,ninth-,century ,zen ,classic4 ,new ,york3 ,weatherhill1 #aiga4 ,shibavame1 ,zenkei4 ,zen ,comments on the ,mumonkan4 ,new ,york3 ,harper ,row1 #aigd4 ,suzuki1 ,d4 ,t4 ,essays in ,zen ,buddhism4 #c vols4 ,london3 ,luzak1 #aibg-aicc1 #aicd4 4 ,manual of ,zen ,buddhism4 ,new ,york3 ,evergreen1 i#ifj4 4 ,stu,thes in ,zen4 ,new ,york3 ,philosophical ,library1 #aiee4 4 ,zen ,buddhism4 ,garden ,city1 ,n4,y43 ,doubleday1 #aief4 4 ,the ,zen ,doctrine of ,no ,mind4 ,new ,york3 ,samuel ,weiser1 #aigc4 ,watts1 ,alan ,w4 ,the ,spirit of ,zen4 ,new ,york3 ,grove ,press3 #aieh4 4 ,the ,way of ,zen4 ,new ,york3 ,pantheon1 #aieg4 ,wu1 ,john ,c4 ,h4 ,the ,golden ,age of ,zen4 ,committee on ,compilation of the ,chinese ,library1 ,taipei1 ,taiwan3 #aifg4 ,yampolsky1 ,philip ,b4 ,the ,platform ,sutra of the ,sixth ,patriarch4 ,new ,york3 ,columbia ,university ,press1 #aifg4 1 trans4 ,the ,zen ,master ,hakuin3 ,selected ,writings4 ,new ,york3 ,columbia ,university ,press1 #aiga4 ,yokoi1 ,yuho4 ,zen ,master ,dogen4 ,new ,york3 ,weatherhill1 #aigf4 ,,architecture ,cram1 ,ralph ,adams4 ,impressions of ,japanese ,architecture4 ,new ,york3 ,dover1 #aiff 7reprint74 ,drexler1 ,arthur4 ,the ,architecture of ,japan4 ,new ,york3 ,museum of ,modern ,art1 #aiee4 ,engel1 ,heinrich4 ,the ,japanese ,house--,a ,tradition for ,contemporary ,architecture4 ,rutland1 ,vt43 ,tuttle1 #aifd4 ,ishimoto1 ,kiyoko1 and ,ishimoto1 ,tatsuo4 ,the ,japanese ,house4 ,new ,york3 ,crown1 #aifc4 ,itoh1 ,teiji1 and ,futagawa1 ,yukio4 ,the ,elegant ,japanese ,house3 ,traditional ,sukiya ,architecture4 ,new ,york3 ,walker_/,weather- hill1 #aifi4 ,morse1 ,edward ,s4 ,japanese ,homes and ,their ,surroundings4 ,new ,york3 ,dover1 #aifa 7reprint74 ,sadler1 ,a4 ,l4 ,a ,short ,history of ,japanese ,architecture44 ,rutland1 ,vt43 ,tuttle1 #aifc4 ,tange1 ,kenzo1 and ,kawazoe1 ,noboru4 ,ise3 ,prototype of ,japanese ,architecture4 ,cambridge1 ,mass43 ,,mit ,press1 #aife4 ,watanabe1 ,yasutada4 ,shinto ,art3 ,ise and ,izumo ,shrines4 ,new ,york3 ,weatherhill_/,heibonsha1 #aigd4 ,,gardens ,condor1 ,joseph4 ,landscape ,gardening in ,japan4 ,new ,york3 ,dover1 #aifd 7reprint74 ,engel1 ,david ,,ii4 ,japanese ,gardens for ,today4 ,rutland1 ,vt43 ,tuttle1 #aiei4 ,graham1 ,dorothy4 ,chinese ,gardens4 ,new ,york3 ,dodd1 ,mead1 #aicg4 ,inn1 ,henry4 ,chinese ,houses and ,gardens4 ,new ,york3 ,crown1 #aidj4 ,kuck1 ,loraine4 ,the ,world of the ,japanese ,garden4 ,new ,york3 ,walker_/,weatherhill1 #aifh4 ,nakane1 ,kinsaku4 ,kyoto ,gardens4 ,osaka3 ,hoikusha1 #aife4 ,petersen1 ,will4 ,stone ,garden 7,evergreen ,review1 vol4 #a1 no4 #d74 ,collected in ,the ,world of ,zen1 ed4 ,nancy ,wilson ,ross4 ,new ,york3 ,random ,house1 #aifj4 ,saito1 ,k41 and ,wada1 ,s4 ,magic of ,trees and ,stones4 ,rutland1 ,vt43 ,japan ,publications1 #aifd4 ,shigemori1 ,kanto4 ,japanese ,gardens3 ,islands of ,serenity4 ,san ,francisco and ,tokyo3 ,japan ,publications1 #aiga4 ,tamura1 ,tsuyoshi4 ,art of the ,landscape ,garden in ,japan4 ,new ,york3 ,dodd1 ,mead1 #aicf4 ,yoshida1 ,tetsuro4 ,gardens of ,japan4 ,translated by ,marcus ,sims4 ,new ,york3 ,praeger1 #aieg4 ,,ceramics ,dickerson1 ,john4 ,raku ,handbook4 ,new ,york3 ,van ,nostrand1 #aigb4 ,jenys1 ,soame4 ,japanese ,pottery4 ,new ,york3 ,praeger1 #aiga4 ,mikami1 ,tsugio4 ,the ,art of ,japanese ,ceramics4 ,new ,york3 ,walker_/ ,weatherhill1 #aigb4 ,miller1 ,roy ,andrew4 ,japanese ,ceramics4 ,rutland1 ,vt43 ,tuttle1 #aifj4 ,rhodes1 ,daniel4 ,stoneware and ,porcelain3 ,the ,art of ,high-,fired ,pottery4 ,new ,york3 ,chilton1 #aiei4 ,,tea ,,ceremony ,carpenter1 ,francis ,ross1 trans4 ,the ,classic of ,tea4 ,boston3 ,little1 ,brown1 #aigd4 ,castile1 ,rand4 ,the ,way of ,tea4 ,new ,york3 ,weatherhill1 #aiga4 ,fukukita1 ,yasunosuke4 ,tea ,cult of ,japan4 ,tokyo3 ,hokuseido1 #aicb4 ,fujikawa1 ,asako4 ,cha-no-yu and ,hideyoshi4 ,tokyo3 ,hokuseido1#aieg ,okakura1 ,kakuzo4 ,the ,book of ,tea4 ,new ,york3 ,dover1 #aifd 7reprint74 ,sadler1 ,a4 ,l4 ,cha-no-yu1 ,the ,japanese ,tea ,ceremony4 ,rutland1 ,vt43 ,tuttle1 #aifc 7reprint74 ,,zen ,,archery ,,and ,,swordsmanship ,acker1 ,william4 ,japanese ,archery4 ,rutland1 ,vt43 ,charles ,e4 ,tuttle1 #aife 7privately published1 #aicg74 ,gluck1 ,jay4 ,zen ,combat4 ,new ,york3 ,random ,house1 #aifb4 ,herrigel1 ,eugen4 ,zen in the ,art of ,archery4 ,new ,york3 ,pantheon1 #aiec4 ,ratti1 ,oscar1 and ,westbrook1 ,adele4 ,secrets of the ,samurai4 ,rutland1 ,vt43 ,tuttle1 #aife4 ,robinson1 ,b4 ,w4 ,the ,arts of the ,japanese ,sword4 ,london3 ,faber ,faber1 #aifa4 ,sollier1 ,andre1 and ,gyorbiro1 ,zsolt4 ,japanese ,archery3 ,zen in ,action4 ,new ,york3 ,walker_/,weatherhill1 #aifi4 ,,flowers ,,and ,,food ,carr1 ,rachel4 ,japanese ,floral ,art4 ,princeton1 ,n4 ,j43 ,van ,nostrand ,reinhold1 #aifa4 ,herrigel1 ,gustie ,s4 ,zen in the ,art of ,flower ,arrangement4 ,london3 ,routledge ,kegan ,paul1 #aieh4 ,richie1 ,donald1 and ,weatherby1 ,meredith1 eds4 ,the ,master's ,book of lkebana4 ,new ,york3 ,international ,book ,society1 #aiff4 ,sato1 ,shozo4 ,the ,art of ,arranging ,flowers4 ,new ,york3 ,abrams1 #aife4 ,sparnon1 ,norman4 ,japanese ,flower ,arrangement3 ,classical and ,modern4 ,rutland1 ,vt43 ,tuttle1 #aifj4 ,steinberg1 ,rafael4 ,the ,cooking of ,japan4 ,new ,york3 ,time1 #aifi4 ,tsuji1 ,kaichi4 ,kaiseki3 ,zen ,tastes in ,japanese ,cooking4 ,tokyo3 ,kadonsha1 #aigb4 ,ueda1 ,makoto4 ,literary and ,art ,theories in ,japan4 ,cleveland3 ,press of ,case ,western ,reserve ,university1 #aifg4 ,no ,,theater ,hoff1 ,frank1 and ,flindt1 ,willi1 trans4 ,the ,life ,structure of the ,noh4 ,racine1 ,wisconsin3 ,concerned ,theatre ,japan1 #aigc4 ,keene1 ,donald4 ,no1 ,the ,classical ,theatre of ,japan4 ,palo ,alto1 ,calif43 ,kodansha1 #aiff4 ,keene1 ,donald1 ed4 ,twenty ,plays of the ,no ,theatre4 ,new ,york3 ,columbia ,university ,press1 #aigj4 ,nippon ,gakujutsu ,shinkokai 7,japanese ,classics ,translation ,committee74 ,the ,noh ,drama1 ,rutland1 ,vt43 ,tuttle1 vol4 #a1 #aiee2 vol4 #b1 #aiei2 vol4 #c1 #aifj4 ,o',neill1 ,p4 ,g4 ,a ,guide to ,no4 ,tokyo3 ,hinoki ,shoten1 #aiec4 ,pound1 ,ezra1 and ,fenollosa1 ,ernest4 ,the ,classic ,noh ,theatre of ,japan4 ,new ,york3 ,new ,directions1 #aiei 7reprint74 ,sakanishi1 ,shio4 ,the ,ink-,smeared ,lady and ,other ,kyogen4 ,rutland1 ,vt43 ,tuttle1 #aifj4 ,waley1 ,arthur4 ,the ,no ,plays of ,japan4 ,new ,york3 ,grove ,press1 #aieg4 ,ze-ami4 ,kadensho4 ,kvoto3 ,sumiva-,shinobe1 #aifh4 ,,zen ,,and ,,the ,,ink ,,landscape ,awakawa1 ,yasuichi4 ,zen ,painting4 ,palo ,alto1 ,calif43 ,kodansha1 #aigj4 ,binyon1 ,laurence4 ,painting in the ,far ,east4 ,new ,york3 ,dover1 #aiei 7reprint74 ,bowie1 ,henry ,p4 ,on the ,laws of ,japanese ,painting4 ,new ,york3 ,dover1 #aieb 7reprint74 ,fenollosa1 ,ernest ,f4 ,epochs of ,chinese and ,japanese ,art4 #b vols4 ,new ,york3 ,dover1 #aifc 7reprint74 ,fontein1 ,jan1 and ,hickman1 ,money ,l4 ,zen ,painting and ,calligraphy4 ,boston3 ,museum of ,fine ,arts1 #aigj4 ,lee1 ,sherman ,e4 ,chinese ,landscape ,painting4 ,new ,york3 ,harper ,row1 #aied4 4 ,a ,history of ,far ,eastern ,art4 ,englewood ,cliffs1 ,n4,j43 ,prentice-,hall1 #aifd4 4 ,japanese ,decorative ,style4 ,new ,york3 ,harper ,row1 #aigb4 4 ,tea ,taste in ,japanese ,art4 ,new ,york3 ,asia ,house1 #aifc4 4 ,zen in ,art3 ,art in ,zen4 ,cleveland ,museum of ,art ,bulletin #ei 7#aigb73 #bch-bei4 ,maeda1 ,robert ,j41 trans4 ,two ,twelfth-,century ,texts on ,chinese ,painting4 ,ann ,arbor3 ,university of ,michigan ,papers in ,chinese ,studies1 ,no4 #h1 #aigj4 ,matsushita1 ,takaaki4 ,ink ,painting4 ,new ,york3 ,weatherhill_/,shi- bundo1 #aigd4 ,morrison1 ,arthur4 ,the ,painters of ,japan4 ,new ,york3 ,stokes1 #aiaa4 ,nakata1 ,yujiro4 ,the ,art of ,japanese ,calligraphy4 ,new ,york3 ,weatherhill1 #aigc4 ,noma1 ,seiroku4 ,artistry in ,ink4 ,new ,york3 ,crown1 #aieg4 ,siren1 ,osvald4 ,the ,chinese on the ,art of ,painting4 ,new ,york3 ,schocken1 #aifc4 ,shimizu1 ,yoshiaki1 and ,wheelwright1 ,carolyn1 eds4 ,japanese ,ink ,paintings from ,american ,museums3 ,the ,muromachi ,period4 ,princeton1 ,n4,j43 ,princeton ,university ,press1 #aigf4 ,sugahara1 ,hisao4 ,japanese ,ink ,painting and ,calligraphy4 ,brooklyn1 ,n4,y43 ,brooklyn ,museum1 #aifg4 ,sze1 ,mai-,mai4 ,the ,way of ,chinese ,painting4 ,new ,york3 ,random ,house1 #aiei4 ,tanaka1 ,ichimatsu4 ,japanese ,ink ,painting3 ,shubun to ,sesshu4 ,new ,york3 ,weatherhill1 #aigb4 ,,zen ,,and ,,haiku ,basho1 ,matsuo4 ,monkey's ,raincoat4 ,new ,york3 ,grossman1 #aigc4 ,blyth1 ,r4 ,h4 ,senryu3 ,japanese ,satirical ,verses4 ,tokyo3 ,hokuseido1 #aidi4 4 ,haiku1 vol4 #a3 ,eastern ,culture-1 vol4 #b3 ,spring2 vol4 #c3 ,summer-,autumn2 ,vol4 #d3 ,autumn-,winter4 ,tokyo3 ,hokuseido1 #aidi-aieb4 4 ,a ,history of ,haiku4 #b vols4 ,tokyo3 ,hokuseido1 #aifc-aifd4 ,bownas1 ,geoffrey1 and ,thwaite1 ,anthony1 eds4 ,the ,penguin ,book of ,japanese ,verse4 ,baltimore3 ,penguin1 #aifd4 de ,bary1 ,win4 ,theodore1 ed4 ,the ,manyoshu4 ,new ,york3 ,columbia ,university ,press1 #aife4 ,giroux1 ,joan4 ,the ,haiku ,form4 ,rutland1 ,vt43 ,tuttle1 #aigd4 ,henderson1 ,harold ,g4 ,an ,introduction to ,haiku4 ,garden ,city1 ,n4,y43 ,doubleday ,anchor1 #aieh4 ,honda1 ,,ii4 ,h4 ,the ,kokin ,waka-,shu4 ,tokyo3 ,hokuseido1 #aigj4 ,isaacson1 ,harold ,j41 trans4 ,peonies ,kana3 ,haiku by the ,upasaka ,shiki4 ,new ,york3 ,theatre ,arts ,books1 #aigb4 ,issa4 ,the ,year of ,my ,life4 #bnd ed4 ,translated by ,nobuyuki ,yuasa4 ,berkeley3 ,university of ,california ,press1 #aigb4 ,janeira1 ,armando ,martins4 ,japanese and ,western ,literature4 ,rutland1 ,vt43 ,tuttle1 #aigj4 ,keene1 ,donald4 ,japanese ,literature4 ,new ,york3 ,grove ,press1 #aiee4 1 ed4 ,anthology of ,japanese ,literature4 ,new ,york3 ,grove ,press1 #aiee4 ,miner1 ,earl4 ,an ,introduction to ,japanese ,court ,poetry4 ,stanford1 ,calif43 ,stanford ,university ,press1 #aifh4 ,rexroth1 ,kenneth4 ,one ,hundred ,poems from the ,japanese4 ,new ,york3 ,new ,directions1 #aifd4 ,ueda1 ,makoto4 ,literary and ,art ,theories in ,japan4 ,cleveland3 ,press of ,western ,reserve ,university1 #aifg4 4 ,matsuo ,basho4 ,new ,york3 ,twayne1 #aigj4 ,yasuda1 ,kenneth4 ,a ,pepper-,pod4 ,new ,york3 ,knopf1 #aidg4 4 ,the ,japanese ,haiku4 ,rutland1 ,vt43 ,tuttle1 #aieg4 ,yuasa1 ,nobuyuki1 trans4 ,basho3 ,the ,narrow ,road to the ,deep ,north and ,other ,travel ,sketches4 ,middlesex1 ,england3 ,penguin ,books1 #aiff4 ,glossary amado3 sliding1 removable panels around exterior of traditional house4 ,amida3 widely worshiped figure in ,buddhist pantheon and central figure of adoration in ,jodo and ,jodo ,shin ,buddhism4 ,ashikaga3 dynasty of shoguns 7#accc-aegc7 whose patronage inspired great classic age of ,zen culture4 atman3 ,hindu concept of the soul or a personal element in the larger god-head4 aware3 aesthetic concept which arose in ,heian era1 originally meaning a pleasant emotion evoked unexpectedly but later evolving to include poignancy4 ,basho 7#afdd-afid73 foremost ,haiku poet of ,japan4 ,bodhidharma3 ,indian monk who appeared in ,china around #ebj and laid the basis for the ,ch'an sect of ,buddhism1 becoming the ,first ,patriarch of ,zen4 ,brahman3 supreme god-head of ,brahmanism4 ,brahman3 priest caste of ,brahmanism4 bugaku3 ancient court dances in ,japan1 imported from ,asia4 ,buddha3 historic figure from sixth century ,b4,c4 in northeast ,asia whose teachings became the basis for ,buddhism4 chabana3 spare and elegant flower arrangement prepared to accompany the tea ceremony4 ,ch'an3 belief system founded by ,bodhidharma in the sixth century in ,china1 combining elements of ,indian ,buddhism and ,chinese ,taoism and known in ,japan as ,zen4 ,ch'ang-an3 ,t'ang ,chinese capital which was the model for the original ,japanese capital at ,nara4 cha-no-yu3 ,japanese tea ceremony1 which became the vehicle for the preservation of ,zen aesthetic theory4 chigai-dana3 decorative shelf system in traditional ,japanese houses which was borrowed from storage cabinets in ,ch'an monasteries4i chinzo3 realistic polychromatic character studes of ,zen masters4 ,chojiro 7#aeae-aeib73 first great raku potter and founder of raku dynasty4 choka3 early ,japanese poetry form1 longer than ,haiku4 ,chuang ,tzu3 traditionally a fourth century ,b4,c4 ,taoist4 daimyo3 feudal governor of a domain1 who often retained a force of samurai4 ,daisen-in3 temple which is the site of a famous ,zen stone garden in ,kyoto4 ,daitoku-ji3 major ,zen monastery in ,kyoto1 site of ,daisin-in temple4 dharma3 term denoting the universal order of the universe4 dhyana3 ,sanskrit term for meditation1 corrupted to ,ch'an in ,chinese and ,zen in ,japanese4 ,dogen 7#abjj-abec73 priest who introduced ,soto sect of ,zen to ,japan1 founding a temple in #abcf4 ,eisai 7#aada-aba #e73 founder of ,rinzai sect of ,zen in ,japan 7#aaia74 en3 ,heian aesthetic term meaning charming1 sprightly4 engawa3 outer walkway around traditional ,japanese house1 between amado and shoji4 eta3 formerly outcast class in ,japan because of association with meat and hides industry4 fusuma3 sliding partitions in the traditional ,japanese house4 ,gautama3 original name of the ,buddha4 genkan3 portico in the traditional house where shoes are removed4 ,ginkaku-ji3 ,silver ,pavilion built by ,yoshimasa in #adhb4 ,godaigo3 ill-fated emperor who reigned from #acah to #acci and attempted to restore genuine imperial rule4 ,gozan3 five most important ,zen monasteries1 or ,five ,mountains1 which in ,kyoto were ,tenryu-ji1 ,shokoku-ji1 ,tofuku-ji1 ,kennin-ji1 and ,manju- ji4 haboku3 broken ink style of monochrome painting4 haikai3 ,early name for poetic form now known as ,haiku4 ,haiku3 verse form consisting of seventeen syllables4 ,hakuin 7#afhe-agfh73 ,zen teacher of ,tokugawa period who revived ,rinzai sect4 haniwa3 clay sculpture of the pre-,buddhist period4 harakiri3 ritual suicide1 more politely known as seppuku4 ,heian3 ,period of indigenous aristocratic culture4 hibachi3 small brazier heater in the traditional ,japanese house4 ,hideyori 7#aeic-afae73 son of ,hideyoshi1 committed suicide when defeated by ,tokugawa ,ievasu4 ,hideyoshi 7#aecf-aeih73 general who assumed control of ,japan after ,oda ,nobunaga was murdered and who inspired ,momoyama age of ,japanese art4 ,hinayana3 more traditional form of ,japanese ,buddhism1 which is practiced in ,southeast ,asia4 hinoki3 ,japanese cypress4 ,hojo3 regents who dominated the ,kamakura period of ,japanese history hokku3 first three lines of a renga1 or linked verse1 which later came to be written alone as a ,haiku4 ,honen 7#aacc-abab73 founder of the ,jodo