Encounter with Enlightenment

Robert E. Carter is Professor of Philosophy at Kansai Gaidai University in Osaka, Japan. He is the author of Becoming Bamboo: Western and Eastern Explorations of the Meaning of Life and The Nothingness Beyond God: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Nishida Kitaro; editor of God, the Self, and Nothingness: Reflections Eastern and Western; and translator of Watsuji Tetsuro's Rinrigaku, also published by SUNY Press

"Encounter with Enlightenment provides a comprehensive and compelling account not only of the history and development of Japanese ethics, but also serves as an excellent introduction to and analysis of Japanese religious philosophical thought … The book both calls and challenges its readers to move out of a strictly western framework and into a genuinely global dialogue about ethics and human being-in-the-world." — Religious Studies Review"This new book by Robert E. Carter is the first to give a comprehensive view and a deep understanding of the characteristics of Japanese ethics. Carter describes clearly the early mythological tradition associated with Shinto, as well as the role that Confucianism and Buddhism played in forming an enlightened moral character. Furthermore, he describes how Japanese philosophers in recent times have sought after a new concept of humanity which can unite East and West." — Yuasa Yasuo, author of The Body, Self-Cultivation, and Ki-Energy"…extraordinary…Carter's integration of Japanese ethics in relation to Zen is admirable." — Frederick Franck, author of The Zen of Seeing"Carter has now anchored his position as the comparative philosophy scholar whose clear and unmistakable writing makes him the favorite author of students of the Japanese philosophical tradition. In this new book, Carter sensitively and faithfully explains not only the basics of Japanese ethics, but also the diverse sources of inspiration behind Japanese moral philosophy (Shintoism, Confucianism, Buddhism), as well as modern Japanese intellectual and spiritual encounters with the West." — David Edward Shaner, author of The Bodymind Experience in Japanese Buddhism

• ForewordAcknowledgments Introduction: Contrasts and IdealsMany "Easts," Many "Wests" The Critical Path 1. The "Do Nothing" and the Pilgrim: Two Approaches to EthicsOn the Nature of the WillThe Transformation of the Everyday WorldThe Will in Eastern ThoughtWu-Wei and Non-doing EvilOn Human-HeartednessA Radical InterdependenceThe Morality of EnlightenmentConclusion 2. The Significance of Shintoism for Japanese EthicsThe Importance of the Shinto PerspectiveShrine Shinto (Common Shinto)In the BeginningKami and EvilAttitudes, Virtues, and RitualsThe Connection to AncestorsThe Way to the FutureReflective EpilogueThe Ecological DimensionEthics and NatureShinto and Zen 3. Confucianism and Japanese EthicsThe Confucian Self Original Human GoodnessThe Importance of SinceritySelf as FieldSpontaneityConfucianism in Japan 4. Buddhism and Japanese Ethics IntroductionThe BeginningsBuddhism and MoralityThe Ground of MoralityWhat Happened to Nirvana?Ethics and EnlightenmentThe BodhisattvaThe Path of the Bodhisattva 5. Zen Buddhism and Ethics Zen and EnlightenmentEvil and ZenThe Cat AgainSeeing into One's Own NatureWhy Should One Be Moral?Cats! Cats! Cats!Zen and NatureAnd If the Cat Were Not a Cat? 6. The Fundamentals: Modern Japanese Ethics NingenThe One and the ManyEthicsToward NothingnessSincerityEthics as ContextualThe Importance of the FamilyThe Complexity of Climate 7. An Ethics of Transformation: Nishida, Yuasa, and Dogen The Need to DifferentiateWhy the One DifferentiatesThe Nature of Good ConductFrom Self to No-self On Self-cultivationDogenDogen on the "Now" Conclusion: The Mutuality of Learning in a Global VillageSocial EthicsFinal ReflectionsEcological Ethics, East and West NotesSelected BibliographyIndex