The Asia-Pacific Journal | Japan Focus Volume 12 | Issue 3 | Number 2 | Jan 13, 2014

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A Zen Nazi in Wartime Japan: Count Dürckheim and hisSources—D.T. Suzuki, Yasutani Haku’un and Eugen Herrigel戦中日本におけるあるナチス禅宗徒 デュルクハイム伯爵の情報源　鈴木大拙、安谷白雲、オイゲン・ヘリゲル

Brian Victoria

Introductory Note: This is the final article in athree part series on the relationship of D.T.Suzuki and other Zen figures in wartime Japanto Count Karlfried Dürckheim and other Nazis.Part I of this series, "D.T. Suzuki, Zen and theN a z i s " i s a v a i l a b l e h e r e(https://apjjf.org/-Brian-Victoria/4019). Part II,"The Formation and Principles of CountDürckheim's Nazi Worldview and hisinterpretation of Japanese Spirit and Zen" isa v a i l a b l e h e r e(https://apjjf.org/-Karl-Baier/4041). Readerswho have not yet done so are urged to read atleast Part II of this series that provides crucialbackground information for understanding PartIII.

Introduction

By the late 1930s Japan was well on the way tobecoming a totalitarian society. True, in Japanthere was no charismatic dictator like Hitler orMussolini, but there was nevertheless apowerful "divine presence," i.e., EmperorHirohito. Although seldom seen and neverheard, he occasionally issued imperial edicts,serving to validate the actions of those politicaland military figures claiming to act on hisbehalf. At least in theory, such validation wasabsolute and lef twing chal lenges togovernment policies, whether on the part ofCommunists, socialists or merely liberals, weremercilessly suppressed. For example, between1928 and 1937 some 60,000 people werearrested under suspicion of harboring"dangerous thoughts," i.e., anything that could

conceivably undermine Japan's colonialexpansion abroad and repressive domesticpolicies at home. Added to this was the factthat Japan had begun its full-scale invasion ofChina on July 7, 1937.

Japan's relationship with Germany was in fluxaccording to the changing political interests ofboth countries. 1 Because of negativeinternational reactions to the Anti-Cominternpact of November 1936, resistance against itincreased in Japan soon after it was made, andthe Japanese froze their policy of closer ties.However, in 1938 it became clear to Japan thatthe war against China would last longer thanexpected. Thus, Japanese interest in a militaryalliance with Germany and Italy reemerged. Onthe German side, Joachim von Ribbentrop hadbecome Foreign Minister in February 1938,and as he had long been a proponent of closerties with Japan, negotiations between the twocountries resumed in the summer of 1938.

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Joachim von Ribbentrop

Count Karlfried Dürckheim´s first Japan tripwas probably connected with the beginning ofthis thaw in German-Japanese relations. Thebirth of "total war" in the wake of World War Iand even earlier had demonstrated that victorycould not be achieved without the strongsupport and engagement o f c iv i l ianpopulations, one aspect of which was notsimply knowledge of potential adversaries butof one's allies as well. This meant enhancedcultural relations and mutual understandingbetween the citizens of allied nations.

It was under these circumstances thatDürckheim undertook what was portrayed asan education-related mission to Japan, amission that would impact on him profoundlyfor the remainder of his life. This was not the

first such mission Dürckheim had undertakenon behalf of Foreign Minister Von Ribbentropand Education Minister Bernhard Rust, for hehad previously made somewhat similar trips toother countries, including South Africa andBritain. Dürckheim's trip to South Africa tookplace from May thru October 1934 on behalf ofRust. He conducted research on the cultural,political and educational situation of Germansin South Africa while at the same timepromoting the new regime.

During his work in Ribbentrop's office from1935 to 1937, Dürckheim was a frequent visitorto Britain, around 20 times altogether. His taskwas to gather information about the image ofNational Socialism in Britain while at the sametime promoting the "new Germany." Towardthis end, he met such notables as King EdwardVII and Winston Churchill and arranged ameeting between Hitler and Lord Beaverbrook,the owner of the Evening Standard. This waspart of Hitler's ultimately unsuccessful plan toform a military alliance with Britain directedagainst the Soviet Union. Dürckheim's workofficially ended on December 31, 1937.

Dürckheim's First Visit to Japan

Dürckheim began his journey to Japan on June7, 1938 and did not return to Germany untilearly 1939. According to his biographer,Gerhard Wehr, Dürckheim initially received aresearch assignment from the German Ministryof Education that consisted of two tasks: first,to describe the development of Japanesenational education including the so-calledsocial question,2 and second, to investigate thepossibility of using cultural activities topromote Germany's political aims both withinJapan and those areas of Asia under Japaneseinfluence.3 Dürckheim arrived by boat andtravelled extensively within Japan as well asundertaking trips to Korea, Manchukuo(Japan's puppet state in Manchuria) andnorthern China. During his travels Dürckheimremained in close contact with the local NSDAP

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(Nazi) offices and the Japan-based division ofthe National Socialist Teachers Association.

Count Karlfried Dürckheim

Dürckheim Meets D.T. Suzuki

Dürckheim described his arrival in Japan asfollows:

I was sent there in 1938 with aparticular mission that I hadchosen: to study the spiritualbackground of Japanese education.As soon as I arr ived a t theembassy, an old man came to greetme. I did not know him. "Suzuki,"

he stated. He was the famousSuzuki who was here to meet acertain Mister Dürckheim arrivingfrom Germany to undertake certainstudies.

Suzuki is one of the greatestcontemporary Zen Masters. Iquestioned him immediately on thedifferent stages of Zen. He namedthe first two, and I added the nextthree. Then he exclaimed: "Wheredid you learn this?" "In theteaching of Meister Eckhart!" "Imust read him again..." (though heknew him well already). . . . It isunder these circumstances that Idiscovered Zen. I would see Suzukifrom time to time.4

Although the exact sequence of events leadingup to their meeting is unknown, a few pointscan be surmised. First, while Dürckheim stateshe had been sent to Japan on an educationalmission, specifically to study "the spiritualfoundations of Japanese education,"5 it shouldbe understood that within the context of Naziideology, education referred not only to formalacademic, classroom learning but, moreimportantly, to any form of "spiritualtraining/discipline" that produced loyal citizensready to sacrif ice themselves for thefatherland. Given this, it is unsurprising thatfollowing Dürckheim's return to Germany in1939 the key article he wrote was entitled "TheSecret of Japanese Power" (Geheimnis derJapanisher Kraft).

Additionally, it should come as no surprise toread that Dürckheim was clearly aware of, andinterested in, Suzuki's new book. Wehr states:"In records from his first visit [to Japan]Dürckheim occasionally mentions Zenincluding, among others, D. T. Suzuki's recentlypublished book, Zen Buddhism and ItsInfluence on Japanese Culture. In thisconnection, Dürckheim comments: 'Zen is

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above all a religion of will and willpower; it isprofoundly averse to intellectual philosophyand discursive thought, relying, instead, onintuition as the direct and immediate path totruth.'"6

D.T. Suzuki

In claiming this is it possible that Dürckheimhad misunderstood the import of Suzuki'swritings? That is to say, had he in fact begunwhat might be called the 'Nazification' of Zen,i.e., twisting it to fit the ideology of NationalSocialism. In fact he had not, for in his 1938book, Suzuki wrote: "Good fighters aregenerally ascetics or stoics, which means tohave an iron will. When needed Zen suppliesthem with this."7 Suzuki futher explained:"From the philosophical point of view, Zenupholds intuition against intellection, forintuition is the more direct way of reaching theTruth...Besides its direct menthod of reachingfinal faith, Zen is a religion of will-power, andwill-power is what is urgently needed by thewarriors, though it ought to be enlightened byintuition."8

In light of these quotes, and many others like

them, whatever other faults the wartimeDürckheim may have had, misunderstandingSuzuki's explication of Zen was not one ofthem.

And, significantly, Suzuki was not content in hisbook to simply link Zen as a religion of will toJapanese medieval warriors. He was equallyintent to show that the same self-sacrificial,death-embracing spirit of the samurai hadbecome the modern martial spirit of theJapanese people as a whole:

The Japanese may not have anyspecific philosophy of life, but theyhave decidedly one of death whichmay sometimes appear to be thatof recklessness. The spirit of thesamurai deeply breathing Zen intoitself propagated its philosophyeven among the masses. The latter,e v e n w h e n t h e y a r e n o tparticularly trained in the way ofthe warrior, have imbibed his spiritand are ready to sacrifice theirlives for any cause they thinkworthy. This has repeatedly beenproved in the wars Japan has so farhad to go through for one reasonor another. A foreign writer onJapanese Buddhism aptly remarkst h a t Z e n i s t h e J a p a n e s echaracter. 9

Given these words, Dürckheim could not fail tohave been interested in learning more about aZen tradition that had allegedly instilled death-embracing values into the entire Japanesepeople. Hitler himself is recorded as havinglamented, "You see, it's been our misfortune tohave the wrong religion. Why didn't we havethe religion of the Japanese, who regardsacrifice for the Fatherland as the highestgood?"10 Thus Dürckheim's mission may best beunderstood as unlocking the secret of theJapanese people's power as manifested in the

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Zen-Bushidō ideology Suzuki promoted. Nodoubt, his superiors were deeply interested induplicating, within the context of a Germanvölkisch faith, this same spirit of unquestioningsacrifice for the Fatherland.

It is unlikely that Dürckheim had read Suzuki'sbook prior to his arrival. Written in English, theEastern Buddhist Society of Ōtani Collegedidn't publish it in Japan until May 1938.Suzuki reports that he first received copies ofhis book on May 20, 1938.11 This suggests thatit was Embassy personnel, knowing ofDürckheim's interests and Suzuki's reputation,who requested Suzuki's presence. Yet anotherpossibility is that Dürckheim had heard aboutSuzuki during his frequent trips to Britain,since much of the material in Suzuki's 1938book consisted of lectures first delivered inBritain in 1936.

It is noteworthy that the first conversationbetween the two men centered on MeisterEckhart, the thirteenth century Germantheologian and mystic. On the surface thisexchange seems totally innocuous, the veryantithesis of Nazism. Yet, as discussed in PartII, Meister Eckhart was the embodiment of onemajor current in Nazi spirituality. That is tosay, within German völkisch religious thoughtEckhart represented the very essence of a trulyGermanic faith.

Meister Eckhart

Meister Eckhart's reception in Germany hadundergone many changes over time, withEckhart becoming l inked to Germannationalism by the early 19th century as aresult of Napoleon's occupation of large partsof Germany. Many romanticists and adherentsof German idealism regarded Eckhart as auniquely German mystic and admired him forhaving written in German instead of Latin anddaring to oppose the Latin speaking world ofscholasticism and the hierarchy of the CatholicChurch.

In the 20th century, National Socialism - or atleast some leading National Socialists -appropriated Eckhart as an early exponent of aspecific Germanic Weltanschauung. Inparticular, Alfred Rosenberg regarded Eckhartas the German mystic who had anticipated hisown ideology and thus represented a key figurein Germanic cultural history. As a result,Rosenberg included a long chapter on Eckhart,entitled "Mysticism and Action," in his bookThe Myth of the Twentieth Century.

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Alfred Rosenberg

Rosenberg was one of the Nazi's chiefideologists and The Myth of the TwentiethCentury was second in importance only toHitler's Mein Kampf. By 1944 more than amillion copies had been sold. Rosenberg wasattracted to Eckhart as one of the earliestexponents of the idea of "will" as supreme:

Reason perceives all things, but itis the will, Eckhart comments,which can do all things. Thuswhere reason can go no further,the superior will flies upward intothe light and into the power offaith. Then the will wishes to beabove all perception. That is itshighest achievement.12

Suzuki would no doubt have readily agreedwith these sentiments, for, as we have alreadyseen, he, too, placed great emphasis on will,identifying it as the very essence of Zen.

Rosenberg also included this almost Zen-likedescription of "Nordic Germanic man":

Nordic Germanic man is theantipode of both directions,grasping for both poles of ourexistence, combining mysticismand a life of action, being borne upby a dynamic vital feeling, beinguplifted by the belief in the freecreative will and the noble soul.Meister Eckhart wished to becomeone with himself. This is certainlyour own ultimate desire.13

This said, the fact that there were similaritiesbetween Rosenberg's description of Eckhartand Suzuki's descriptions of Zen by no meansdemonstrates that Suzuki's interest in Eckhartwas identical with Rosenberg's racist or fascistinterpretation. In fact, Suzuki's interest inEckhart can be traced back to his interest inTheosophy in the 1920s.

Nevertheless, there is a clear and compellingparallel in the totalitarian nature of völkischNazi thought as represented by Rosenberg, aswell as Dürckheim, and Suzuki's own thinking.As pointed out in Part II, one of the keycomponents of Nazi thought was that"individualism" was an enemy that had to beovercome in order for the "parts" (i.e., acountry's citizens) to be ever willing to sacrificethemselves for the Volk, i.e., the "whole," asordered by the state. Rudolph Hess, Hitler'sDeputy Führer, not only recognized theimportance of this struggle but also admittedthat the Japanese were ahead of the Nazis inthis respect. Hess wrote:

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We, too, [like the Japanese] arebattling to destroy individualism.We are struggling for a newGermany based on the new idea oftotalitarianism. In Japan this wayof thinking comes naturally to thepeople.14

Just how "naturally" (or even whether) theJapanese people rejected individualism andembraced totalitarianism is open to debate.Yet, we find Suzuki adopting an analogousposition beginning with the publication of hisvery first book in 1896, i.e., Shin Shūkyō-ron (ATreatise on the New [Meaning of] Religion).Suzuki wrote:

At the time of the commencementof hosti l it ies with a foreigncountry, then marines fight on thesea and soldiers fight in the fields,swords flashing and cannon-smokebelching, moving this way andthat. In so doing, our soldiersregard their own lives as being aslight as goose feathers while theirdevotion to duty is as heavy as Mt.Tai in China. Should they fall onthe battlefield they have noregrets. This is what is called" r e l i g i o n i n a n a t i o n a lemergency." 1 5

Suzuki was only twenty-six years old when hewrote these lines, i.e., long before theemergence of the Nazis. Yet, he anticipated theNazi's demand that in wartime all citizens mustdiscard attachment to their individual well-being and be ever ready to sacrifice themselvesfor the state, regarding their own lives "as lightas goose feathers." During the Russo-JapaneseWar of 1904-5, Suzuki exhorted Japanesesoldiers as follows: "Let us then shuffle off thismortal coil whenever it becomes necessary, andnot raise a grunting voice against the fates. . . .Resting in this conviction, Buddhists carry thebanner of Dharma over the dead and dyinguntil they gain final victory."16 Given thesesentiments there clearly was no need for theNazis to inculcate völkisch values, emphasizingself-sacrifice for the state, into Suzuki's

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thought, for they had long been present.

In any event, the content of the initialconversation between Suzuki and Dürckheimdoes suggest why, from the outset, these twomen found they shared so much in common.For his part, like "Nordic man" in the precedingquotation, Suzuki frequently equated Zen withthe Japanese character.17 In other words, withinone of the two major strands of Nazi religiosity,Dürckheim would perhaps have understood,and welcomed, Suzuki as a völkisch proponentof a religion, i.e., Zen, dedicated to, and shapedby, the Japanese Volk. This may well explainwhat initially drew the two men together andled to their ongoing relationship.

It should also be noted that Suzuki was not thefirst to recognize affinities between Eckhartand Buddhism. In the 19th century the Germanphilosopher Arthur Schopenhauer hadpostulated this connection. He wrote:

I f we turn f rom the forms ,p r o d u c e d b y e x t e r n a lcircumstances, and go to the rootof things, we shall f ind that[Buddha] Shākyamuni and MeisterEckhart teach the same thing; onlythat the former dared to expresshis ideas plainly and positively,whereas Eckhart is obliged toclothe them in the garment of theChristian myth, and to adapt hisexpressions thereto.18

As for Dürckheim, his interest in Eckhart, asnoted in Part II, can be traced back to the1920s when he began to practice meditationtogether with his friend Ferdinand Weinhandl,the Austrian philosopher who later became aprofessor in Kiel and another strong proponentof National Socialism. Additionally, the Swisspsychologist C. G. Jung identified Eckhart asthe most important thinker of his time.

Suzuki's View of Nazi Germany

There is one vital question that warrants ourattention, i.e., why had Suzuki accepted aninvitation to come to a German Embassy sofirmly under Nazi control? In the context of thetimes, this may not seem so surprising, but it isin fact a very surprising turn of events. Verysurprising, that is, if one believes the testimonyof Satō Gemmyō Taira, a Shin (True Pure Land)Buddhist priest who, readers of Part I of thisarticle will recall, identifies himself as one ofSuzuki's disciples in the postwar period.

