Day 17: Interview w/ Sensei

Today I brought my list of Bushido Literature from Tokugawa era to my samurai sword class. (How appropriate!)

After class, I asked sensei to look in my list and make some comments. But, first, I asked about Bushido literature from that period in general first. If there are any other more than my list.

Sensei said actually there are a lot more, but only in old book form (he means actual old manuscripts!) that is available for research only in library. And then there are some historical documents at castles and home of samurai. I think he means those that have been turned into museum. But if talking about those that could be obtained from bookstore, he said I have pretty much covered it. This delighted me a bit. At least I felt I have done my homework well!

Then, I told him my problem and at the same time used it to ask him a question. I told him that these books that I have listed, I already have them in English. There are plenty of the English version, some of them have been translated many times, even, by different translators!

The problem is, when I tried to look for the original Japanese version, I found that it is out of print! Why is that, I asked sensei. Or is it because every Japanese household already has one copy (from, say, Tokugawa period), so they do not need to buy a new copy, hence no need for the new reprint of the Japanese version?

I think my logical reasoning didn't work that well, because sensei did not look that convince. He only told me briefly that, if I ask any Japanese, they would know each book I mention by the name. They would know that it is about Bushido. But they would not know what is it that the book is teaching. Then I asked sensei why.

He did not answer me directly, but he answered me in such a way that made me think. Sensei always does this. He always made me think. He only replied briefly that, Thailand also has this similar problem, doesn't she? hmm.... (Deep!)

Then, I told sensei that, although I could not read Japanese yet (I mean, still very pathetic at around may be grade 2's capability), but I feel that I would like to read the original Japanese version also, in addition to the English and Thai one. Perhaps I could detect something similar in Japanese and Thai that the English version might have missed. Because I already noticed a few things in Japanese Buddhism terms and samurai sword training that my Buddhist mindfulness meditation training in Thailand has enabled me to understand.

To this point, sensei totally agreed and gave me full blessings, because he said he believes there are something missing in the English translation (sensei's English reading skill is very good) and that the Thai and Japanese have so much more in common, not only in culture and history, but also in the trianing of the mind.

Upon hearing this, I felt a surge of hope and courage in my heart. Bit by bit, one tiny step after another, I know I am on the right track. It may not be the world's major discovery or a major breakthrough like a cancer's medicine that can save lives, but I just hope it would be useful enough for people's mind to start them on the path out of suffering. All I need is to make people curious and want to try mindfulness themselves, believing that this could be the tool that helps them deal most effectively with their own suffering.

Sounds like the job of an advertiser. But, hey, that's what I've been doing most of my professional life. And this time it should be much easier even, because all I have to do is to tell the truth. I just have to put it together interestingly, that's all. Sounds just like a slogan of my former agency - - Truth Well Told! :)

Day 16: Another Shocking Sign of Time

I used to write in my other Thai blog awhile ago about the demise of Buddhism in Japan and its implication on mindfulness practice and teaching.

This news, however, reminds me again how true Lord Buddha's prediction is of the direction of Buddhism as a religion, not to mention the truth about the Law of Impermanence.

I could perhaps include this in my dissertation when I discuss about Mindfulness in Japan.

Here's the news.

The End of a 1,400-Year-Old Business: "The End of a 1,400-Year-Old Business
What entrepreneurs starting family businesses can learn from the demise of Japanese temple builder Kongo Gumi"

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On another issue, also related to my dissertation, I managed to do a literature review of some sort while having my haircut today! Well, that was after I decided to download Opera Mini Browser on my phone to try and found that my phone's existing browser is actually already better! Anyway, I decided to make some use on its welcome page so I searched for "Literature" on Wikipedia.

And I was happy that I did, because I learned things that I think I could use for my dissertation as follows.

Literature - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LiteraTure • Note created April 21, 2007

Different historical periods have emphasized various characteristics of literature. Early works often had an overt or covert religious or didactic purpose. Moralizing or prescriptive literature stems from such sources. The exotic nature of romance flourished from the Middle Ages onwards, whereas the Age of Reason manufactured nationalistic epics and philosophical tracts.

Interestingly, the authors of Bushido literature I want to study also lived during what was called the Age of Reason in Europe. And they seem to have the same concern of the moral condition of the society and wrote on the same theme!

Now, as to what "genre" they were writing.

Essays

An essay consists of a discussion of a topic from an author's personal point of view, exemplified by works by Francis Bacon or by Charles Lamb.

'Essay' in English derives from the French 'essai', meaning 'attempt'. Thus one can find open-ended, provocative and/or inconclusive essays. The term "essays" first applied to the self-reflective musings of Michel de Montaigne, and even today he has a reputation as the father of this literary form.

Genres related to the essay may include:

• the memoir, telling the story of an author's life from the author's personal point of view
• the epistle: usually a formal, didactic, or elegant letter.

Also interestingly, most, if not all of the Bushido literature I plan to study happens to fall in the same genre also! Yes! I have a feeling I'm on the right track! At first I thought it was an essay. But when I read on, it dawned upon me that ALL of them were written in a memoir style, with a tendency towards being an epistle even! It seems the educated Tokugawa samurai are very sophisticated writer! Their style are very elegant and their choice of words really shows they actually lived up to the standard of Bun and Bu at that time!


At first, I was thinking of "decoding" the mindfulness element as a "theme," in the Bushido literature when I saw what "theme" is being described as.

