Why Anarchists Like Zen? A Libertarian Reading of Shinran (1173–1263)^119
history of cooptation and cooperation with the state does not render
Jodo Shinshu essentially conservative any more than an early history of
subversion and social criticism makes it inherently antiauthoritarian.
- A detailed commentary of text from an anarchist perspective
can be found in Rapp, John. “Anarchism or Nihilism: The Buddhist-
Influenced Thought of Wu Nengzi” in Alexandre Christoyannopoulos
Religious Anarchism: New Perspectives. Newcastle: Cambridge
Publishing Scholars, 2009), pp. 202–225. - Although a younger Suzuki had written in 1938 that Zen could be
“wedded to anarchism or fascism, communism or democracy, athe-
ism or idealism, or any political or economic dogmatism” (Suzuki in
Victoria, p. 63), towards the end of his life he said at a public lecture
that “anarchism is best” (Brown, p. 214). - A socialist reading can be found in Takagi (see note 28), a liberal
one in Kiyozawa (see note 81), a Japanese imperialist reading corre-
sponds to the war time doctrines discussed in note 66 and elements of
eco-pacifism can be said to pervade the official discourse of the two
largest Jodo Shinshu institutions: the Nishi and Higashi Honganjis.
The addresses of the 24th Monshu of the Nishi Honganji, Sokunyo
Koshin Ohtani (1945), reflect on “peace issues and environment con-
cerns” and offers a Buddhist analysis of “armed conflicts and climate
change” and ethics of moderation and mutuality. Sokunyo Ohtani
Koshin. “Immesurable Light and Life -2008 New Year’s Message from
the Monshu” in Manitoba Buddhist Temple. (http://www.manitoba
buddhistchurch.org/blog_files/1cbf020d5e607cce8a4ce4a2c63b8c11–
46.html). - The phrase, widely used to describe Buddhism in popular culture,
can also be found in the title of Alan Watts’ Buddhism the Religion
of No-Religion (Boston: Tuttle Publishing, 1999).
References
Amstutz, Galen, Interpreting Amida. History and Orientalism in the
Study of Pure Land Buddhism (Albany: State University of New
York, 1997).
Amstutz, Galen, “Shinran and Authority in Buddhism”, in Living in
Amida’s Universal Vow. Essays in Shin Buddhism, ed. by Alfred
Bloom (Bloomington, Indiana: World Wisdom, 2004), pp. 143–154.