Satō claims:

Although Suzuki recognized thatthe Nazis had, in 1936, broughtstability to Germany and althoughhe was impressed by their youthactivities (though not by themilitaristic tone of these activities),he clearly had little regard for theNazi leader, disapproved of theirviolent attitudes, and opposed thepolicies espoused by the party. Hisdistaste for totalitarianism of anykind is unmistakable.19

If, as Satō asserts, Suzuki "opposed the policiesespoused by the [Nazi] party," etc. why wouldhe have agreed to meet a Nazi researcher likeDürckheim on his arrival in Japan? And whywould he subsequently have continued to meethim "from time to time"? Still further, whywould the German Embassy have invited aknown critic of the Nazis, someone whom Satōclaims had publicly expressed his anti-Naziviews in October 1936, to meet a visiting Naziresearcher less than two years later? Whilethese questions may seem unrelated toDürckheim's wartime activities in Japan, theydo point to a striking parallel between the twomen in the postwar period, a parallel that willbecome apparent below.

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First, however, it should be noted that there isan alternate narrative that readily explainsSuzuki's willingness to assist a Nazi-affiliatedresearcher like Dürckheim. This narrativebegins by noting that in his 1938 book, ZenBuddhism and Its Influence on JapaneseCulture, Suzuki wrote:

Zen has no special doctrine orphilosophy with a set of conceptsand intellectual formulas, exceptthat it tries to release one from thebondage of birth and death andthis by means of certain intuitivemodes of understanding peculiarto itself. It is, therefore, extremelyflexible to adapt itself almost toany philosophy and moral doctrineas long as its intuitive teaching isnot interfered with.

I t may be found wedded toanarchism or fascism, communismor democracy, atheism or idealism,or any political and economicaldogmatism. I t is , however,generally animated with a certainrevolutionary spirit, and whenthings come to a deadlock which isthe case when we are overloadedwith conventionalisms, formalism,and other cognate isms, Zenasserts itself and proves to be adestructive force.20

Given that Suzuki, at least in 1938, claimedthat Zen could be wedded to almost anypolitical ideology, fascism included, he wouldhave had no reason for refusing to meetDürckheim at the German Embassy. As Part I ofthis article revealed, Suzuki's staunchdefender, Satō Gemmyō Taira, was willing to goso far as to fabricate part of his translation ofSuzuki's October 1936 newspaper descriptionof the Nazis in order to make it appear hismaster was critical of this movement. This

bears repeating because a similar phenomenonoccurred on the part of those who were close toDürckheim, including his family members.

If in Dürckheim's case it was impossible todeny outright his Nazi connection, then theleast his admirers could do was minimize thesignificance of that connection, for example, bydescribing his role in wartime Japan as that of a"Kulturdiplomat" (cultural diplomat). This titlesuggests that Dürckheim did nothing more thanengage in "cultural activities" during his nearlyeight-year residence in Japan. However, as thisarticle makes clear, Dürckheim was in fact anindefatigable propagandist for the Nazis,anything but a mere cultural envoy. This pointwill be touched upon again below.

In part, this attempt to disguise Dürckheim'sactions as being cultural in nature can beexplained by the fact that for the Nazis"culture," like "education," was an all-embracing concept subsumed into the overallstruggle for a totalitarian society and state.Thus, the primary focus of Dürckheim's"cultural activities," including his interest inZen, was his mission to promote the cultural,educational and political policies of the ThirdReich in Japan as a part of the overall struggleto ensure the triumph of National Socialism.

As for the frequency of Suzuki's meetings withDürckheim during his first visit to Japan weknow relatively little. However, Suzuki didinclude the following entries in his Englishlanguage diary: (January 16, 1939), "Specialdelivery to Durkheim (sic), at GermanEmbassy";21 (January 17, 1939), Telegram fromDürkheim";22 (January 18, 1939), "Went toTokyo soon after breakfast. Called on Graf.[Count] Durkheim at German Embassy, metAmbassador [Eugen] Otto [Ott], and Dr. [spaceleft blank] of German-Japanese Institute. Lunchwith them at New Grand [Hotel]."23 It is likelythat this flurry of activity in early 1939 wasconnected to Dürkheim's impending return toGermany. If so, Dürkheim's luncheon invitation

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may well have been by way of thanking Suzukifor the latter's assistance during his stay.

Suzuki's assistance appears to have extendedto aiding Dürckheim indirectly during asightseeing visit he made to Kyoto onNovember 20-24, 1938. Wehr informs us thatwhile in Kyoto Dürckheim met ikebana masterAdashi and participated in a tea ceremony. Indescribing his visit Dürckheim wrote in hisdiary: "My loyal companion, Mr. Yanasigawa,was – what a happy coincidence! – Suzuki'ssecretary."24

Dürckheim's Second Visit to Japan

Dürckheim returned to Japan in January 1940and remained there throughout the war. It wasduring this time that his most important workfor the Nazis was undertaken. This timeDürckheim travelled to Japan by train throughRussia, taking advantage of the new, and onceunthinkable, non-aggression pact betweenGermany and the Soviet Union. It was,however, this very treaty that had produced acrisis in Germany's relationship with Japan.That is to say, the promising negotiations of1938 between the two countries had led tonothing, mostly because of Japan's hesitantattitude. As a result, Germany changed itsplans and on August 23, 1939 Foreign MinisterRibbentrop signed a "Treaty of Non-Aggressionbetween Germany and the Union of SovietSocialist Republics," thereby allying itself withJapan's archenemy. This ruptured the Anti-Comintern pact, and the relationship betweenthe two countries hit rock bottom.

Signing of the Nazi-Soviet Non-aggressionPact

Interestingly, Dürckheim appears to have hadadvance knowledge of this development. That isto say, in his 1992 book, Der Weg ist das Ziel(The Way is the Goal), Dürckheim recalls:

As soon as I had returned toGermany [from Japan in 1939],Ribbentrop summoned me. In themeanwhile he had become foreignminister, yet he never abandonedpeople he had worked with. Hesaid to me: " I would l ike toconclude a treaty with Russia.Here is the draft. You are the firstone I'm showing it to. What will theJapanese say?" "Well," I replied, "ofcourse they will not be very happyabout it, Mr. von Ribbentrop."25

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This incident suggests just how importantDürckheim had already become, at leastconcerning Japanese affairs.

By the spring of 1940 Germany had achievedan impressive list of military victories leadingto the occupation of Denmark, Norway, theNetherlands, and, most important, France. Thedefeat of England seemed to be only a matterof time. This led Japan to approach Germanywith the goal of ensuring protection of its ownsphere of influence in East Asia. As forGermany, as it became clear that the defeat ofEngland would take longer than expected,especial ly in the face of possible USintervention in Europe as well as East Asia.Thus, Germany, too, once again becameinterested in a military alliance with Japan. Thistime renewed negotiations bore fruit in theform of the Tripartite Pact between Germany,Japan and Italy, signed on September 27, 1940.

Signing of the Tripartite Pact

Dürckheim continued to work for Ribbentropduring his second stay in Japan. This time hiswork included collecting information aboutJapanese opinion concerning Germany and itspolicies as well as organizing propaganda forthe Nazis, especially at the academic level.About this, Dürckheim recalls:

Then the war started. The dayafter [Germany's invasion ofPoland on September 1, 1939]Ribbentrop summoned me andsaid: "We need somebody tomaintain contact with scientists inJapan." I answered: "Mr. VonRibbentrop, I can't wait to returnto Japan." "OK," he answered,"then come back tomorrow and tellme what you want to have [to carryout this task]." The next day I saidto him: "I want eighty librariesconsisting of one hundred volumeseach." "What do you mean?""Eighty libraries with one hundredvolumes in each is a library forevery teacher at German schools[in Japan]." He said "OK, approved.I think this is reasonable."26

In addition, Dürckheim sought to place pro-Nazi articles in important Japanese journalswhile supplying the German Foreign Office'spropaganda magazine, Berlin-Rom-Tokyo, witharticles about Japan. He also claims to haveplayed a role in the preparation of theTripartite Pact signed on September 27, 1940.27

Despite his lack of official status in Germany'sForeign Ministry, Dürckheim was clearly animportant, even key, figure in promoting thewartime relationship between the twocountries.

Gerhard Wehr's View of Dürckheim inJapan

A major divergence in viewpoints is evident inthe available descriptions of Dürckheim'sactivities during his second residence in Japan.This divergence might best be characterized asa divergence between those in Europe whodescribed Dürckheim's residence in Japan fromoutside Japan, and without knowledge ofJapanese, and those who described him fromwithin Japan, primarily from Japanese sources.

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Among those in the first category is GerhardWehr, Dürckheim's biographer and admirer.Wehr acknowledges that his subject eagerlyembraced his new duties as a Nazi emissary:"In the wave of enthusiastic nationalism,Dürckhe im saw h imse l f a s a use fu lrepresentative of the 'new Germany' for hispeople and his employers in Berlin, for theMinister of Foreign Affairs Von Ribbentrop, andfor the Minister of Education, Bernhard Rust."28

Wehr further states: "And as his biographyshows, it was not hard for him to obey theorders of his superiors." Yet, Wehr immediatelyadds: "But in the background, there was alwaysthis other tendency toward the spirituality ofthe East, and especially toward Zen Buddhism;later it will be for Zen as a trans-religiousattitude in universal man, the practice ofspiritual exercise and disciplines."29

Wehr also informs us: "From the outside, in theyears 1930 to 1940, Professor Karlfried Graf[Count] Dürckheim seemed to be a culturalenvoy of the Third Reich. At the same time, asubterranean process of transformation ofwhich he was hardly conscious was takingplace."30

Thus, on the one hand, Wehr admits that, at thevery least, Dürckheim was in the employmentof the Nazis, but on the other hand he claimsthat from the very outset of his residence inJapan, Dürckheim was drawn toward thespirituality of the East, most especially Zen.

Yet, what exactly was this transformational"subterranean process" Dürckheim wasundergoing? Wehr introduces a quote fromDürckheim describing how his spiritual journeyafter arriving in Japan led him to practice notonly Zen but also traditional Japanese archeryand painting as well:

Out of personal preference, I cameto know many Zen exercises. Ieven worked outside of meditation

(zazen), especially in archery andpainting. It is surprising to noticethat from the point of view of Zen,the most varied arts have the samepurpose, whether it be archery ordance, song or karate, floraldecoration or aikido, the teaceremony or spear throwing. . . .Done in the spirit of Zen, they aremerely different ways aimingtoward the same thing: thebreakthrough toward the nature ofBuddha, toward "Being."31

Wehr goes on to inform his readers that "thethought at the foundation of this specialexercise [i.e., archery] . . . is Zen. Further,through his practice of Zen and Zen-influencedarts Dürckheim feels that he is able toapproach "the Japanese character," theultimate expression of which is that "a personrealizes himself completely, discovering in hisway the Divine. And that is of course what manfeels most directly."32 Yet, throughout theentire period Dürckheim pursues his spiritualinterests he remains in the service of the Nazis.

The preceding comments raise two interestingquestions. First, is Zen practice, especially as itis allegedly found in Japanese arts like archery,really in conflict with the ideology of NationalSocialism? And second, are all of these arts,particularly archery, really connected to Zen inthe first place?

Dürckheim and Eugen Herrigel

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Eugen Herrigel

Dürckheim tells us that he wasdrawn to the practice of archerythanks to Eugen Herrigel, the well-known author of the short classic,Zen in the Ar t o f Archery .According to Wehr:

Dürckheim remembers having readan article by his colleague EugenHerrigel dealing with the martialarts. He is therefore alreadyfamiliar with the thought at thefoundation of this special exercisethat is Zen. And as this master ofarchery follows the same traditionas Herr ige l , i t i s an addedincentive to become initiated in

this discipline. "That is what ledme to begin this activity. I knewthat I would learn things aboutJapan which would be useful to meand which cannot be found inbooks or in any other way."33

The first problem with Wehr's description isthat subsequent research has shown thatDürckheim did not study archery with a teacherin the lineage of Awa Kenzō, i.e., someone who"follows the same tradition as Herrigel."However, Dürckheim may not have been awareof this. Dürckheim provides a more detaileddescription in his book Der Weg ist das Ziel(The Way is the Goal): "One day in 1941 aJapanese friend invited me, 'Come with me, mymaster is here. What master? The master ofarchery.' This is how I got to know masterKenran Umechi [Umeji]."34

The Japanese scholar Yamada Shoji emphasizesthat Umeji was not in Awa's lineage. Instead,he was simply another archery instructor ofthat era. The only known connection betweenthe two men was that Awa once visited Umejito query him about a fine point of archerytechnique. In the aftermath of his visit Umeji'sdisciples claimed that their master was thegreater of the two, going so far as to suggestthat Awa was one of Umeji's students.Unsurprisingly, Awa's students adamantlyrejected this claim.35

Be that as it may, there nevertheless appears tobe a genuine connection between Dürckheimand the martial art of archery. Additionally, Zenis identified as the "foundation of this specialexercise." There is, however, yet anotherproblem with this scenario, for as Yamada Shojihas demonstrated, the connection of Zen toarchery is, historically speaking, little morethan a modern myth, primarily created even inJapan itself by Herrigel:

Looking back over the history of

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kyūdō [archery], one can say that itwas only after World War II thatkyūdō became strongly associatedwith Zen. To be even more specific,this is a unique phenomenon thatoccurred after 1956 when Zen inthe Art of Archery was translatedand published in Japanese. . . . Thissuggests that the emphasis on therelationship between the bow andZen is due to the influence of Zenin the Art of Archery.36

Yamada reveals moreover that Herrigel himselfnever underwent any formal Zen trainingduring his five-year stay in Japan from 1924-29.Yamada also informs us that Awa "never spentany time at a Zen temple or received properinstruction from a Zen master."37 Awa did,however, teach something he cal ledDaishadōkyō (Great Doctrine of the Way ofShooting) that included a religious dimensionhe expressed us ing e lements o f Zenterminology. Awa's Japanese students notedthis Great Doctrine consisted of "archery as areligion" in which "the founder of this religionis Master Awa Kenzō."38 Herrigel also refers tothe "Great Doctrine" but, as Yamada notes:"Herrigel offered no explanation of what the"Great Doctrine" might be, so readers of Zen inthe Art of Archery had no way of knowing thatthis was simply Awa's personal philosophy."39

Yet another key component of Herrigel'sarchery training was the mystical spiritualexperience he claimed to have had, expressedverbally as "'It' shoots" rather than the familiar"I shoot (an arrow)." The spiritual connectioncame from Herrigel's identification of "It" with"something which transcends the self."40

Inasmuch as this expression appears toresonate with Zen teaching the question mustbe asked, what's the problem?

The problem is, as Yamada explains: "There isno record of Awa ever having taught: "'It'

shoots" to any of his disciples other thanHerrigel."41 How is this possible? Yamada'spainstaking research led him to the followingconclusion:

When Herrigel made a good shot,Awa cried, "That's it!". . . . "That'sit" was mistakenly translated toHerrigel [in German] as "'It'shoots," and Herrigel understood"It" to mean "something whichtranscends the self." If that is whathappened, then the teaching of "'It'shoo t s " was born when anincorrect meaning filled the voidcreated by a single instance ofmisunderstanding.42

T h e r e l e v a n c e o f t h i s a l l e g e d"misunderstanding" to Dürckheim is that thelatter shared the same misunderstanding,albeit under a different master with only atenuous connection to Awa. During aninterview with German television at the age ofeighty-seven Dürckheim said:

I still remember the day, in thepresence of the master, when Ishot an arrow and it left on itsown. "I" had not shot it. "It" hadshot. The master saw this and tookthe bow in his hands, then took mein his arms (which is very rare inJapan!) and said: "That's it!" Hethen invited me to tea. That is howarchery taught me so much, for themastery of a traditional Japanesetechnique does not have as goal aperformance, but on the contraryrequires the achievement of a stepforward on the inner path.43

Dürckheim thus used nearly the same words asHerrigel to describe his mystical experience,

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i.e., "'It' had shot." Yet, unlike Herrigel,Dürckheim did not claim that his archerymaster had used these words. Instead, hestates that, upon seeing Dürckheim'saccomplishment, his archery master said,"That's it!" Not only does this episode providestrong evidence that Yamada's conclusion iscorrect, but it also suggests that, since neitherHerrigel nor Dürckheim were fluent inJapanese, Dürckheim, at least, had the superiorinterpreter.

That said, where had Dürckheim first learnedthe expression, "'It' shoots" if not fromHerrigel's writings? As noted above, Awa didnot employ this expression in his teachingwhich, in any case, was not based on any Zentraining but rather on his own personalphilosophy that included Zen expressions. Thisforces us to recognize that there was no "Zen"in the "art of archery" other than that firstcreated in Herrigel's mind based on a mistakentranslation of Awa's words.

For his part, Dürckheim subsequently acceptedthis mistaken translation at face value. Further,as we have seen, Dürckheim mistakenlybelieved his archery master "follow[ed] thesame tradition as Herrigel."44 Thus, it can besaid that while Dürckheim had the superiorinterpreter, there was nothing "superior" oreven "accurate" in either man's understandingof their practice of archery or its non-existenthistorical relationship to Zen.45

Be that as it may, the importance of thisdiscussion is that the connection of archery toZen was not an ancient tradition that Herrigelencountered while in Japan, nor was thepractice of archery understood as an alternateform or expression of Zen practice. As Yamada,himself an accomplished student of archery,states, Zen's connection to archery is primarilya postwar "myth" that Herrigel himselfpromoted.46

Finally, it is not surprising that Dürckheimwould have also embraced this myth in light of

the fact that Herrigel, in his writings from1936, promoted a völkisch re l ig iousunderstanding very similar to that ofDürckheim. Further, Dürckheim was aware ofthese 1936 writings before he started his ownprac t i ce o f a rchery . Th i s vö lk i s chunderstanding was, however, not the only thingthe two men shared in common.

