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Religion See other Religion Articles Title: A Japanese Introduction to A Yiddishe Medina For One Democratic State in the whole of Palestine (Israel) FOR FULL EQUALITY OF NATIVE AND ADOPTIVE PALESTINIANS FOR One Man, One Vote Home Japanese writer Akira Doujimaru akiradoujimaruATinfoseek.jp wrote this very interesting introduction to his translation of A Yiddishe Medina by Israel Shamir into Japanese. In it, he finds a Buddhist analogy to the interpretation of the Cross, connects 9/11 with Pearl Harbor, and is doing an important cross-cultural interpretation of the ideas we deal with. His explanation of myth and demonisation is particularly poignant. In a personal letter Akira wrote: An Introduction to Introduction The great ancient Chinese philosopher, Confucius, taught us, “Do not do unto others whatever you wouldn’t want others do unto you”, while Jesus said, “Do unto others like you'd have them do unto you” The former fought a bad will and the latter promoted a good will. I think we don’t have to talk about human virtues too much. A rose is beautiful and this is its natural gift, so we only need to watch out for its thorns. Human virtues will naturally appear; so we just have to attend to the vices and bad will. Maybe my Western readers will be upset because I’ve referred only to vices without extolling any virtue. It might be a cultural gap. Now in Japan and elsewhere in the world, so-called liberalists are boasting that they are doing what they want others to do to them, but actually they do what they don’t want others to do to them. Many of them are not intentionally bad, they even think that they are helping people, but actually they are robbing the people’s wealth and their right of self-determination. Their “good will” is only a camouflage but it can be used efficiently as an excuse. Israel Shamir is said to be a "self-hating Jew" but self-hating is always the starting point of Buddhism, as the historical Buddha was a great self-hater! And so might be I. A Japanese Introduction to A Yiddishe Medina by Akira Doujimaru Lately I translated Israel Shamir’s essay, ”A Yiddishe Medina” into Japanese, to which I added a brief remark for Japanese readers. The following is the translation of this introduction into English. Here I’ve made some [additional information and explanations in red] and rewritten some passages for foreign readers. (I’ve linked many words in this translation to the websites as references, mainly in English but some in Spanish.) ********************************************************************** “A Yiddishe Medina” is still shining with the author’s intelligence and benevolence though its original text was written a little after 9/11 in 2001. Israel Shamir says, “In a way, this essay sums up much of my writing.” It is not a simple criticism of the Jews and the USA. We can find his calm and penetrating view on “Judeo-American” civilization, seeking for methods to examine and neutralize fatal poisons it exudes. His writings are challenging but sensitive works groping in the darkness of the age for an alternative form of civilization to sustain human existence in the future. At the same time, however, we should recall that we Japanese exhibited a lot of evil in some similar ways, and also realize that any people of the world may display their brutality when it isn’t adequately checked. Without this consideration, we might only demonize Jews and Americans after reading Shamir’s works, and this attitude will just increase the tragedies of the world. Everyone, without exception, can be demonic unless we are fully aware of the human vices and make efforts to control them. Proceeding from this basic viewpoint, I’ll present a brief argument about how human vices appear in the idea of vengeance, acts of demonisation and political mythology. As a practical example, I want to adopt the famous event that directly motivated Shamir to write this work, say, the events of 9/11, which was one of the most important lessons for all human beings. I hope these short remarks will serve as a hint to look for a spirit of mutual prosperity and co-existence, “the New Meaning of Cross” by Shamir. Vengeance Shamir starts his work with an analysis of the idea of ‘vengeance’ that seriously intoxicates a part of the Jews, but before I read his essay, it had been the United States that I would think of on hearing the word ‘vengeance.’ It is well known that the United States has often rushed into wars being possessed by ‘revenge fever’ after certain attacks on it. “Remember the Maine!”, “Remember Pearl Harbor!”, and now “Remember 9/11!” The spirit of vengeance seems to pierce through the main events in the US history. As the leading fellows of PNAC (Project for a New American Century) had notified beforehand, and as a lot of Americans are beginning to recognize today, 9/11 was nothing but “A New Pearl Harbor.” [To Americans, I’m sorry, but, to be very frank, I cried, “Shit! They’ve done it again!” as soon as I saw Mr. Bush shout “War!” after 9/11.] “We are the victims!! We must take revenge!!” For a long time I didn’t understand at all why Americans so often begin to blindly dash holding up such a radical theory. But if America has been “A Yiddishe Medina (Jewish State) ” with the