Buddhism and the Nara Aesthetic Values - Essay Example

Buddhism and the Nara Aesthetic Values By 710, the Japanese Nara period begun with the reign of Emperor Genmei. This era was culturally enriched by the civilizations of China and, indirectly, of India. Nara’s Chinese contemporary - the T’ang Empire - was prosperous and powerful at the time and with the establishment of diplomatic relations, Japan came to assimilate much of its culture. Students and scholarly monks accompanied the Japanese ambassadors and brought back home ideas and scriptures. Because of this, the national consciousness of Japan during the Nara period was heightened by a widening of horizons, and national history began to be recorded. One of the most significant of these foreign exports that has influenced the era’s aesthetic values is the Buddhist philosophy. Background The pre-Nara indigenous religions were markedly austere. But the imperial government was interested in staging elegant rituals for the protection and prosperity of the state and so this predilection was used by the Buddhists as the practical route to imperial patronage. (Reynolds & Tracy 1990, p. 134) Throughout the Nara period, Buddhism became the official state religion or philosophy and encroached every element of the Japanese society that at its height, Nara came to be known as the “Golden Age of Buddhism” in Japan as well. Nara itself has had six different sects of Buddhism and that their priests participated in a number of different fields of the Japanese society, from government administration to social work. The upshot was that Buddhism shaped many works of excellent craftsmanship and contributed and indispensable aesthetic value to the culture of the period. The Buddhist Philosophy Buddhism, which originated in India in the sixth century B.C., was transmitted to China in at the time of the initial years of the European Christian era. Buddhism’s development was largely influenced by Taoism before its spread to Japan. The main feature of Buddhist thinking is expressed in what it calls the three characteristics of existence. Nancy Hume (1995) elaborates: Most forms of Buddhism view existence being characterized by duhkha, frustration or unsatisfactoriness, anitya, impermanence, and anatmam, which refers to the idea that nothing possesses an intrinsic “selfness”… Buddhist thought is particularly opposed to the substantialist view that there are independently existing things, claiming that everything is “itself” only in relation to a set of conditions that make it what it is. And again, the same is true for the “non-thing” that is human self: It, too, is what it is only in relation to other things. (p. 84) Buddhism espoused the idea that things do not possess any inherent “self-nature” and such concept awaken the beauty of human nature and the sensitivity of the soul before the impermanent beauty of natural and human destiny. The philosophical impact of Buddhism has been primarily felt in three areas of Nara consciousness and identity – psychology, metaphysics and aesthetics. This philosophy puts emphasis on the disciplined contemplation and introspective analysis, in effect, defining the various Japanese senses of the inner, rather than social, self. In metaphysics, writes Edward Craig (2005), Buddhist esotericism has been most dominant; through esoteric Buddhist philosophy, the Japanese gave a rational structure to their indigenous beliefs that spirituality is immanent rather than transcendent, that mind and body are (like humanity and nature) are continuous rather than separate, and that expressive power is shared by things as well as human thought or speech. (p. 464) The artifacts that we see in the Japanese history and culture within this particular timeline shows that this metaphysical principle, combined with the introspective psychology and emphasis on discipline, formed the foundation of the various aesthetic values that have been so well developed in the Japanese tradition. Particularly, the Buddhist philosophical tradition, particularly the Zen influence, was central in shaping Japanese culture, the arts, the development of the bushido or the “way of the warrior”, interpretations of Confucius in Japan, and particularly unique artistic traditions such as sado (the way of tea) and haiku poetry. The Zen influence can also be seen in the development of the distinctively Japanese aesthetic concepts such as wabi (subdued taste), sabi (elegant simplicity, and mono no aware (a kind of deep pathos). (Embry, Cooper & Sandoz 2005, p. 199) Haiku and Literature The poetry or any form of linked Japanese verse that is influenced by Buddhism is characterized by what Watsuji Tetsuro called as a “moment of negation.” (LaFleur 1978, p. 