A Shared Nazi Past

In a political context, the most importantfeature Herrigel and Dürckheim shared wastheir active allegiance to National Socialism, anallegiance that was of great benefit to both oftheir careers. Herrigel joined the Nazi party onMay 1, 1937. The following year he became thevice rector of the University of Erlangen and in1944 was promoted to rector, a post he held tothe end of the war. As Yamada notes: "In aclimate where right-minded scholars wereleaving the universities in droves, only a personwho had ingratiated himself with the Naziscould hope to climb as high as rector."47

During the Nazi era Herrigel wrote such essaysas "Die Aufgabe der Philosophie im neuenReich" (The Task of Philosophy in the New[Third] Reich) in 1934 and "Nationalsozialismusund Philosophie" (National Socialism andPhilosophy) in 1935. In 1944, as an expert onJapan, he wrote, "Das Ethos des Samurai" (TheEthos of the Samurai). Herrigel's wartimewri t ings reveal h im to have been anenthusiastic Nazi.48 For example, in 1935Herrigel described Hitler as follows:

The miracle happened. With atremendous drive that made allresistance meaningless, theGerman Volk was carried away.With unanimous determination itendorsed the leader. . . . The fightfor the soul of the German Volkreached its goal. It is ruled by onewill and one attitude and commitsitself to its leader with a kind of

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unity and loyalty that is uniquewithin the checkered history of theGerman Volk.49

Given this it is not surprising to learn thatfollowing Germany's defeat Herrigel wasbrought before the denazification court atErlangen. Although he strenuously denied anywrongdoing, he was nevertheless found guiltyof having been a Mitläufer (lit. a "runner with")of the Nazis. In terms of guilt, this was onerank below that of a committed Nazi, but itnevertheless resulted in his dismissal from theuniversity. Thereafter he retired, dying of lungcancer in 1955.

Thus, it can be said that, unlike Dürckheim whosuccessfully hid his Nazi past in postwarGermany, Herrigel did pay a price for hiswartime collaboration. Had Dürckheim been inGermany at war's end, he, too, might havefaced a reckoning. Given his role as a tirelesspropagandist for the Nazi cause, he might verywell have been convicted of having been aBelasteter (Offender), i.e., an activist, militant,profiteer, or incriminated person. Thepunishment for those convicted of this statuswas imprisonment for up to 10 years. ThusDürckheim was fortunate to spend onlyeighteen months in Tokyo's Sugamo prison.

Dürckheim, Herrigel and Suzuki's PostwarRelationship

There was one additional thing Dürckheim andHerrigel shared in common, i.e., theirlongstanding relationship with D.T. Suzuki, arelationship that continued into the postwarera. Dürckheim recalls:

[Suzuki] later came to see me atTodtmoos. It was in 1954, and Ihad just received a telegram of theProtestant Academy of Munichasking me to do a conference onoriental wisdom. I took advantage

of h is presence to ask him:"Master, could you tell me in a fewwords what oriental wisdom is?"He smiled and said: "Westernknowledge looks outside, Easternknowledge looks within." I said tomyself: "That is not such a greatanswer. . ." Then he continued:"But if you look within the way youlook without, you make of thewithin a without." That is anextraordinary statement! It revealsthe whole drama of westernpsychology which looks within theway we look without, making of thewithin a without, that is, an object.And life disappears.50

Dürckheim noted that during his visit Suzukiexpressed his interest in meeting MartinHeidegger who lived nearby:

I met Heidegger again twentyyears later, when Suzuki, theeighty-year old prophet of Zenvisited me and wanted to see him.It was an encounter of a man of theword with a man, who, as a ZenMaster, is certain that in openingour mouth we are already lying!For only silence contains truth.51

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Martin Heidegger

It should be noted that Heidegger's own Nazipast was also the subject of ongoingcontroversy in the postwar period inasmuch ashe had joined the NSDAP on May 1, 1933, tendays a f t e r be ing e l ec ted Rec to r o ft h e U n i v e r s i t y o f F r e i b u r g(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Ludwigs_University_of_Freiburg). However, in April 1934he resigned the Rectorship and stoppedattending Nazi Party meetings. Nevertheless,Heidegger remained a member of the Partyuntil its dismantling at the end of World War II(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II).More recently, scholars in both Germany andAmerica have demonstrated the profoundaffinities between Heidegger's thought and hisreactionary milieu. In the postwar period,Heidegger commented: "If I understand thisman [Suzuki] correctly, this is what I have beentrying to say in all my writings."52

As for Herrigel, his relationship to the Nazis is,as noted above, far clearer. Herrigel'ssignificant postwar connection to Suzuki is wellillustrated in Suzuki's preface to the 1953English edition of Herrigel's classic. Suzukiwrote:

In this wonderful little book, Mr.Herrigel, a German philosopherwho came to Japan and took up thepractice of archery toward anunderstanding of Zen, gives anilluminating account of his owne x p e r i e n c e . T h r o u g h h i sexpression, the Western readerwill find a more familiar manner ofdealing with what very often musts e e m t o b e a s t r a n g e a n dsomewhat unapproachable Easternexperience.53

Suzuki's appreciation of Herrigel's "wonderfullittle book" is high praise indeed for a man whostated in a 1959 conversation with the Zenscholar Hisamatsu Shin'ichi that no Westernerhad yet understood Zen despite the many booksthat Westerners had written on this topic. WasHerrigel then the single exception? In fact, hewas not, for when Hisamatsu asked Suzuki'sassessment of Herrigel, Suzuki replied:"Herrigel is trying to get to Zen, but he hasn'tgrasped Zen itself. Have you ever seen a bookwritten by a Westerner that has?"54 Suzuki wasthen asked why he had agreed to write theintroduction to Herrigel's book? "I was asked towrite it, so I wrote it, that's all," he replied.55

There is no reason to believe that Suzuki wouldhave had a higher regard for Dürckheim'sunderstanding of Zen. Dürckheim was, after all,just another "Westerner" and definitely notJapanese. In an article written in June 1941Suzuki claimed: "The character of the Japanesepeople is to come straight to the point and pourtheir entire body and mind into the attack. Thisis the character of the Japanese people and, at

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the same time, the essence of Zen."56 Giventhis, how could any Westerner aspire tounderstanding "the essence of Zen" whilelacking "the character of the Japanese people"?

At the same time, given the historical non-relationship of Zen to archery, the questionmust be asked as to what this tells us aboutSuzuki's own understanding of Zen? That is tosay, did he knowingly participate in whatYamada described as a postwar "myth"? If so,what was his purpose? Interesting as thesequestions may be, they lie beyond the scope ofthis article to explore.

Wehr's Defense of Dürckheim

Unsurprisingly, Wehr provides us with none ofthis information about Herrigel let alone aboutany personal relationship Dürckheim may havehad to him. Nor, for that matter, does Wehrinform us much about Dürckheim's relationshipwith Suzuki either during or after the war. Hisfocus is on one thing, weakening Dürckheim'sconnection to National Socialism whilesimultaneously strengthening his relationshipto Zen:

Reflections such as these still donot reveal the distance whichDürckheim is taking vis-à-visNational Socialism and his ownconcept of nationalist culture.These two worlds still co-exist forhim. He is attempting to harmonizehis nationalist ideals and hisspiritual interests. He does not yetrealize that he will have to make adecision if he continues his innerpath. He believes that what ZenBuddhism offers him is a gain tohis exterior status.57

Thus, Wehr would have us believe that asDürckheim's understanding of Zen deepened hewas slowly drawn away, if only unconsciously,

from the Nazis' worldview to that of Zen. Infact, he would "have to make a decision," i.e.,choosing either Zen or National Socialism. Butdid Dürckheim ever make such a choice? Onthis crucial point Wehr is silent. The best Wehrcou ld do was to admi t : "The quotedbiographical documents suggest that it was avery slow process of change."58

Nevertheless, Wehr goes on to claim thatDürckheim became such an accomplished Zenprac t i t i oner tha t he had an i n i t i a lenlightenment experience known as satori. Noteven Herrigel had explicitly claimed this forhimself. Wehr wrote:

Toward the end of his stay inJapan, Dürckheim experiencedsatori, the aim of Zen: a degree ofillumination of reality. Throughthis he achieved the "spiritualbreak-through toward ultimatereality." In this way a greater Selfis uncovered, beyond the ordinaryself. This greater Self, and thedestiny linked to it, does not sparea person on the inner way fromtrials. In the following stages of hislife, Dürckheim experienced animprisonment of a year and a halfin the prison of Sugamo in Tokyounder the control of the AmericanOccupation.59

Once again the reader is presented with theincongruous relationship between a confirmedNazi, a suspected war criminal in postwarJapan, and an enlightened Zen practitioner.Y e t , w h e n d i d D ü r c k h e i m h a v e h i senlightenment experience? Was it before, orafter, he was imprisoned at war's end? And whowas the Zen master who authenticatedDürckheim's enlightenment experience as isrequired in the Zen school? Did Dürckheimeven train under a recognized Zen master?Wehr once again remains silent.

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Wehr does, however, quote Dürckheim indescribing his incarceration in the Sugamoprison:

In spite of everything, it was a veryfertile period for me. The firstweeks I had a dream almost everynight, some of which anticipatedmy future work. In my cell, I wassurrounded by a profound silence.I could work on myself and that iswhen I began to write a novel. Myneighbors simply waited for eachday to pass. That time of captivitywas precious to me because I couldexercise zazen meditation andremain in immobility for hours.60

The fact that Wehr tells us Dürckheimexperienced satori "toward the end of his stayin Japan" suggests that Dürckheim had what hebelieved to be satori while in prison, for, asnoted, he was incarcerated for some eighteenmonths under suspicion of being a Class A warcriminal before finally being released withouttrial and repatriated to Germany. If Dürckheimdid experience satori in prison, it would havebeen impossible for a Zen master to verify hisexperience. Thus, within the norms of the Zentradition, and without additional clarifyingevidence, the authenticity of Dürckheim's claimmust remain suspect if not denied outright.Nevertheless, Wehr ends his description ofDürckheim's experience in Japan as follows:"The years in Japan represent a specialformation for Dürckheim's later work asteacher of meditation and guide on the innerpath."61

In fairness to Dürckheim, it should be notedthat upon his return to Germany he did notclaim to be a "Zen master" although it appearsthere were those around him who regarded himas such. About this, Dürckheim said: "What Iam doing is not the transmission of ZenBuddhism; on the contrary, that which I seek

after is something universally human whichcomes from our origins and happens to be moreemphasized in eastern practices than in thewestern. What interests us is not somethinguniquely oriental, but something universallyhuman which the Orient has cultivated over thecenturies and has never fully lost sight of."62

In a conference held in Frankfort, Dürckheimwent further:

I find it especially shameful thatpeople say: the experiences ofBeing which Dürckheim brings usare imported from the East. No,the exper ience o f Be ing i severywhere in the world, even if itis given different names accordingto the religious life which hasdeveloped there, if we understandby the word "Being" the DivineBeing. All reflection on Beingbegins with this experience. . ..This experience can truly helpman feel and assist him in livingsomething contradictory to hisusual self and his ordinary view oflife, and make him suddenlyexperience another force, anotherorder and another unity. It isobviously greater, more powerful,more profound, richer and vasterthan anything else he can livethrough.63

Yet, in another sense, it can be said thatDürckheim claimed to be far more than a mereZen master. That is to say, over the yearsDürckheim came to express his Zen-inducedexperience of a "breakthrough of Being" as abreakthrough of Being in Christ.64 Thus, heconceived of himself as having incorporated theessence of Eastern spirituality as encapsulatedin Zen into an esoteric understanding ofChristianity. Dürckheim states: "Man is in hiscenter when he is one with Christ and lives

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through Christ in the world without everleaving the voice of the inner master which isChrist and continually calls him toward thecenter. Here Christ is not only the 'Being of allthings,' nor the intrinsic Path in each one of us,but also Transcendence itself."65

In claiming this, Dürckheim placed himself atthe apex of a new, or at least revitalized,religious movement that, on the one hand,enjoyed deep roots within the Christianmystical tradition even while incorporating the"enlightenment experience" of ancient Easternwisdom. Whereas by the modern era Christianmysticism lacked (or had lost) a clear-cutmethodology for achieving Transcendence, theZen school had maintained a meditativepractice based on zazen and allegedlyassociated arts. Dürckheim could claim to havecombined the best of both worlds, placing himin a unique position among religious teachers.In a postwar Germany still struggling to freeitself from the bitter legacy of the Nazi era, it isnot surprising that Dürckheim would have beenan attractive figure.

Nevertheless, to the detached observer it canonly be a source of amazement that a oncededicated and tireless propagandist for anutterly ruthless totalitarian ideology could, witha metaphorical flip of the hand, transformhimself in the postwar era into someone whoembodied the elements of a universalspirituality. That is to say, he became someonewho, claiming to have experienced satori,proceeded to incorporate his understanding ofEastern spirituality into a transcendent,mystical form of Christianity, all without havingacknowledged, let alone expressed the leastregret for, his Nazi past.

As for Wehr, it can be said that, at least bycomparison with Satō who falsified Suzuki'sopposition to the Nazis, he honestly admittedDürckheim's Nazi past. Yet, having made thisadmission, Wehr immediately set aboutattempting to downplay Dürckheim's Nazi

affiliation as much as possible. He did this byreplacing his political affiliation to fascism witha Zen-based narrative of spiritual growth thatgradually removed Dürckheim from the worldof National Socialism even though the latter isdescribed as having been largely unaware ofhis transformation.

But is this description correct?

The Search for Evidence

In searching for evidence to assess Wehr'sdescription of Dürckheim in Japan, the authorcould but regret how little space Wehr devotedto such things as his relationship to NationalSocialism, Zen and Zen figures like Suzuki. Itwas just at this time, i.e., June 2011, whenHans-Joachim Bieber, Prof. Emeritus of KasselUniversity, sent me an e-mail that ended asfollows:

There is one source which couldprobably give more informationabout Dürckheim's encounter withZen Buddhism and perhaps withD.T. Suzuki personally during hisyears in Japan: Dürckheim'sdiaries. They are unpublished andbelong to the Dürckheim family inGermany. They have been used byDürckheim's first biographer(Gerhard Wehr, Karlfried GrafD ü r c k h e i m , F r e i b u r g1996). Wehr found out thatDürckheim had been a ferventNazi. For the Dürckheim familyand Dürckheim's students his bookwas a shock (despite the factthat Wehr basical ly was anadherent of Dürckheim). And myimpression is that since then thefamily doesn't allow anyone to useDürckheim's diaries. At least theyrefused my request.66

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In reading this I could not help but empathizewith Wehr and the shock he must have feltupon learning of Dürckheim's Nazi past. Thisauthor, too, underwent a similar experiencewhen first becoming aware of Suzuki's wartimewritings, having originally believed and beeninspired by Suzuki when he claimed: "Whateverform Buddhism takes in different countrieswhere it f lourishes, it is a rel igion ofcompassion, and in its varied history it hasnever been found engaged in warl ikeactivities." 6 7

At the same time the author could not help butadmire Wehr, at least to some degree, forhaving included Dürckheim's Nazi affiliation inhis biography of a figure he clearly deeplyadmired. The phrase "at least to some degree"is used because Wehr continually tried to showDürckheim distancing himself from NationalSocialism in tandem with his growing interestin Zen.

Further, it was impossible not to empathizewith Bieber as well. Just as Bieber hadattempted to research Dürckheim's wartimerecord in Germany, the author sought toexplore Suzuki's relationship to Dürckheim inJapan. In Bieber's case, the Dürckheim familyturned him away, refusing to permit access toDürckheim's diaries. In the author's case, I metwith a stony silence when repeatedly seekingpermission to access Suzuki's extensivepersonal library, known as the MatsugaokaBunko, located in Kita-kamakura not far fromTokyo.

D.T. Suzuki's Diaries

Nevertheless, there is one significantdifference as far as Suzuki's wartime diaries(1936-45) are concerned. That is to say,Matsugaoka Bunko published Suzuki's wartimediaries over a period of six years, from 2007thru 2012, in their yearly research organ, TheAnnual Report of the Researches of theMatsugaoka Bunko. Surprisingly, Suzuki keptthese diaries in English so there can be no

doubt about their meaning.

