Carter, Robert E. - The Kyoto School - Chp 3 Nishitani Keiji.pdf

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data ( :aner, Rohcn Fdgar. 'Jhc Kyoro sclwol an introduction 1 lw Roben F. C:artcr; rc>rcword lw ·1homas 1' Kasulis. pagcs cm Includn hibliographiul rekrcnces 1llld indn. ISBN LJ 7 il-l-45il4-4'í42-7 (phk. : alk. paper) ISBN l)7il-1-43il4-4'í41-0 (hardcover : alk. paper) l. l'hilosoph1·, Japanc·se -20th century. 2. Nishida, I
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Nishitani Keiji (1900-1990)

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When reading Nishirani, one encounters an existentialist who knew full wcll rhar he lived within rhe "exisremialisr predicamenr" .md who srrugglcd mighrily ro tind his way rhrough it. According to rhis perspecrive, rhe human predicament is one in which we have been thrown into a world without meaning. Furthermore, wirh no absolure guidepmrs or map ro follow, given rhar God has been declared dead, 1 we are srill somchow cxpecrcd ro live a mcaningful and moral lite. Há,ig rranslates a passage by Nishirani which describes rhis kind of exisrenrial despair: "My lite as a young man can be described in a single phrase: ir was a pcriod absolurdy wirhout hope . . . . My life at rhe rime lay emircly in rhc grips of nihiliry ami despair. . . . My decision, rhcn, ro srudy philosophy Was in f¡cr-mdodramaric as ir mighr sound-a mauer of lifc and dearh."' A central rheme of his own philo,ophical journey is this conti·onration with nihilism. Nihilism, or whar he also rerms

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·'relarive norhingness,'' is rhc poimed awarent:ss rhar our existenc is withour foundarion and our laws, insriturions, and rl'iigions a e - b l L re fee le atternprs ro papcr over t 1e growing aoyss of rneaninglessness and hopelessness. Neverrhcless, we rnusr somehow acr signiflcanti. or else, as rhe f~rench wrirer Albert Camus wrore, al! rhat is lefr ;; ro commir eirher intellcctual or physical suicide. Physical suicide needs no explanarion, bur intellecrual suicide is the furile accep. rance of ideas, laws, ethical sranccs, or religious/polirical ideologics, none of which are inrellcctually def~nsible. Whar it was rhat Nishitani soughr was some "standpoint" from which meaning and foundational justificarion mighr emerge.

Life and Career Nishitani Keiji was born on February 27, 1900, in a srnall town on rhc lnland Sea. After rhe death of his Enher, when Nishitani was fourteen, he and his morhcr moved ro Tokyo. Tuberculosis, rhe same disease rhar his fuher had died ti·om, causcd him ro delay his prc-universiry schooling. Scnr ro rlw northern islam{ of Hokkaido, the resr and ckan air offered a cure. He rerurned to lükyo and this rime was accq)[ed imo rhe presrigious Dai ichi High School. His sojourn in Hokbido letr him rime ro read rhe novels of Sóseki Narsunw, whme memion of rlw Zen starc of mind led Nishirani ro rhe Zen \\rirings of D. T Suzuki. In high school he read widely, srudying rhe works of Dosroevsky ami Nierzsclw, which began his f~>ray into exisrenrialism, as well as rhe Biblc and Sr. Francis of As:,isi. Bur ir was Nishida's J7¡uught tl!Lcl E\ptTÚ'ILCc rhat rurned his arrenrion more roward philosophy as a porential field of inrcresr. Heisig suggesrs rhat Nishirani had rl1ree choice;, before him as graduarion from high :,chool approached: ro lwconll' a Zen monk, ro join a uropian communirv called "New 'lown," orto selcct philosophy as his lifC.'s work.' He decided on rhe larrer, ;,tudying philmophy at rhe Universiry of Kyoro, whcre he :,rudied under Nishida and Tanabc'. His graduarion thesis was on rhc' Cerrnan philosopher, Schelling ( 1775-1 S 54).

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Having graduatc'd frum univcTsirv at rhc agc· of rwc'nry-fóur, he ~1 r f1hilmo¡1hv in high sthool t~>r rhc· llc'Xt cighr Vc'ars. In l 'J2S tJLlt' 1 " "(._ . he was appoimed ro an adjuncr lccrurc·ship ar ( )rani Univcrsity in Kvoro, conrinuing rhcrc unril 1955. l-k puhlislJL'd essay' during rhar rime aml, in ]tJ32, was made a lccturcr ~lf Kyoro Univnsity. His conrinuing imere;,r in mystiul rhoughr was c'\·idcnt in rhe publisbing of a book on rhe hisrory of mysricism rkn same year. · l his interesr was un u:-- u al among WestcTn philosopher:,, where mysticism had nor pbyed a signitlcmr role in rLeir rhinking, ami ycr rnosr of rhe philo;,ophers of rhe Kyoto School rook mysticism very seriously. Nishirani ami Ueda al! wresrkd wirh rhc wrirings of !\lcisrcr Eckharr ¡J260-U2S), rhe rhirtc'cnrh-ccmury German rny;,tic, a.'> did JV1arrin Heidegger, wirh whom Nishirani and Ut:da srudied. In 19:)6, hi:, carlicr imercst in Zen broke through once again, and he began his Zen pracrice, which conrinucd for rhe nexr twc'nry-four years ar Shokoku-ji. under master Yamazaki. His dual inreresr in philosophy and Zcn, a:, J-leisig recoums, "was a mancr, as he likcd ro say, of a balance berwt:l'll rcason ami lcning go of reason. of 'rhinking ami sining, sining ami rhen thinking.' "' '!he namé given ro him by his nuster was 1\:eisei ("voice of rhe vallev stream"). When he was rhirry-seven he was awarded . t scholarship trom the /'v1inistry of Educarion ro srudy under rhc' Lunous French philosopher, Henri Bergson ( l b)9-1941 ). However, Bergson's ill health made rhis impos:--ible, so he was allmwd ro switch ro M.nrin Heidegger, now ar Heidelberg Univcrsity. Ar th . u tinw, Hc,idegger was lecruring on Nieusche, ami, during his \tay, Nishirani himsdt' delivercd a lecrure comparing Nierzsche's /tmltllll.l!rtl ro I'vlei~tcr Eckhart';, writings. Ar rhe age of rorry-rhrt:e, Nishirani, like many orhn Japane;,t: academics, incurred dilticulrics wirh rhe warrime Mini;,rry of Educarion. B()[h Ni,hida ami Tmabe encouragcd him ro speak our againsr rhe irracional ideology of rhc lime, which appcared to be lcading _lapan ro war, hur he was unablt: ro do so, unable to be decisiw enough lO acr on rheir urging>. He· vva' appoiiltc'd to rhe "chair" of rhe deparrmcnr of rdigion rhar same year. and \Vas awarded a doctorare, with rhe hdp ami assisrancc of Nishida,

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two years larer. His doctoral rhesis was ricled "Prolcgomenon t 0 Philosophy of Religion." a Nishirani reccived a sewre blow in Decembcr 1946 e . ' arrer rhc ddear ot japan, when the occuparion ,1urho1 iries deemed h· unsuitable tor teaching. Not only could he nor teach any ¡ trn 011

but he was also barred from holding any public oftice. lhe cha~e~ againsr him was rhat he had supporred rhe wartime governme;r. Needl.:ss ro sav, he was crushed bv this decision, bur he four1d h· · · IS suppon in Zcn, as wdl as in his wife. Heisig writ.:s rhar "ir was a difticulr rime for him, ancl his wite, who would warch_him spending whol.: afternoons warching lizards in rh.: yard, was atraicl he wou]d crack undcr rhe pain."; Nonc"rhdcss, during these ycars of academic exile, he wrote rl ,)/ur~y o./Ari.,tot/e, and God rl/1(1 !lú.,olute NothingJicss, and l\'ihilisJ!I, all of which "Emabe hailed as "masterpieces."G Reflecting back ro rhe war years, Nishirani observecl that during rhc war he was criticized tür nor supporting Japan's rurn roward milirarism ami righrisr ideology and immecliatdy afrer rhe war tür having supportcd ir in sorne vvay.- He was damned if he did supporr rhe war, and damned if he did not. Neverrheless, he was eventually reappointed ro the position he was forced ro leave behind, jusr tivc years later in 1952. His final collecred outpur consisted of rwenty-six volumes, which only began appearing, in japanese, in 1986. In his wrirren "message" ro rhe participanrs of a conference on his book Rcligion tlilrf Nothingl!c.,s, which was held ar Smirh and Amhersr Colleges in 1984, he sr:ned rhat his "central concern has been to thinlé the problcm of norhingness."' Furrhermore, he poinrs out rhar, since Wesrern rhought has cometo influence every aspecr of japanese culture, ir is nmv necessary ro "re-rhink'' rhe long rradirion of Easrern "rhoughr and philosophy with rhe help of whar we lcarned from \X'esrern philosophy."" ll1roughour rhis rethinking, Nishirani mainrained a Zen posirion, bur in rhe light of exisrenrial rhoughr, rhar aL,o demanckd rhat "rcaliry" be füund in rhe living of everyclay lite ami nor in sorne rheorerical account of realiry. Realiry is undertoor, bur it rec¡uires a good deal of digging and sweeping ro find ir. \Vhar Nishirani ofters is a srandpoint

,, ulred from his digging ami swc·c·nitlg ami fro1n which h• ( 11a S r' 5 f rhea or¿ 1·1nrv world llLl\' lw lKTLL'ivL·d in a11 n:traordinarv. w.n·, , , . r . a r ·a\' rhar has bcc·n availabk all along l~ll· annlilL" looking at it ti·om ;h~ srandpoint ot nothingnns/em¡HillL''>S/_)i/;¡ . !t is rk· ordinan ·¡s exrraordlllarv, rhc L'Xtraordllurv ,JS ordli!JI"\'. wor Id '· · · · L'

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Nietzsche and Nihilism Nishirani nor onlv rc-,earLhcd the ropic uf "nihilism," bur. as a voung man, he had lived ir, cvcntually \\TL·sding ir to rhe ground ~nd rhen tinding a pathway thruugh ir allll bt:yond. ·¡he n1.d:1-

dy he had cxperiencL·d was "EuropL,an nihilistn,·· as he c:tllcd it, which arose due ru rhe "rapid collapsc·" wirhin him (Jnd rhroughout Europé) uf rradirion:d tnc·uphysical philmuphy and "thL· Llccnh of God," as announced lw NiL·rzsche. \\'har lud h:1ppened \\':ls rhat the worldview rhar h:1d nourishc,d ami supporrcd tl1t" spirirual life of EuropL· rÍH more rhan rwo rhousand ve.u·-, w:L'> all ar once rhrown inro c¡uesriutl: the t~nllldarion uf Euro¡xan lite had nor just cracked bur had colhpsed alrogcrher. Philosophy allll rdigion were now seen ro have bn·n human-madL', merL· consrrucrions. An abyss opened, c,¡sring all torms uf mcaning, sc:Luriry, and lw¡x i111o radical doubr. As :l rnulr ot" rhis, a grear dL·-,pair swepr rhruugh Europe, ar kasr among thL· intdligemsia, :llld rliL' onlv \\J\' bcvond ir was m shifr thL· as:,ULlllLL"~ of rdigiuu:, bith ancl lllL'taphy~ical reasoning ro rh.ll of rhc ,df "Jh.: cuuragc ro bcL· rhi~ yawni11g abyss, rl~L·n, rcc¡uired li\·ing wirl]()ut assur;tnccs, ami, )'t'l, .living :l passionare lite gruunded un one's mv11 choicn. ·¡ hL di.-,closure uf "norhingnc·ss"' or nihilin· ar rhe core of L'Xisrencc demanded an '·overcoming" of rhis nihilism bv sLeer dererminatiun tu crL·are and charr on.:'s Luvvn hisroric!l desri,nation. Nihilism was overcome bv firsr admirring rhe rrurh of nihiliry and rhen clwo.-,ing ro livL' i;1 rhe E1ee of it. "1 he old values a rose ti·om ourside of rhe individual. The nnv Nierzschean \·alueo c,lnlc t"rum human bcings, empowering alll! emboldening cach pelVJil ro creare values tor him/herself This brings bnh a ~will ro ¡)(Jwcr." \Ve would no longcr be hcld

