oliainchina's review
5.0
The Japanese Arts and Self-Cultivation by Robert Carter was a long read, but highly engaging. I was savouring each page and took so much from it for my calligraphy practice and, of course, my understanding of the Japanese culture.
Some chapters, like the ones on aikido, ikebana, and landscape gardening were more inspired than the other ones, which, I guess corresponds to what the author is more comfortable with/has more understanding of, as he, for example, is a practitioner of aikido.
Sadly, the chapter on tea, in which I was particularly interested, was completely dull and vague.
Carter agenda is to connect Japanese arts and ethics into an active spiritual practice, which to me sounded plausible. He quoted a few Japanese philosophers who wrote on arts and philosophy, which I liked and which made me more interested in modern Japanese thought.
The book sounded like a praise to Japan and Zen Buddhism, although the author added in the end that he was aware of the drawbacks of Japanese culture, like sexism, nationalism and aloofness, as well as their war crimes, which he preferred not to concentrate on in this study. I’m now really curious about the books he mentioned that give critique of Zen as a condoning force behind those not so pleasant aspects of Japanese history.
Highly recommended if you are into Japanese culture, literature, it’s arts, or Zen Buddhism.
Some chapters, like the ones on aikido, ikebana, and landscape gardening were more inspired than the other ones, which, I guess corresponds to what the author is more comfortable with/has more understanding of, as he, for example, is a practitioner of aikido.
Sadly, the chapter on tea, in which I was particularly interested, was completely dull and vague.
Carter agenda is to connect Japanese arts and ethics into an active spiritual practice, which to me sounded plausible. He quoted a few Japanese philosophers who wrote on arts and philosophy, which I liked and which made me more interested in modern Japanese thought.
The book sounded like a praise to Japan and Zen Buddhism, although the author added in the end that he was aware of the drawbacks of Japanese culture, like sexism, nationalism and aloofness, as well as their war crimes, which he preferred not to concentrate on in this study. I’m now really curious about the books he mentioned that give critique of Zen as a condoning force behind those not so pleasant aspects of Japanese history.
Highly recommended if you are into Japanese culture, literature, it’s arts, or Zen Buddhism.
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