The diaries show that Suzuki maintained anongoing relationship with Dürckheimthroughout the war years, beginning with aflurry of activity involving Dürckheim inJanuary 1939. There is, further, nothing inthese 1939 entries to suggest that this was thefirst time the two men had met. Thus, it is likelythey had met earlier. In addition, followingDürkheim's return to Japan, i.e., on July 14,1942, Suzuki writes: "Telegram to Graf [Count]Dürckheim re his invitat ion to lunchtomorrow,"68 and on February 15, 1943: "Wentto Tokyo to take lunch with Graf vonDürckheim and stayed some time with him."69

It is noteworthy that Suzuki's contact withleading Nazis in Japan was not limited toDürckheim. As we have already seen, Suzukilunched with Ambassador (and Major General)Ott as early as January 18, 1939. Further, onFebruary 4, 1943 Suzuki took part in a dinnerparty to honor the ambassador: "Went toImperial Hotel to attend dinner party given toAmb. Ott and his staff,"70 and on February 16,1943 Suzuki received "a box of fruits inrecognition of my presence at a dinner party inhonor of Amb. Ott of Germany."71

Suzuki's diaries also contain frequentreferences to lectures at German-relatedvenues beginning as early as May 28, 1938:"Lecture at German research institute forK.B.S. in the evening"72 followed on June 26,1938 by: "Kurokawa and Kato brought moneyfor my lecture at German Institute." 7 3

Additional references to lectures include: theGerman Society on September 13, 1943;German residents in Tokyo on October 4, 1943;the German Club on December 10, 1943; andthe German Society, once again, on December15, 1943.74

One reason these lectures are important isbecause Dürckheim states:

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When I came to Japan, I did notknow anything about Zen. Verysoon I met the Zen-master Suzuki,the greatest Zen-scholar of ourtime. I heard many of his lectures,and through him I discoveredZen.75

Dürckheim's Zen study with Suzuki appears tohave consisted of a number of personalmeetings punctuated with attendance atSuzuki's lectures on Zen at German venues.Needless to say, simply listening to lecturesabout Zen does not constitute Zen practice. Infact, an academic understanding of Zen sanspractice is often castigated as the very epitomeof a mistaken approach to Zen, relying, as itdoes, on conceptual thought.

In the postwar period Dürckheim wasspecifically asked about this: "With which Zenexercise did you start your Zen practice? Zen isa kind of practice which one has to learn, isn'tit?" To which Dürckheim responded: "Myaccess was through archery."76

Suzuki's luncheon with Dürckheim andAmbassador Ott on January 18, 1939 took placejust two months after the massive, coordinatedattack on Jews throughout the German Reichon the night of November 9, 1938. This anti-Jewish violence, known as Kristallnacht, or"Night of Broken Glass," was accompanied bythe torching of hundreds of synagoguestogether with their Torah scrolls. AlthoughKristallnacht was widely condemned bygovernments, newspapers and radiocommentators throughout the world, anddespite his many contacts in the English-speaking world, Suzuki was undeterred frommaintaining his contacts with Dürckheim andthe German embassy either then or for theremainder of the war.

Thanks to the publication of Suzuki's diaries, itcan be argued that we have a more detailedpicture of Suzuki's wartime actions than we do

those of Dürckheim. For example, we nowknow that between 1938 and 1944 Suzuki metwith five Imperial Navy Admirals (Mori, Yamaji,Yamanashi, Nomura and Sato) on eightoccasions.77 Moreover, Suzuki was in contact ordined with Count Makino Nobuaki on forty-fouroccasions between 1930 and 1945 (thirty-onetimes between 1936-45). The extremelyrightwing Makino was one of EmperorHirohito's closest advisors, having served himas Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal from 1925 to1935. As late as February 1945 Makino metHirohito together with six former primeministers and, despite Germany's impendingdefeat, urged him to continue the war, saying"the ultimate priority is to develop anadvantageous war situation."78

Suzuki's connection to someone as close to theemperor as Makino is indicative of Suzuki'saccess to Imperial Court circles.79 Additionally,it raises the question of Suzuki's own attitudeto the emperor, especially as references to theemperor, either positive or negative, are all butabsent from his published writings in eitherEnglish or Japanese. Some Suzuki supportershave interpreted this absence as a sign that hewas either opposed, or at least critical, of theImperial system and the ultra-nationalismassociated with it.

Fortunately, there is one wartime report onSuzuki's view of the emperor supplied,interestingly enough, by yet further wartimeGerman visitors to Japan. The visitors inquestion were not themselves Nazis but,despite having once come under suspicion bythe Gestapo, were nevertheless givenpermission to travel on Christian mission-related business in both China and Japan.These missionary visitors were GerhardRosenkrantz and his wife who visited Japan in1939. They requested a meeting with Suzukiand met him in the library of what was thenOtani College where he was teaching:

"We Buddhists," Suzuki told them,

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"bow in front of the emperor'simage, but for us this is not areligious act. The emperor is not agod because for Buddhists a[Shinto] god can be something verylow. We see the emperor in an areahigh above all religions. Trying tomake him a god today means areduction in the status of theemperor. This brings confusion toB u d d h i s m , S h i n t o a n dChristianity." 8 0

Thus, even while denying the emperor's statusas a Shinto deity, Suzuki nevertheless justifiedbowing to the emperor's image as a Buddhistbecause he was a personage "high above allreligions." Suzuki, of course, never publiclydenied the emperor's divinity in his wartimeJapanese writings.

Regrettably, we cannot be sure what Suzukitold his German audiences because eventhough nearly seventy years have elapsed sincethe end of WWII, the attempt to preserve hisreputation, similar to that of Dürckheimhimself, continues to be an important task forthose who were close to both men and nowseek to preserve their respective legacies.

The View of Dürckheim from within Japan

As for Dürckheim, we do have one observerwho had first-hand knowledge of his activitieswithin Japan. He was a German academic bythe name of Dr. Dietrich Seckel. Seckel taughtin Japan from 1937 to 1947 and later atHeidelberg University from 1965 to 1976. Hedescribed Dürckheim's wartime activities inJapan as follows:

Dürckheim also went to Zentemple[s] where he meditated.However, his study and practice ofZen Buddhism has been extremelyexaggerated. In particular, I felt

this way because, at the sametime, he was propagating Nazism.There was something incongruousabout this. I recall seeing him at areception at the German Embassy.At that time he was poking hisfinger into the breast of one of themost famous Japanese professorsof economics who was wearing abrown s i l k k imono . Wh i l eexplaining the ideology of theGerman Reich to him, Dürckheimkept pushing the poor professorback until the latter reached thewall and could go no further. Icould not help but feel pity for thisprofessor who was the subject ofDürckheim's indoctrination.

Dürckheim thought of himself as afriend and supporter of Germanteachers [in Japan]. He provided uswith everything he could think of.H e l e c t u r e d e v e r y w h e r eceaselessly with his lectures firstbeing translated into Japanese andthen, later on, distributed to allGerman residents in the originalGerman. His speeches arrived inthe mail on an almost daily basis. Itwas extremely unpleasant. He waswhat might be called an excellentpropagandist who, possessed of ahigh intellectual level, traveledthroughout Japan teaching Nazismand the ideology of the ThirdReich."81

The above account is instructive in a number ofways, first of all because it reveals thatDürckheim viewed himself as a friend andsupporter of German teachers in Japan. In fact,as we have seen, even during his first visit toJapan in August 1938 he had visited theJapanese faction of the National SocialistTeachers Association (NS-Lehrerbund). There

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he talked about the principles and forms ofnational socialist education and the differencebetween the national socialist understanding offreedom and a liberal conception of it.

Further, Seckel describes Dürckheim as "anexcellent propagandist who, possessed of ahigh intellectual level, traveled throughoutJapan teaching Nazism and the ideology of theThird Reich." Neither Dürckheim's intelligencenor his dedication to propagating Nazi ideologycan be in doubt. In fact, he was so dedicated inhis work that he was awarded the War MeritCross, Second Class on Hitler's birthday, April20, 1944. Dürckheim shared this honor withsuch prominent Nazis as Adolf Eichmann andDr. Josef Mengele. Yet, what of his interest inZen? ". . . his study and practice of ZenBuddhism has been extremely exaggerated,"Seckel informs us.

We have already learned that early inDürckheim's first sojourn in Japan he claimedto have met D.T. Suzuki, someone whomDürckheim describes as "one of the greatestcontemporary Zen Masters." Suzuki, of course,was not a Zen master, and he never claimedthis title for himself. He was, instead, a laypractitioner and regarded as such by the RinzaiZen sect with which he was closely affiliated.That said, Suzuki did have an ini t ia lenlightenment experience, i.e., satori, as ayoung man and, unlike Dürckheim, had hisenlightenment experience verified by a notedRinzai Zen master, Shaku Sōen. Additionally,Suzuki also possessed significant academicaccomplishments as a Buddhist scholar,especially as a translator of Buddhist texts.

Does this mean, then, that Dürckheim neverpracticed with a recognized Zen master inJapan? No, for the record is clear thatDürckheim did indeed train, albeit for only afew days, with Yasutani Haku'un, then a SōtōZen priest, who, in the postwar era, became awell-known Zen master in West, particularlythe U.S. We know about Dürckheim's training

with Yasutani thanks to Hashimoto Fumio, aformer higher school teacher of German, whoserved as Dürckheim's interpreter andtranslator at the German embassy in Tokyo.

Hashimoto described his relationship toDürckheim as follows:

When Dürckheim first arrived inJapan, he was surrounded byShintoists, Buddhist scholars,military men and right-wingthinkers, each of whom sought toimpress him with their importance.The Count found it difficult todetermine who of them was thereal thing, and I stepped in toserve as his advisor. In addition, agreat number of written materialswere sent to him, and my job wasto review them to determine theirsuitability. . . .

In the end, what most interestedthe Count was traditional Japanesearchery and Zen. He set up anarchery range in his garden andzealously practiced every day. Inaddition, he went to Shinkōjitemple on the outskirts of Ogawatownship in Saitama Prefecturewhere he stayed to practice Zenf o r a n u m b e r o f d a y s . H i sinstructor in zazen was the templeabbot, Master Yasutani [Haku'un].I accompanied the Count andgladly practiced with him.82

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Yatsutani Haku'un

Hashimoto relates that it was he who first tookan interest in Yasutani because of the latter'sstrong emphasis on both the practice of zazenand the realization of enlightenment. Thisemphasis on practice was a revelation for him,for until then his only knowledge of Buddhismhad come from scholars who "had neverp r o p e r l y d o n e z a z e n o r r e a l i z e denlightenment."83 In particular, Hashimoto wasimpressed by Yasutani's 1943 book on ZenMaster Dōgen and a modern-day compilation ofDōgen's teachings for the laity known as theShūshōgi. Hashimoto claimed that Yasutani'sbook revealed "the greatness of this master [i.e.Yasutani] and the profundity of Buddhism."84 Soimpressed was Hashimoto that not only did heprovide Dürckheim with a detailed descriptionof the book's contents but went on to translatethe entire book into German for him.

Thus, Yasutani 's book, coupled withHashimoto's recommendation, was the catalystfor Dürckheim's training at Shinkōji albeit foronly "a number of days." Dürckheim could nothelp but have been aware of Yasutani'sextremely right-wing, if not fanatical, politicalviews as clearly expressed in his book. Giventhis, the author asks for the reader'sunderstanding in quoting extensively from hisbook. It is done in the belief that if we are tounderstand Dürckheim's view of Zen we needto become acquainted with the teachings of theonly authentic Zen master he appears to havetrained under, albeit briefly.

Yasutani described the purpose of his book asfollows:

Asia is one. Annihilating thetreachery of the United States andBritain and establishing theGreater East Asia Co-prosperitySphere is the only way to save theone billion people of Asia so thatthey can, with peace of mind,proceed on their respective paths.Furthermore, it is only natural thatth i s wi l l contr ibute to theconstruction of a new world order,exorcising evil spirits from thew o r l d a n d l e a d i n g t o t h erealization of eternal peace andhappiness for all humanity. Ibelieve this is truly the criticallyi m p o r t a n t m i s s i o n t o b eaccompl ished by our greatJapanese Empire.

In order to fulfill this mission it isabsolutely necessary to have apowerful military force as well asplentiful material resources.Furthermore, it is necessary toemploy the power of culture, for itis most especially the power ofspiritual culture that determinesthe final outcome. In fact, it must

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be said that in accomplishing thisvery important national missiont h e m o s t i m p o r t a n t a n dfundamental factor is the power ofspiritual culture. . . .

It is impossible to discuss Japaneseculture while ignoring Buddhism.T h o s e w h o w o u l d e x c l u d eBuddhism while seeking to exaltthe Spirit of Japan are recklesslyignoring the history of our imperialland and engaging in a mistakenmovement that distorts the realityof our nation. In so doing, it mustbe said, such persons hinder theproper development of our nation'sdestiny. For this reason we mustpromulgate and exalt the trueBuddha Dharma, making certainthat the people's thought isresolute and immovable. Beyondthis, we must train and send fortha great number of capable menwho will be able to develop andexalt the culture of our imperialland, thereby reverently assistingin the holy enterprise of bringingthe eight corners of the worldunder one roof.85

For Dürckheim, the words "it is most especiallythe power of spiritual culture that determinesthe final outcome" must have been particularlyattractive inasmuch as they paralleled his ownvölkisch understanding of religion. However,without knowledge of modern JapaneseBuddhist history, it is unlikely that he wouldhave understood the reference to "those whowould exclude Buddhism while seeking to exaltthe Spirit of Japan…" Here Yasutani refers toShinto and Neo-Confucian-inspired criticismdating back to the late Edo period (1600-1867)that condemned Buddhism as a foreign,degenerate religion defiling a divine Japanproperly headed by a "living (Shinto) god"

(arahito-gami). The reference, of course, is tothe emperor. As late as the 1930s Shinto andNeo-Confucian advocates maintained thatBuddhism, an outdated foreign import, hadnothing to offer modern Japanese society, aposition Yasutani vehemently rejected.

Note, too, that the basis of the martial spirit ofthe Japanese people was described as the"Spirit of Japan" (Yamato-damashii). Yasutaniclearly concurred with this belief though heasserted that it was Japanese Buddhism thatmade the cultivation of this ultranationalist andxenophobic spirit possible. Yasutani even turnsZen Master Dōgen, the 13th century founder ofthe Sōtō Zen sect in Japan, into the model of anImperial subject:

The Spirit of Japan is, of course,unique to our country. It does notexist in either China or India.Neither is it to be found in Italy orGermany, let alone in the U.S.,England and other countries….Weall deeply believe, without theslightest doubt, that this spirit willbe increasingly cultivated, trained,and enlarged until its brilliancefills the entire world. The mostremarkable feature of the Spirit ofJapan is the power derived fromthe great unity [of our people]. . . .

In the event one wishes to exalt theSpirit of Japan, it is imperative toutilize Japanese Buddhism. Thereason for this is that as far as anutrient for cultivation of the Spiritof Japan is concerned, I believethere is absolutely nothingsuperior to Japanese Buddhism. . ..That is to say, all the particulars[of the Spirit of Japan] are taughtby Japanese Buddhism, includingthe great way of 'no-self' (muga)that consists of the fundamentalduty of 'extinguishing the self in

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order to serve the public [good]'(messhi hōkō); the determinationto transcend life and death inorder to reverently sacrificeoneself for one's sovereign; thebe l i e f i n un l im i ted l i f e asrepresented in the oath to dieseven times over to repay [the debtof gratitude owed] one's country;reverently assisting in the holyenterprise of bringing the eightcorners of the world under oneroof; and the valiant and devotedp o w e r r e q u i r e d f o r t h econstruction of the Pure Land onthis earth.

Within Japanese Buddhism it is theBuddha Dharma of Zen MasterDōgen, having been directlyinherited from Shākyamuni, thathas emphasized the cultivation ofthe people's spirit, for its centralfocus is on religious practice,especially the great duty ofreverence for the emperor. 8 6

Interestingly, among other nations, Yasutaniexcludes even wartime allies, Germany andItaly, from sharing in the uniquely Japanese"Spirit of Japan." Given this, the reader mightsuspect Dürckheim would have been somewhatalienated by Yasutani's words. In fact, as wehave seen, the Nazis readily recognized thatevery Volk had their own unique spirit andculture. Thus, it was self-evident that theequally unique "German Spirit" (G. DeutscherGeist) propagated by the Nazis would haveexcluded the Spirit of Japan. Nevertheless,there was nothing to prevent the unique spiritsof the three peoples from working closelytogether, not least of all against commonenemies, while simultaneously learning andsharing with one another. Dürckheim mirroredthis close collaboration.

By this point readers may be asking, "I thought

Buddhism was a religion that forbids killing.Don't both Buddhist laity and clerics undertaketo abstain from taking life?" Yasutani did, infact, recognize this as a problem but assertednonetheless:

At this point the following questionarises: What should the attitude ofdisciples of the Buddha, asMahāyāna Bodhisattvas, be towardthe first precept that forbids thetaking of life? For example, whatshould be done in the case inwhich, in order to remove variousevil influences and benefit society,it becomes necessary to deprivebirds, insects, fish, etc. of theirlives, or, on a larger scale, tosentence extremely evil and brutalpersons to death, or for the nationto engage in total war?

Those who understand the spirit ofthe Mahāyāna precepts should beable to answer this questionimmediately. That is to say, ofcourse one should kill, killing asmany as possible. One should,fighting hard, kill everyone in theenemy army. The reason for this isthat in order to carry [Buddhist]compassion and filial obediencethrough to per fect ion i t i snecessary to assist good andpunish evil. However, in killing[the enemy] one should swallowone's tears, bearing in mind thetruth of killing yet not killing.