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. C) risrianirv yidded a frL·-,h look .lt whar, t~lr NiL'll'>chc, wa-, a ot 1 . . -dcnving •Jhilmo•Jln·. 'lhi> new nihili,m, ,H ir.' vn\·. dcnrJ¡-,, \VÜ rlll . e t t • t aave risc ro ~1 ncw ovcrcorning uf nihilism, the --,,¡!1 ro pmvcr." place of Cm! ¡, rhe !ove uf -,elf ;tnd rl1L' 1\urld jmr a' rhq ;HL', argued Nict?SLhc. '!he .'>l·Jf. Joarhing of hum~uh a' lu-,dtrl, croric beings gave \\J)' lU a view ot hunum a, proud, powcrtul LTOCÍl beinvs who loved lik .md wcrc etpahk· of crL·aring meaning aml valu;, tór rhemsdvcs. l'lca:,urL' i> nor inrrimically evi,l bur acru~1lly i, ,¡un of rhc· fullne>s uf lit'c ami thc nt;!bli-,hrncm of lit'c-affirrning a D values. One tlctional exampk ol. une who livL''> in thi-, pusirive and lite affirm ing wa;· i.'> N ÍL'tüchc\ "ovcrruan" (ii/;cmLI'I/.1(¡,), 11 ho say'> "yl·," ro thL· worl,l c1nd w hi-,/hcr 0\\ n c·xi-,rcncc. Such .1 un,· displays rl1l' powcr aml '>lrcngrh ro give rucaning tu a mcaningk..,.., world. lndcL·d, NiL'U\lhe Llllgln thar or1e musr lm·c rhc 11orld that you hclpcd to :-.lupc ro -,udl ,\Il n.rcnr thar vuu would he willing ro accqH irs worrh L"vc·n if y()u WLTL' Lllllll11Írrnl ro rcliving ir jmr as ir ¡, OVLT ,l!ld mn ~1gain rhroughout ernnir1·. ·lhc "myrh of er"-rnal fl'c:ttrrctlí.c" ¡, a rcsr of rhe wonh uf rhe lite vuu h.1ve crea red. Can you 11 ill it:, exi-,rencc wirhour cnd, or ¡, your crcated exisrence lcss rlun wonhy uf your cominucd cxisrencL·? 'lhis was Nicrzsche's sdf·owrcoming of rhc nihilism rlur was lefr expo:,nl afrer rhc impmcd value:-. ofChrisrianiry had begun ro crumblc. llw abyss hecamc cvidcnt, aml thL· way our w.1s rhrough "yea-:,ayirlg.'' To Nierz:,che, wc mu:,r makc our me3ning by atfirming rhar we ourselves have the powcr ro nuke lllL'aning and ro creare value:, worrhy of us. 1' "Nihiliry," wrirc:-. Nishirani, "rders ro rhar which rcndcrs meaninglessne\s rhl· meaning of life." 1' Rcligion ari:,es when meaning, including rhe puinr of our own cxistence, ¡, in doubr or is even absenr. Whcn we que,rion thL· ,ignihcance uf our own exisrencc, rhe door ro rdigion ¡, opennl: "A gaping aby'>'> opem up ar rh,, vcry ground on which Wt' srand." 1' lmked, rhe aby'>s is always prcscnr, "always just undcd(Jot." Evcryrhing rhar WL' !ove, rreasurc, ancl find m"·aning from is inrrimically fragile and perishablc. Nishirani dd!ne:, rdigion ,¡s rhe "real -,df-awarcness of rcality."1'' Realiry aLtualiLt'S irsdf in ami rhrough m, and this Buddhisr w;¡y of under:,randing in!ttses meaning back inro exisr.:ncc.

down by rlw graviry of pasr rradirions-old valucs rhar kepr us fro . • . • I1J. crearing valucs for ourselves and fancihd rhrears ot eterna! damnarion ami divine punishmenr.

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Nishirani argued rhar rhe only way ro ddear nihilism is "rhrough nihilism." 10 His guide in rhis was Fricdrich Nietzsche whose lhus Spoke Lrtmthustm was based on rhe idea rhar nihilisi1J. could only be overcome by a reframing of our understanding of nihilism. Perhaps rhe best roure for undersranding Nierzsche's brand of nihilism is ro use Nishitani's own analysis in bis lhe Self Overcoming oj'Nihi!ism. 11 Once Nietzsche had announced rhar "God is dead," (rhar is, now rhat, tor many, God is no longer believed to exist) ir became necessary ro investig~lte whar consriruted the life of Christianity and then the slow implications of its demise resulring in the need for new values. Nishitani poinrs out rhat with the collapse of Christianiry, "the ground of received ideals and values has beco me hollow." 12 For cenruries, Christian values had themselves protecred its f(J!lowers from despair ar rhe meaninglessness of human existence. TI1e way this was accomplished was rhat Christianiry "granred rhe human absolure vrdue'' as rhe ''image of God" on earrh. Furrherrnore, Christianiry counrered rhe actual exisrence of evil and suftering in rhe world by posiring a divine plan, which gave meaning ro evil and suftering. Moreover, Christian reachings guaranteed a God-given moraliry, rendering rhe inclinarion roward physical suicide t:u less of a rhrear due to a feeling of hopelessness. However, wirh God's dearh, all of rhese assurances wcre raken away, lcaving rhe porential f()r a yawning abyss of hopelessness. Whar emerged was a second look at rhar which Chrisrianiry had promored, now rhar its "rrurh'' was no longer unassailable. Christian morality had taught thar human beings wcre vveak (''rhe rneek shall inherit rhe earth"; Psalms 25:8) and rhar the world is filled with sutt'ering and evil. TI1c belids in Heavcn and Judgment Day were a denial of rhis world as good, leading naturally to a "barred of the natural," a justification f()r rhe prderence of rhe weak over the strong ami culminaring in rhe denial of the passions. So Chrisrianiry was born as an amidore ro rhe nihilism of the time, yer ir produced anorlwr nihilism: "Europcan nihilisrn." -!he brcakdown

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Ni~hirani echocs Nishida here, fc)r he envtstons "crearion" as the self-manifcsrarion of norhingness (or God), wirh rhe resulr rhat our perspectivc has changed fi·om individual ego ro a cosmic one. 1hus, each of us is pan of divinity and, as such, sharc in rhe purpose and explorarory narure of rhe absolure. 1 As a resulr, each of us, as well as rhe cosmos as a whole, is once again filled wirh meaning and purpose. ~1l1e Harland of rneaninglessness and despair gives way ro a robust landscapc of hopc and intrinsic worrh.

The Ten Ox-herding Pictures As a guíde ro Níshirani's complex and derailed analysis of his posirion, ir may prove helpful to recall in derail rhe fmwus Ten Oxherding pictures, which wcrc brieHy mcnrioned ar rhe end of chaprer 1, ro help in charring a course somewhar akin ro Nishitani's more philosophical parh. Nishirani did nor offer or provide rhis sequcnce of steps and picrures rhat lcad one roward hope and undersranding of the path ro enlighren ment, alrhough he knew of them. '(he aurhor of the pictures and their pocric commenrary was a twclfrh-cenrury Zen master in Sung Dynasry China, (960-1279), narned Kaku-an Shi-en. Tiwse ten watercolors (line drawings in rhis book) trace the journey ti-om ordinary, evcryday consciousncss ro enlighrenmenr. 'lhe firsr picturc, enrirlcd "Searching for rhe Ox," begins with a young hcrder who heeds rumors thar rherc is a deeper ~elf rhan rhe everyday ego scl( one thar grants fullnc'SS of meaning and purpose. In asking, "Who am 1?" ami "Whar is the meaning of my lile!" as his inirial curiosity suggc~ts, he is raking the tlrst ami vital step away ti·om ordinary understanding roward enlightcnment. As with Plato in ancienr Arhem, this initial questioning is a crucial srcp in pursuing rhe path-the "way"-to a deepcr realization of sclf To know rhar yo u do not know is crucial to the search, for if yo u think rhar you already know, or if you !uve ncver given any rhought ro who you are, then searching never begins. Awareness of ignorancc (knowing that you dotÚ know) is rhe firsr step toward knowledge and, in this insrancc, towards "self" knowledge and enlightcnment.

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\X'har makc~ ir _so dittlculr ro hcgin rhe journcy roward enlighrcnmcm is rhe tan rhar onc has absolurely no cvidence to supporc rhe view rhar rhcrc is such a rhing as a "dcepcr" self that cxisrs hL'ncarh rhe everyday self rhar now quesrions. A few have rold rhe ox herdcr rhar an enlighrened awarcncss can be achieved and rhar a trucr SL'nse of who you are is a genuine pos~ibiliry. Bur whar drives him w take rhe tirsr srep is bis own inner dissarisfacrion wirh rhe srare he finds himsdf in. If we overlay Nishirani's undcrsranding of nihilism (or rneaninglessness), rhcn rhis young herdcr dcspairs over his life and irs lirnirarions; he has a sense rhat rhere has ro be somerhing more, somerhing more sarisfying rhan rhe noise and busrle of ordinat-y exisrencc. ·¡ his is rhe ''exisrenrial prcdicamenr" rhar he tinds himself in. Confronring rhe abyss of meaninglessness, he rakes a firsr srep roward finding rhe "ox"-rhe meraphor for rhe deep, enlighrened self As Nishirani argues, ir is nihilism irsdf rhar musr lead ro an overcoming of nihilism, and rhe overcoming begins wirh rhis firsr srep. ÜLir own awareness of rhe meaninglcssness of exisrence is rhe goad rhar spurs LIS on ro search for somerhing more. Nihilism, like rhe Socraric "gadBy" of ancienr Arhens, bires benearh rhe saddle of complacency spLirring LIS on ro seek somerhing better. Like a srill small voice ar rhe back of our ordinary conscioLisness, wc are prodded ro look furrher in an attcmpr ro move from rneaninglessness ro mcaning, from ordinary ego-conscioLisness ro an awareness rhar seems ro rranscend rhe limirs of rhe ordinary and everyday. The tirsr picrure is followl:'d by rhe second, enrirlcd "Seeing rhe Traces." Following rhe meraphor, rhe herder sees only faint foorprinrs, hinr tracks lefr behind by the sL1pposed "ox.'' Whar rhe metaphor suggests is rhar rhese rracks, or traces, are hinrs that rhe boy herder finds in his reading of the scriprures, or perhaps from his early attempts at medirarion, or from lccrures or sermons. lhese whispers give some hope rhar orhers have genLiindy found whar he is now looking for. lhe hoofprints of rhe ox provide some slight evidence rhat rhere may be a path to deepcT undersranding rhar will sarisfY. Srill, ir could be a myrh rhar rhere is anyrhing berrer: a crurch used ro superticially and tcmporarily sooth rhc masscs.

The rhird stagL' ("Seeing," or "Carching a Climp't' uf rhe Ux"J of rhe herder's dt'vdopmenr comisrs in actLially ~eeing a portion of rhe rcrrearing ox. As 1). T. Suzuki write~, "1·-le tinds his way rhrough rhe sound [ noise 1; he sees in ro thc origin of rhings." His "rrue'' sdf is now presl:'lll, at leasr at rhe background of consciousness, which involves seL·ing "inro rhe origin of rhings" insofn as enlighrenmenr is a secing inro rhe onc'neo,s of all rhing~. ·¡he ckcp self is aware of this unirv. revealing rhar rhe herdc:r is actually onc with ultimare realiry itsdf Like salt in water, both rhe deep self ami nothingness art' alrL'adv prnc·m in rhc· background of LOmciousness, 1

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while remaining umeen. Ir is nmv rlur thc hard wnrk hegim. ·¡he-re is no longer a m· doubr rhar rht' det'fk'r st'lf exisrs (thL' ox), but awarcness of ir bLks in and our uf uJn~ciuu~,¡¡ess, like a hologram un ,¡ nedir Lard. which ap¡xars and disappcars as 011e slighrly adjusts rhL' angk nf view. Hahirs nn:d tu he acquired to keep rhe ox prc'seiH, ro prevt'IH ir from slipping ,JWa\·. ·¡ hl:' L'\'lTYtby t·onsciousnt·ss uJillinues ro override rhe deepcr sdf In rht' lounh picturl:', entirled "Carching rhe Ox," ,¡ rope is anached ro rhe ox and rhc hcrdcr srruggb, ro control ir. \Vhen ht' meditares. hi-, mind charrers awav. or wandtTs from bmasv ro bnusy, limiring the dfcctivencss ot' mL'dirarion. His paso,iono, and t~'ars, luitgings amilllt'nwric's continu~dly cunlL' w rhe fordí·onr of his awarent'S'>, leaving him disorduui ami frmrratt·d. '!he raming of thc <..kep sdf (or is ir, tirsr. rhc t~uning of rhe shallow o, el t~) ckmando, f~Kuscd ton<.. L'n rLnion and diligt'nr rrai n ing. lndeni, all of the JlfLlnnL' ans, from medirariun ro rlw manía! an-,, demand rigorou-, ami sw,rainccl rLlining it' one is ro develop as a prauirioner. Onl: ~mr-linni pracrice ami ~evere :-.elf-di~cipline will keqJ rhc ox tí·om rL·cc·ding from awarcnt'ss and rcrurning ro rlw quier pa:-,rures of rhe unconscious. 'l1w tití:h kultL', emirlni "Herding rhe ( h," ¡., rhe srage of CO!Isistmt sdt~di;,cipline. ·¡ hl:' lwrdcr is 110\\ almosr tí·ee of the many conceprualizations rlur tilrer our rhc righr-now, righr-bd~Jre-him expuience, which Ni-,hid,l rekrrt·d LO as "purc' L'xpnicmt·." Ir require, simplv being fully aw,nc, fullv prL·senr, as expt-rientt' Unlolds bd~ne him. 'lht"It' is no rhinking, no conccptu~dizing, no