Messiah of Vengeance, as Shamir says, then I may find a certain solution on my problem and understand that our country fell into Roosevelt’s trap to be the object of the Messiah’s sword; the result in his case being Hiroshima and Nagasaki. [I don’t want to express a bitter feeling about it to American people. I only wish to know how and why so many people (including the victims in Pearl Harbor) really had to die.] Long ago, when I read the Bible, I found that the Old Testament is decorated with the idea of a “chosen people” and hatred towards other peoples’ culture; its god sometimes orders his people to destroy other religions and exterminate other peoples. Likewise, the Apocalypse in the New Testament, which a great many Christians in the USA deeply believe in, is filled with the spirit of vengeance: the extermination of peoples, except “the chosen one”, and expulsion of the others to hell. These are only old myths, but, if a lot of people are still occupied with those disgusting ideas and tie them with modern world history, such religions are far from the understanding of those who were brought up in Buddhist and Shinto culture [i.e. non-monotheist culture] like me. And now, Shamir shows us modern versions of the Old Testament and the Apocalypse. Needless to say, the idea of vengeance isn’t monopolized by Jews or Americans but is common to every people on the planet. In Japan revenge was a holy obligation for any member of the ruling class, called Samurai, when his lord, father or an elder brother was killed unjustly [this avenging custom was called “Adauchi”]. Also the custom of revenge was widely observed among the Mediterranean peoples, meanwhile, whenever ancient Chinese rulers executed someone, they also killed all his family members and relatives because they feared their revenge. All in all, the revenge of victims to their assailants has been taken as very natural all over the world even if “a messiah” is not assumed. However, Vengeance of this “Yiddishe Medina” seems to be a little more complicated than that of “Forty-seven Ronin” and of Edmond Dantès, for it sometimes involves a series of demonisations and even a process to form a certain mythology. Allow me to further examine this remarkable phenomenon: Demonisation Shamir points out that demonisation by Jews is an act of cruelty that can be extremely harmful for the world, but it is not uniquely theirs. As a matter of fact, the Japanese considered Americans and British as ‘devils’ and ‘beasts’ some decades ago [in the Pacific War, 1937-1945: how contradictory that name is!]. But we need not think about old days, for we closely observed a practical example of demonisation and myth fabrication only some years ago, where still unproven “Islam-terrorists” were demonized in mythic proportions. That was a really important experience to find so many special lessons for our future, so I’m going to put my observation briefly in order. First, after 9/11 any rational thread of thinking was erased and only naked bellicosity was praised. Let’s look into the official interpretations on the 9/11, which many Americans still believe as truth. [I know that American readers would get angry with my words, but once you watch your leaders’ attitudes calmly and objectively, you will notice three, four or more points written below are reasonable.] How astonishing! Even if : (1) it is clearly contradictory to the LAWS OF PHYSICS (the manner of the WTC buildings’ collapse!), (2) what cannot happen DID happen (cell phone calls from more than 30,000 feet above!), (3) what must exist DID NOT exist (almost no wreckage of the planes in the Pentagon and Pennsylvania!), (4) what cannot exist DID exist (the “exit hole” of the Pentagon!, intact passport and ID card of a “terrorist” found in the ruins of WTC and Pentagon!), (5) what must not be done WAS done (the immediate removal and disposal of a lot of the physical evidence of the crime!), (6) what must be done WAS NOT done (disappearance of the air defense system over New York and Washington!), (7) what is impossible WAS possible (the technically perfect piloting of jumbo jets by those miserably unskillful beginner pilots!), (8) IT’S OK! NEVER MIND! HEY! LET’S GO TO TAKE REVENGE! (At last, "It Doesn't Matter Even If There Was A Conspiracy Behind 911", Noam Chomsky, December 2006) Since then, those who question or doubt this official story, with only a bit of reason, have also been demonized as “conspiracy theorists”(??), especially by the leftist apostles of “freedom and democracy” [in Japan, too!]. Then the subject and the object of the verb “demonize” were expanded conveniently from individuals to groups. The targets of the demonisation in “the war on terror” were not only the particular terrorists or “Al Qaeda”, but also all of those who were thought as their “sympathizers”, and countries, particularly Afghanistan and Iraq, then Iran. And, after all, all Muslims? Now it may be possible to burden them with the collective sin of “terror” openly as a target of ‘OUR revenge.’ And who are “we”? First the USA, then all Western countries and finally “all humanity.”