Failing to kill an evil man whoought to be killed, or destroying anenemy army that ought to bedestroyed, would be to betraycompassion and filial obedience, tobreak the precept forbidding thetaking of life. This is a specialcharacteristic of the Mahāyāna

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precepts.87

The assertion that failing to kill an "evil man" isto betray compassion is one of the moreextraordinary of Yasutani's claims. Yet,innumerable wartime Zen leaders echoed muchof what Yasutani wrote above. There was,however, one area where he had less company.Yasutani was one of only a few Zen masters tointegrate virulent anti-Semitism into his pro-war s tance . The fo l lowing are a fewrepresentative quotes, the first of whichmanages to combine Confucian social values,including its sexism, and anti-Semitism:

1. Everyone should act accordingto his position in society. Thosewho are in a superior positionshould take pity on those below,while those who are below shouldrevere those who are above. Menshould fulfill the Way of Men whilewomen observe the Way o fWomen, making absolutely surethat there is not the slightestconfusion between their respectiveroles. It is therefore necessary tothoroughly defeat the propagandaand strategy of the Jews. That is tosay, we must clearly point out thefa l l acy o f the i r ev i l i deasadvocating liberty and equality,ideas that have dominated theworld up to the present time.

2. Beginning in the Meiji period[1868-1912], perhaps becauseJapan was so busy importingWestern material civilization, ourprecious Japanese Buddhism wasdiscarded without a secondthought. For this reason, JapaneseBuddhism fell into a situation inwhich it was half dead and halfalive, leaving Japanese educationwithout a soul. The result was the

almost total loss of the Spirit ofJapan, for the general citizenrybecame fascinated with the ideaso f l i be r t y and equa l i t y a sadvocated by the scheming Jews,not to mention such things asindividualism, money as almighty,and pleasure seeking. This in turncaused men of intelligence inrecent years to strongly call for thepromotion of the Spirit of Japan.

3 . We must be aware of theexistence of the demonic teachingsof the Jews who assert things like[the existence of] equality in thephenomenal world, therebydisturbing public order in ournation's society and destroying[governmental] control. Not onlythis, these demonic conspiratorshold the deep-rooted delusion andblind belief that, as far as theessential nature of human beings isconcerned, there is, by nature,differentiation between superiorand inferior. They are caught up inthe delusion that they alone havebeen chosen by God and are[therefore] an exceptionallysuperior people. The result of allthis is a treacherous design tousurp [control of] and dominatethe entire world, thus provokingthe great upheavals of today. Itmust be said that this is anextreme example of the evilresulting from superstitious beliefand deep-rooted delusion.88

Finally, almost inconceivably for theknowledgeable observer, Yasutani ends hisbook by once again invoking Zen Master Dōgenas a supporter of his militarist faith:

At this point in time, nothing is

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more urgent than the clarificationof the true Dharma of Zen MasterDōgen, thereby extolling the greatduty of reverence for the emperor,and, at the same time, rectifyingnumerous unsound ideas ,cultivating proper belief among theJapanese people as leaders of theOrient, one hundred mill ion[people] of one mind, equippedwith a resolute and immovableattitude.

In this connection I have provideda brief and simple outline of ZenMaster Dōgen's Buddha Dharma.Nothing could bring me greater joythan, if through the disseminationof this book, the true Dharmabecomes known once again,resulting in the total and completeexaltation of the Spirit of Japanand benefitting both the state andhumanity.

Moreover, I am convinced this willbecome the spiritual foundation forthe establishment of the GreaterEast Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere,the standard for cultural activities,and the pillar for the constructionof a new world order.89

In his conclusion, Yasutani manages to combinethe Buddhist teachings of Zen Master Dōgen,the Spirit of Japan and the militarist "GreaterEast Co-Prosperity Sphere" into one indivisibleand fanatical whole. Thus, if only for a period ofa few days, Dürckheim trained under theguidance of one of Japan's most virulentlymilitarist and anti-Semitic of all Zen masters.And as Hashimoto informs us, Dürckheim knewexactly what Yasutani stood for inasmuch asthe former had translated all of Yasutani's bookinto German on Dürckheim's behalf. Since anti-Semitism was not typical of wartime Zenmasters, it is difficult to escape the conclusion

that for Dürckheim among the most attractivefeatures of Yasutani's teaching was both hisembrace of a militarism based on "no-self" andhis virulent antipathy to Jews.

And, of course, one should not forget the claimmade by Dürckheim's interpreter andtranslator, Hashimoto Fumio, that Dürckheimhad been drawn to Yasutani due to "thegreatness of this master" and the fact thatYasutani was unlike Zen scholars who "hadnever properly done zazen or realizedenlightenment." Thus, one cannot help but askwhat Yasutani's alleged "enlightenment"consisted of?90 And further, what was thenature of Dürckheim's self-proclaimedexperience of satori in light of his trainingunder Yasutani?

In the postwar era, Philip Kapleau introducedYasutani to the West in his widely acclaimedbook, The Three Pillars of Zen, as the verymodel of an enlightened Zen master even whilethe latter continued his rightwing activities.For example, in 1951 Yasutani established ajournal known as Gyōshō (Awakening Gong) asa vehicle for his religious and political views.Typical of his postwar political views is thefollowing:

It goes without saying the leadersof the Japan Teachers' Union are atthe forefront of the feebleminded[in this country]. . . .They, togetherwith the four Opposition politicalparties, the General Council ofTrade Unions, the Government andPubl ic Workers Union, theAssociation of Young Jurists, theCitizen's League for Peace inVietnam, etc. have taken it uponthemselves to become traitors tothe nation. . . .

The universities we presently havemust be smashed one and all. Ifthat can't be done under the

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present Constitution, then it shouldbe declared null and void just assoon as possible, for it is an un-Japanese constitution ruining thenation, a sham constitution born asthe bastard child of the AlliedOccupation Forces.91

As for the theoretical basis of Haku'un's right-wing political views, he shared the followingwith his readers a few months later: "Allmachines are assembled with screws havingright-hand threads. Right-handedness signifiescoming into existence, while left-handednesssignifies destruction.92

Yasutani maintained his relationship withDürckheim in the postwar years as evidencedby Dürckheim's 1964 publication of Diewunderbare Katze und andere Zentexte (TheWonderful Cat and Other Zen Texts). This bookconsisted of a collection of texts on archery,fencing and Zen including a section on ZenMaster Dōgen's "Fukan-zazengi" (A UniversalRecommendation for the Practice of Zazen)with a commentary by Yasutani and translatedinto German by Hashimoto Fumio, Dürckheim'swartime translator and advisor. The same bookalso contained a section entitled, "On ZenPractice" comprised of talks given by Yasutanifirst translated into English by Philip Kapleau.93

According to Wehr, Yasutani visited Dürckheimin Todtmoos in 1966 accompanied byHashimoto Fumio. Wehr writes that Yasutanicame "to greet a kindred spirit." (G. um denGeistesverwandten zu grüßen).94 Further, oneyear later Yasutani contributed to Dürckheim's70th birthday commemorative volume.95 Thatthese two men were truly "kindred spirits," inpeace and war, there can be no doubt.

D.T. Suzuki's Influence on the Nazis

By comparison with Yasutani, Suzuki may seemabsolutely benign. After all, up to this point therecord reveals that all Suzuki actually did was

provide guidance on Zen to Dürckheim througha combination of personal meetings and publiclectures. Dürckheim in turn introducedSuzuki's thoughts, as contained in his 1938book, to a German audience in a series ofarticles written in 1939. These actions hardlyseem worthy of the claim made by Suzuki'seditor, Handa Shin, that "Dr. Suzuki's writingsare said to have strongly influenced the militaryspirit of Nazi Germany."

Yet, Suzuki's diary reveals he initiated theprocess for his book to be translated andpublished in Germany on August 8, 1938, i.e.,less than three months after its appearance inJapan: "Letters to German publishers re.translation of my book."96 When this effortdidn't immediately bear fruit, Suzuki wrote thefollowing entry on January 19, 1939: "Zen andJap. Culture sent to [Walter] Donat of the Jap-German Culture Institute of Tokyo."97 Dr.Walter Donat was the General Secretary of theJapanese-German Culture Institute and,needless to say, a dedicated Nazi.

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German Title of Suzuki's Zen und dieKultur Japans

Suzuki was clearly an active participant, in factthe initiator, of a process that finally led to thepublication of his book in Germany in 1941under the title of Zen und die Kultur Japans(Zen and the Culture of Japan) . L ikeDürckheim, the translator, Otto Fischer,introduces Suzuki as a "Zen priest" as well as"a professor at the Buddhist Ōtani College inKyoto."98 In his introduction Fischer also notesthat Suzuki was already known to a Germanaudience inasmuch as his book, Die großeBefreiung (The Great Liberation) had beenpublished in Leipzig in 1939. This was theGerman title given to Suzuki's 1934 book,Introduction to Zen Buddhism.

It is no exaggeration to say that Suzuki's newbook was translated and published in the rightplace at the right time. That is to say, evenbefore it was publicly available, it was reviewedin one of Germany's major newspapers. Ormore accurately, in the most importantnewspaper in Germany, the VölkischerBeobachter, (Völkisch Observer) the officialnewspaper of the Nazi Party with a readershipof 1.7 million as late as 1944. By comparison,the New York Times currently (2013) has adaily circulation of 1.8 million.

On January 11, 1942 the Völkischer Beobachtercarried a review article featuring four fullpages of Suzuki's book. The review's title said itall: "Zen and the Samurai: On the JapaneseW a r r i o r ' s R e a d i n e s s f o r D e a t h(https://apjjf.org/data/13._Nazi_Review_of_Suzuk i s _ B k _ 4 . p d f ) , " ( c l i c k t i t l e t oview). Unsurprisingly, the Nazis' supremeinterest in Zen was its contribution to thewarrior's willingness to die. The words,"death," "die," "deadly" occur no less thatfourteen times in these four pages. Typical ofthese death-related passages is the openingsentence that reads: "The problem of death is agreat problem with every one of us; it is,however, more pressing for the samurai, for thesoldier, whose life is exclusively devoted tofighting, and fighting means death to eitherside of fighters."99

As Suzuki made clear with his reference to "forthe soldier," he wanted his readers tounderstand that his words about Japan's pastapplied equally to its present. Suzuki alsodiscussed the Hagakure (lit. Hidden under theLeaves), a classic early 18th century work onBushidō authored by Yamamoto Jōchō(1659-1719), a Zen priest and former samurai:

We read the following in theHagakure: "Bushido means thedetermined will to die. When youare at the parting of the ways, donot hesitate to choose the way of

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death. No special reason for thisexcept that your mind is thus madeup and ready to see to thebusiness. Some may say that if youdie without attaining the object, itis a useless death, dying like a dog.But when you are at the parting ofthe ways, you need not plan forattaining the object. We all preferlife to death and our planning andreasoning will be naturally for life.If then you miss the object and arealive, you are really a coward. Thisis an important consideration. Incase you die without achieving theobject, it may be a dog-death – thedeed of madness, but there is noreflection here on your honor. InBushido honor comes first.100

The last sentence would no doubt have had aspecial resonance for members of the SSinasmuch as their motto was "Meine Ehre heißtTreue" (My honor means loyalty.) The SS is, ofcourse, infamous for having run the Nazis'concentration camps. Note, however, that theemphasis on honor and loyalty in both the SSand the allegedly Zen-inspired Bushidō code isnot coincidental, for on November 1, 1935Heinrich Himmler received permission fromAdolf Hitler to model the SS on the Japanesesamurai. Himmler's ultimate goal was that in avictorious Germany the SS would form an eliteforce that would rule the country as thesamurai once had.

Bill Maltarich describes this development inSamurai and Supermen: National SocialistViews of Japan as follows: "Although Europehad always shown an interest in the samurai,with Germany leading the trend after thealliance with Japan, it was Himmler's SS whosaw in this class a far flung and yet nearlyperfect analog. Just as the samurai's rigid andhigh-minded warrior code had, at least in theview of Japan at the time, influenced and

bettered the entire Japanese people, the SSwould set and was setting the example for therest of Germany."101

Himmler was so taken with the samurai that hecommissioned a booklet on their history andvalues to be written and handed out to everySS member. The booklet was entitled DieSamurai, Ritter des Reiches in Ehre und Treue(The Samurai, Knights of the Empire in Honorand Loyalty). The booklet's author was HeinzCorraza who wrote at length about theimportance of the samurai as the leading forcein Japan's rise to world power status. For hispart, Himmler wrote the booklet's introductionin which he emphasized the parallel role the SSwas expected to play in Germany. He claimedreaders would come to "the recognition that itis mostly minorities of the highest worth whogive to the people a life that, in earthly terms,is eternal."102

SS Daggers

This helps explain why only four days after theinitial review, on January 15, 1942, Suzuki wasagain introduced in the same newspaper, this

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time in an article focused on the mostimportant ultra-nationalist in prewar Japan,Tōyama Mitsuru. The section on Suzuki read asfollows:

The Japanese D. T. Suzuki recentlywrote a book about the meaning ofthe Zen sect , publ ished byDeutsche Verlagsanstalt inGerman. We published a section ofhis book describing the Japanesewarrior's preparedness for death inVol. No. 11 of the VölkischerBeobachter.

Suzuk i i s a Zen pr ies t andprofessor at a Buddhist universityin Kyoto. If one were to attempt tocharac ter i ze the Zen sec tscientifically, which is difficult, onecan conclude that in it Buddhismhas been completely revamped tomeet Japanese conditions. This isnot a unique process but one thathas also happened to Christianityin the past, for example with thebirth of Puritanism and certain ofits oriental forms.

The recent decade in particularhas once again led the Zen sect toincreased importance in Japan. Thebattle for Japan's survival is takingplace against the powerfulbackdrop of a history that has beenable to survive for two and a halfmillenniums in a rare concord ofrace, religion and politics. It isquite understandable that in thisdifficult time for the existence ofthe Japanese people, they wouldretreat to the intellectual roots oftheir history and regard them asbeing quite valid for their present.The outstanding national virtues ofthe Japanese are anchored in theZen sect, a fact that signifies a

monumental endorsement of thispractical life-art.

Die Samurai

In words that seem to spring directly fromSuzuki's pen, we learn that as with Christianity,"Buddhism has been completely revamped tomeet Japanese conditions" resulting in a "rareconcord of race, religion and politics." Further,"The outstanding national virtues of theJapanese are anchored in the Zen sect, a factthat signifies a monumental endorsement ofthis practical life-art." (Italics mine) The authorof these words, Ernst Meunier, was a veryactive Nazi propagandist credited with some 20wartime works in 32 publications, includingtwo works for the Reichspropagandaleitung

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(Reich Propaganda Office).

Given this background, it is not surprising thatthe Nazis celebrated and promoted Suzuki'swritings. This may also be connected to the factthat Alfred Rosenberg, deeply attached toMeister Eckhart as he was, and embracing avölkisch understanding of religion, was editorof the Völkischer Beobachter. He certainlywould have welcomed Suzuki's presentation ofZen as serving to reinforce the Nazis' ownvölkisch understanding of religion while, at thesame time, inspiring German readers toembrace a death in which even "dying like adog" was honorable.

Suzuki's supporters will no doubt claim it isunfair to hold Suzuki responsible for the way inwhich the Nazis (mis)used his writings. ButSuzuki's diaries reveal that on at least twooccasions he was the one who took theinitiative to ensure his death-embracingwritings on Bushidō and Zen would be availablein Nazi Germany. Further, Suzuki focused onexactly the same Zen-inspired embrace ofdeath in his writings in Japanese that appearedin military-oriented books and journals.

For example, in a lengthy article that appearedin the June 1941 issue of the Imperial Army'sofficer's journal, Kaikō-sha Kiji (KaikōAssociation Report), Suzuki wrote:

It isn't easy to acquire the mentalstate in which one is prepared todie. I think the best shortcut toacquire this frame of mind is noneother than Zen, for Zen is thefundamental ideal of religion. Itisn't simply a question of beingprepared to die, as Zen is preparedto transcend death. This is calledthe "unity of life and death" inwhich living and dying are viewedas one. The fact that these two areone represents Zen's view ofhuman life and the world.

Heinrich Himmler

A translation of the entire article, entitled""Makujiki Kōzen" (Rush Forward WithoutH e s i t a t i o n ) " i s a v a i l a b l e h e r e(https://apjjf .org/-Brian-Victoria/3973).

Shortly after Suzuki's book appeared, anotherNazi expert on the Far East, Prince Albrecht ofUrach, once again sought to explicate the"secret" of the Japanese soldier's strength justas Dürckheim had first done in 1939. In fact, hegave his booklet, published in 1942, exactlysame title: Das Geheimnis japanischer Kraft(The Secret of Japanese Power). In it he hadthis to say about Japanese religion in general:"The Japanese are fortunate in having neverexperienced serious conflict between nationalinterests and personal religious beliefs. . . .Shinto is Japan's primeval faith, it correspondsto the Japanese character so completely that itis never discussed."103

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The Secret of Japanese Power

As for Japanese Buddhism, Albrecht opined:"Japanese Buddhism is much more positive andactivist than Indian Buddhism. . . . There arecountless very active sects of both Buddhismand Shinto that express their religious life notonly in Japan itself, but go out into the areasdominated by Japan to give local people an ideaof the power and strength of Japanese statereligion."