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Nishitani Keiji 1 105

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~rder no wurld, unly tllUtlrcuess: rhe Howilll,_,' of w~lter, tite cra~h ' · . ._ 11 o 11 \. . of rhunder, rhe bmzing ot insecrs; berrcr srill, therc is only Howing, crashing, ami buzzing. Each of u:-. tlows. uashn, and bunes. When rhe English philosopher John Lockc ( 1(Í,)2~ 1704) rried ro explain what rhc "'substancc" was rhat he assumed, he could only saY rhar ir was a "'somcrhing 1 know nor whar.'' Locke v>as t~JIIowed b); David Hume (1711~1776), rhe rhird of rhe three grear Rritish empiricisrs (Locke, Berkeky, and Hume), vd10 added rhar rhere was evidence rhar a subsranrial self exisred, hur in:-.read poimed ro a 110 "rhearrc" of ~l\vareness where souiHh and tlowing occurred. ·¡ here is really no empirical evidence c:irher for the exisrence uf substance, or of a conrinuing sdL lnsread, we simply assume thar rhere are such. Zen rdls us w srill rhe mind, furego comepts, presupposirions, and languagc, ami just take in rhe tl.owing, thL· crashing, and rhe buzzing; jus¡ be the buaing. Ir is now rlur wc: are on our own home-ground, according ro Nishitani, ar rhe same rime on rhe home-ground of every orher rhing. 'lhc: decp self bmzes; rhe buzzing is rhc dec:p sdf We are home ar last. In any t'Vellt, rhe eighrh picture reprcsenrs whar Nishirani calls rhc jlcld of",\;únytUú. lr is on rhis fidd rhar "'rhings" arise in rheir suclmc'ss; as bmzings. In irsdf rhe fleld of norhingness, like a lighr rabie: (which musr bL· assumed ro be r~nmless, except rhar ir is nor possible r~n such ro exist in rhe ordina1-y spacelrime world) used ro display phorographit. slides, illuminares the buzzings ami orher rhings rhar now arise in a new lighr, as wíll become e\idcnr wirh picrure nine. Ir may be rhar pictures nine ami ten were added ar a larcr date, bur wherhc:r parr of the original colkcrion or nor, they are essenrial in explaining how une reenrers rlll' ordinary wurld ati:er having b~Hhc:d in rhe fullnL·ss of absolure norhingnes:-.. ·1 he ninth picrurc is emirled '"Rc:rurning ro rhe Origin, lhck ro rhc: Source," and ir is rich, lush, radianr wirh rhe incomparable beaurv uf· rhe world of narurc:. 'li·ees, tlowers, birds singing, a tluwing river have all reappl:'ared, bur are· 'l'l'Il now as ncvc:r bcforL·. Now, out ot' emprin"'s' comes rhe rich nuny. The '"emprying'' of all rhings in pictLHL' c:igln is now ovLTLOillL' in rhe ninrh fí·amc as rhinp Illl\\'

rc:preseming of somerhing rhrough words, or by comparison With somerhing else nor presenr. 'l11e ox has becorne his panner and they walk togerher along rhe parh. '!he sixrh picrure is enrirled '"Coming Home on rhe Ox's Back," showing rhe her,der and rhe ox t~ be in perfect harmony. ·¡he: joy and serenity or rhis new srare of awarencss is symbolized by rhe music rhe herder pbys on a bamboo tlure while riding along upon rhe ox. '"'l11e srruggle is over," and he is no longer distracred by rhe noise of the world; he and bis ox are as one. He now experiences joy in rhe tl.ow of rhings, awesrruck by rhe exquisiteness of each unique rnomenr; he: is living in rhe '"now." Ar lasr able ro live fully in rhe world, he realizes rhe he i.1 his own deep self and rhar somehO\v ir is wirhin him rhar rhc birds sing, the brook gurgles, and rhe sun shines. He is flnally at home, in his own home-ground, as Nishirani vvould have ir. '!he: realizarion of rhe sevemh drawing, enrirled '"'!he Ox l;orgotten; Leaving rhe Man Alone" is rhar rhere ncver really was an ox separare from him. -¡he ox was only syrnbolically separa te. Now rhe herder sirs al! alone, fully ar peace in rhe universe. The c:ighrh srage, enrirled '"'!he Ox and rhe Man Borh Gone our of Sighr," is rhe realization of nothingness, or emptiness. Borh rhe ox and rhe herder !uve disappeared. Nor are rhere rrees, or birds, or anyrhing else. There is norhing! '!he empry circle, or zero, is a toral negarion. Because he no longer sees himself as he once did, the chains of rhe empírica! or everyday self are now broken. Al! rhings !uve collapsed, have disappeared, and wirh ir any furrher possibiliry of substrl!Lce rhinking. Buddhism reaches rhar rhe central cause of sutFcring is rhe E1lse belief in permanency: of self or scJUI, of mounrains and warerblls, or wealrh and repurarion. All is impermanenr, and rhe realizarion rhar norhing has subsrance and rhat all rhings are empry is cemral ro seeing rhar all is norhing. More imporranrly srill is rhe E1ct rhar rhe empry circle announces rhar nondual consciousnes~ has been fully esrablished. 'TI1ere is no herder, no ox, no world, bur only rhe onc:ness of all rhings-rhe formula rhat describes enlighrcnment. Speaking rechnically, rhere is

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Nishitani Keiji 1 107

1hc corrdariun of picmrcs t"ighr and nine caprurl·s nicclv rhc norion of rhe sclf-conrradicrory ickmin· rhar Ni-,hida strugglcd w describe in more precise philosophical terms. -Il1c: comradicriom infiltrare c:ach mher whilc mainraining rheir "orhernc:ss" as separare: and disri11ct. '!he world of rhings (the n1.111y) is also norhingness (rhe One), aml norhingness is rht.: world of rhings: 'Torm is emptiness, empriness is t(Jrm; nirvana is samsara, samsara is nirvana."~" Form ( rhings) as formlcss ( norhingnc·ss), or rhe t(mnb.s as tí.mn, are rwo clistinct pnspc:ctives on realiry, bur borh aré rc:quircd if one is ro have an aclc:quare gDsp of rhe world. "!he sc:eing rhm describl·d is a kind of double vision, bur wherher raken scparately or togéther, a pcrspc:ctiw is giwn rhar is t:u clearer .md t(>Cusl·d rhan C'Vt'r bdore. One is 110w fully in ami of rlw universe, ami rhis provides a st·nsc: of bdonging rhar urrerly dispels any rhrear tl·om nihilism or mc:aningkssness. ·¡¡_¡ be a pan of rhc: ongoing t-low of rhe universe itself is thl· ultimare in mc:aning. Having re.1ched this poinr lw having gol1l' rhrough 11ihilism only makes rhc arriv.d all rhc: swc:erer. As wirh Ucda\ "no11-mysricism" in rhe cluprn 011 Nishida, rhe i11sighr gai11ed plungt.:s one b.tcl~ intu rhl· n·eryday world wirh a new inrensirv. "lhc· rcmh piLTure, emirlcd ··Emcri11g rhe C:itv wirh Bliss-bestuwing H.mds" implin rhar rhe hcTckr, 110\\ an uld IIU!l, has hands dut can transl(mn anorher. '!he cummemary rclls m dur oné would nner know rhat he was enlighrcnc·d, r(n he· is tt>und in rlw cOlllfHI1)' of "\\il1e-bihbcrs Jnd burchers, land] hl> and rhl·y are alllonwned imo Buddlus." "lhe drawiil¡_', has him enloumning a young hov, and we mighr imagine dur dw buv is asking him wherher rhnc· is such a thing ~ts an ox. A rd-lcuion uf sumcone young who is whne hl· once was. he .mswers tlut he \\ould teach rhe boy \vhar he has leamcd ~1bour rhe existence of rhc· ux. \\'e can rhcn inugim· tlwm ,haring a cup of tc·a .tnd a piece of brl·ad while rhc· enlighrn1ed llld llLlll 'urrs rhc~ bm· un bis joumly ro

return wirh a fullness thar is so brighr rhar one is dazzled. 1he rnoumains and "buzzings" rhar disap¡K·ared in rhc eighrh srage of awarcne" have rcappearcd wirh an incredible brighrness, newness and richness becausc we, as aware obscrvers, have bcen freed our old ways of dualisric undersranding vvhich, by nccessiry, placed objecrs "out rhere," at a disrancc from us. Now, wc !uve become rhose objecrs insoEu as rhc seer and thc seen havc become one. Furthermoré, all rhar t"xisrs is now "backlir," as ir were, beca use rhey are now lined wirh nothingncss, the background ro all rhe foreground appearances of rhings. Fverything now shirnmers in irs suchness, its rhusness, for rhings now appear in rheir own homt"-ground, just as they are in rhemsclves.

of

Ueda Shizureru suggesrs rhar figurc:s eighr and nine should not be raken in succession, bur rarlwr as co-relared. 1hey should be vic:wed as "oscillating back and forrh." '!he rwo should be taken togerher, ''like two sides of a single sheér of paper, a paper wirhour 1 rhicknéss." 1' Each sragé infiltrares rhe orher so rhar eighr implies ninc, and ninc implies eighr. The enlighrened man or woman sees both at once:, srereoscopically. Everything perceiwd cxists in its suchness on rhe field of .~'únyrttd, as Nishirani understands rhis. lhe ficld of SúiiJrltd is figure eighr, upon which rhc things of picture nine now exist. 1magine drawings eighr ami ninc: on clc:ar rransparéncies projécted on a screéll. First eighr is projecred, ami then nine, cxcc:pt rhat c:ighr is not rcmovc:d bur nine is phcc:d on top of ir. Borh drawings are presenr, bur nine now rc:sts on c:ighr. If we could add ro this metaphor somé way of making nine brighrer because of eighr, rhen rhis putting rogerher of rhe rwo would be an apt meraphor clepicting an énlighrcnc:d awarenéss of how rhings are in their "suchncss." furrherrnore, now rhar it can be seen thar atl rest on rhc: ficld of .~únpl!tl, norhingness, rhc:n cach rhing is rclared ro rhe orhers as kindrcd manifesrarions of norhingness, arising out of ir and resting upon ir. Norhingness, ,~úllyrttd, allows each rhing to be: in its own homc:-ground while simulraneously being in rhe home-ground of evcryrhing elsc:, for rhc:y share rhe very same lining, rhe same place: aml origin of bc:ing.

1:"111 igh

renllll'll t. 'llw hrsr of rhc: ox-herding picwre' u>rrnpumh roughh- tll rhis aw~uencss of rhl· emprint·ss uf ordi1ury umkrsumlin¡o,. ·¡he

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1 08 1 The Kyoto School

nihilism at rhis srage is rhe simple recognition of rhe unsaris[1cror narure of our existence, and wirh ir rhe dim aspirarion rhat rher~ oughr ro be somcrhing more. "I11e underlying abyss is ever-present ft)r one who rhinks deeply, for dearh always looms, erhical demands change from generation ro generarion, wars continue ro break out and nt'ither religion nor rhe exisring philosophies are able ro elimi~ nare our awareness of a dis-ease based on a radical uncenainry. Ir was Nietzsche who alerred Europe ro rhe exisrenct' of the abyss rhar undermined tradicional values, rhe belief in rhe existence of God, and rhe srabiliry of so-called rarional choices. Nierzsche's successes were real, bur whar he achieved, as Nishirani understood him, was a new nihilism within whar Nishirani rerms tht' "field of consciousness." 1he d ualism of sclf ami world remained, bur rhe "power" of rhe self was now engaged in a historical barde berween an innt'r sclf ami mlter rhings. Yn neirher self nor rhings could be known c:xcept from a disrance, rhat is, representationally. Reprc,sentational knowing is knowing by means of concepts, words, or proposirions. Al! of rhese are at lcast once removed from rhe actual experience thar rhey seek ro identify, describe, or represen t. Such knowledge is mediaterl (by conceprs, words, or proposirions) and nor direcr or immediate. To know sclf or things in the outside world is ro know rhem as represenred, and nor as rhey mighr be aparr fi·om consciousness. Neirher rhe self-in-irself nor things-in-themselves can be grasped direcrly, bur only as an image wirhin consciousness. ·n1e security of divine knowlcdge now gives way ro rhe nihiliry of subjective awareness. The price for human power, ir turns out, is rhe rclativiry of a total subjectivism: rhat is ro say, iris a "knowledge'' withour guac111ree reduced ro a matter of rasre or majoriry opinion. Even science irsdf is rendered subjecrive, a series of value judgments, for rhe data of science is subjecrive appearance, mere phenomena-in-consciousness. ll1e religious and meraphysical guarantees of realiry irself ha ve been lost and, insread, rhere is only exisrenrial choice, a choice to be made wirhour an abiding map or even an innare scme of direcrion. Real or unreal, good or bad, beauriful or ugly have become matters of subjecrive rasre or of rhe "realiry" of rhe momenr.

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Nishitani Keiji 1 109

l

The Meaning of "Nothingness" Before wrning tu Nishitani's uearive respume ro rhc nihilisric ch~ll­ lenge. ir musl lw remarkul rhar for Kyoro ::;,hool philmophns, "norhingness" is said in many ways (ro paraphLlst' Aristode on "being"). Wh~ll Arisrork said was rhar "rhne are llLlil)' semn in which a rhing may he said ro 'be,' hur al! rhar 'is is relarc:d ro one central point, 011e kind uf rhing, ami is 110t said 'ro be' hv a mert' ambiguiry.'''' Simibrly, a \'arien' uf meanings ,·ame ro be arrached ro "nothingnes~:· by rhc Kyoto School rhinh-rs. t\evenheiess, "norhingness," in spite of ditfert'IJLt's in meaning, was lwld ro rder ro the same frnllldarional or originary realirv rhar is rhe basis of Kyoto Schoul philosophv. Ueda ShiLurnu, Nishirani's besr-known studenr and Lner colleague, suggests rlur Nishiths thar.lcteriurion of rhe Wesr as culrures of "being," and rhe Easr as cultures of "¡wrhingness,'' does nor rake into atcounr philmophas in rhe \Vesr such as Eckharr and Nieusche who do t:xplore "norhingnt·ss" in considerable deprh; nor dues n do jusriet' ro rhe variarions in meaning given rhe notion of "norhingness" by Fastt'fll rhinh-rs, induding brer members of rhe Kyoro School. Neverrhcless, U,·da condud,,, rhar "ir do,·s afrcr ~111 st:em rhar i11 European philosuphy, rh~n whi,h is foundarional al](! originary is ulrimardy grasped in terms of "being.'' "Il1at is ro say rhar "in rhe \vest norhingness is undersrood as non-being, rlur is, as rhe negarion of being, ami in rhis sense is based on being.'"' Norhingness is rhoughr of mndy as rhe nt:'garion of some being of some kind. By comrasr, rhe Kyoto School philosophns rhoughr of "norhingness'' as rdcrring to rhar which was nrigi1ury. ulrimare, or absolute, How,·ver rhey t·ach ga\'e \'L,n' dit+er,·m metllfillgs ro this norion. Borh Nishida ami "Lmabe rt,sred rheir philosophies on ri1L, norion ot' "absolure norhingness" (zctttti-tuu). Yer, rlwre were imporram ditt~,renc,·s: '"\'x/hile Nishida's [philosophyj conceived of ir in rerms of 'pbce' (/;as!JU), 'Lmabe's conct:ived of it in tnms of 'praxis' (j/,,_~m)," or rhe working uf absolutL, nothingn,·ss in hi,rory, rhrough lu\e. ·,

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11 O 1 The Kyoto School

In contrast to both of these views, Nishitani chose the Mahayana Buddhist term ernptiness (Sünyatd) as the better designation for nothingness because of "rhe significant role that the arrival of nihilism played in his thought, a problem that had not been an issue for Nishida." 25 Ueda argues that given that the problem of nihilism remained front and center in Nishitani's writing, "the idea of 'absolute nothingness' could not help but be impacted." 26 1he "death of God" made the use of the language of absolutes an unlikely choice, if not an impossible one. "Because of the collapse of the absolute, the loss of the horizon of onrology, and the endless nihilization of nihility, 'absolute nothingness,' which would accommodate within itself even absolute being, could no longer be the basic category of thought in a world horizon." 27 Terms such as "absolute" and "God" now "rang hollow," and a new term was needed-still to refer to the central notion of "nothingness," but with none of the baggage of "absolute nothingness." Nishitani found such a term in classical Mahayana Buddhist thought, one that had not been discredited by the nihilism of the modern age. "Emptiness" (Sünyatd) was such a term, although Nishitani admitted that he used it "rather freely," adopting a position that attempted to "stand at once within and outside of tradition." 28 If God was dead, then absolutes died with him. Nishitani emphasized that finding an alternative term for nothingness was, in fact, "demanded by the problem of nihilism."29 What he tries to show with this term is "rhe breaking free of nihility, and the positivity of the freedom that emerges from that break." 10 Ueda contends that the literal meaning of "emptiness" conjures up a variety of nuances such as the image of a vast blue sky with its limitless possibilities, or of the wind, perhaps because it can circulare anywhere and is invisible yet sensible. Nishitani chose to rethink Kyoto School philosophy from the ground up while yet retaining the core of Kyoto School philosophy. 1he overriding philosophical problem was no longer the bridging of Eastern and Western philosophical traditions through the adoption of Western terminology and method, but the overcoming of a growing sense of meaningless, depression, and despair that now extended more or less around the world.

