Zen philosopher Masao Abe
ONE BIRD WITH TWO WINGS

Masao Abe (1915) speaks very deliberately. After a question
silence reigns as the seconds tick by. During this interval he
nods occasionally and he seems to be turning the question over
and over in his mind. Once he begins to speak, the answer has
been completely thought out from beginning to end.
Masao Abe, Zen philosopher, is a great man in the world of
Japanese philosophy. He is a member of the second generation
of the Kyoto School, which, following the footsteps of Kitaro
Nishida, is based on the principle of  Absolute Nothingness.

By Bart Brandsma
(Translated by Rosemary Robson)

The well-turned phrases he utters sometimes sound suspect.
They resemble the caricature of eastern philosophy so often
created in the west. Succinct statements as they are found in
Zen -'ultimate reality is to be found in oneself'- have been
confiscated by whole generations, first by hippies and the
Beatles, later by  the environmental movement social
therapists, and after them  by new-agers and commercial
television stations. The famous book 'Zen and the Art of
Motorcycle Maintenance?' sells just as well today as it did
twenty years ago. Unmoved by the circus which has been created
around it in Europe and the United States, Zen continues. In
Japan Zen is not subject to the whims of fashion. In the Kyoto
School, situated in Kyoto on the west coast of Japan, the
study of philosophy is based completely on Zen.
The Kyoto School is a blending of the two most important
philosophical movements in Japan, where there is the
'traditional' school, which is principally concerned with
learning from ancient texts and religious works, and studying
the works of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. In contrast
to this are the philosophers who have concentrated on the
study of western philosophy, and, therefore, from an
international perspective, have very little to offer which is
'specifically Japanese'. The  Kyoto School steers a middle
course: western thinking and Zen experience confront each
other. Masao Abe demonstrates this, for instance, in his chef
d'oeuvre which received the accolade of 'book of excellence'
in the United States in 1989.

'JAPANESE PHILOSOPHY IS A BRIDGE BETWEEN EAST AND WEST'
The subject of the Kyoto School is Zen. The basic task
consists of finding a way to translate meditative Zen
experiences into more lucid concepts and more clear cut
theories. However, the Zen experience cannot be 'really'
explained. The Zen experience hinges on that the fact a world
view is 'realized'. A person is 'completely aware'. This is
the reason that in the philosophical theory of the Kyoto
School consciousness of the world, the Zen world image, is
gradually broken down into smaller, more easily understandable
parts and committed to paper in a transmissible, but extremely
fragmented, theory.

A BANK OF CLOUDS
But, let there be no error: 'Meditation is not more important
than thinking', says Masao Abe, and he illustrates this with
an example: 'Both are important ingredients in the study of
philosophy. Philosophy and experience: 'academic scholarship'
and 'meditative exercises' are like the two wings of a bird.
The bird cannot fly with only one wing. Pure scholarship,
without meditation, is impotent. Whereas, exercises without
learning make one blind. In Kyoto philosophy each is tied very
firmly to the other'. As Masao Abe talks, his arms spread out
wide over an imaginary bank of clouds.
Who or what will be the beneficiaries? What is the aim of the
Kyoto School? Abe refuses to be drawn about either the use or
the social role of philosophy. Nor about Francis Fukuyama, for
instance, -'Who is that? His name sounds Japanese.'-  and he
is not forthcoming about the future of ideological thought.
Abe: 'Philosophy in  Japan actually has a much greater range.
Japanese philosophy is a bridge between east and west. Japan
is introducing western philosophy to the east, while
maintaining its traditional spirituality'.
Masao Abe's own personal choice of philosophy was born from
this relationship.  His father was a modern doctor and his
mother was completely devoted to Buddha. 'My mother was an
impressive woman. I frequently saw her recite old texts. In
her belief humans could be "saved", not through their own
resources but through a great external power', says Abe. 'The
condition for this salvation was an unconditional surrender'.
Abe was affected by his mother's devotion at a very early age.
'I wanted to follow in her footsteps. But it was too difficult
for me to renounce rational thought, to surrender myself to
mercy. I decided to study philosophy'.
As a young man of twenty or so Abe went to the Kyoto School.
He decided to say farewell to the factory where he was then
employed. 'I wanted to discover the limits of my rational
thought'. At the Kyoto School he met Professor Shin'ichi
Hisamatsu (1889-1980) - 'My lifelong mentor'. Hisamatsu
introduced Abe to Zen. And ever since that time he has tried
'to qualify Zen in a comparison with Christian belief and
western philosophy.' But the study all began with Kitaro
Nishida.