However, the Nazi Prince reserved his highestpraise for Zen in what can only be described asa distilled version of Suzuki's views: "The activeand yet stoic Buddhism of the Zen-sectperfected and refined the ethos of the Japanesewarrior, and gave him the highly ascetical notethat still today is the essential feature ofJapanese soldiery." Compare this with Suzuki'sown description in the German edition of his

book, Zen und die Kultur Japans:

Zen discipline is simple, direct,self-reliant, self-denying, and thisascetic tendency goes well with thefighting spirit. The fighter is to bealways single-minded with just oneobject in view which is to fight andnot to look either backward orsidewise. To go straightforward inorder to crush the enemy is all thatis necessary for him. . . . Goodfighters are generally ascetics orstoics, which means to have aniron wil l . When needed Zensupplies them with this. 1 0 4

Still further, Albrecht had this to say about therole of the sword in Japanese culture:

Since ancient times, the Japanesesword has not only been a meansof power , but a symbol foreverything that the samuraiserved. The sword is the symbol ofjustice that the samurai wasobligated to defend under allcircumstances. The samurai classhad the duty to promote socialjustice as well. There are countlesslegends of swords that recall ourm y t h s o f s w o r d s i n t h eNiebelungen tales. There are talesof swords that act on their own,without the necessity of theirowners doing anything, of swordswielded as it were by a ghostlyhand that struck down dozens ofenemies. Other swords drewthemselves from their sheaths andstruck down unjust and evil foes.

Compare this with Suzuki who wrote:

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The sword has thus a double officeto perform: the one is to destroyanything that opposes the will ofits owner, and the other is tosacrifice all of the impulses thatarise from the instinct of self-preservation. The former relatesitself with the spirit of patriotismor militarism, while the other has areligious connotation of loyalty andself-sacrifice. In the case of theformer very frequently the swordmay mean destruction pure andsimple, it is then the symbol offorce, sometimes perhaps devilish.It must therefore be controlled andconsecrated by the secondfunction. Its conscientious ownerhas been always mindful of thistruth. For then destruction isturned against the evil spirit. Thesword comes to be identified withthe annihilation of things which liein the way of peace, justice,progress, and humanity. It standsfor all that is desirable for thespiritual welfare of the world atlarge.105

Albrecht repeatedly informed his readers, asdid Suzuki, that the modern Japanese soldier isfilled with the spirit of his ancient samuraiforbearers: "The spirit of the samurai livestoday with the same force that enabled Japan'sarmy, an army of the whole people, to fight itsmany recent battles. The first requirement ofthe samurai is a readiness to give his life." Oras Suzuki expressed it, "the samurai'swillingness to give his life away at any moment.. . .[for] when the Unconscious is tapped it risesabove individual limitations. Death now losesits sting altogether, and this is where thesamurai training joins hands with Zen."

Unlike Suzuki, Albrecht does not explicitlyidentify the Japanese warrior's willingness to

die with Zen, yet he ends his booklet with thefollowing explanation of the relationshipbetween Germany and Japan:

National Socialist Germany is inthe best position to understandJapan. We and the other nations ofthe Axis are fighting for the samegoals that Japan is fighting for inEast Asia, and understand thereasons that forced it to takeaction. We can also understand thedriving force behind Japan'smiraculous rise, for we NationalSocialists also put spirit over thematerial.

There can be no doubt that throughout his bookSuzuki also "put spirit over the material."Similarly, there can now be no doubt thatHanda Shin had a basis for his claim inNovember 1941 that "Dr. Suzuki's writings aresaid to have strongly influenced the militaryspirit of Nazi Germany." Just how strong theinfluence of his writings was, of course, isdebatable. It would perhaps be more accurateto say that paralleling the military alliancebetween Germany and Japan was an attempt toform a völkisch religious alliance in which bothSuzuki and Dürckheim, among others, playedleading roles. Once again, just how effective ormeaningful this religious alliance was in termsof its impact on military affairs is debatable,but, at the very least, the attempt on the part ofboth men, and those like them, is clear.

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Albert Stunkard

Further, there can be no doubt that manyNazis, like Dürckheim himself, recognized inZen the same völkisch transformation ofBuddhism that they claimed Christianity hadundergone in the process of "Germanizing"itself. This is despite the fact that many leadingNazis, starting with Hitler, secretly despisedChristianity in any form. Anti-Christian Nazileaders realized, however, they dare notpublicly express their opposition if they were toretain the support of the large numbers ofGermans who regarded themselves asChristians, both Catholic and Protestant.

For this reason, a völkisch (Germanized)version of Christianity would have to betolerated in order to serve Nazi interests, at

least in the short term. Accordingly, inDürckheim we see a kind of völkisch religiositythat while it had initially been inspired byChristianity, and employed Christian terms like"God" and "soul," nevertheless avoidedreference to Jesus Christ, the Trinity and othercentral Christian tenets. Whether "Christianity"is an appropriate term to describe such a faithis certainly debatable. Further, thanks to hisstay in Japan, Dürckheim's völkisch religiositywas expanded to include what he claimed to beZen practice and insight.

A related debate concerns the degree to whichSuzuki shared a similar völkisch religiosity withreference to Zen and Buddhism. For example,the journalist Arthur Koestler published TheLotus and the Robot in 1960 following a visit toJapan. He criticized Suzuki for the samepassages previously introduced, i.e., that Zencould be linked to any "ism" whatsoever,fascism included. Koestler was especiallydisturbed by Suzuki's claim that Zen was"extremely flexible to adapt itself almost to anyphilosophy and moral doctrine as long as itsintuitive teaching is not interfered with." Thesepassages, he claimed, "could have come from aphilosophical-minded Nazi journalist, or fromone of the Zen monks who became suicidepilots."106 Had Koestler been acquainted withDürckheim, he might well have replaced theword "journalist" with "cultural diplomat."

Further, in 1967 the distinguished scholar ofBuddhism, R.J. Zwi Werblowsky, criticized thesame passages in an article entitled "SomeObservations on Recent Studies of Zen."Werblowsky observed: "Dr. Suzuki forgot toadd to the list of possibilities also Nazism withits gas chambers (as the annoying Mr. Koestlerhas rudely pointed out)."107 While theseEuropean commentators, one a journalist andthe other a scholar of Buddhism, may not havebeen aware of the völkisch discourse inSuzuki's writings, they certainly understoodwhere this discourse could lead, including itsconnection to the Holocaust.

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An American Buddhist scholar, Robert Sharf,also described what can now be recognized asthe vōlkisch elements in Suzuki's writings:

Suzuki would argue that Japanese"spirituality" is a more developedor refined form of a pan-Asianspiritual ethos, and while thisethos is linked with Buddhism, itwas not until Chinese Ch'an [Zen]met the samurai culture of theKamakura period that it wouldattain its consummate form inJapanese Zen. This theory allowedSuzuki to claim that only in Japanwas Asian spiritual ity ful lyrealized. 1 0 8

Sharf also noted: "Western enthusiastssystematically failed to recognize thenationalist ideology underlying modernJapanese constructions of Zen."109

Zen Spreads to the West

As noted in Part I of this article, it wasDürckheim who provided Albert Stunkard, anarmy medical officer at Sugamo Prison inTokyo, with a letter of introduction to Suzuki,then living in a house on the grounds ofEngakuji monastery in Kita Kamakura.Stunkard's visit initiated a stream of visitors tothe Suzuki residence, one of whom was PhilipKapleau, subsequent founder of the RochesterZen Center. Kapleau initially came to postwarJapan as a court reporter for the Tokyo WarCrimes Tribunal and would have been very wellacquainted with the barbaric nature ofJapanese fascism, including the "Rape ofNanking" in December 1937 and other warcrimes and atrocities. Nevertheless, not onlydid Kapleau fail to investigate Suzuki'sconnection to a known Nazi like Dürckheim, healso went on to train and realize satori underYasutani Haku'un, the same fanaticallymilitarist and anti-Semitic Zen master that

Dürckheim had trained under.

Like Dürckheim, but unlike Herrigel, bothYasutani and Suzuki succeeded in leavingbehind (or rather "burying") their wartimepasts, presenting themselves to the Westernworld as the epitome of Eastern spirituality. Inthe cases of both Dürckheim and Suzuki, thiswas mixed with equal claims of access to atranscendent, trans-historical, and universalspirituality. In 1961 Suzuki wrote: "The basicidea of Zen is to come in touch with the innerworkings of our being, and to do this in themost direct way possible, without resorting toanything external or superadded. . . . Zenprofesses itself to be the spirit of Buddhism,but in fact it is the spirit of all religions andphilosophies.110 (Italics mine) By comparison, inhis wartime 1944 book, Nihonteki Reisei(Japanese Spirituality), Suzuki argued for theutter uniqueness of Japanese Zen in what canonly be described as a völkisch pretention toearthiness: "It was only when Chinese Ch'anmet the samurai culture of the Kamakura thatone finds the blossoming of 'authentic spiritualinsight,' since the samurai, 'who had immediateconnections to the peasantry,' represent a

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culture 'coming from the earth.'"111

Unsurprisingly, Suzuki never alluded either tothe oppressive samurai-peasant relationship,including the right in early modern Japan tostrike down any peasant who wasn't properlyobeisant, or even to the militaristic character ofthe samurai. And it was utterly unthinkablethat samurai, as members of the ruling class,would come into physical contact with theearth through toiling in the fields.

As for Dürckheim, unlike Yasutani, he did notcontinue his rightwing political activism,instead presenting himself in the postwar erasolely as a spiritual/psychological healer. Infact, Wehr seemed perplexed by Dürckheim'sthoroughgoing apolitical attitude in thepostwar era, writing: "Surely, from then on[i.e., after the war] his emphatic restraint withrespect to statements (in word and deed) thatcould be interpreted politically is striking. Thequestion, however, is, if a person whoexperienced Being is not at the same time acontemporary with the duty not to shut oneselfoff to the larger social process?"112 Much thesame thing can be said about Suzuki's similarlyapolitical attitude in the postwar period.

Nevertheless, when examined closely, traces ofDürckheim's wartime views are to be found inhis postwar writings. For example, Dürckheimdescribed the key Zen understanding of hara (J.lit. stomach), often referred to as the "seat ofenlightenment," as follows:

When a man possesses a fullydeveloped hara he has the strengthand precision to achieve actionsthat otherwise he could neverachieve, even with the mostperfect technique, the closestattention, or the strongest willpower. Only what is done with harasucceeds completely, just as life asa whole can be lived in perfectiononly when a man is truly one with

his primordial center. So everymanifestation of it whether inbattle, in art or in love succeedsfor him who has gained hara.113

Kamikaze with puppy

While success in either the arts or love, thanksto being "truly one with [one's] primordialcenter" is not an ethical question per se, thesame cannot be said of success in battle, theessence of which is to destroy the enemy. Yet,for Dürckheim, both during the war and evenafter it, all of these actions are conflated withone another without the slightest suggestion ofincongruity, let alone moral difference. Thus,there is no hint that success in battle mightconceivably conflict with the very first preceptthat all Buddhists, lay or cleric, vow to follow –to abstain from taking life.

In addition, it is interesting to note that even inthe postwar period the suicidal kamikaze pilots

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were a source of inspiration for Dürckheim. In1949 he wrote that the kamikaze pilots proved"that already in life there is a dying of man thatis not only a dying of life, but of death, too."114

And in a conversation shortly before his deathhe called kamikaze pilots an example of a stateof mind "beyond all duality" (G. jenseits allerDualität).115

Needless to say, possession of a state of mind"beyond all duality" is tantamount to claimingthat these typically teenage pilots were fullyenlightened and ignoring the pressure theywere under from their commanders to sacrificetheir young lives. Nevertheless, this claim wasby no means unique to Dürckheim. Forexample, in May 1945 the Sōtō Zen scholar-priest Masanaga Reihō described these pilotsas follows: "The source of the spirit of theSpecial Attack Forces [kamikaze] lies in thedenial of the individual self and the rebirth ofthe soul, which takes upon itself the burden ofhistory. From ancient times Zen has describedthis conversion of mind as the achievement ofcomplete enlightenment."116

The monumental death and suffering thataccompanied World War II (aka the Pacific Warin Japan) cannot be attributed to Zen any morethan it can to Christianity. Yet, the Zen school'scenturies-long connection to Japan's traditionalwarriors allowed wartime Zen leaders, Suzukiincluded, to play a leading role in support ofJapanese militarism and fascism even though itwas only one of many sects of Buddhism (andShinto) to have done so. When taken as awhole, it is hardly surprising that, as notedabove, Hitler would lament, "Why didn't wehave the religion of the Japanese who regardsacrifice for the Fatherland as the highestgood?"

Although Hitler is long gone, it is astonishingthat even in the postwar period bothDürckheim and Suzuki, not to mentionYasutani, succeeded so well in promoting the"unity of Zen and the sword" in the West. That

is to say, promoting a form of a Zen shorn of itsethical roots in Buddhism, most especially thefirst precept proscribing the taking of life. Itwas, moreover, a form of martial spiritualitythat few if any of the disciples and students ofthese teachers either seriously questioned ortook the time to research carefully.

Many Zen practitioners in the US and otherWestern countries reject the charge that theunity of Zen and the sword is not a Buddhistteaching. Well-known Zen figures Gary Snyderand Nelson Foster, for example, claim thatwhen Suzuki spoke of the sword in relationshipt o Z e n , " h e [ S u z u k i ] w a s s p e a k i n gmetaphorically, not of tempered steel andbloody death but of a figurative sword and therevivifying, transformative experience of 'bodyand mind falling away.' When the sword playsthis sort of role in human life, obviously it is nota weapon of self-defense or an instrument ofkilling."117

Inasmuch as Westerners were unaware ofSuzuki's wartime writings, it is not surprisingthat they accepted Suzuki 's postwarexplanation of the manner in which Zenm e t a p h y s i c s i n f u s e d t h e b o d y o fswordsmanship. Nevertheless, there were afew critics who refused to hold Suzukiblameless for his conflation of Zen and thesword. In 1959 Suzuki defended himself in thepublication of an enlarged edition of hisoriginal 1938 work, now renamed Zen andJapanese Culture:

Inasmuch as Zen is a form ofBuddhism and Buddhism isp r o f e s s e d l y a r e l i g i o n o fcompassion, how can Zen endorsethe profession of the swordsman?This is a criticism we frequentlyhear from the readers of my books.But I hope they now have come tounderstand what lies underneathswordsmanship and how this isrelated to the training of Zen. For

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as most students of Orientalculture may understand by thistime, whatever field of art theJapanese may study they alwaysemphasize the importance of the"subjective" side of it, giving to itstechnique a secondary almost anegligible, consideration. . . . Thusthe sword is no longer the weaponto kill indiscriminately, but it is oneof the avenues through which lifeopens up its secrets to us.118

In order to aid his readers "to understand whatlies underneath swordsmanship and how this isrelated to the training of Zen" Suzuki's 1959edition expanded one of the chapters in his1938 book, i.e., "Zen and Swordsmanship," andadded an entirely new chapter, i.e., "Zen andSwordsmanship II." In his expanded chapter astill defensive Suzuki writes:

T h e r e h a s b e e n m u c hmisunderstanding in the West asregards the spirit, function anddiscipline of the samurai . . . . Theper fect swordsman avo idsquarreling or fighting. Fightingmeans killing. How can one humanbeing bring himself to kill a fellowhuman being? We are all meant tolove one another and not to kill. Itis abhorrent that one should bethinking all the time of fightingand coming out victorious. We aremoral beings, we are not to lowerourselves to the state of animality.What is the use of becoming a fineswordsman if he loses his dignity?The best thing is to become avictor without fighting.119

If this quotation suggests that Suzuki became apacifist in the postwar period, this is not thecase, for he continues:

The sword is an inauspiciousins t rument to k i l l in someunavoidable circumstances. Whenit is to be used, therefore, it oughtto be the sword that gives life andnot the sword that kills. . . . Thepoint is, however, to utilize the artas a means to advance in the studyof the Way ( tao ) . When i t isproperly handled, it helps us in anefficient way to contribute to thecultivation of the mind and spirit. .. . The sword, therefore, is to be aninstrument to kill the ego, which isthe root of al l quarrels andfightings." 1 2 0 (Italics mine)

This is the same Suzuki who explained the"essence of Zen" to his Imperial Officer readersin June 1941 as follows:

The character of the Japanesepeople is to come straight to thepoint and pour their entire bodyand mind into the attack. This isthe character of the Japanesepeople and, at the same time, theessence of Zen. . . . It isn't easy toacquire the mental state in whichone is prepared to die. I think thebest shortcut to acquire this frameof mind is none other than Zen, forZen is the fundamental ideal ofreligion.