Nishitani Keiji 1 111

A Way Out Nishitani offered a way out of this nihilism of the field of consciousness, which leaves us forever trapped within our own subjective consciousness. He does this by substituting "the field of Sünyatd" for the field of consciousness. 1he path to this second field is already present in the first. 1he realization that both the self and things are mere objects for and in consciousness means that the self and everything else is wirhout foundation, empry, and utterly impermanent. Everything will perish, scienrific theories will follow, one upon another, and death looms befare each of us as inevitable. No longer is complete nihility covered over, for now everyrhing is unreal, that is, impermanent. In Nishitani's words, "What 1 am talking about is the point at which the nihility that líes hidden as a reality at the ground of rhe self and all rhings makes itself present as a reality to the self in such a way that self-existence, together with the being of al! things, turns into a single doubr." 51 No longer is there a disrinction between the doubrer and what is doubted, and the enrire field of consciousness gives way ro the Great Doubt of Zen. 1he self becomes rhe Great Doubt, a doubt at a far greater level than rheoretical doubt. Such Doubt is lived, not theorized, and one is left with nothing. Nishitani's mention of a "path" corresponds ro pictures two through six of the ox-herding series. 1he Great Doubt brings us to our emotional and intellecrual knees, for nothing that we know will dispel our awareness of meaninglessness. But thinking, studying, listening to the wisdom of the testimony of others who have seen rhe "ox," constitute rhe path forward. lt is hard work, and for much of the journey there is still no confirmed evidence that the path is not a blind one. 1he everyday self now seems to be a myth. Stage seven is the realization rhat rhe herder and the ox have always been one, never separated from one another, but it took courage and a steadfast resolve ro come ro realize this. Now, in peace and contentment, the boy herder relaxes under a tree, finally aware of rhe unity of the self Yet, as we know from the pictures and their description, the boy has not yet reached the end of his quest. 1he oneness of

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Nishitani Keiji 1 113

112 1 The Kyoto School

e rcsentation in ~llld f(H consciousness, which rcndc.Ts rlw knowing :tanything in-irself impossible, on rhe field of ,)'úityiltd all knowlcdge is direct, rarher rh,111 mediated by ami rhrough rqHesenrations. Realiry is no longer apprehendcd by mean;, ot concepu, (such as "chair," "round," "tlower") but direcrly, in its suchness. Nondual aw,tn:ness, represented by rhe empry circle, is difficult for mosr o!' us living in thc Wesr ro grasp, ami probably for rnost Japanesc as well. Howcvcr, Japancse culture is a mL·dirativc culture, and, as such, r~1lk of nondual awareness is in the cultural environment much of rhe time. Tradirionally, ami, ro a ksser cxrent, even roday, nuny Japanesc childrcn are exposL·d ro one or more of rhe medirarive disciplines-tlower arranging, landsLapc.' gardening, rhc tea L·eremony, thc marrial arrs-all uf which are meditative paths ro L'nlighrenmcilt. '' Husinesscs oti:en semi rheir employeL'S ro worbhops on haiku poctry, or ro lcarn rhe swordsmanship of km rió. ·l he su ffix "rió" at rhe end of /,:mr/ó, cf,arló, aikido, for example, rranslates as "way" or "parh,'' wavs meanr ro

rhe evcrvday_ self and rhe dceper self--or, perhaps betrer, when the evcryday sclt sirnply disappears-leads ro rhe recognirion rhar all rhings are one, for the nothingness of the everyday self now spreads ro the norhingness of cveryrhing. "Thcre is no ox, no herder, jusr absolure nothingness. Sornehow, out of rhis realizarion of ''absolute nothingness," when it seerns rhar the siruation wc find ourselves in is "beyond all solution," "rhen demand arises for a transpersonal field to open 2 u p." ' TI1is fiel el is the Buddhisr srandpoinr of ,~ú11yatd. For Nishitani, rhis represenrs a birrh of thc self not rhe old sclf bur rhe self "in its original counrenance," ro wit, rhat of absolute nothingness. 1he result is a nihilism that stands on the experience of nihilism as rhe foundation of evcryrhing, including ourselves. ~'únytltd is an emptiness rhat even empties irself~ a nihilism which empties nihilism. In doiqg so, nihilism itself is transcended, and sclf and the world reappear in rheir suchness, in rheir true deprh. Nishitani's phrase for this is rhe "real self-realization of realiry," which serves also as his definition of religion. Tilis account of "realiry" afllrrns a nondualistic perspective: ir involves "both our becoming aware of reality, ami, at the same rime, the reality realizing itself in our awareness."" Such awareness is nondualisric insot~1r as the distincrion between the knower and that which is known vanishes. With the ego-self gonc, une is able ro experience a leve! deeper than in thc ficld or normal consciousness. 11lc field of consciousness inescapably separares the knower tl·orn the known. 13ut on the field of emptiness, which is ~'únytttd, eme becomes aware of realiry more deeply, wirhour rhe intervention of rhe sclf on the f1eld of comciomness, allowing reality ro ''speak'' on irs own and in its own way. Of course, there is srill awareness, bur ir is 110W nondual awarcness wirhout a disrinction berween the knowcr and the known. All the issues relating ro realiry as subject, or subsrancc, or whcrher the mind auromatically adds ro what is "our rhcrc,''

lead ro enlightenmem.

Enlightenment As you may rLTall frum rhc chaprer on Nishida, all L·nlighrenillL'Il[ experiences ,ue pure cXfleriL·nLes, alrhough not all pure cxpericnce~ are enlightenmcnt ex¡xri<.:'nces. Purc cxperiL'IlL·e occurs prior ro the subjn:t/objccr split and prior ro any and all judgmellts or othcr activiries of ordina1-y consciousness. The cbim is rhat, as a resulr. realiry is now ahk ro speak directly ro our awarencss, as it is in-itself Of course, ir remains rrue rhar nondual aw,lrL'ness i.-. distinctly ditFerent fi·om regular conscious expnience, and is much richer. Such expnienCL' is not concepr-bound. nor is ir a reprcsentarional absrracrion. Now reality speaks directly, sceminglv as ir io, in its "suchnes~·· (as it is in irselt} rnlis is the "real sdf-rcalizarion

rhe tcm11s and percqlfiom of rime and ~pace, rogether with rhe categories of camalirv, ami so on, can now he pa~sed mer as not applicablc ro awarcncss on the fidd of ,~zlitpltti. \X1 hereas on rlw tldd of ordinary consciousncss things can only be known via rheir

of realiry" ~peaking directl~, ro us. Having conti-onted the emprincss of all things, ami having bced our inevirabk death hl:'ad on. rather rha11 bccoming ,hroudtc·d in dcspair, an apertUrL' of awareness lcads

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from rhe Crear Doubr m rhe f-ield of ,)'únyatd. Ir is rhen, because of rhe background of impermanence and emprine>s, rhat rhe imperl:lanence and cmptine:-,s of al! rhings now rake on a shitnmering 1-reshness and brilliancc tor usa:-, rhough we are sceing rhings tor the hrst time. All awareness is now fresh awareness, and each instance

or rhar"), ami onlv ~tppe~w, a:-. a "chis" ur J ""rlut .. dirc·ctlv in irs suchness. 'lhus, all rhinp are empry, ;~nd rhc·rd(nc· all L·mprinL·:-.s

manifests a deprh and richness rhar is impiring. Each and every awareness now ariscs from its "home-ground," its original "place."

norhi ngnc·>s.

is rhings (f(nm>): f(¡rm i.s emprinL·ss, emptiness is t(mn:

Ne!tt!ÍI'é' nor/Jili,~llt.-.1, or nihilirv 011 rhe f1c·ld ofcomLiousnL"s>, is relarive bc·c~lu~e. nq',~tring thc· lwing of rhings, it i> still undnsmod in rebrion ro bcing, a11d. rhnd(JrL·, cantHH be absolurc nothingness. Furrhertlllll"L'. whu1 WL' think ~tbour nihiliry, \\e srill reprc·sc·¡¡¡ ir in

Relative and Absolute Nothingness

our comciou>ness ~1s lK·ing :,omc·thing. lr is srill undnstoocl as lwi11):': oursidc· of rhe sclf, "'as >Olllc·thing disrincr from and extnn~tl ro ri1L· self Moreovn, n1hilit1· itsL·It' i> flllrL·h nq.;arive in rlut all things, from rhc standpoint uf' nihili-.m, ,nc· rhrown intu qunriun. lhL·

Unno Taitetsu comments on rhe implicarions of such a perspecrive: "In absolute norhingness lite becomes very clcar-whar is rruly of value and what is nor. 1hat which is ro be cherished as having ultimare value is rhc here and now, each momem, each

awareltess of nihilirv ar rhc' base uf e,Kh and ever: tlting usrs rhL· being uf each ami evnv thing imu doubr. ·¡ hus, an alwss OflL'm

cncounter, each rhing bd()fe us: the flower 1 see, rhe srar in rhe heavens, my pet dog, my brher, my mother. Each of rhe realiries realizes irself rhrough my awareness, and my awareness is deepened and expanded rhrough each reality thus realized." '' Such knowing is a "knowing of non-knowing" (rhar is, nor known in rhe more

up ar rhe root of nc1yrhing. By conrrasr, a/;so!utc ;wthiilc'!JICS.' i> bevond nihilirv, or else Súnyi!Lti as ,t ncw t(mn uf nihilism wuuld be a vicwpoint o,rill rrapped wirhin bL·ing. Absolure IJOthingnc·ss, or .)'tiJ!)Ii/tri, mu:-.r rake us beyond al! concqHualizarion and rqlt"esenurion, borh posirive

usual inferential or mediated wav) where imrnediate prcsence irself is gramed. ''' FurrherrnorL', c~Úil)lflttl i>

110(

.\tllll.'tlilt

(rhe rhi1tg;, of ordinarv comciousllc'") is uirL'dlltl (cmprinn>) and nirur/1/{/ is .lillll.ltli"tl. 'lhis is wh~tt ~tppe.lrs on rhe tldd of absolutc'

ami ncgarivc. ,~illl)'tl!ti i:-, 110r >omc "thing," nor i> it cmptint:ss rcpresented as some rhing omside of being. Al! dut un be said, or if saving annhing at ~~11 i:-, impos'">ible, rhen al! rhar can be poimed to

some rhing, bur, rarher, simply

an absolute emptim·s., thar is emptied even of the represemarion of empriness. This non-knowing rcveals rhar absolure empriness "appears as one wirh being."' 5 ·nLlt is ro say, imoEtr as rhings

i'"> an empry nothing, srrippL·d bare of rhe represc'ntarions of emptiness. In rltis SCihe, .~ÚII_)'flttl empric·s irself complcrdy amlmmt now be seen a:-, a place whcrL' beings "be." As such, absolure emprine>s, which is nor a rhing, i, '">ynonvmous wirh Úci11g as rhinp. 'lhings

appear in rheir wchness, in absolure empriness and on rheir own home-ground, rhen in rhi:-, nondual awareness of rhing:-, in rheir

110\V c~Úil)'tltÚ, ami SúnytlttÍ is now bc·ings. lhc standpoillt uf .~úll_ytltti require~ a doublc negarion: rhere nihiliry, allC! a negation of rhe negativity uf nihiliry, and rhis double negarion yidds a pmirive, an ~ttfinnation. 'lhis atfirmarion of an empry norhing reinsrares all rhing>, bur now as whar rhcy are in rhcmsclves, each on irs own home-ground. '!he srandpoint of 5'úll_yi1Ld is 110r a "rhing." 1\arher, ir is rhat non-rhing rhar allows rhinp ro presellt them>elvc·\ a'l rhing:-.. ·¡ hing> re,tppc,tr in thc·ir '"non-substantial subsranec-," in rhcir rniL" '">uchnc>s,

home-ground in absolurt: empriness, absolure empriness and rhings are one: emptincss is being, and being is empriness. Nishitani elaborares: "Empeines:-, mighr be called the tlcld of 'be-ihcarion' . . . in contrast ro nihiliry which is "rhe tldd of "nullihcation.' ...,, 111ings

are

are absolurely empry on rhe t-ield of empriness, r111rl_yet precisely because rhey are empty, rhey are fully n:alized as what rhey re:dly are in rheir suchncs:-,. 1 bis realizarion can only be expre~~ed as a paradox: "Ir is ;wt rhis rhing or rhar. rherdore, ir is rhis rhing or rhar." ''' Ir i:-, a realization bc')'ond conceprs or represemariom (""chis