BASHO
Kitaro Nishida (1870-1945), the pioneer of the comparative
study between east and west, is the creator of a philosophy
which is based on 'absolute nothingness'.  Nishida used the
German philosopher Fichte as his reference. In his theory
Fichte, like Nishida, has the world begin in human experience.
'Experience does not come from the world, experience comes
from me'. But, whereas Fichte wants to attribute the 'creative
I' to a rational origin -Fichte's famous 'free will'-, Nishida
prefers a mystical, intuitive origin. The I 'stands' in a
mystical field and from here it experiences the world. This is
the basis of the philosophy of 'basho' (place). The place,
'basho', is absolute nothingness: man stands alone, completely
independent in the mysticism of an absolute nothingness.
Referring to his own undertaking, Nishida writes: 'I switched
from Fichte's free will to a sort of intuitivism'.
As far as Nishida is concerned  'the dualistic way of looking
at things' is relegated to second place. Dualism represents
that way of thinking which divides the world into two:
observer and observed, subject and object, idea and matter.
Abe expatiates on the Kyoto master Nishida: 'Something must
precede dualism. The dualistic vision presents a
subject-object structure. There has to be a source from which
this dualistic way of thinking 'emerges'. This source, which
precedes duality, must be 'the ultimate or true reality'.
Dualistic thought, moreover, is inextricably bound up with the
human way of life', says Abe, 'and the division can never be
'solved'. The great appeal which Zen has in the west perhaps
has its roots in the misconception that dualism can be
permanently eliminated by Zen meditation. This is not so'.

'WITHOUT BEING THERE IS NO KNOWLEDGE, WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE THERE
IS NO BEING'
Abe: 'One example of dualistic thought: the phrase 'a horse
runs' is a subject-object judgement; the horse is viewed by
man and in the judgement one single characteristic of the
horse is highlighted: 'the running' is separated from the
object. The subject, the human being, analyses and observes
the object. Alongside this, there is also something else,
namely the intuition: 'running horse', which is not encumbered
by any judgement. This is the way in everything that we have
to revert to the root of subject-object thinking'.
Abe: 'The west is acquainted with the materialist and idealist
movements. Ren‚ Descartes begins with the idea that 'the self'
also forms the point of departure. He begins with the idea;
the idealist. By contrast, the west is acquainted with the
materialists, who begin their theory from the 'reality of the
world'. Both options share a common supposition: that there is
a division between subject and object. Thus argued Nishida.'
What happens when the choice between materialism and idealism
is nullified? Masao Abe realizes that this is when the western
mind really encounters grave problems. 'In the west there is a
clear cut division between ontology, the study of being, and
epistemology, the study of the possibilities of knowledge', he
explains. 'The problem of being is opposed to the problem of
knowing'. Two different problems, it seems to me. 'This
duality is accepted and it is rarely questioned.'

MIND
'The next question following very quickly on its heels is:
which comes first? Is  being there because of our observation?
Or do we observe because of the fact that things exist?
Idealists cling to the primacy of knowing. Materialists
maintain that being determines knowing. This sort of dualistic
concept of knowing and being is dubious.
Being and knowing are indivisible. Without being there is no
knowing, without knowing there is no being. This is one of the
most important points which the western mind  finds difficult
to grasp: that epistemology and ontology cannot be separated.
The western mind cannot proceed beyond dualistic thought; to
arrive at a  non-dualistic concept.'
'If I'm not mistaken', says Abe in amazement, 'western
philosophy is organized along purely rational lines. Therefore
eastern philosophy is not considered to be philosophy.
Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism are discussed as world
religions, not as philosophies. As if they are not systems of
thinking!' Who can fly with only one wing?

Abe Masao, 'Zen and western thought', MacMillan, London/New
York 1985, 308 p. Price œ42.50, ISBN 0.333.362.063

Abe Masao and Christopher Ives, 'Kitaro Nishida: an inquiry
into the good', Yale University Press, London/New Haven 1990.
184 p.

SOURCE: FILOSOFIE MAGAZINE, NR 5, JUNE/JULY 1994, PP 11-12