As noted above, a translation of the entirea r t i c l e i s a v a i l a b l e h e r e(https://apjjf .org/-Brian-Victoria/3973).

While Suzuki's postwar metaphysicalexplanations of the relationship of Zen and thesword were widely accepted in the West, therewere critics at home, familiar with his wartimewritings in Japanese, who were unwilling to doso. The Rinzai Zen scholar-priest Ichikawa

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Hakugen described Suzuki, starting as early asthe first Sino-Japanese of 1894-5, as follows:

[Suzuki] considered the Sino-Japanese War to be religiouspractice designed to punish Chinain order to advance humanity. Thisis, at least in its format, the verysame logic used to support thefifteen years of warfare devoted to"The Holy War for the Constructionof a New Order in East Asia."Suzuki didn't stop to consider thatthe war to punish China had notstarted with an attack on Japanesesoil, but, instead, took place on thecontinent of China. Suzuki wasunable to see the war from theviewpoint of the Chinese people,w h o s e l i v e s a n d n a t u r a le n v i r o n m e n t w e r e b e i n gdevastated. Lacking this reflection,h e c o n s i d e r e d t h e w a r o faggression on the continent asreligious practice, as justifiable inthe name of religion. . . .

The logic that Suzuki used tosupport his "religious conduct" wasthat of "the sword that kills isidentical with the sword that giveslife" and "kill one in order thatmany may l i ve . " I t was theexperience of "holy war" thatspread this logic throughout all ofAsia.121

And in perhaps the greatest irony, it wasDürckheim's letter of introduction to Suzuki inpostwar Japan that directly launched the "unityof Zen and the sword" into the Americanmainstream. In Europe, Dürckheim had his owncontribution to make.

Series Conclusion

Let me begin by expressing my deep andsincere appreciation to Professor Karl Baier ofthe University of Vienna. His research on thevölkisch nature of one major strand of Nazireligiosity as it related to Count KarlfriedDürckheim has been a true revelation to me,one that has provided an invaluable prismthrough which to view not only Nazi butJapanese wartime spirituality as well. I can onlyhope that readers share my appreciation ofProf. Baier's insights as expressed in Part II ofthis series.

WW II, in all its manifestations, was thegreatest bloodletting in recorded history, withan estimated death toll of some 60 millionhuman beings or 2.5% of the world 'spopulation. Of this number, Germany's invasionof the Soviet Union caused the death ofsomewhere between 22 to 30 million Russianswhile Japan's invasion of China took the lives of10 to 20 million Chinese. Additionally, Germandead amounted to between 7 and 9 millionsoldiers and civilians while Japan lost a total ofapproximately 3 million of its people.

In pointing this out, it is not the author's intentto suggest that Count Karlfried Dürckheim orD.T. Suzuki, let alone any of the other Zen-related persons featured in this series, weredirectly responsible for this unprecedentedcarnage. None of these persons killed so muchas a single human being in this conflict. Yet,this does not mean they were innocent either.

Both the Nazi and Japanese military leadershipwere deeply aware of the importance of whatthe Japanese called shisō-sen or "thought war."In his writings, Suzuki noted that Zen had long"passively sustained" the samurai in battle, i.e.,by enhancing their mental concentration andfacilitating their acceptance of death. It wasthis readiness to die that Suzuki, together withhis many fellow Zen leaders, sought toinculcate in Japan's modern soldiery and,through his translated writings, among theNazis as well.

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For his part, Dürckheim might well bedescribed as Suzuki's "alter ego" among theNazis, promoting the Japanese warrior'sembrace of death as an ideal model for Germansoldiery. At the same time, within Japan,Dürckheim tirelessly sought to strengthen thebonds of unity and mutual support between thewartime allies.

In the midst of the massive destruction theircountries faced at war's end, not to mention thehorrendous destruction their countries inflictedon others, how did these two men react? In themidst of defeat, were they filled with remorse?Or bitterness? Or disillusionment? Did theyrecognize or repent of the contribution each ofthem had made to the outcome?

In Dürckheim's case, he wrote the following toa friend in the last days of the war: "Theimmeasurable suffering of Germany will bringthe German people to a higher level and helpgive birth to a better, less materialisticnation." 1 2 2 One wonders whether the"immeasurable suffering" Germany imposed onothers, especially the people of the SovietUnion, not to mention Jews, was of any concernto him. As for the German people, Dürckheimappears to believe they found themselves intheir abject position due to having been overly"materialistic," a condition that, thanks to thewar, they would now be able to overcomedespite, or perhaps due to, the immeasurablesuffering they had experienced.

As for Suzuki, in the months and yearsfollowing the war he, too, would discover anadmirable dimension to Japan's wartimeactions. In his 1947 book, Nihon no Reiseika(The Spiritualization of Japan), he wrote:"Through the great sacrifice of the Japanesepeople and nation, it can be said that thevarious peoples of the countries of the Orienthad the opportuni ty to awaken botheconomically and politically."123 To the extentthat Western colonialism in Asia was weakenedas a result of the war, there is a degree of truth

in Suzuki's assertion. However, he failed torecognize the immense suffering of theChinese, Korean and other Asian peoples whohad endured Japanese invasion and colonialrule.

In words written for the consumption of others,there is always the danger they may bedirected more toward pleasing the writer'saudience than as an expression of the author'sown true feelings. Consider this terse entry inSuzuki's diary on August 15, 1945, i.e., theformal date of Japan's surrender: "Themeaningless war has thus dramatically [been]brought to an end."124 What was it that madethe war "meaningless"? Was it because Japanhad lost the war? Or because Japan shouldnever have started the war? Or because it hadbeen a mistake to attack such a powerful nationas the U.S.?

Or perhaps Suzuki meant it was a "senseless"war in that so many people had died fornothing. Readers must decide this forthemselves, for we simply don't know Suzuki'sinner thoughts. That said, Suzuki does providea bit more insight into his war-related thinkingin a series of diary entries in March 1945describing the near daily, relentless incendiarybombing of Tokyo and other major Japanesecities by hundreds of B-29s. On March 13,1945, i.e., some five months before the end ofthe war, he writes:

[March] 13 Tu. / 40°-55° Overcastall day. / Mostly reading. / Reicame in morning in response to mytelegram. Reported about heart-rending sights in Tokyo andextents of ruins caused by thefires. / Mrs Okamoto (Mitsu-ko)dropped in w i sh ing to ge tinformation about Tokyo. Theyboth stayed to lunch. / Sad storiesof the suffer[er]s heard on everyside, is this war worth all that?125

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As Japan's cities turned to ashes, accompaniedby massive loss of mostly civilian life, Suzukiwas no doubt but one of many Japanese askingthis same question. Yet, had Japan beenwinning the war, instead of losing it, would thewar have then been "worth all that"? WhileSuzuki does not address this question he doesadd in the same entry: "The war caused byambitions of ignorant and power-thirstymilitarists."126

Suzuki's supporters will no doubt point to thesewords as proof of his longstanding oppositionto World War II. If so, the question must beasked what Suzuki's reaction was to theoutbreak of the war between Japan, the U.S.and England four years earlier? At the time ofJapan's attack on Pearl Harbor, i.e., December8, 1941 (Japan time), Suzuki confided to hisdiary:

[December] 8 Mo./47°- 64°/ Fineweather. / Japanese-Americanconference reported failure. Stateof war between Japan and Americaand England declared in theWestern parts of the Pacific. Allthings move along a line of theinev i tab le . Human powersaltogether helpless to shape theirown course of action. / Makino,grandson of Count Makino andstudent of the Peer's school called.. .127

Here Suzuki effectively claims that war withthe U.S. and England was inevitable. While, onthe one hand, Suzuki was no war enthusiast, henevertheless fails to criticize Japan's militarymasters for having started the war. How couldJapanese military leaders, or anyone else, beheld responsible when, according to Suzuki,"Human powers altogether helpless to shapetheir own course of action"?

As for Suzuki's attitude toward Japan's full-

scale invasion of China in July 1937, we knownothing since entries for the first 196 days of1937 are, for whatever reason, missing fromthe Matsugaoka-published version of hiswartime diaries.128 It is clear, however, thatSuzuki was aware of Japan's invasion and thelinkage being made to Zen-Bushidō ideology. Inhis 1938 book Suzuki writes:

There is a document recentlyta lked very much about inconnection with the militaryoperations in China. It is known asthe Hagakure which literallymeans "Hidden under the Leaves,"for it is one of the virtues of thesamurai not to display himself, notto blow his horn, but to keephimself away from the public eyeand be doing good for his fellow-beings. To the compilation of thisbook, which consists of variousnotes, anecdotes, moral sayings,etc., a Zen monk had his part tocontribute.129

While these comments don't prove Suzukisupported the invasion, they do suggest thatSuzuki had no objection to the linkage beingmade. And if only in hindsight, it is almostgrotesque to even intimate that the Japanesesoldier in China was "doing good for his fellow-beings."

What can be said with confidence is that inlight of both Dürckheim and Suzuki's postwarwritings, neither man expressed the leastregret, nor accepted the least personalresponsibility, for their moral blindness inhaving promoted the unconditional acceptanceof death on behalf of two aggressive,totalitarian states. As this series has revealed,each one contributed to the greatest war andaccompanying loss of life in world history. And,of course, the same thing can be said aboutYasutani Haku'un and Eugen Herrigel. All four

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men, and many others like them, were indeed"kindred spirits."

Brian Victoria, Visiting Research Fellow,International Research Center for JapaneseStudies, Kyoto. Brian Daizen Victoria holds anM.A. in Buddhist Studies from Sōtō Zen sect-affiliated Komazawa University in Tokyo, and aPh.D. from the Department of Religious Studiesat Temple University. In addition to a 2nd,e n l a r g e d e d i t i o n o f Z e n A t W a r(http://amzn.com/0742539261/?tag=theasipacjo0b-20) (Rowman & Littlefield), major writingsi n c l u d e Z e n W a r S t o r i e s(http://amzn.com/0700715819/?tag=theasipacjo 0 b - 2 0 ) ( R o u t l e d g e C u r z o n ) ; a nautobiographical work in Japanese entitledGaijin de ari, Zen bozu de ari (As a Foreigner,As a Zen Pr ies t ) ; Zen Master Dōgen(http://amzn.com/0834801167/?tag=theasipacjo0b-20), coauthored with Prof. Yokoi Yūhō ofAichi-gakuin University (Weatherhill); and at r a n s l a t i o n o f T h e Z e n L i f e(http://amzn.com/0834815176/?tag=theasipacjo0b-20) by Sato Koji (Weatherhill). He iscurrently a Visiting Research Fellow at theInternational Research Center for JapaneseStudies (Nichibunken) in Kyoto.

This is the third in a three part series.

I. Brian Daizen Victoria, D.T. Suzuki, Zen andthe Nazis (https://apjjf.org/-Brian-Victoria/4019)

II. Karl Baier, The Formation and Principles ofCount Dürckheim's Nazi Worldview and hisinterpretation of Japanese Spirit and Zen(https://apjjf.org/-Karl-Baier/4041)

See also

Brian Daizen Victoria, Zen as a Cult of Death inthe Wart ime Writ ings of D.T. Suzuki(https://apjjf .org/-Brian-Victoria/3973)

Recommended citation: Brian Victoria, A ZenNazi in Wartime Japan: Count Dürkheim, andhis Sources-D.T. Suzuki, Yasutani Haku'un and

Eugen Herrigel: " The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol.12, Issue 3, No. 2, January 20, 2014.

Sources (Part III)

Albrecht, Fürst von Urach. Das Geheimnisjapanisher Kraft (The Secret of Japan'sS t r e n g t h )(http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/japan.htm). Berlin: Zentralverlag der NSDAP, 1943.Partial English translation available on theWeb. (accessed 16 October 2013).

Arai, Kun. "Shūsenzen tainichi doitsujin notaiken" (Experiences of German Residents inJapan before the End of the War) in BunkaRonshū, No. 15, September 1999.

Bix, Herbert. Hirohito and the Making ofModern Japan. New York: HarperCollins, 2000.

D ü r c k h e i m , K a r l f r i e d G r a f .(http://blogtalk.vo.llnwd.net/o23/show/3/029/show_3029443.mp3)Hara: The Vital Center ofM a n(http://blogtalk.vo.llnwd.net/o23/show/3/029/show_3029443.mp3). Rochester, VT: InnerTraditions, 2004. Partial audio version availableon the Web. (accessed 20 February 2013).

_____. Die wunderbare Katze und andereZentexte. Weilheim: Wilhelm Barth Verlag,1964.

_____. Japan und die Kultur der Stille. Munich-Planegg: O. W. Barth-Verlag, 1949.

_____. Mein Weg zur Mitte. Freiburg, Basel,Wien: Herder TB, 1991.

_____. Der Weg ist das Ziel: Gespräch mit KarlSchnelt ing in der Reihe "Zeugen desJahrhunderts." Göttingen: Lamuv, 1992.

Emery, Erin. "A place to find peace," TheDenver Post, October 30, 2007. Available ont h e W e b a t :http://buddhistmilitarysangha.blogspot.jp(accessed December 30, 2013).

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Foster, Nelson and Gary Snyder. "The Fog ofWorld War II -- Setting the Record Straight onD . T . S u z u k i(http://www.tricycle.com/feature/fog-world-war-ii?page=0,0)," tricycle, summer 2010. Availableon the Web. (accessed December 29, 2013).

Goettman, Alphonse. Dialogue on the Path ofInitiation: The Life and Thought of KarlfriedG r a f D u r c k h e i m(http://www.centre-bethanie.org/compression/dialogue.pdf). Translated by Theodore andRebecca Nottingham. Electronically publishedby Nottingham Publishing, 1998. Available onthe Web. (accessed on 17 September 2013).

Herrigel, Eugen. Zen in the Art of Archery.Translated by Richard F.C. Hull with aforeword by D.T. Suzuki and a preface byEugen Herrigel. New York: Pantheon Books,1953.

_____. "Die Aufgabe der Philosophie im neuenReich" (The Question of Philosophy in the New[Third] Reich). Pfilzische Gesellschaft zurFörderung der Wissenschaften, 1934, pp.26-32.

_____. "Nationalsozialismus und Philosophie."Unpublished typescript, 1935 (kept in theuniversity library of the University Erlangen-Nürnberg).

_____. "Nationalsozialismus und Philosophie"(National Socialism and Philosophy), 1935.Collection of Universitätsbibliotek Erlangen-Nürnberg. Feldpostbriefe der PhilosophischenFakultät 3, 1944, pp. 2-14.

_____. "Das Ethos des Samurai" (The Ethos ofthe Samurai), 1944.

Kapleau, Philip. The Three Pillars of Zen.Tokyo: Weatherhill, 1965.

Kraft, Kenneth, ed. Zen Teaching, Zen Practice.Tokyo: Weatherhill 2000.

Maltarich, Bill. Samurai and Supermen:National Socialist Views of Japan. Oxford: PeterLang, 2005.

Rochman, Bonnie. "Samurai Mind Training forM o d e r n A m e r i c a n W a r r i o r s(http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1920753,00.html)," Time, September 6,2009. Available on the Web. (accessedDecember 29, 2013).

Rosenberg, Alfred. The Myth of the TwentiethC e n t u r y(http://aryanism.net/downloads/books/alfred-rosenberg/myth-of-the-twentieth-century.pdf).First published in German in 1930 as DerMythus des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts. Englishtranslation available on the Web for download.

Sato, Kemmyō Taira in collaboration withThomas Kirchner. "D. T. Suzuki and theQ u e s t i o n o f W a r(http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/CriticalZen/Suzuki_and-Question_of-War.pdf)." TheEastern Buddhist, No. 39/1: pp. 61–120.Available on the web. (accessed on 17September 2013).

_____. "Brian Victoria and the Question ofS c h o l a r s h i p(http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/CriticalZen/Question_of_Scholarship.pdf)." The EasternBuddhist, No. 41/2, pp. 139–166. Available onthe web. (accessed on 17 September 2013).

Schopenhauer, Arthur. The World as Will andRepresentation (Die Welt als Wille undVorstellung), Vol 2, 1844.

Sharf, Robert H., "The Zen of JapaneseN a t i o n a l i s m(http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/HistoricalZen/Zen_of_Japanese_Nationalism.html)."Available on the Web.

_____. "Whose Zen? Zen Nationalism Revisited(http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/CriticalZen/whose%20zen_sharf.pdf)." Available on the

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Web.

Speer, Albert. Inside the Third Reich: Memoirs.Translated by Richard and Clare Winston. NewYork: Macmillan, 1970.

Sueki, Fumihiko. "Daisetsu hihan saikō,"Matsugaoka Bunko Kenkyū Nenpō, No. 24,2010.

_____. "Nihon Bukkyō to Sensō--Suzuki Daisetsuo chūshin toshite." Paper presented at theKankoku Nihon Shisō-shi Gakkai on November29, 2008.

Suzuki, Daisetz Teitaro. "Rain kahan no ichigūkara" (From a Spot on the Banks of the Rhine).Chūgai Nippō (newspaper), 3, 4, 6, 11, and 13,October 1936.