244) This moment of negation is not just the negative expression of prolonged silences and empty blank spaces, but “a deeper ontological negation concerned with the Zen Buddhist notion of emptiness (ku) as engi, relatedness or dependent cooriganation.” (Odin, p. 60) In addition, we also see the traces of Buddhist philosophies in Nara literature when poets and writers sought to press their senses “beyond beauty,” and to find aesthetic value in the realm of the lonely, the cold, and the withered. According to Paul Varley (2000), underlying this Japanese preference for perishable beauty is an acute sensitivity to the passage of time and that this theme is constantly used to extend the Japanese taste beyond the range of conventional beauties to things, such as the withered and worn, that have literally been ravaged by time. (p. 47) Here, one is again reminded of the Buddhist aversion to what appeals to the immediate senses and highlights the philosophical preoccupation with the existence that transcends the substantialist perspective. Buddhism teaches that existence is a continuing cycle of death and rebirth. (Pham 1998, p. 34) This principle helped to retain moderation, harmony and tolerance from aesthetic standpoint. It also helped prevent egocentrism and desires such as hunger, pain, and ambition while promoting experiences and feelings. Sumie Painting So, too, the influence of Buddhism, direct and indirect, on the art was substantial. There was painting, for example. In the Nara period, wherein Buddhist monks disdained the colorful and decorative – artists opted for the sumie or the India ink drawings, also called as the suiboku or “water and ink” creations. In reference to this art, Winston King (1993) explained: Much of it was a sheerly black-on-white style of instant art – jet-black indelible ink on porous white paper. Such work required complete poise and decisiveness, for the first stroke was also the last; there could be no patching, no alteration. Its production was fully visceral, a disciplined spontaneity. The starkly simple result admirably expresses the Zen “view of life. (p. 31) Tea Ceremony The tea ceremony – an important feature of the Japanese unique aesthetic tradition – originated during the Nara period as well. This ritual draws mainly from the disciplined “wabicha” or the “poverty tea” style introduced by Murata Shuko of the merchant class of the Nara era. This form utilized native ceramics, such as the rough-textured, muted, and often flawed wares of kilns and that it represented a reassertion of basic values such as naturalness and irregularity. According to Paul Varley, the wares, by themselves, were supposed to be cold and withered – tastes that pointed in the direction of the wabi aesthetic, hence the name wabicha. Wabi, in itself, came to mean externally poor – free of the desire for wealth, power and reputation – and yet internally in possession of the highest spirit. (Shirane 1998, p. 65) Kozo Yamamura and John Hall (1990) described an important aspect of this ceremony that reflects Buddhist philosophy. To quote: The setting for wabicha was the shoin. This room, which came into fashion during the Higashiyama epoch, had as its principal features tatami floor matting, shoji sliding doors, the tokonoma alcove, the shoin writing desk, and assymetrical shelves (chigaidana). It has remained to the present day the prototype of the main room of a Japanese dwelling. (p. 409) In the shoin, Shuko created a microcosmic world within which the host, in a precisely arranged aesthetic setting, prepared and served tea to his guests. This process came to symbolize the renunciation of the material and the celebration of the spiritual values of life, articulating both the religious and aesthetic traditions of Buddhism In Steve Odin’s (1996) words: “The aesthetic experience cultivated through the tea ceremony is to be located not in the private minds of subjects or in the qualities of objects but in the experience of aida or “betweenness,” including the betweenness of individuals and society as well as the betweenness of individuals and the encompassing spatial “climate” (fudo) of nature.” (p. 60) Architecture With the permeation of Buddhism, particularly its elevation as the state religion of the Nara period, architecture and sculpture accelerated in response to the need for temples and images. . For instance, there was the construction of the sprawling Todaiji, a temple complex boasting the largest wooden building in the world. Todaiji was built in consideration with its centerpiece, the bronze Buddha and the celebration of more than 700 various ceremonies witnessed by the Buddhist clergies from as far away as India. (Furse & Armacost 2002, p. 29) As