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_ f rhe rIJinL· treL· ~md rllL' selfnt:":,s of rhe bamboo."'' 1Ltving• ldr nes 5 0 our ego-selves bchind. WL' can I\0\\' SL'C wirh an undisrortL·d eyc rhe ¡jne rrcc' bdtJrL' us, on irs m\·n homc-groumL ti·om rhe :,randpoinr ~f .'l;tillyt/iti. Ir is as rlwugh \\l' sec i/) rllL' pinL· trce, from rhe imilk rarhc'r rhan rhe ourside. 1-lere philosophv ~md pocrrv coalcscc·, f(Jr bv sc'eing fully frum thl· imide of rhe pine trL'l', \\C bt·comc thl· p.inc' rrec in rhi:, imranr of immediacy. fully in thl· righr-herc'-IlOW. Ir is nor a knowing rlur comes by comparison vvirh orher rhings (taller, prcrricr, ro rhe lcfr ofl bur from rhe rhing in-irsdf direcrly. llws. each rhing atl-lnm irself on rhc' field of .\úilViltti. 'Jhis way of knowing render' Gllh rhing uniquL·. 'l11c flinc rret is nor vic'wcd a' a lllc'lllher of a spccic''o, bur rather a'> rhis uncrly unique rhing, bd(ne ml·. Ir is ar rhe cemn of rhc univL·rsc, as is evtry orlwr rhing. Ir is rhc mastn of all rhings. tlml yct it is rhe servant of all rhinp. Ir i'> master bcuw.e of ir:-. n,nrraliry and absolurc uniquenL:Ss. Ir is s.:rv~ult bccausc ir is rd~Ht:'d ro all orher rhings: "Being one and all are garhcred into one."'' 'lhis relatiomhip of urrcr uniqueness, yer imer-connecrc'd ro all othc'r rhings, Nishirani calls "Lircuminsnsional inrnpencrrarion." "' Each rhing is a "nm,rirurivl· elemcnr" in evcry orhn rhing: thc' univcrsc' is significandy interdependt'Ilt, as the Buddhist notion of lkpen1 denr (or imc'fdepc'ndL·IH) origin~nion rn~1kcs plain. Evcr\'thing in rh.: universc is linkcll rogerher. Things come inro being linked wirh L"ach and everv orhcr rhing, and _yct, cach rhing is individual and unic¡udy \\hat ir is. L1d1 rhing, therd(nt·, v\hile on irs own homc-ground is, ar the 'ame rime, on rhe home-ground of cach ami cvcry orhcr rhing, and each and every orhn rhing is on rhe home-ground uf this uniquc individual thing. l.ih· a gianr wcb, each rhing is l·nmeshed \\Íth cvc'ry other rhing; ami this circumsramial rdariomhip ''is rhe rnosr essenrial of all relariomhips. one rhar is dosn [O the ground of rhings rhan clll)' orher relariomhip cver conccived on rhe fields of sensarion and rc'ason by scicnL·c, l1l)Th, or philosophy."'' '!he 'ystem of mutual intnpc'nerrarion Nishirani likens ro a "field of foice," a unitying t(m:e rlur rnakcs rhc \\urld a world. ami nor a 11lldgcpodgc of random, chaoric

on the field of ernptiness. Using a series of analogies, Nish 1·r . an¡ rries to explain whar he mcans whcn he says rhar rhings appear on rhe field of norhingness in rhcir own horne-ground: fire does nor burn fire; the sword does not cut rhe sword; the eye does nor see rhe eye; water does not wash water. 11 Fire burns firewood bur ir cannor burn irsclf; rhe cye sees all rhings, but it cannor se~ irself Werc the eyc ro sec irse!( then it could only see itself and norhing clse, for seeing would be blocked by the eye secing itself alone. lhe eyc functions prccisely bccause it does not see irself, and precisely because fire does not burn itsel( it is ablc ro burn orher things. Only whcre fire does not burn irself is ir truly firc, on its own home-ground. Only whcre rhe cye docs nor see irsclf is ir on its own home-ground. In not sceing itsel( yet seeing, rhe eye is what it is in itself. Abe Masao summarizes Nishitani's position as follows: "Nishitani's norion of 'in-itself' denotes the self.-idenrity of things which points direcrly ro rhe thing itself in irs original modc of being." 12 lhe activity of fire is ro burn rhings, but fire irself-in-irsclf.--burns wirhout burning itself. ·rhe true narure of fire is rnaintained as non-burning, even while ir burns other rhings. lhcrdorc, ir burns wirhout burning, pur paradoxically. To know fire on irs home-ground is ro know itas ir is in itself. Whar rcsulrs ti·orn such examples is a "complerely disrinct concept of cxistencc." l.i ll1e poet Basho, whom Nishitani quotes, hints at rhis kind of existcnce and rhe ditference entailed in knowing ir: hom the pine rree learn of rhc pinc' trec', And from the bamboo Of rhe bamboo. We come' to know a rhing not by scicnrific analysis, or by philosophical analysis, bur by cnrering inro "rhe mode of being whcre rhe pine rree is thc' pine rree in irse!( and thc' bamboo is rhe bamboo irse!( ami ti·om rhcre ro look at rhc' pinc tree and rhc bamboo. He calls on m to rake ourselves ro rhe dimension wherc rhings become manit::sr in rheir suchncss, ro artune oursdvcs ro rhc sclf--

CVCll rs.

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1he voice of Nishida might be heard in the above account: the One becornes many, and the whole is linked by a unifyin force: "a field of force by virtue of which al! things as they ar: in themselves gather themselves together into one."'''J Nishitani's reframing of Nishida's account is a step forward into eternity and an anridote ro existential nihilism. The freshness of perceiving each and every thing in its uniqueness, on its own home-ground, is represented by picture nine of the ox-herding pictures. Furthermore, as Ueda suggests, the total interconnection of rhings is represented by the superimposition of picture nine onto picture eight: things in their unique suchness are, at the same time, lined with nothingness. It is on the field of Sünyatd that things shine fonh in their interconnected individuality-each thing on its home-ground, and yet, each rhing on the home-ground of every other thing, on the field of nothingness. Every thing is fresh and new; and yet, at its core, every thing is no-thing, empty. On the field of Sünyatd every thing dissolves into a nondifferentiated nothingness. 1here remains only whar the eighth picture exemplifies through an empty circle. And yet, out of this field every rhing arises, in its suchness, and dazzles the beholder with its vividness. Pictures eight and nine describe this double vision well, when superimposed. One might speculate that the enlightened person is able to access rhe contents of both depictions at one and the same time. Each entity is also a nonentity: every rhing is nothing, and yet nothing is every vivid thing. In Nishida's words, the formed is formless, and the formless is (each and every) form.

The Self Our ordinary sense of self pales in comparison with becoming "rruly ourselves" on the field of S'únyatá. On the field of ordinary consciousness we try, in vain, ro grasp ourselves, and we have similar difficulty in representationally trying to grasp things in the world objectively. On the field of Súnyatd, the "original self in

. lf" opens up on its own home-ground. Here, our self~ like al! _ orher rhings, is emptied, and at rhe base of ordinary consciousness is found ro be non-consciousness. Non-consciousness is known rhrough nor-knowing, meaning that it is nonreHective knowing. Nishirani drives home this difficult account of the real self by returning ro the eye and fire analogies: "J ust as the es sen tia! function of the eye, to see things, is possible by virtue of the selfness f rhe eye itselt; and jusr as rhe fact that fire burns rhings is pos0 sible by virtue of rhe selfness of fire, whereby the fire does not burn itselt; so, roo, the knowing of rhe subject is rendered possible by rhe nor-knowing of rhe self in irself"' 0 Try ro catch the self "selfing," and you come up empryhanded. To catch rhe self as objectified is easy, bur ro catch the self direcdy, as pure subjecrivity, is impossible. Try this experiment: think of your self; now try ro carch rhar which rhinb of your self (now as an objecr of thought); now try ro catch a glimpse of rhe self rhar jusr objecrified the self. As soon as you rry ro do so, self becomes objectified-and so on ro infiniry. 'l11e "observing" self can never be caught as subjecrivity, for any arrempr ro do so is ro objectify rhe self once again, which is precisely ro lose rhe subjectivity soughr. ·n1e self of pure subjecrivity is known in a nor-knowing: we know it is rhere, bur we simply cannor capture ir in ordinary co11sciousness whose o11ly way of knowing is ro objecrif)r rhings wirh conceprs. 1he self rhar we are searching for is 110t a self in rhe ordinary sense: ir is a self 1 rhar is nor a self~ or "rhar which is self in nor bei11g self"' The self is now free of self-ce11tered11ess since, 011 rhe field of .~únyatá, ir inrerpenetrares rhe home-ground of every orhcr rhing, everyrhi11g merges inro a onencss, and yet, at o11e and the same rime, each rernains disrinct. Being everyrhing else (al! rhe things that we come ro know, we know in co11sciousness), the self real! y is not a se!( because ir is no longer an isolated, closed-off individual selt; ir is a non-selfing self. To be a rrue self is ro be open ro al! rhings, ro be able ro become rhe pi11e rree or the bamboo from thc inside, from rhe home-grou11d of the othcr. Al! things are said to advance now to one's own rrue sd( tor al! things are now also in rhe home-ground of rhe self 1 am rhe pine rree, or my neighbor. Such 1rse

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Nishitani Keiji 1 121

knowing by bccoming is what Nishitani calls thc "natural lighr." 52 Ir is rhe lighr of things corning ro us, with rhc result rhar "hills and rivers, the earth, planrs and rrees, riles and stones, al! of these are the self's own original part." One's being and the being of al! things is nothingness, so even rhe self is nothing and nothing is the self The self "resists al! explanation"; ir is one wirh ernpriness and, rherdore, one wirh al! rhar exists.

. gness with a discussion of erhics on the field of c~únyatd. His :eliberations, there and elsewhere, make plain how very differenrly he rhought ethics was undersrood in rhe conrext of Japanese Buddhism. Whar he describes may hclp to explain why the analysi~ of erhical terms such as '"good," "right," ''ought," and "inrenrion," has lirrle or no place in rhe history of Japanese philosophy and religion. In general, the Japanese come at ethics frorn a radically

Rerurning ro rhe ox herder once more, he is now free of self-cenreredness, no longer conrrolled by rhe ego-self~ the herder (in picrure ten) is now a marure man who is ready ro greer another with rhe compassionate knowledge thar rhe other is hirnself He exrends a hand in friendship, and one can imagine rhe boy asking for advice and somehow sensing rhe incredible deprh in rhe walk and rhe smile on rhe face of rhe mature herder. 'fhe boy asks if it is rrue rhar there is a state of enlighrenmem, rhar there is a deeper sense of self and wherher rhrough its realization a profound sense of rneaning arises thar sweeps away doubrs, psychological pain, and confusion. The older herder, we imagine, invites the boy to share wirh him a por of tea, and they sir as the older herder talks, poinring out thc parh rhar rhe boy will need to embark upon. Ir will be a long journey, bur rhere is no doubt thar it leads ro the desired goal. 1l1e boy lisrens inrendy and, for the first time, begins to discern rhe Llint tracks of the ox in the rnanncr and wisdom of rhe herder's accounr. just this glirnpse of the tracks seen in the srability and joy of the herder's body and mind are enough to give the boy rhe courage ro begin his own journey. In truth, he is already on rhe path, thanks ro rhis remarkable encounrer, for this connection with an enlightened man is already the completion of rhe first picrure, and rhe energy resulting from this encounrer with the old herder has moved him to rhe second stage in his journey. Enlightenmenr is contagious for one who is open ro ir.

different standpoint. In an essay on '"l11e 1 "lhou Relarion in Zen Buddhism,"'' Nishirani begins by citing an encounter bcrween rwo "Zen men" recorded in rhe Blue C!iff' Recorcls.'' In rhc form of a koan (or puzzle), enrirled "Kyozan roars wirh laughrer," we read: Kyozan Ejaku asked Sansho Enen, "Whar is your namc?" Sanshó said "Ejaku!" "Ejaku!'' replicd Kyózan, "rhat's my name." "Well then," said Sansho, "my name is Enen." Kyozan roared wirh laughrcr.

Selfless Ethics While ethics was not a focus in Nishitani's wnnngs, it is worth noting that he closed his monurnenral work Religion ttnd Noth-

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Sansho was a grear Zcn j\!laster, and bis response ro Kyozan's query must be raken as insrrucrional. Sansho took Kyozan's name and, in so doing, collapsed the ditference berwcen rhem. Looked ar from rhe standpoinr of c~únyatd, Samho is Kyozan. As a master, Sansho suggests rhar a genuinc encounter with anorher should begin by "becoming" rhe orher, or, a~ we might say, by standing in rhe other's shocs. But furrher claritlcarion i' needed, tor ir is not enough ro stand in anorhcr', shoes simply as onesclf---as Sanshóone must stand in anorher's shoes, in this case, as Kyozan. In such an encounter, rhe rwo becomc one, ancl yct cach remains distinctively Sansho and Kyozan. Funhermore, if Kyózan has "caughr" rhis lite lesson, rhen he should respond by saying, "Ami 1 am Sansho." lhe one is rhe orher ancl the orher is rhe onc. We are meant ro bdieve rhat Kyozan undersrood this, sincc rhe insight caused him ro roar wirh laughter and ddight ar this surprise insrruction. The 1 is the ·nwu, and rhc ·nwu is rhe l. Nishitani srares that rhey !uve bccome ''non-dittercnriared," resulring in gcnuine compassion ami revealing rhe rrue meaning of loving anorher as onesdf Onc

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acrually experiences the /;cing of the orher as all discriminator diitcrences luve vanished. Sansho has "empried" himself and hZs pur Kyozan "in bis (Samho's) place." Stared simply, "where the orher is at rhe center of the individual, and where the exisrence of each one is 'other-centered,' absolure harmony reigns. 'l11is mighr be called '!ove,' in rhe religiom sense."'c As such, non-self meers non-sclf in this exrraordinary encounter, and yet sdf and other are neirher one nor two, "for each self retains its absoluteness while srill being relativc, and in this relarivity rhe two are never for a momem separated."'- ·¡he maimaining of individualiry is possible in that each has bn:ome rhe other wirh norhing sacrifi.ced, and yet, because each i.'> in rhe other's home-ground, they share rhe same home-ground.