(?!) Furthermore, in the case of 9/11, all of those things were evolved into a certain mythology, but before treating it, we should realize that demonisation is always accompanied with the intention to destroy another society and to rule its people. Demonisation is the most important method of conquering others. All human cruelties are contained in its blind and limitless expansion. Mythology Until just a few decades ago, the Japanese emperor had been given a particular position and special meaning. “Ten-no Heika (H.M. the Emperor) is a sacred being and his authority is inviolable. Japan is a divine country.” Doubting or even questioning this was a crime of ‘lese majesté.’ The government and the authorities dug up an ancient Japanese myth and tied it with the national essence, “Kokutai”, then the newly fabricated religion was united with politics. Japanese people were forced to believe that “Ten-no Heika is a descendant of a god who long ago came down to Japan from heaven!”, and many of them were obedient [just like many Christian Zionists in the USA strongly believe in divinity of the state of Israel]. Of course not every Japanese believed that myth, but this mythology caused a wave of mass murders in many Asian countries and the destruction of our own nation. This Japanese history suggests the fate of a people haunted by a myth. After 9/11, however, how many nations can laugh at our silliness? This is a story of “the American god of democracy, freedom and justice who fights the devil of terrorism.” The next objects of my observation are the facts seen during the fabrication of this political mythology. Here I outline them. (1) Thorough destruction of physical evidence : the US and NY City authorities got rid of almost all physical evidence of the crime immediately from the Ground Zero and the Pentagon without any serious investigation. (2) Thorough covering on information and data : enormous quantity of the video images and photos were seized by the FBI, and audio tapes of interviews with air traffic controllers on-duty on 9/11 were intentionally destroyed etc.. (3) Thorough neglect of scientific laws : the media and publishers forcibly spread a lot of junk science theories, just as “vertical collapse by gravitation” that can never explain actual collapsing of the WTC buildings, or airplanes that “vanished into dust after the crush”, and so on. (4) Thorough misleading by false information : the authorities and the media, simultaneously, vastly and innumerably, repeated “Al Qaeda and Islam terrorists” without any concrete evidence, thus continuing to brain-wash people. (5) Thorough threatening to silence the questions and doubts : the commentators and the critics in various fields threatened those who questioned or doubted the official theory, labeling them “conspiracy theorists”, isolating them, and exerting serious pressure in every office, school and circle to crush skeptical voices. Thus, the great myth of terror was established. Strictly speaking, this is a different type of myth from the Japanese one, I know, but both give some particular persons or groups a special position and meaning, which must not be doubted (as myths generally insist). In fact, the myth of terror gave the USA ‘a particular position which permits it to do whatever it wants,’ and at the same time, persons, groups or countries regarded to have any relationship with “terrorists”, are turned into ‘those whose blood is permitted to shed.’ Consequently, the “Messiah of Vengeance” has been sipping hundreds of thousand victims’ blood in Afghanistan and Iraq, destroying their societies and cultures, and would continue drinking blood from now on. Parallel to it and all over the world, many Muslim citizens have been arrested and killed in many unclear and questionable cases. Especially in the Western World, the eyes of ‘the Big Brother’ are forever watching over the planes, trains, streets, internet and everywhere; fascism is becoming omnipresent every time “terrorism” comes up. Probably this situation will continue to grow and new targets of demonisation on which to “take revenge” will be found one after another so that the myth may continue to be held. (Degrading Hollywood films will be support it.) A few parts of the scenario have already been abandoned by the authorities in some countries, and also a part of the big lie called “the war on terror” was revealed by the stupid failure of two British spies. Nevertheless, despite a lot of cracks and open seams ,the myth is still doing well. One of the gravest things of all is that the world has been pulled back to the time before Galileo by the serious neglect of objective scientific laws. What actually collapsed vertically was, probably, not the WTC but human brains! Anyway, the works of demonisation and the process of the mythologizing were broadcasted live to whole the world and everybody became a witness. Of course, the real criminals who carried out these terrorist acts are those who have led “the war on terror”. Sooner or later, they will realize the 9/11 was not only a great success but, at the same time, a great mistake because they, themselves, have openly displayed all of their skills. [As ‘side effects’, thanks to the 9/11, many people in the world have already known the real meaning of Pearl Harbor!] The New Meaning of Cross Perhaps people of the world would continue watching and recording the full catalogue of human vices emitted by “Judeo-American” civilization, which also could provoke