or ,pure ,land sect 7#aage7 ,hosokawa3 clan which served as advisers and regents for the ,ashikaga4 ,hsia ,kuei 7active ca4 #aahj-abcj73 ,southern ,sung ,chinese painter whose stvle strongly influenced later ,zen artists in ,japan4 ,hui-k'o 7#dhg-eic73 ,second ,patriarch of ,chinese ,ch'an1 said to have cut off his arm to attract ,bodhidharma's notice4 ,hui-neng 7#fch-gac73 ,sixth ,patriarch of ,ch'an and founder of the ,southern school of ,ch'an which was transmitted to ,japan4 ,hung-jen 7#fje-fge73 ,fifth ,patriarch of ,ch'an and teacher of ,hui-neng4 ,ievasu 7#aedb-afaf73 founder of the ,tokugawa shogunate1 which ruled ,japan from #afae to #ahfh4 ,ikebana3 ,japanese flower arranging4 ,jodo3 sect of ,japanese ,buddhism based on chant praising ,amida ,buddha which was founded in #aage4 ,jodo ,shin3 rival sect of ,japanese ,buddhism also based on chant praising ,amida which was founded in #abbd4 ,jomon3 prehistoric culture in ,japan4 ,josetsu 7active #adjj-adac73 leading artist in ,japanese ,sung revival4 kaiseki3 special cuisine associated with the tea ceremony4 ,kamakura3 effective capital of ,japan during period of warrior domination 7#aahe-accc74 kami3 ,shinto spirits inhabiting the natural world4 ,kamikaze3 ,divine ,wind that sank the ,mongol fleet attacking ,japan in #abha4 kamoi3 crossbeams in the traditional ,japanese house4 ,kano3 family of painters dominating much of ,japanese painting since the sixteenth century1 replacing ,zen artists as the official stylists4 kare sansui3 stone gardens in dry landscape style4 ,kinkaku-ji3 ,golden ,pavilion built by ,yoshimitsu in #acid4 koan3 illogical conundrums used in ,rinzai ,zen to induce enlightenment4 koicha3 powdered green tea used in the tea ceremony4 ,kokinshu3 anthology of ,japanese poems from the year #ije4 ,kukai 7#ggd-hce73 introduced ,shingon ,buddhism to ,japan in #hjh4 ,kyogen3 farces performed as part of a program of ,no plays4 ,kyoto3 capital city of ,japan from #gid to seventeenth century and site of classic ,zen culture4 ,lankavatara3 sutra believed by ,bodhidharma to best express ,ch'an philosophy4 ,lin-chi 7d4 #hff73 leading figure of the sudden enlightenment school of ,ch'an1 whose teachings were much of the basis of ,japanese ,rinzai ,zen4 ,mahayana3 ,buddhism which spread to ,china and ,japan4 mandala3 esoteric diagrams purportedly containing the key to cosmological truths4 ,manyoshu3 early anthology of ,japanese poetry 7#ghj74 ,ma ,yuan 7active ca4 #aaij-abbd73 ,chinese ,southern ,sung painter whose works strongly influenced ,japanese ,zen artists4 ,minamoto3 warrior family of the ,heian and ,kamakura eras4 ,mincho 7#acea- #adca73 ,japanese priest and one of the first ,japanese artists to successfully adopt and revive ,chinese styles of paintings4 miso3 fermented soybean paste used in ,japanese cooking4 miyabi3 ,heian aesthetic term signifying subtleties only a connoisseur could