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orhcr jmt as s/hL·/ir is, "su rhat evnv other is loved jusr as ir ts: loving him as a sinner if lw lx· a sinnn, or ~¡s an c·nemy if he hL· an enc:my."•" Such a PL'rspecrive opc:m up "a !lcld in thL· sdf LO Jovc one's ncighbor as onéself wirh thL· 11un-dith:ruuiaring !ove rhat makes one 'like unto Cod.' "'•" Nishitani's undcrsta11ding of sclfkss !ove exrends nor just ro encounrers wirh othcr peoplc hut wirh anyrhing: "'lhis must he a srandpoinr wherL' one sL'es one's sclf in all things, in living rhings, in hills ami rivcrs, towns ami hamlets, riles and stones, and !oves all rhesc rhings 'as oncsdf' ·•,,¡ Jusi as Sr. ha neis u1countcred wind ami rain, tire and hear as "hrothers and sistcrs," so \\'L", roo, will come ro grasp rhar '"cvny single rhing acrually ZL'II.> a brorher nr a sisen. since each had beL'I1 crc·ared, rogL·ther wirh hirmd( by Cm!. !he rc:sult is a cosmic !ove· rlur is ~lvailable to anyunc' who has emptic·d her or his .sL·If Ir is an ungoing ei1Lounrer, or éXfK·ril'llCl', ami 11ot an obligariol1, rule, or cornmarHL Ir Ulmes ahuut whcn artachmenr ro che sclf h~1s hL'l'n c'xtinguishnl. allowing orhn-dirc'Cfl'dness ro emerge frorn che norhingnL·ss uf thl· non-sl-lt' self '1he non-self sclf is rww boundlt"sslv open, wirhour restricriun and, ~1s a I"L'sulr, che cnrirl· univLTsc' is 11ow .1hk to manitest within ir. Samhó and Kyl'úan, you and l. che ~nri-;r ami rhe Hown, rhe tea master ~tnd rhe tea-guesr, the LmlLc~qx g~trlknn .md his rucks and trt:L·s ,¡JI ll,l\c· b<.:coml' une with thl· other. ·¡ his is a tlJrmuLt l~>r grcat discoVL'r\', great art, and thé dc·L-pesr loVL· ami friendship ..Ami for Nishirani, all uf this un, ~1nd doL·s. rakl· piale on tlw tldd uf -~Úil)'tlld. lt is a place much dcepn rhan the (kmamL, of <.:"thics, dcéper rh.1n reason, dt'l'per than ukularion, ami is opL'll ro CVLT\'lllle ~md anvone wlw wishn LO make thL· dil.>rr. lr is alreadv av~1ibblc, right umkrrtJOL l·ur rhosL' who h.t\"L· nut yct malk che move to\\Jrd ··enlightenmuH," ordirury syo.tt"Ill'> of dhico. ami our rcasoning will still be rcquirL·d ro stl·er rhc·n¡ rhrough rhc complexitin of l'lllOUIHers wirh orhn pt"opk and otht"r tiLings. Bm the gre~llc"t L'fhiL~tl insighrs h.1w bl'c'n given by rhosc: who \\'cTL' awarc of rhc true urigin ot~ Jnd intLTLO!lllL'Ltion \Vith ~tll dut (·xists. ( )rdinan cthics is lllLTL'h' ~lll arrempt ro codi!)· thL· nuin thrusrs of such imighrs into a wstc'Ill of righro. allll wrongs, do\ cllld don"rs. Such WS[L"i11S are, hmvc'\'LT,

lhe crhical irnport of rhis reponed encounter is enormous. With the emphasis on rhc transformation of rhe individual ''on rhe inside,'' there is no need ro analyze rerms or evaluare lists of pros and cons to determine the righr way ro rnect another or invoke racional principies such as Kant's "Never treat a person as a means (alone), bur always as an end (in him or hersclf)." Ir is not that doing so would be somehow wrong, just that ir is unnecessary for one who meets rhe other m che other. In breaking rhc hold of che everyday selfi.sh sel( rhat is, the self's own obsession wirh itself, one is now able ro rerurn ro rhe home-ground of the other, and, indeed, wirh all other beings. 'K The self can no longer be rderred ro as an end in irse!( as Kam argued, for che self is now empty and potentially fi.lled wirh all other rhings rhat are, each of rhem, ends in rhemsel ves for che newly e m ptied self ·!11 us, che self is no longer an cnd for him/hersel( even rhough s/he is now an end for al! of rhe other rhings. 1 he self is now a "nothingness." 'l11is is the ethical impon of circumincessional interpenetration, where each rhing is all of the others and all of che others tlre rhis thing: everything interpenetrates the home-ground of every other rhing and, in so doing, has discovered irs own home-ground. Love or compassion demands a putting aside of sclf-love: che ordinary self must be ernptied of its own fi.xations ro make room for other rhings. Moreover, this lo ve or com pass ion embraces rhe

...........

l 124 1 The Kyoto School

4 always much less than che insiglHs on which chey are based· th ey rarely carry thc -,ame passton, cornpasston, or deep convtccion. For che enlightencd person, rhese lasr rluec demenrs are an essenrial pare of rhe rranstormarion rhac resulrs from viewing che cosmo • S from che srandpoinr of Súnyatd. 'lo be rruly crhical is now ro be who one really is, rh~r is ro say, a non-sdf rhar now ''selfs" by sponraneously and eftorrlessly loving each being as a manifesred türm of rhe torrnless, t(Jr s/he is each and every torm. hre burns wirhour burning (irself), rhe eye sees wirhour seeing (irself), water washes wirhour washing (icsdf), ami rhc enlighrened person acts compassionarely by being a self thar is not a self Ethics of this kind arises whcn one's own home-ground is rhe home-ground of everything and everyone. •

•

V

•

•

•

•

Watsuji Tetsuro (1889-1960)

\'Vhcthcr whar WL' cal! "thc Wcsr" has always hccn incorrigihly riltnl 1owards a prioririting of rhc individttal .llld

;L

ncgkcl of

what Wa1suji ulk,! "huwc:ciuJcss" (ttidi,~tlril) is, 1 d1ink, an imporLlll! qucslioii. . . inlclkclual .llld social

During rhc rcccnr ccn1urics o!' 1hcir

lite,

Emopc ami Amcriu !uve pL1cnl

a srrcss on 1hc imlividu.d ro -.uch an cxruLr 1ha1 inlclkcruals in ccruin Asian comcxts havc

coll!C

lo vicw rhar cmphasis ,1s

.111 imhalance nccding lo he chalknge,l. 'V\/,llsLLJL was .nguo~hly 1he hcsr read .llld 1hc IllOSl sharply articulare ;UllOilg 1hc r\.si;u¡ rhinkcrs \dw .Jddre-.-.c:cl 1hi-. prohkill. Ailll 1hc Fthin is whcre he he-.r dcnwmrr.Hnl th.u p
R.

LL~kur, "hm:wonL'

111 \\':usu¡i li·tslim; N.!nn.~ill.:u: Ldun i11 }tj){/1/

Life and Career \'Cw,uji serves as .1 viral coiHrast to rhe orher Kyotcl Sclwol rhinkcrs, for whcrcas Nishida's focus was on mcraphysic'> a!l(l episrcmology and logic, ami borh ·Llllabc ami Nishiuni took rdigion as rheir focm, Warsuji emphasi1ni erhics ami culture. Amllikc~ Japan itself after irs tinced opcning ro non-JapanL·sc in 1854, he was conHicred by whar séemed LO be rhL· superiority of Wesrcm cultures. Yer, it was anyrhing bur ckar whar gave \Vcsrern cultures supremacy in militarv arms ami indmrry, ami t()r a rime rhc JapattL·se spcculared

125

~

1 Notes to Chapter 3 1 193

192 1 Notes to Chapter 2

31. lhid., (J.

Chapter 3. Nishitani Keiji

32. James W. Hcisig, f/;r f'hi!wopf,ers of i'v'othingness: An Essay on the f\¡•oto Scll()of (Honolulu: lJnivcrsity of Hawai'i Prcss, 2001 ), 124.

l. N icw.chc "annuLl!lCed" rhc ck;n h of ( ,od in 1h· Cnty Sciou·1·

5.3. Nakamura Hajimc, Wít¡·s o/ Thinking o/ Etstern Peup!es: lnrlirt-Chinll- Tibet~/iljitlll, rram. Philip P Wcincr (Honolulu: East-Wesr Ccmcr Prc>S [now Univcrsiry of Hawai'i Prcssj, 1')(14), 521. 34. lhid.

(in rhe fÍfth hook. u1titlnl "\\'e Fc.nks:- ( )nes." fir.st aplwrism). Ir rL-.llis. "']he grc.Hcst reccnr C\'Ctll~tlut 'Cod is dca,l,' dut hclief in thc Chri:-tian Cod :-hadow

r lcisig

again cites rhis as a passagc ti-o m Tmabc's "A

(l.

.3i\. Tm,!lJc, /'vlettl noetics, 1±.

lhicl., 2i\.

411.

lbid.

tf,c

lhid., 1i\'1.

5. lhid., li\5.

1') 5. .W 40. 41. 42. 45.

1111

5. lhid .. 1i\.3. 1 1.

Logic of Social Existcncc," ll1r Co!lerw! Wín·ks r:f' T/nwbe H11jime, Vol. (Í:

hccomc unhclic·v.rhlc~is .!lrc.rdy hcgitming to ust it:- tirst

F.uropc." 2. J;uncs W. Hci.sig, Phi!o,op/;ns u{ ,\'otf,ingnos:

1l11 ¡._;,·".¡' kyow Sc/;oo! 1llonolulu: L;Ilivcrsity
55. Hcisig, "Clohal Villagc," i\. Heisig cites rhis as a paS>age ti·um Tanahc's "A Logic of Social Existcncc," (J: 1G6. .3G. Ibid.

:F. !bid., 'J.

ILb

0\'LT

ihid.

7. lhid. i\. !\iishiuni Kc·iji. "r.ncoutllcr with Lmptitlcss: A ~'vkss.I~c liom

!bid .

o/ SishitiiJÚ

d. Lrill'lsu

!bid., 5.

Nishiuni Kciji," in Jl;c Ndigious 1'/Ji!usoph)'

lhid., .F

L!niHJ (N,¡goya, ja¡w1: NatiUil lmtitulc t(n Rdigion .md Culture, ]')i\')), l.

!bid., li\.

'). lhid., 2. 1 (J. Hcisig, f'/;i/moj'lwr.> ij','votf,¡llj!,lll'J;, 21 'i. 1 lci:-ig ILl!lsl.ItL·s a rcc-

A'oii,

ollcction hy Nishir.mi o11 hi:- L'.lrlicr work <>11 nihili.sm: "l .un convincnl rhc root ol thc mutu<~l ;1\crsion of

45. !hiel., .)0-.) l.

dut thc prohlcm of nihilism lie:-

16. lhid., 25.

rcligiun ami scicncc·. Ami it w.Is thi.s that gavc: my philosophicrl cng,Igc-

.lt

. 'lhc tlmd.rmcm.!l prohlcm of my lit~ .

!Í 7. lhid., 120.

mcm its :-t.ming point.

4i\. lhid., 12!J--21.

4'). !bid.

always hcur . . rlrc ovcrcomiirg of Ilihilism rhrou~h nihilism." 1 l. ]\¡i:,hir.mi Kciji, f/;t Sef(()¡•erco!!Úfl,~ o(\'illlfi,lll, tLlll\. Cr.dr.IIII

50. lhicl., 152.

i'arkcs with Sct.sttko ¡\il1.1ra (Alh.my: Starc Univcrsit\' of Ncw l:\nk l'rcss,

SI. lhid., p. IM.

]')')()).

52. !bid., 15i\-5'J. 55. lhid., 15LJ. 54. !bid., ]71.

12. lhid. 52. 15. lhid., 2')-(Ji\. 1·1. \lishit.mi KL·iji. Rrllklrill tila/ Sothillklltss, tram. J.uL \'a11 Bragr

55. !hiel .. 1 7 2. 56. !bid. s~

(Lkrkdcy/losAngcks/LHlel<m: L!nivctsity o!' C.rlii;>mia l'rL·ss. 1')i\2). 4. 1 'í. lhid., :l ](J. lhid., 5.

!bid.' ]')0.

Si\. !bid., 2'!0.

17. lhid., 4-5. 1 i\. Stlluki D.lisL·ll 'Jcium. h.'il)'·' /;¡ /m 8udrlf,j,;;l, hrsr SLTics

5'). !hiel., 2')].

(,()_ lhid., 2')2. (J 1. Francisco J. Vare la,

ha.s

1Lund<>ll: Ridcr, ]')'Í')) ..F 2. ]'). Leda Shiniicl'li. "Lm¡HiiJess ,md Fullnc:.s: .'>uJJ)'illd i11 ,\l.dL1\',]Il.I

t.'i/;iclll Knou•-lloll': Action, V,/isrlom, ,¡ntf

C'ognitirm (StantÍ>rd: Sranf(m! Univcrsity Prcss, 1')')')), ~5- '75.