_____. "A Buddhist View of War." Light ofDharma 4, 1904.

_____. Zen Buddhism and Its Influence onJapanese Culture. Kyoto: Eastern BuddhistSociety, 1938.

_____. Zen and Japanese Culture. Princeton:Princeton University Press, 1959.

_____. Zen und die Kultur Japans. Trans. OttoFischer. Stuttgart, Berlin: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1941.

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_____. Nihon no Reiseika. Kyoto: Hōzōkan,1947.

_____. Nihonteki reisei . Tokyo: Daitōshuppansha, 1944; English translation byNorman Waddell as Japanese Spirituality.Tokyo: Japan Society for the Promotion ofScience and Japanese Ministry of Education,1972.

_____. "English Diaries," Matsugaoka BunkoKenkyū Nenpō, No. 26, 2012.

Tolischus, Otto. Tokyo Record. New York:Reynal & Hitchcock, 1943.

Victoria, Brian. Zen at War. Second edition.Boulder: Rowman & Littlefield, 2006.

_ _ _ _ _ . Z e n W a r S t o r i e s . L o n d o n :RoutledgeCurzon, 2003.

_____. "Zen as a Cult of Death in the WartimeW r i t i n g s o f D . T . S u z u k i(https://apjjf.org/-Brian-Victoria/3973)." TheAsia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 11, Issue 30, No. 4, 5August 2013. Available on the Web. (accessedon 17 September 2013).

Wehr, Gerhard. Karlfried Graf Dürckheim.Leben im Zeichen der Wandlung. Munich:Aktualisierte und gekürzte Neuausgabe, 1996.

_____. "The Life and Work of Karlfried GrafD u r c k h e i m(http://www.stillnessspeaks.com/assets/books/1/Karlfried%20Graf%20Durkheim%20Becoming%20Real.pdf)" in Becoming Real: Essays on theTeachings of a Master, Alphonse and RachelGoettmann, ed. Translated by Theodore J.Nottingham. Electronically published byNottingham Publishing, 1998. Available on theWeb. (accessed on 23 October 2013).

R. J. Zwi Werblowsky, "Some Observations onRecent Studies of Zen," in Studies in Mysticismand Religion Presented to Gershom G.Scholem, edited by E. E. Urbach, R. J. ZwiWerblowsky, and Ch. Wirszubski (Jerusalem:Magnes Press, Hebrew University, 1967), pp.317-35.

Yamada, Shoji. Shots in the Dark: Japan, Zenand the West. Translated by Earl Hartman.Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2009.

_____. "The Myth of Zen in the Art of Archery(http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2726)' in theJapanese Journal of Religious Studies, No.28/1-12, 2001. Available on the Web. (accessedon 17 September 2013).

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Yasutani, Ryōkō (better known as Yasutani,Haku'un). Dōgen Zenji to Shūshōgi (Zen MasterDōgen and the Shūshōgi). Tokyo: Fuji Shobō,1943.

_____. "Glückwunsch zum 70. Geburtstag vonGraf Dürckheim von seinem Weggefährten" inMaria Hippius (ed.), Transzendenz alsErfahrung. Beitrag und Widerhall. Festschriftzum 70. Geburtstag von Graf Duerckheim.Weilheim: Wilhelm Barth Verlag, 1966.

Notes

1 For the development of the polit icalrelationship between Germany and Japan, seeKrebs, Gerhard. "Von Hitlers Machtübernahmezum Pazifischen Krieg (1933-1941)" in Krebs,Gerhard / Martin, Bernd (ed.): Formierung undFall der Achse Berlin-Tokyo. München:Iudicium 1994, pp. 11-26.

2 The term "social question" usually refers to allof the social wrongs connected to the industrialrevolution, especially the emergence of classstruggles that threaten the unity of a society. InGermany, the concept of "Volksgemeinschaft"(a community of the people) was promoted asthe Nazi alternative to deep divisions withinmodern society. Thus, the Nazis wereinterested in learning how their Anti-Cominternpartner Japan dealt with this issue.

3 Wehr, "The Life and Work of Karlfried GrafD u r c k h e i m(http://www.stillnessspeaks.com/assets/books/1/Karlfried%20Graf%20Durkheim%20Becoming%20Real.pdf)." Available on the Web. (accessedOctober 23, 2013).

4 Goettmann, The Path of Initiation: AnIntroduction to the Life and Thought ofKarlfried Graf Durckheim, p. 29.

5 Wehr, "The Life and Work of Karlfried GrafD u r c k h e i m(http://www.stillnessspeaks.com/assets/books/1/Karlfried%20Graf%20Durkheim%20Becoming

%20Real.pdf)." Available on the Web. (accessedOctober 23, 2013).

6 Wehr, Karlfried Graf Dürckheim. Ein Leben imZeichen der Wandlung, p. 96.

7 Suzuki, Zen Buddhism and Its Influence onJapanese Culture, p.35

8 Ibid., pp. 34-37.

9 Ibid., pp. 64-65.

10 Speer, Inside the Third Reich, p.96.

11 Suzuki, "English Diaries," No. 25, 2011, p.60.

12 Rosenberg, The Myth of the TwentiethCentury, p. 55.

13 Rosenberg, The Myth of the TwentiethCentury, frontispiece.

1 4 Quoted in Victoria, Zen War Stories,frontispiece. See Otto Tolischus, Tokyo Record.

15 Quoted in Victoria, Zen at War, p. 25.

16 Suzuki, "A Buddhist View of War." Light ofDharma 4, 1904, pp. 181–82.

1 7 See, for example, Suzuki's frequentreferences to the identity of Zen and Japanesecharacter in "Zen as a Cult of Death in theW a r t i m e W r i t i n g s o f D . T . S u z u k i(http://www.japanfocus.org/-Brian-Victoria/3973)." Available on the Web.

18 Schopenhauer, The World as Will andRepresentation, Vol 2, Ch. XLVIII.

19 Sato, "Brian Victoria and the Question ofScholarship," p. 150.

20 Suzuki, Zen Buddhism and Its Influence onJapanese Culture, pp. 36-37.

21 Suzuki, "English Diaries," No. 26, 2012, p. 3.

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22 Ibid., p. 3.

23 Ibid., p. 3.

24 Wehr, Karlfried Graf Dürckheim. Ein Lebenim Zeichen der Wandlung p. 97.

25 Dürckheim Der Weg ist das Ziel, pp. 41-42.

26 Ibid., p. 40.

27 See Dürckheim: Der Weg ist das Ziel.Gespräch mit Karl Schnelting in der Reihe"Zeugen des Jahrhunderts," pp. 41-42.

28 Wehr, "The Life and Work of Karlfried GrafD u r c k h e i m(http://www.stillnessspeaks.com/assets/books/1/Karlfried%20Graf%20Durkheim%20Becoming%20Real.pdf)." Available on the Web. (accessedOctober 23, 2013).

29 Ibid., p. 11.

30 Ibid., p. 10.

31 Ibid., p. 12.

32 Wehr, 'The Life and Work of Karlfried GrafD u r c k h e i m(http://www.stillnessspeaks.com/assets/books/1/Karlfried%20Graf%20Durkheim%20Becoming%20Real.pdf).' Available on the Web. (accessedOctober 22, 2013).

33 Ibid., p. 13. Note that Awa Kenzō had died in1939 after a prolonged illness. Thus it wouldhave been impossible for Dürckheim to havereceived instruction from him.

34 Dürckheim, Der Weg ist das Ziel, pp. 43-44.

35 Yamada Shoji shared this information withthe author in a personal interview with theauthor in the common room of the InternationalResearch Center for Japanese Studies onOctober 18, 2013.

36 Yamada, Shots in the Dark, pp. 44-45.

37 Ibid., p. 66.

38 Ibid., p. 65.

39 Ibid., p. 65.

40 Quoted in Yamada, p. 33.

41 Ibid., p. 49.

42 Ibid., p. 53.

43 Wehr, "The Life and Work of Karlfried GrafD u r c k h e i m(http://www.stillnessspeaks.com/assets/books/1/Karlfried%20Graf%20Durkheim%20Becoming%20Real.pdf)." Available on the Web. (accessedOctober 22, 2013).

44 Ibid., p. 13.

45 In terms of Zen's alleged connection to the"martial arts," the historical reality is that Zen(Ch. Chan) was introduced to Japan as anindependent strand of Buddhist practice in the13th century just when the warrior or samuraiclass had wrested political power away fromthe emperor and aristocracy. For reasons thatD.T. Suzuki and others have elaborated, Zenpractice appealed to the warrior class and, as aresult, was patronized by them. Warriorsespecially looked to Zen training as a method ofovercoming their fear of death. Thus, Zen's trueconnection was to a specific social class whoseoccupation was fighting (and dying in) the warsof their feudal lords, wars typically involvingthe use of the sword. To the extent that Zen hasa connection to the "martial arts" it is aconnection to fostering a mental attitudeallowing one to wield the sword without fear orhesitation.

46 For further discussion of this topic seeYamada Shōji's article, "The Myth of Zen in theArt of Archery."

47 Yamada, Shots in the Dark, p. 95.

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48 Herrigel's enthusiasm is also attested to bymy collaborator, Karl Baier, who has had theopportunity to review his wartime essay, "DieAufgabe der Philosophie im neuen Reich."

4 9 Herrigel, "Nationalsozialismus undPhilosophie," p. 8.

50 Quoted in Goettmann, Dialogue on the Pathof Initiation: The Life and Thought of KarlfriedGraf Durckheim, p. 14.

51 Ibid., p. 11.

52 Quoted in Sharf, "The Zen of JapaneseNationalism," p. 1.

53 Quoted in Yamada, Shots in the Dark, p. 207.

54 Ibid., p. 208.

55 Ibid., p. 208.

56 Quoted in Victoria, "Zen as a Cult of Death inthe Wartime Writings of D.T. Suzuki." Availableo n t h e W e b a t :h t t p : / / w w w . j a p a n f o c u s . o r g / - B r i a n -Victoria/3973.

57 Wehr, "The Life and Work of Karlfried GrafDurckheim." Available on the Web at:http://www.stillnessspeaks.com/assets/books/1/Karlfried%20Graf%20Durkheim%20Becoming%20Real.pdf (accessed October 23, 2013).

58 Wehr, Karlfried Graf Dürckheim – Ein Lebenim Zeichen der Wandlung, p. 120.

59 Ibid., p. 14.

60 Ibid., p. 14.

61 Ibid., p. 14.

62 Ibid., p. 15.

63 Ibid., p. 15.

64 Ibid., p. 16.

65 Ibid., p. 18.

66 Contained in an e-mail to the author fromHans-Joachim Bieber on June 15, 2011.

67 Suzuki, Zen Buddhism and Its Influence onJapanese Culture, p. 34.

68 Suzuki, "English Diaries," No. 21, 2007, p.114.

69 Suzuki, "English Diaries," No. 23, 2009, p. 6.

70 Suzuki, "English Diaries," No. 23, 2009, p. 4.

71 Ibid., p. 6.

72 Suzuki, "English Diaries," No. 25, 2011, p.60.

73 Ibid., p. 63.

74 Suzuki, "English Diaries," No. 23, 2009, pp.30-40 inclusive.

75 Dürckheim, Der Weg ist das Ziel: Gesprächmit Karl Schnelting in der Reihe "Zeugen desJahrhunderts," p. 43.

76 Ibid., p. 43. Since the question of archery asa form of Zen practice has already beenaddressed, it is unnecessary to repeat it here.

77 See related entries in Suzuki, "EnglishDiaries," Nos. 21, 23, 25, 26.

78 Quoted in Bix, Hirohito and the Making ofModern Japan, p. 488.

79 For a discussion of Suzuki's earliest approachto both the emperor and Count Makino, seeVictoria, "The 'Negative Side' of D. T. Suzuki'sRelationship to War," pp. 113-14.

80 Quoted in Victoria, "Zen as a Cult of Death inthe Wartime Writings of D.T. Suzuki." Availableo n t h e W e b a t :http://japanfocus.org/-Brian-Victoria/3973.

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81 Arai, "Shūsenzen tainichi doitsujin no taiken,"p. 112.

82 Quoted in Victoria, Zen War Stories, pp.88-89.

83 Ibid., p. 89.

84 Ibid., p. 89.

85 Quoted in Victoria, Zen War Stories, pp.69-70.

86 Ibid., p. 70.

87 Ibid., pp. 71-72.

88 Ibid., p. 73.

89 Ibid., p. 74.

90 Interestingly, this question has beendiscussed in recent years by Kubota Ji'un, thenabbot of the Zen organization Yasutani createdin the postwar era, i.e., the Sanbō-kyōdan(Three Treasures Association). This discussioni s a v a i l a b l e o n t h e W e b a t :http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/CriticalZen/Apology.html.

91 Quoted in Victoria, Zen at War, p. 168.

92 Ibid., p. 168.

93 Dürckheim, "Fukan-Zazen-Gi. Ein Text desZen-Meisters Dōgen, erläutert von MeisterHakuun Yasutani , übersetzt aus demJapanischen von Fumio Hashimoto," pp. 73-91,and "Über die Übung des Zen. Vorlesungen vonZen-Meister Hakuun Yasutani Roshi, englischeÜbersetzung von Philipp Kapleau, aus demEnglischen übertragen von G. von Minden," pp.93-118.

94 Wehr, Karlfried Graf Dürckheim: Ein Lebenim Zeichen der Wandlung, p. 217.

95 Yasutani, "Glückwunsch zum 70. Geburtstagv o n G r a f D ü r c k h e i m v o n s e i n e m

Weggefährten," pp. 475-478.

96 Suzuki, "English Diaries," No. 25, 2011, p. 68.

97 Suzuki, "English Diaries," No. 26, 2012, p. 3.

98 Suzuki, Zen und die Kultur Japans, p. 9.

99 Suzuki, Zen Buddhism and Its Influence onJapanese Culture, p. 47. The quoted materialextends to the bottom of p. 50 in the Englishedition. In the German edition, Zen und dieKultur Japans, the quoted material begins onthe middle of p. 60 and extends through the topof p. 63. I also wish to extend my appreciationto Sarah Panzer at the University of Chicagowho made me aware of this article andprovided the newspaper clipping.

100 Suzuki, Zen Buddhism and Its Influence onJapanese Culture, p. 49.

101 Maltarich, Samurai and Supermen: NationalSocialist Views of Japan, p. 155.

102 Quoted in ibid., p. 226.

103 Albrecht, Das Geheimnis japanischer Kraft.All quotations taken from this booklet appear inthe partial, non-paginated English translationa v a i l a b l e o n t h e W e b a t :http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/japan.htm (accessed October 16, 2013).

104 Suzuki, Zen Buddhism and Its Influence onJapanese Culture, p. 35

105 Ibid., pp.66-67.

106 Koestler, The Lotus and the Robot, p. 271.

107 Werblowsky, "Some Observations on RecentStudies of Zen," p. 321.

108 Sharf, "Whose Zen? Zen NationalismRevis i ted." Avai lable on the Web at :http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/CriticalZen/whose%20zen_sharf.pdf.

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109 Sharf, "The Zen of Japanese Nationalism."A v a i l a b l e o n t h e W e b a t :http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/CriticalZen/whose%20zen_sharf.pdf.

1 1 0 Suzuki, "A Reply from D. T. Suzuki,"Encounter 17, No. 4, 1961, p. 44.

111 Sharf, "The Zen of Japanese Nationalism."A v a i l a b l e o n t h e W e b a t :http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/CriticalZen/whose%20zen_sharf.pdf.

112 Wehr, Karlfried Graf Dürckheim – Ein Lebenim Zeichen der Wandlung, p. 129.

113 Dürckheim, Hara (audio version).

114 Dürckheim, Japan und die Kultur der Stille,p. 51.

115 Dürckheim: Mein Weg zur Mitte, p. 122.

116 Quoted in Victoria, Zen at War, p. 139.

117 Foster and Snyder, "The Fog of World War II-- Setting the Record Straight on D.T. Suzuki(http://www.tricycle.com/feature/fog-world-war-ii?page=0,0)," tricycle, summer 2010. Availableon the Web. (accessed December 29, 2013).

118 Suzuki, Zen and Japanese Culture, pp.160-61.

119 Ibid., p. 132.

121 Ibid., pp. 132-34.

122 Quoted in Victoria, Zen at War, p. 167.

123 Wehr, Karlfried Graf Dürckheim: Ein Lebenim Zeichen der Wandlung, p. 120.

123 Suzuki, Nihon no Reiseika, p. 7.

124 Suzuki, "English Diaries," No. 23, 2009, p.101. For a summary of Suzuki's postwarcomments on the war see Victoria, Zen at War,pp. 147-52.125 Ibid., p. 86.

126 Ibid., p. 86.

127 Suzuki, "English Diaries," No. 21, 2007, p.86.

128 See Suzuki, "English Diaries," No. 25, 2011.Had I received permission to visit MatsugaokaBunkō, the whereabouts of this missing half-year plus of Suzuki's diary is one of manyquestions I would have liked to ask. Japan's full-scale invasion of China resulted from anincident that began on evening of July 7, 1937.

129 Suzuki, Zen Buddhism and Its Influence onJapanese Culture, pp. 45-46.