Buddhist philosophy encouraged restraint and the elimination of the unnecessary, we could see the temple and castle architectures characterized by the simple use of black and white, the symmetrical structural layout and the minimalist windows, among other elements. From this standpoint, one will also find the design of the Noh theater significant. Here, the dominant idea of the architectural design is yugen wherein a deep level of beauty was required – one that can only be suggested by subtle nuances of sound and movement. (Young, Young, Tan & Yew 2004, p. 104) It is helpful to underscore that in Buddhism, the external senses such as vision, sensuality, and so forth, are not the most important criteria, particularly in art. It is concerned or that it sought the power beyond the visible observable universe (metaphysics): the unconscious state of mind and the seeming “disinterestedness”. With these concepts in mind, it is easy to understand how space, form, and constructing visual structure is only a tool for the establishment of place, memory, intentionality, and an expression of human interiority in the Nara architecture. What stood out from the architectural values of this period is the modification of Chinese and Korean Buddhist architectural values which accommodated Shinto and other indigenous concerns about nature and growth. In reviewing existing architectural structure of the Nara period, including records of architectural layouts, one would find that: While the symmetrical arrangement of building was the Buddhist style, there were irregular ground plans for uneven terrains; There is a greater use of natural materials, such as cypress bark, rather than tile on roofs; There is a preference for buildings that generally were more delicate in feeling than Chinese style temple with their massive tiled roofs. (Young, Young & Tan 2004, p. 44) All in all, the Buddhist influence to the indigenous architecture of the Nara epoch was characterized by a marked sensitivity to the natural surroundings of the architectural structure, such as placing buildings among the trees rather than clearing vegetation. Conclusion It has been said that Buddhism is actually not a religion which asks people to commit to its beliefs, but is a vision of the relationship between macrocosm and microcosm, which governs the way of thinking and living. (Pham, p. 34) Nonetheless, Buddhism, like other religions, incorporates at least an implicit philosophical standpoint – a standpoint that can be described and analyzed in its own terms. In regard to aesthetic values, specifically, the Buddhist philosophy is embedded on more realistic and empirical visions in the Japanese culture particularly within the period explored by this paper. Its contribution promoted the unity of the mind, body, spirit and soul, nature and human beings, the mental and the physical in the Japanese aesthetic values – a tradition that continues to this day. The aesthetic artifacts, traditions and culture of the Nara period tells us that instead of the philosophy of egocentrism, Buddhist influence imparted a definition and understanding of nature, as it supports an attitude of respect and care. It sought the interest of all beings and non-beings in their ontological relations of Being and impermanence. The Buddhist philosophical impact on the aesthetic values of the Nara period is anchored on the fact that these values is interrelated with the spiritual and moral sensitivities that permeated in the period. Hence, the philosophy is inherently tied to the development of the aesthetic values of the epoch. References Craig, Edward. (2005). The Shorter Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Routledge. Embry, C., Cooper, B. and Sandoz, E. (2005). Philosophy, Literature and Politics. University of Missouri Press. Furse, R. and Armacost, M. (2002). Japan: an Invitation. Tuttle Publishing King, W. (1993). Zen and the Way of the Sword. Oxford University Press. Hin, P. (1998). Abstraction and Transcendence. Universal-Publishers. Hume, N. (1995). Japanese Aesthetics and Culture. SUNY Press. LaFleur, W. (1978). “Buddhist Emptiness in the Ethics and Aesthetics of Watsuji Tetsuro," Religious Studies, 14, p. 244. Odin, S. (1996). The Social Life in Zen and American Pragmatism. SUNY Press. Reynolds, F. and Tracy, D. (1990). Myth and Philosophy. SUNY Press. Shirane, H. (1998). Traces of Dreams: Landscape, Cultural Memory, and the Poetry of Basho. Stanford University Press. Varley, P. (2000). Japanese Culture. University of Hawaii Press. Yamamura, K. and Hall, J. (1990). The Cambridge History of Japan. Cambridge University Press. Young, D., Young, M. and Tan, H.Y. (2004). Introduction to Japanese Architecture. Tuttle Publishing. Read More