The Japanese arts and self-cultivation / Robert E. Carter ; foreword by Eliot Deutsch.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Carter, Robert Edgar, 1937-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Arts, Japanese.

Spirituality--Japan.

Spirituality.

Japan--Civilization--Philosophy.

Japan.

Civilization.

Philosophy.

Physical Description:

xii, 185 pages ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, [2008]

Summary:

It is through the practice of the arts, and not through rules or theory that moral and spiritual values are taught in Japan. Author Robert E. Carter examines five arts (or "ways" in Japan): the martial art of aikido, Zen landscape gardening, the Way of Tea, the Way of Flowers, and pottery making. Each art is more than a mere craft, for each takes as its goal not just the teaching of ethics but the formation of the ethical individual. Transformation is the result of diligent practice and each art recognizes the importance of the body. Training the mind as well as the body results in important insights, habits, and attitudes that involve the whole person, both body and mind.

This fascinating book features the author's interviews with masters of the arts in Japan and his own experiences with the arts, along with background on the arts and ethics from Japanese philosophy and religion. Ultimately, the Japanese arts emerge as a deep cultural repository of ideal attitudes and behavior, which lead to enlightenment itself.

Contents:

Self-cultivation

Aikidō

the way of peace

Landscape gardening as interconnectedness

The way of tea (chadō)

to live without contrivance

The way of flowers (ikebana)

eternity is in the moment

The way of pottery

beauty is in the abdomen.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 155-161) and index.

ISBN:

9780791472538

0791472531

9780791472545

079147254X

OCLC:

77116830