The Zen Arts: An Anthropological Study of the Culture of Aesthetic Form in Japan

The tea ceremony and the martial arts are intimately linked in the popular and historical imagination with Zen Buddhism, and Japanese culture. They are commonly interpreted as religio-aesthetic pursuits which express core spiritual values through bodily gesture and the creation of highly valued objects. Ideally, the experience of practising the Zen arts culminates in enlightenment.

This book challenges that long-held view and proposes that the Zen arts should be understood as part of a liter...