L)uclclhi:.m." Lt.>ti'rll /5/l(!t//;¡_,/ )\:\'.

.........

IW.

1 (S¡ning I'Ji\2): 1') .

1 Notes to Chapter 3 1 195

194 1 Notes to Chapter 3

'111. t\hc· ,\l.l\,10, "~ishit.uli's C:halktl~c· to \\',·stcril l'hiloouph1· ,uld ·¡J¡,·ul,>gl·." i11 Lrnl<>. //11' Nt'Ú~Ii!IIS 1'/Jdmop/;¡· o/ ,\';)1/!dltl 1\.l'ljl. 2-1: "¡\s

20. !bid. 21. Suzuki D.lioclL Tciraro, i\)i/!lllt!l o{ Lm Budd/Ji.1111 (London: Ridcr, 1eJ'Jó), 134.

rhc ncg:uio11 "/ rhc c"istL'Il\X ,Ji· thitlp rtihility '>t.l11Lls i11 "f'Pmitillll w c:>cÍ'>lC11Cc'. ! his lllCdiLS dut 11ihilir1 is still ukc·11 .1'> sllnlc· 'rhi11g' c.dlccl

22. i\riotDlk JJ,e Bi!sir \J(frn-ks o{ Aristot!e, cd. with an inrro. by Riclurd rvlcKcon (l\ew York: Random Hnw,e, teJ41 ), 752 ("Mcraphy;,ic,," hk. !¡, ch. 2 [1 0051). 23. l;cda Shi;ll[nu, "C:oll(rihuriom to Dialogue wirh rhe Kyoro Sclwol," in ./rlpilnesc 1111d Contillcnttd l'/Ji!osophv: Co!l/.'!TiiltloJts with the Kroto Scll{)o!, cd. Brct W. [),¡vi;,, Brian SchroL·dn, ,md Jason ,y\. Winh (Bloomington: Indiana Univusitv Prcss, 2011 ), 25. 24. !hiel., 2 1 1. 2'J. !bid., 2'i. 2ó. !hiel., 26. 27. !hiel., 27. 21\. !bid. 2e). !bid. 50. !bid., 21\. 51. 1\ishirani. Rel1,~ion r!nd NoiÍ'IIl,~nn,, 17-lS. ') !bid., 'JO. J~. .33. !bid .. 'J. 1\ishitani clarihes his me of "rcali;L·" ro includc horh "actualin:" ami "ullCkrsrand." He conrinues, "] am using rhc word ro imlicatc thar our ahiliry to pcrceiV<: realiry lllGlllS dur rc,dirv redlizes hcruali1es) irsclf in m; rhar rhis it1 turn is rhc only way rlur vv·c can rc:dizc (appropriare thruugh unckrstanding) rhe hcr rhat realiry is also rcalizing itsdf ir1 m; :md rhar ir1 so doing thc sclt~re:dizarion of realiry rakcs place" ('l). Yí. Roben E. Carrcr. Jll('}lf'illlese /lru dl!d Se!rcu!til'atirm (Albany: Srarc Lniversitv of \lnv York Prcss, 2001\). An cxploration of h\'L' of rhc many Jap:mL·.sc ,ms: ,likülo, rhe 'V< 1ay o('lca, rhc '\\'ay of Flowcrs (ikeÚi/1111), Lmdscapc g.1relcning. ,md porrcry. Similar cxpc·curiom o!' thc jap:u1esc .u-rs-th:H thcy c.u1 k'<1d to cnliglnenmc1H-Clll be t~Hmd in J¡pancsc calligr.1phy, No/; dranu, i)/11/lli/m puppL·try, ere. C.mcr's buok provicks thc philosophicd h.!d.grouml ro rhcsc ,ms as p:nhways tu cnlit;hrcnmcnr. 3">. T!ircr.su Lnno, L'd., l11e Rc/¡giom 1'/Jifosop/JJ' o( ¡\'¡,j,¡ttlJti Keiji (BL-rkclcy: ¡\-,i:¡¡¡ 1lununirics Prcss, 1 'JS'J), 511. :)(,. Nishirani. Rc!igioll dlld Soi/;J;¡c~lli'SS, 121. 57. !hiel., 123. )S. !bid .. 12'Í. 5eJ. lhid.

nihiliry . .1 n·Litil•l' !lollun,~JII'.'·'·" ·1 1. ;\li,hit,11Ji, Nd1.~io11 d!itl ,\'ot/1/N~III'.I.'. 12">. ·12. ¡\he·, '"\i-,hit.111Ís Ch:dle·11gL·." .1.2 !,). ·tLJ. ·1 ).

1\ishit:lllÍ, Ncll,~/11/1 r111rl Sorluil,~lll'.l.\, 121\. J hi,J. !hiel., JI¡¡)_

!hiel. "Dq>L'1Jektll ori~itution," .'>ll1llctimL·s ¡·d~·rred tu ,Js "c\l-depuldull llrigi1utilln." or "illtndcpc·ttelc1H origi11I Lll11cqH th:ll .ll[L'lllfllS [() .\[\()\\' th:!l (.lll\:1liOil Í.'> ,1 Cllll1f'k\, fllll(L''>'> \\lllc·h eksuihc·.s thc ari,ing llf thi11g'> withour rcu\lusc to flLTIII:1Ilcnt notiotls ul· "suhsr;u¡ce" or "sclvL·.s." hn ,11\\'thing to come i11to c'\Í'>k1\CC .lile! to rcmain in existeiiLL ..1 "dl.liiJ o/ Clltse<' must comi11Uc lO '>llf1port it. t\n L'X,llllf'k olrcn usnl is dut u/lirL·. hrc· rcquirc·s 11) t'uel, ( 2) ox1gen. UJ dnllc·.ss, [·1) .1 S1te "f dJull cc,l.sc·s ro cxi'>t, tltc1l thc Jire v1ill go out. The clllirc llilil'l'l'SL' is a \',tsr collc-ctio1J o!' "c,1use.s." with cvcr\' thing. livi11g hL·in~, or hum,m scli' ,kpu1den1 u11 :1 spcciiÍL "bundle" ,,( c.l!I'>es ¡;,r i1s C<>II1Í1lli< el L·xistc·tlcL·. 1\11 c:xccllctll disLll.s,ioJJ ut. CL>-depc1dc:lll lw l<>uml in Ahc ,\1.!\,!ll, "Nun-l\ci11g .lllc!LHII---llll' ,\kt,1pln·.siL.d N.lllllc· ol NL·g.1til·it;. in thc Lht .u1d the \\',·,¡,"in t\he ,\1.1,.!0, /m ,r¡¡r/ \Xí·stl'/11 l!wli,~/1[, ed. \\'illi,1m L1¡:icm (1 lellllliulu: l nivc-rsitl' ot' 1 L1v1.1i.i l'rc'>.'>, 1')i)'J), 12)-2(>: ... l h,ll cvcrnhirrg is impcrtlLIIlcll[. h,Jving 1lll c1LI1J,d sc:ltlwo,! (scli~hL·ingJ 4(>.

'Í7

,melno um:h:mgc.Jhlc ;,tJlbLlllLL'. is 111. lh.H e\'LTVthi11g is dcpcndcrn un ;.omething elsc, rh.u lll>thing is irlelcpuldu!l a11li ,clfcxisting. ¡, .uJothcr h.1sic Budclhisr pri11cipk. This is tlTil!Cll fJ/iiiÚ)'d-.ltllillltf',/dtt, v1hich e,¡¡¡ he tramLHnl :1:> dcpcmlcJJt ot·igin,!lion, rc·lari,mality, rcl:!rional origin.uio11. or dqlcndull c:o-:1rising. -lllc' rc,di;arion that L'\'LTytlling is impcmunull :ulll dcpcn,lc1Hly origi11:Hing mm! he .1flplicd ru tl1111g' 1HH only i11 thc urJivcrse hut :d'>o hc)'lllid thc univcrsc:." l1i-l. NishiLilli, Neli,~illli ril!d Sorf;illgllcss, 1"lO. '1'). !hiel.. HA. l\ishir.mi quotcs frum ,\lus<> Kokushi, .dsu k1tllW11 ,!S ,\lus(-) se->Seki (12 7 ">-l,)'l 1 ), ,1 /c1l Bt1eldhisr IllOllk allll teachcr. ulligr.1phcr. fllll'l, ,111d L1neLupc ckoignn.

.....,¿_

---,--

Notes to Chapter 4 1 197

196 1 Notes to Chapter 4

1(,, !bid .. 20C.

'50. l\Jishirani, Re!igio;¡ 11m/ NotNng11ess, 1')(,_

17. !bid., p. 1')J. For an introductioll to thc· philo,"phv hchittd

')l. !bid., 157.

Japc~nco,c Lmclo,c.lpc g.tnktl'>. '>ce· Rubnt L C;mn. 1/w /rljitli!CSt' ,irts

'52. !bid., 1 (,_), '55. Nio,irani Kciji, ''1hc 1-1hott Rclarion in Zcn Buddhism," in lhe Buddha

t_ye: An ilnthu!ugy o( thr Kyoto Srhoo!,

Se!(Cullii'i/lio!I (•\lh.mv: Sratc· Lnivno,ity ol

to

i/1/(/

Ymk 1\c·\\, 2()(JSI. eh,.

ami .'\. 1 S. \Vat.o,uji. Clilllili<'. 2()·1. 1 '). \'u.ts.l Y.IslllJ, --¡he· LJ¡,·ouiHl'l' o( ,\lodcm 1-Ifl,!IlL'sL' l'hilmo¡lll\·

cd. frcdcrick Franck (New

York: Crossroad, 1')02), 47-GO. 54. !bid., 4S. lhe B!ue Cliff Rerorcls is an "old and wcll-known" collccrion of kr5t111S srill w,cd

1'\c·\\

with 1-Jci,kggcr." i11 flnrleg~cr

uain Zcn monks.

i/1/(/

;],¡,m 11'"".~/1/, e·cl. (,¡·,¡h,tm l'arke·s

(1-lotwlulu: Lttivn,itv ol f Ll\\,li'i Prc\\, 1')S~). 1(,S.

55. Nishirani, "1l1e I-1lwu Rclarion," 47-GO.

20. \X 1.I!>Itji 'ict'>ltrt-,, \\ili.>li/1 Jez,¡nfi_; N!l!ri_rt!ku, rr. Y.tilLI!lloto Sci-

5G. lbid., 5G. '57. !bid.

"tku ami 1\ohni L C:.mn (.\lh.IIll': St.IIL L!ttin·ro,itv or \kw Ymk l're·.">.

SS. Nishitani, Re!igion and Nothingness, 27'5.

]')')(,), ').

5LJ. lbid., 27S. (,(), !bid.

21. 'r'tt.l'>a Y.to,uo, 1/te llorlr: liul't!itl ti!I l:t!;lem />llllrf-!iorlr IJ,mr¡, cd. 1. P. ¡-:,¡,ulis, lLIIls. \:.tg.tt<>IlHl 'lltigutllri .md l. l'. K.hltlt, (:\lh.im:

(,l. Jhid., 2S l. 62. Jbid.

Sute Ltti\L-r'>itv ot \:e'\\ l'urk l're\s. l'JS71. 1 tS.

22. \X,IhLiji. 25. lhid. 2•L

/(¡¡m.~ti/.:11,

').

!hicJ., ] ): "[\\']e _i,t¡l.llllSL h,I\'L prmiucni

.1

,jj_,lillCli\'L ulnlql-

tioll ot' hum.ut hcing. :\ccmding llJ it, ;Iin,~m ¡, dtc· fltthlic .ud, al rhc

Chapter 4. Watsuji Tetsur6

o,alllc' rime. thc ineiividu.d lwlll.IIl hcittg livir1g \\ithitl ir.

2'í. lhid., 12·!.

l. W'arsuji Tctsurü\ S!~tmwn Dúgm (Purifying Zm: Wrztmji~- Sham-

lhid.

on o~-,gcn), rrans. wirh commcntary by Stcvc Bcin (Honolulu: Univcrsiry

2(),

of Hawai'i Prc,s, 2011).

27 !hiel. 251.

2. w~muji 'lctsurü, C]imate ami Culture: A f'hi!osopl,im! Study,

20. !hieL 22'l. 2'). lhid.

tram. Ccotli-cy Bownas (_japan: 'Jhc l-lokuscido Prcss, ~vlinisrry of Educa-

:)0. C:unlúcius, C.lulllg-_)'1111.~ (!Jo<'trine o{ tl~t· A/e,/11), ch. 20. S,

tion, 1%1), 17.

tram. Jame'> Lxggc, i11 ff,e ConjÍicit!ll ClilssÚ.>, 2nd

5. !hiel., 1-2. !¡_

ni. (( hl;ml: CLHcll-

don Pn.:"), Vol. 1, .'¡()(J.

!bid., 211.

.JI. lhid., ch. 20, IS. 52. ( ;cnpci !\itwtniy.t. "hhic,d Backgror!lld, in J.tp.m .md ·ntcir

'5. lhid., 142. 6. lhid., 1:)(,, -¡ !bid., us.

lk.ning upon thc Risc· of 'loci.d C:ottscioustlns in Jtp;m," \1.\ Thc,is.

S. !bid .. IYJ.

L:nivcrsity of C:hicago, 1')27, ')(,_

.l:l. \X'ahuji Tctsur(¡, C/!11/{l/t t111rl C11!ture, l-iS. ol·L \'\'.muji, R.i;m,~,,ku, 22'S. 5'í. Yuasa Yastw, 1/Je !Jor/y, 1'í(L

'). !bici. 1 O. !bid., 14'l. 11. lbid.

Y1.

12. !bid., 1'50-)1.

Sallic B. King, "Egalir.Hi~tn Philmophics in Sc:xi.,t lmtituriorh."

