Zen Scholar to Speak at UMaine on Religion and Violence
Contact: Hugh Curran, (207) 667-7170/581-2609, George Manlove, (207) 581-3756
ORONO — The Peace Studies Program and the Philosophy Department at UMaine are sponsoring a visit by Brian Victoria, author and Zen scholar who has written extensively on themes relating to war and violence in Buddhism.
He is scheduled to give two talks on Thursday, April 7th. The first titled “The Last Samurai Meets WWII: The ‘Zen’ of Japanese Militarism and ‘Holy War,’ ” begins at 12:30 p.m. in the Bangor Room in the UMaine Memorial Union and is part of the Socialist and Marxist Studies Luncheon Series. The second talk, titled “Religion Hijacked: The Universal Characteristics of ‘Holy War,’ ” begins at 4 p.m., also in the Bangor Room and is part of the Philosophy Colloquium series. Both lectures are free and open to the public.
On Friday, April 8, he will be speaking at 7 p.m. at the Unitarian Church in Ellsworth. This talk will be sponsored by the Morgan Bay Zendo.
In the aftermath of 9/11 there is a tendency to regard “holy war” as a unique expression of Islamic fundamentalism. The reality, however, is that religion-endorsed violence has existed, at one time or another, in all of the world’s major faith. The motives and justifications for using and misusing religious doctrine to justify violence will be a major part of the presentation, according to Hugh Curran, lecturer in the UMaine Peace Studies Program.
In his lecture “The Last Samurai Meets WWII,” Victoria will discuss a relatively unknown example of the phenomenon of the fervent, if not fanatical, support given by Buddhist leaders in Japan, especially those associated with the Zen school, to Japanese militarism during WWII. By examining that support, Victoria will provide a better understanding of the universal mechanisms that make “holy war” such an enduring feature of contemporary religion and society.
In “Religion Hijacked,” Victoria questions the apparent contradictions in the religion-endorsed “holy wars,” by faiths that make a commitment to peace a fundamental part of their teachings. This lecture will identify and help us to understand universal mechanisms — be they doctrinal, sociological, psychological, economic, anthropological, or even evolutionary — that make the “holy war” such an enduring feature of contemporary religion and society.
A native of Omaha, Neb., Victoria is a 1961 graduate of Nebraska Wesleyan University who holds a M.A. in Buddhist studies from Soto Zen sect-affiliated Komazawa University in Tokyo and a Ph.D. from the Department of Religious Studies at Temple University. In addition to his recent book, “Zen War Stories,” Victoria’s major writings include the 1997 book “Zen At War,” an autobiographical work in Japanese titled “Gaijin de ari, Zen bozu de ari” (As a Foreigner, As a Zen Priest), “Zen Master Dogen,” coauthored with Prof. Yokoi Y