Japan: Swords and Butterflies - The Wise World Traveler: Becoming a Part of All that You Meet - page 262

Bodhisattva who answers prayer by erasing sins and transgressions, thus assuring entry to
the Pure Land. An offshoot of Pure Land Buddhism holds to the belief that the simplest
prayer suffices, such as merely repeating the word “Amida.” Critics call this “salvation on
the cheap.” A special form of Pure Land Buddhism is Soka Gakkai. Adherents gather in
great halls; brass bands play; gymnasts wheel and tumble. And prayers are shouted to en-
sure admission to the Pure Land.
Zen Buddhism intrigues Europeans and Americans. [237] Zen adherents use no sacred
texts but build their search for enlightenment on enlightenment itself. Zen adherents focus
their minds in an attempt to receive a transcendent truth. They sit motionless, intensely
concentrating on a metaphysical puzzle given by a Zen master. The most famous puzzle
is probably, “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” Another poses a similar mystery:
“Why does water offer no resistance to the hand held like a blade, but noisily fights the
hand brought down flat?” These puzzles, called Koan, are sometimes solved in a flash of
inspiration, a transcendent moment called Satori.
Zen Buddhism had a special appeal for samurai. Battle-hardened soldiers all over the
world understand Zen's appeal: total awareness of one's surroundings, unwavering mental
concentration, all the while keeping the body in rigid control but ready to spring into action.
Zen continues to appeal to samurai descendants and to those convinced that enlightenment
must come from within, that enlightenment comes when we are a “lamp unto ourselves.”
Zen Buddhism profoundly influences traditional Japanese esthetics, wherein beauty is
found in simple forms, in the symmetry and asymmetry of nature, in the evanescent mo-
ment, such as, for example, moonrise, fog trailing across Mount Fuji, a rock garden of
swept sand dominated by one or two oddly shaped stones, and a single bud bent low in
a vase. Zen is closely associated with Japan's traditional tea ceremony, whose tea masters
study for years to follow a strictly prescribed set of movements and gestures.
BEING AND BECOMING: WHAT WAS THE MEIJI RESTORATION?
Turmoil erupted in Japan in the aftermath of Commodore Perry's visit. The powerful nobles
and their clans confronted difficult choices. They could continue to keep Japan closed
to Westerners and face invasion. If they opened Japan to Westerners, on the other hand,
Japan's tightly controlled social system and its traditional way of life would end. In either
case, the old Japan would die.
Even before Perry's visit, battles were fought to see which powerful lord could topple
the Shogun and seize control of the emperor. And added to Japan's sense of vulnerability
were British, French, and Russian military campaigns in Asia. In 1839 and in 1856, Britain
invaded China (the Opium Wars) in reprisal for China's closing its ports to opium from In-
dia. One consequence of the First Opium War was China's ceding Hong Kong to Britain.
From 1853 to 1856, France and Britain were at war with Russia. Even though the war was