appreciate4 ,momoyama3 period of ,japanese history from #a #ecg to #afae4 mondo3 ,zen question-and-answer session in which a novice must respond immediately and without reflection to questions posed by a ,zen master4 ,mu-ch'i 7ca4 #abaj-;ca4 #abhj73 ,chinese ,ch'an painter whose works strongly affected ,japanese ,zen artists4 mudra3 sacred hand signs4 ,muso ,soseki 7#abge-acea73 ,zen scholar and adviser to ,ashikaga ,takauji1 who is traditionally thought to be the designer of several early ,zen landscape gardens in ,kvoto4 ,nageire3 style of ,ikebana4 nageshi3 decorative element in the ceiling of a traditional ,japanese house4 ,nara3 site of the first capital of ,japan1 which was consecrated in #gaj and abandoned by the court in #ghd4 nembutsu3 chant to ,amida ,buddha used by ,jodo and ,jodo ,shin sects4 ,nichiren 7#abbb-abhb73 founder of ,buddhist sect based on ,lotus ,sutra4 ,nichiren ,shoshu3 name of the sect founded by ,nichiren4 ,no3 theatrical form reflecting ,zen ideals1 which came to prominence during the ,ashikaga era4 ,nobunaga 7#aecd-aehb73 military ruler who began the movement to unify ,japan4 ,oribe3 style of ,japanese ,zen-influenced ceramics4 pi-kuan3 wall-gazing meditation practiced and extolled by ,bodhidharma4 ,raku3 style of ceramics invented by ,chojiro4 ramma3 open latticework in the traditional ,japanese house4 ,renga3 linked verse form of ,japanese poetry1 in which different participants must contribute alternate stanzas4 ,rikka3 an early style of formal flower arranging4 ,rinzai3 ,japanese sect of ,zen stressing sudden enlightenment and use of koans4 roji3 dewy path leading through the ,japanese tea garden4 ,ryoan-ji3 temple in ,kyoto with a famous kare sansui flat garden4 ,sabi3 aesthetic tenn signifying the dignity of old age4 ,saicho 7#gfg-hbb73 introduced ,tendai ,buddhism into ,japan 7#hjf74 ,saiho-ji3 temple in ,kyoto and site of early ,zen landscape garden4 ,sakyamuni3 the ,buddha1 sage of the ,sakyas4 samurai3 ,japanese warriors1 who were the first converts to ,zen4 ,sanskrit3 original language of much ,buddhist literature4 sarugaku3 theatrical form which was forerunner of the ,no4 sashimi3 raw fish4 satori3 ,zen term for enlightenment4 ,sen no ,rikyu 7#aeba-aeia73 proponent of wabi aesthetics who strongly influenced the evolution of the tea ceremony4 seppuku3 ritual suicide4 ,sesshu ,toyo 7#adbj-aejf73 greatest ,japanese ,zen painter4 ,seto3 site of ,japanese pottery production4 ,shao-lin3 ,chinese monastery where ,bodhidharma reportedly first went to meditate4 ,shen-hsiu 7#fjf-gjf73 traditionally said to have been rival of ,hui- neng at monastery of ,fifth ,patriarch and later much favored by ,chinese ruling circles4 shibui3 important tenn for later ,zen aesthetics which means understated1 simple good taste4 shin3 type of ink-painting technique4 shincha3 type of tea4 shinden3 ,heian architectural stvle borrowed from ,china4 ,shingon3 esoteric sect of ,buddhism introduced into ,japan by ,kukai in #hjh4 ,shino3 style of ,japanese ,zen-inspired ceramics4 ,shinran 7#aagc-abfb73 founder of the ,jodo ,shin sect in ,japan 7#abbd74 ,shinto3 original ,japanese belief svstem1 which preceded ,buddhism4 shite3 leading character of a ,no drama4 shoin3 name of the writing desk in ,ch'an monasteries1 which gave its name to the classic style of the ,zen-inspired ,japanese house4 shoji3 ,rice-paper-covered latticework used as windows in the traditional ,japanese house4 ,shubun 7fl4 #adad-;d4 ca4 #adfc73 painter-monk at ,shokoku-ji in ,kyoto4 ,siddharta3 the ,buddha1 so3 technique of ,japanese ink painting4 ,so'ami 7#adgb-aebe73 ,japanese ink painter and garden artist4 ,sotan 7#adad-adha73 ,zen painter at ,shokoku-ji1 none of whose works are definitely known to survive4 ,soto3 ,japanese ,zen sect emphasizing gradual enlightenment through zazen4 sukiya3 later style of ,japanese architecture which evolved from the shoin4 sumi3 ,japanese black ink4 sutra3 works supposedly reporting discourses of the ,buddha or his disciples4 ,taira3 warrior clan instrumental in ousting ,heian aristocracy and ending ,heian era4 ,takauji 7#acje-aceh73 founder of the ,ashikaga shogunate4 ,taoism3 native ,chinese belief system which influenced ,ch'an philosophy4 ,tatami3 woven straw mats used for carpeting in the traditional ,japanese house4 ,tendai3 sect of ,chinese ,buddhism introduced into ,japan by ,saicho 7#hjf74 ,tenryu-ji3 important ,zen temple in ,kyoto and site of early ,zen- stvle landscape garden4 toko-bashira3 decorative1 unpainted tree trunk used in traditional house as part of art alcove4 tokonoma3 special art alcove in the ,japanese house1 which was originally derived from the shrine in ,chinese monasteries4 ,tomi-ko3 wife of ,ashikaga ,yoshimasa4 ,toshiro3 thirteenth-century potter who visited ,china and brought back important ,chinese ceramics technology4 usucha3 a thin tea served as part of the tea ceremony4 wabi3 aesthetic term meaning a sense of deliberate poverty and naturalness4 waka3 thirty-one-syllable ,japanese verse popularized in the ,heian era4 waki3 supporting actor in the ,no drama4 ,yayoi3 pre-,buddhist culture in ,japan4 ,yoshimasa 7#adce-adij73 ,ashikaga shogun and staunch patron of ,zen arts4 ,yoshimitsu 7#aceh-adjh73 ,ashikaga shogun whose patronage sparked the classic era of ,zen culture4 yugen3 most important term in ,zen aesthetic vocabulary1 meaning among other things that which is mysterious or profound4 zazen3 meditation1 a mainstay of the ,soto sect of ,japanese ,zen4 zenkiga3 style of ,zen painting4 ,,books ,,by ,,thomas ,,hoover ,nonfiction ,zen ,culture ,the ,zen ,experience ,fiction ,the ,moghul ,caribbee ,wall ,street ,samurai 7,the ,samurai ,strategy7 ,project ,daedalus ,project ,cyclops ,life ,blood ,syndrome ,all free as e-books at www4thomashoover4info