/rnimtil oj'f.émmist Studies m Rc/¡gum :¡ (Spring 1'JSSi: 1 'i. King c:xplaim. "Clnc \\ ho is mtikoto or o,inccrc i, truc lo hcr or his rot.d lite >ituatillil: onc ¡, truc 10 lJilL'sl'i( by knowing une:\ trtll.' naturc which io, in .1 condition

15. Ihid., 1 'í5-'í5. 14. !bid .. 1(J•l. 1 'l. !bid .. 1()(,,

1

.........

~

202 1 Selected Bibliography

Selected Bibliography 1 203

tt~st v:~'iti11gs: Notf,illplns ,ntcl thc Rcl<~iow \J..'ín-fr/,·ú·u•. Ti-am. D. A. Dilworrh. Honolulu: Lniver,ity Pre'' of Haw.¡i'i, ]')k7.

"On the Doubr in Our r lean." Tí,am. J. Shorc and F. 1\:ag.¡o,awa. Etsta/1 8uddhió't 17, no. 2 ( l'JkftJ: 7-ll.

Tanabe Hajime

The

Translations of Tanabe 's Writings "llK Logic: of thc Spn:ieo, a., Dicdenico, ... '[i.lm. D. A. Dilwonh. Tlira S.ll.l. lHotlllllltlllil ,\'¡ppo!lll'd 2'1, no. 5 ( ]•)(,•)): 2';'5-kk. f'f,ifmopl>¡' liS /'vfcti/Jtoct/<'.1. ·¡ Ll!ls. Yoshintni 'hkc·ttc:hi. Vddu \'igliL·Imu . .urcl JamL·, \X/. 1-let,ig. lkrkL·kr: (N.m;cm StucliL·, i11 Rc:ligiun curd

"111c Problcm of Japanco,c: Culture." 'Ji·am. 1\l. Abe ami R. Dc:1'v!arrino. Sources of)rtjJflllese Tii{{litirm, vol. 2, cd. R. Tsunoda, \V T de Bary, and n. KCL'lll', 3'i0-(l'). Ncw York: Columbia Univcrsiry Press, ]'))k.

Culturd. L!trivc:r.,irv o! C.tlit;Jrlli.l PrL·"· l'Jk(J. (.\l:L' tn.Jin ciifiT in "( ;,·¡¡c:r.d bclc'kgroutlll" \L'Ltiotr), \\·hiJ1 UHll.ÚIJ\ thrn: tr.lil\l.ttnl c"avo,

Studies About Nishida

Se: e Solii',.,.¡J/JoJ· _F,r A!odt-rlt f,tpdlli'SI' PJ,i/osopf,¡

Abe:, Masao, and L. Brüll. "Kiraró Ni,hida Bibliography." lntenwtiona!

hr TatLdK.

Philosophú·,tf Quarter!y 2k. no. 4 ( I'Jkk): 573-k l.

Studies About Tanabe

Axrc:ll, G. S. "Compararivc Dialccrics: Nishida Kirarü's Logic of Place and Wcsrcm Dialccrical T11oughr." Philosophy Ew cmd Wfest 41, no. 2 (l '!91): 16.3-k/¡.

1-kisig. JamL·, \V. "l~ul.thc's l ogiL ,¡¡' thc \¡JL'LiliL .md thL· Critique of thc· Cluh,d Vill.tgc ... 1:,/S/rm l!wld!usr 2k. nu. 2 IAutumn l')')'i),

Caner, Roben E. lhe Nothingness Beyond God: An lntroduction to the Phi!osoplry o( Nishidil Kitttrif, 2nd cd. 1\'ew York: Paragon Hottse, 1997. - - - . "God and Nothingnc\\." Philosophy Emt rlltd \r'{•st 59. no. 1 () anuary 2009): 1-21.

l ')k -22'1. Kiyo;.lWCl ,\bmhi. "'lhL· c.rc,ll l',llh o!' ¡\h,olutc l )¡hc:r-l'own." ln iJ,e

Ni;,hirani Kciji. Nishidd Kitaró. Tram. Yanumoto Sci;,aku and James W.

!iudrlhi! FJ'I': /J11 /1tt!l'o!ogy o( ¡J,e Kyow Sd,ool. ni. hnlcriLk h,mk. 252-.l'i. \kw Y<Jrk: Crm,ro.ld. ]')k2. Ouki. ~ bkuto. lmlwirlitli/11, ,)ocil'ly, 1hmuntki/1(/: l/"' lritirlil' Lo,~ ir o()j,el'ies /ilcorrling w 1/
Hcisig. Berkcley: (NailZ
lhill. 200 l. Sumki 'lcit.lro [),¡i,L'll. "Apropm ol '>Ir in." In TI}[' l!wlr//Jd Lyc: .~Jt ,·il!il'o!-

'!i1keuchi Yoshinori. "Thc Philosophy of Nishida." In lhe Buddha Eye: An

ogy o(¡¡,,. !\voto .\d"w!, nL Frnicrick lT.IIJk. 211-·20. Ncw Y"rk:

Kn.1u1h, L. "Lite is Tragic-T11c Diary of Ni,hida Kirarü." fdonumenta N!jJjJI)nim 20, no. 5-4 (1 %7): 55S-3k.

C:ro.,,ro.ld. !'Jk2. lJnno, T.JitLlsll. clllll J.utlC\ \\'. 1 ki,ig. nk iJ,e Ncli.~iow l'f,ifosop/1¡• o{ ittltilf;e J-ldjlllli': ¡¡,,. J!etdt!lh'tf( lmpndtil'L hcclllolll. CA: (N,l!ll
Antho!ogy ofthe Kyoto Srf,ool, 179-202. Ncw York: Cro,road, 19k2. Ucda Shizurcru. "T11c Ditficulry of Undcrsranding NishicLú Philosophy." Eutem Buddhist 2k, no. 2 (Aurumn 199'i): 175-k2. Wargo, Roben J. J. The Logic o{Nothingness: A Study o{Nishicla Kitcmi. Honolulu: Univcrsity of Hawai'i Prcss, 2005. Yusa, Michiko. Len ami Philosopl~v: An lnte!!ectlf{d Biogmph¡• o{ NiJf,idtl Kitt~ró. Honolulu: Univcr,irr of 1 Iawai'i Prc;,s, 2002. Scc rhc "Memorial bsuc" J(n Nishidd Kiraró. in Ewem Buddhist XXVIII, no. 2 (Autumn 1 'J9'i).

Nishitani Keiji

Translations of Nishitani's Writings

Sce Sourrebook fin' fvfodem }1pt1nne Philosopf,y (sec main cntry in "Ccn-

n.d Background" scc:rion) which cotllaim livc rranslarcd cssays hy

( )¡¡

\iishida.

Bwlrlf,i.'ltl. Tr,lll\. Y.llll.llll(J[ll '>ci,aku .l!ld !Zohc:n L. C,nrL·r. :\lh.mv: Sute l. tliVLI\ity ol !\e\\ York l'rL·'·'· 2()()(J . 1

.........

204 1 Selected Bibliography

~

Selected Bibliography 1 205

Watsuji Tetsuró

"rn1c l'cr:-orJal and rhc lmpcr-,urul in Rcligion," l'an 1, in Eastern Buddhist5, no. 1 (1')70): 1-1~; Parr 2, in vol. 5, no. 2 (I'J70J: 7k ~~-

Translations of Watsuji's Writings

"Rcl1ccriom 011 Two Addrcs'>cs by ,\!arrin Hcideggcr." In Heidegger and Asitltl 'Jl,ollgl,t, ed. Craham Parkes. 1-fonolulu: Univcrsity of Hawai'i Pn:s.'>, 1 ')~7.

Climrltl' flml Cu!wre: A f'f,i!osophi<"t!l Stud¡'. ·r¡,lll,. Ccollrey BowiL!.'>. Tokyo: lloku.'>cido l'rc:,:,, 1')(J 1. Rcprinred hy Crccnwdod !'res:,, We:,rport, CT, 1')~~"_lapan.::-c Ethical Tlmughr in rhe Noh l'Lty' uf rhe t'\1uromachi l'niod." Trans. Dc~vid A. Dilwonh ,rml Umcyo Hirano. !violllltllel/lil Nipprmú·tl 24 (DLnmher I'J(,')¡; 4'i7-'J~. Purif)'ing /.m: mw11¡i Ti·ts11rli; Shtnloll [)fi¿~,m. h,ms. Sreve Bein. 1 lorwlulu: Univcrsiry of t-law.li'i !'re::,,, 2011. R.inrigilkll: f:'tf,¡<'S j¡¡ }tjhlll. ·¡ r.l!JS. Yrnunwro Sá-,aku ;md Roben F. Crrlll' Albany: Sute Univcr,ity ol Ncw York !'res:-, 1')')(,_

Re!igion mul Nothingncss. TLrrJs. Jan Van Bragr. f\erkdcv ami Los Angd.:s: L:nivnsirv of Cdit(mJia T'n::-:,, 1')~2. "Science and Z.:n." In 7he Bucld/'ti Fye: An Al!/l){)!og_y o/ the Kyoto Schoo!, cd. Frcdnick FLmck, 1 11-57. New York: Crossroad, 1')~2.

'ff,e Se!rozmHmling o/ Nihi!i.,J/1. Ti·am. Cr,lham Parkc:- witb Sctsuko AihaLJ. Albanv: Srarc Univcr:-iry of 1\cw York Press, I'J'JO. "Tl1e 1-'llwu Rclation in Zcn Brrddhio,nl.'' In Tlll' Buddf,rt Eyc: An Aw/10 !ogy o( fi,e A"roto Sd1oo!. e d. Frcdcrick Franck, 1¡ 7-60. Nnv York: Crmsroad, 1')~2.

Studies About Nishitani

Studies About Watsuji

Dallmayr, Frcd ... Nothingncs:, ami 'Sunyara': ;\ Compari.-,on of Heidegger and Nishicmi." Phi!osoph)' Emt tille! 'Xht 42. no. 1: 37-4~. Horio T,uromu. "Nishirani's Phi]o:,ophy: ·rhc Lncr Period." Zm Buddhism iiJdil¡' 14: 1 9-32. J\1ar,lldo, John C. "Emprine:,:,, Hiswry. Accoulllahilirv: A Critica! Examination of Ni:,hiLmi Kciji's Standpoinr." 7.m Buddhism Todti]' 1 5: 'J7-II ~Marra, ,\1ichacl. /'viorlem }tjJfltli'Je Aestlwtin: 11 Re11der (chaptcr ~ deals wirh '"Ihc Kyoro Sclwol aml 1\ishiuni Kciji"). Horwlulu: Univer-,iry of 1--!awaii PrL·:,s, 1')')')_

Bcllah, Rohcrr 0!. "_l,¡p,ur\ Crdmral ldemirv: Somc Rcllcuiom on rhc Work of Wat,uji 'lc·tsur<->." lhe joun~tt! o//lsútn Srudiu 24, no. 4 (1%5): 573-lJ"Í. Bcrnicr, Bnnard. "1')1¡2-N.uional Communion: \var:,uji Tct:,un-,\ ConcqHioii or Fthic:,, l'ower .. lite! tlre _lapa!H.':-e Imperial Sr.rre." f'f,i/usop/J¡, f:(¡st fl/1{1 \.\'~·st 'i(J. \lo. 1 (_i;muarv 20()(,): W!-l O'i. C:outc.ru. l'aulinc. "\X'ar:,ttji lctsun-,·, Fthic-, of Milieu." In Froni!IT\ of /iljJtiiU'SI' PJ,i!omp/1¡', cd. ialllL'' W. 1-fci,ig, 2(,')-')0. N,tguy.r, j;tpan: N.!nt.an lmtitufL' 1(11· 1\cligion ;md Culture, 2()1)(,_ LtFkur, \X'illiatn R. "An Lthic uL-\,-b: St.nc and Socictv i11 thL N.inrig11ku o!" \\'ar.suji "!CL'>Lll"l-l." In !.11 socih/ oui!ejt/(1' ti !ltill dam Ln· llitrlitions cf,j¡¡oise, _!lif'OIIii/St, I'OIÚ'Illtt' l'f l'iellltlt!Útllttt. ni. Lcun V.mdcrmcnsch, 'i'i_l-(,¡_ l',ui,: l:rmlc:, drém,lliquc·s, .l tcuk !"t,tlh,,ti"·

Parkcs, Craham. "Nietzsche ami 1\ishitani on rhc Sdf-Overcoming of Nihilism." lntomztiuiJ,z! Studies in f'J,i!osoph)' 2 'i, no. 2: 51-(,0. L!nno, Tai rcr,u, .:d. !he Rel<~ÚJLJS l'hilosophy of, Visllltrlfli Kei¡i: En<"ountcr Vnth Fmptiness. Berkclcy: Asian Humaniric:, Pres:-, 1')~9. Sce the "lr1 ;\lcmoriam" volumc t(>r 1\i:,hir,mi Kciji, Eutern Buddf,ist X...XV. no. 1 (Spring 1')'J2).

d' Ext réme-Orienr, 1')') 11. "I'>Ltddhi,r LmpritlL'" in thc bhiL:- ,md ;\csrhetic:- uf \\'.usuji TL·tsun->." N.eli?JOW Stwftt'-' ]q (]'Ji~;: 2.37-'ill. ,\l.tylcla, C.r.rh.un. iillll', .)J'dl'l' ,/1/rl rtf,¡<"-' /¡¡ tl~t' !'hdmopll)' o( \\":zt,llfi "li-f_,I/I'Ú, A"uki ,)'J,r);:ú, t!wl l'>!tZrtitt 1leir/,g~tr. :\L'\\ York: Ruurlcdgc.

Sec Sourceúook jin· /v!odem /tzpt!!Jcse !'hi!osop/Jy (scc nuin ciHry in "Cener;d Background'' :,ccrion), \\ hich corllaim rhrL·c rranslatcd cssays hy 0lishirani.

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