other peoples’ vengeance, demonisation and myth. Behind this phenomenon there must be some political intention and economical interest of some powerful groups, who are greedy, cruel and arrogant. However, even if it comes to us calling itself ‘freedom’, ‘liberalism’, ‘democracy’, ‘justice’ and so on, its hidden face will soon be revealed, and this experience will give us precious wisdom for the future. Buddhism teaches us the human vices as “SAN-DOKU (Three Poisons)” or a bundle of three evil branches, “TON-JIN-CHI”: the first “TON” means ‘avarice’ and ‘greed’: the second “JIN” will correspond to ‘fury’, ‘hatred’ and ‘cruelty’: the third “CHI” includes ‘foolishness’, ‘ignorance’, ‘vanity’ and ‘arrogance’. These three are connected with each other, and then can grow rapidly and infinitely in some positive feedback reactions if they aren’t checked adequately. Now I realize these Three Poisons are immensely expanded in all of the ‘vengeance’, ‘demonisation’ and ‘myth fabrication’ I’ve mentioned above, and also in all the evil, fraud and stupidity of all human beings, including Americans and Jews, without any exception. It is one side of real humanity: all humanity can’t necessarily be praised. [I’ll think in the Buddhist manner, but many Christian saints and thinkers have talked about Original Sin, and also, I believe, Judaism and Islam, all traditional religions and wisdom in the world, too, have a lot of references about human vices and cruelties. You should think for yourself.] Naturally, human vices can be controlled although they cannot be eliminated. Or some of them could even be converted into lovely, beneficial characters. At the beginning of this note I said, “His writings are challenging but sensible works groping in the darkness of the age for an alternative form of civilization that can sustain humanity's existence in the future. ” As Israel Shamir says in his essay: Thus, we should look for a synthesis of the four tendencies: the organic native love of nature, local roots and tradition, social communal justice for all mankind, love of life and entrepreneurship; and spirituality. They would present the new meaning of Cross, and bring mankind to its unity in spirit, while preserving its beautiful variety. Of course we should! And at the same time, we should look very carefully at our own evil and foolishness in order to make checkpoints that prevent them from directly appearing. Only if all of us, including Americans and Jews, have the courage to do so (and I believe this is only way to establish social communal justice for all mankind) will we be able to overcome today’s crisis and to seek for an alternative form of civilization, and its basic spirit of mutual prosperity and co-existence, according to Shamir, “the New Meaning of Cross.” This must be the real meaning of “human dignity.” In addition, the participation of Asians, including Japanese, will be indispensable to a movement in which the Eastern civilizations should play one of the most important roles. [I’ve learned the Spanish history in which Muslims, Christians and Jews lived together peacefully in the Islam era (and Christian conquerors destroyed it!), which might indicate that mutual prosperity and co-existence are possible even within monotheist cultures. Nevertheless, today some powerful people are loudly shouting “clash of civilizations!” They are simply expanding the Three Poisons as I mentioned above. This should be considered the real crisis.] Lastly, I want to present a wonderful image. In the precincts of Kiyomizu-dera [Buddhist Temple in Kyoto] there is a sanctuary of Shinto called “Jishu-jinja” and the people who come to worship at the temple will visit here, too. Until the end of the Edo period (1603-1867), the co-existence of a Buddhist temple and a Shinto sanctuary on the same grounds was very common, and Buddhist priests often served concurrently in the Shinto shrine. When Buddhism came to Japan about 1,500 years ago, there were some conflicts between the native gods and Buddha as a newcomer god, but soon they invented pretty solutions: the gods became patrons of Buddha, Buddha authorized the gods, and the gods reigning in the land sometimes became the landowner of a temple and so Buddha was a tenant. With these methods they could become peaceful and respectful to each other. Adding to that, the Hindu gods who came together with Buddha were also welcomed as sub-members of the Japanese gods’ circle under the condition that they not exhibit their brutality but supply people with happiness and prosperity. [There are many opinions about this Japanese syncretism of Buddhism and Shinto, but it is true that the Japanese people have been equally worshipping both.] Sad to say, Japan began to rush onto the road of imperialism just after the government of Meiji period (1868-1912) decided on the separation of Shinto from Buddhism, then Shinto was tied to the ‘Ten-no Myth’ forming a new religion that was more hierarchic and singular. The result was one of the most monstrous disasters for both foreigners and our own people. ********************************************************************** About the author; Akira Doujimaru is a Japanese writer living in Spain. Contact : akiradoujimaru@infoseek.jp
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