The Japanese Arts and Self-cultivation

by Carter, Robert E.; Deutsch, Eliot

• ISBN13: 9780791472545
• ISBN10: 079147254X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-11-08
• Publisher: State Univ of New York Pr

Summary

It is through the practice of the arts, and not through rules or theory that moral and spiritual values are taught in Japan. Author Robert E. Carter examines five arts (or "ways" in Japan): the martial art of aikido, Zen landscape gardening, the Way of Tea, the Way of Flowers, and pottery making. Each art is more than a mere craft, for each takes as its goal not just the teaching of ethics but the formation of the ethical individual. Transformation is the result of diligent practice and each art recognizes the importance of the body. Training the mind as well as the body results in important insights, habits, and attitudes that involve the whole person, both body and mind.

Author Biography

Robert E. Carter is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Trent University in Canada

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xi
Introduction	p. 1
Self-Cultivation	p. 7
The Bodymind	p. 8
Unification of Body and Mind	p. 10
Enlightenment	p. 13
Meditation as a Path	p. 15
The Resultant Transformation	p. 16
Ki	p. 17
A Brief Map	p. 18
Aikido-The Way of Peace	p. 21
The Beginnings	p. 22
Aikido: One and Not One	p. 27
Aikido and Budo	p. 30
A Spiritual Way	p. 31
Aikido and Ethics	p. 33
The Value and Worth of the Other	p. 37
Aikido and Sports	p. 39
Yagyu	p. 42
Letting Go of the Ego	p. 46
Landscape Gardening as Interconnectedness	p. 51
Prelude	p. 51
The Shinto Influence	p. 54
The Buddhist Influence	p. 57
Zen-Inspired Gardens	p. 59
Masuno's Gardens	p. 62
I and Thou	p. 66
The Ethics of Gardens	p. 70
The Way of Tea (Chado)-To Live without Contrivance	p. 75
Background to the Way of Tea	p. 76
Wabi	p. 80
Zen and Pure Land	p. 85
From Sen no Rikyu to Sen Genshitsu XV	p. 90
Furyu	p. 92
The Lineage	p. 92
Beyond Language	p. 94
The Way of Flowers (Ikebana)-Eternity Is in the Moment	p. 97
Introduction	p. 97
Zen and Ikebana	p. 100
Ikenobo	p. 101
Shinto and Ikebana	p. 102
The Koan of Living by Dying and Dying by Living	p. 103
Reflections of a Pioneer	p. 108
The Principle of Three	p. 111
A Culture of Flowers	p. 113
The Way of Pottery-Beauty Is in the Abdomen	p. 117
Introduction	p. 117
Non-Dualistic Awareness	p. 121
Hamada: Teacher and Collector	p. 124
... and Ethics?	p. 127
Summary	p. 131
Conclusion	p. 135
Ethics and Self-Transformation	p. 136
The Train to Takayama	p. 139
Attitudes Revisited	p. 143
Glossary	p. 147
References	p. 155
Index	p. 163
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