Themes in literature

Main article: Theme (literature)

Theme is a broad idea in a story, or a message conveyed by a work. This message is usually about life, society or human nature. Themes are usually implied rather than explicitly stated. Deep thematic content is not required in literature; however, some readers would say that all stories inherently project some kind of outlook on life that can be taken as a theme, regardless of whether or not this is the intent of the author. Analysis of changes in dynamic characters can provide insight into a particular theme.

But when I continued to read on the links, I discovered yet something new again!

Motif (literature) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motif_%28literature%29 • Note created April 21, 2007

Motif (literature)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

For other uses, see Motive.

In literature, a motif or motive is a recurring element that has symbolic significance in the story. Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes. The motif can be an idea, an object, a place, or a statement. The green light in The Great Gatsby and the repeated statement, "My father said that the reason for living is getting ready to stay dead," in William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying are examples of motifs. A motif can be something that recurs to develop the theme in a novel: In the beginning of To Kill a Mockingbird the children are told never to shoot a mockingbird because mockingbirds do nothing in their life but sing for people. At the end of the novel the theme of senseless killing is re-visited when Mr. Underwood talks of Tom's death.

A motif differs from a theme in that a theme is an idea set forth by a text, where a motif is a recurring element which symbolizes that idea. The motif can also be more like the central idea behind the theme, such as courage or loyalty.

Also known (redundantly) as a recurrent motif.

I guess this is how the word "hidden motif" was derived from?


Well, from what I found out today so far, looks like I have to set a hypothesis that I believe that

• Mindfulness is one of the key motifs in Tokugawa Bushido literature, whether or not it is the intention of the author.
  

I also read some more interesting entries in Wiki on Literary Criticism and Literary Theory. In the latter entry, I discover semiotics, semiology and semiotic literary criticism. The first two reminded me of that professor in The Da Vinci Code, actually, because it is more of a study of signs, symbols and meaning. The latter, however, is more related to the meaning in literature.

Semiotic literary criticism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiotic_literary_criticism • Note created April 21, 2007

Semiotic literary criticism

Semiotic literary criticism, also called literary semiotics, is the approach to literary criticism informed by the theory of signs or semiotics. Semiotics, tied closely to the structuralism pioneered by Ferdinand de Saussure, was extremely influential in the development of literary theory out of the formalist approaches of the early twentieth century.

The early forms of literary semiotics grew out of formalist approaches to literature, especially Russian formalism, and structuralist linguistics, especially the Prague school. Notable early semiotic authors included Vladimir Propp, Algirdas Julius Greimas, and Viktor Shklovsky. These critics were concerned with a formal analysis of narrative forms which would resemble a literary mathematics, or at least a literary syntax, as far as possible. They proposed various formal notations for narrative components and transformations and attempted a descriptive taxonomy of existing stories along these lines.

Propp's Morphology of the Folktale (orig. Russian pub. 1928; English trans. 1958) provides an example of the formal and systematic approach. In successive chapters, Propp analyzes the characters, plot events, and other elements of traditional folktales (primarily from Russia and Eastern Europe). For each of these key components he provides a letter designation (with superscripts to designate specific subtypes). He proceeds to analyze individual tales by transposing them into this notation and then to generalize about their structure. For example:

Analysis of a simple, single-move tale of class H-I, of the type: kidnapping of a person.

131. A tsar, three daughters (α). The daughters go walking (β³), overstay in the garden (δ¹). A dragon kidnaps them (A¹). A call for aid (B¹). Quest of three heroes (C↑). Three battles with the dragon (H¹–I¹), rescue of the maidens (K⁴). Return (↓), reward (w°). (Propp 128)

He then gives the complete structure of this story in one line of notation, the analysis complete and ready to be compared systematically with other tales:

αβ³δ¹A¹B¹C↑H¹–I¹K⁴↓w°

Later semiotic approaches to literature have often been less systematic (or, in some special cases such as Roland Barthes's S/Z, they have been so specifically and exhaustively systematic as to render the possibility of a complete literary semiotics doubtful). As structuralist linguistics gave way to a post-structuralist philosophy of language which denied the scientific ambitions of the general theory of signs, semiotic literary criticism became more playful and less systematic in its ambitions. Still, some authors harbor more scientific ambition for their literary schemata than others. Later authors in the semiotic tradition of literary criticism include Tzvetan Todorov, Mikhail Bakhtin, Roland Barthes, Julia Kristeva, Michael Riffaterre, and Umberto Eco.

Mathematic formula! Just what I need for my Bushido Literature's dissertation! Could somebody help me please!!!!???? :-) hee hee hee I just like to make a lot of noise and a big fuzz every time I have to face with anything quantitative, that's all. In fact, I have to admit that the equation looks very sexy to me! If I could only prove that there is that certain hidden "mindfulness motif" that is so consistent one could write formula like that out of those 5-6 books I plan to do content analysis on, I would not hesitate to just go ahead and try to prove that!

Well, I should have gone to bed long time ago because I have two sword classes tomorrow! Therefore, pray for me, World!

Day 15: Why Bushido is Still Relevant

Today I didn't have much time to do research or write because I had to teach spochan to the kids and also take Japanese class myself. (Taihen da!)


But since I made a resolution to myself to make some progress on my dissertation everyday, I managed to put my thoughts together on a mindmap, and also make a mental note of which books I would use as reference to my point. In fact, I used to write some articles about it already in Thai. So, when it's time for me to put it together in my dissertation, it's easier for my to put them all together when I look at it from my mindmap.



Without much further fanfare, here it is:

(Click to see a larger mindmap)

I also did some more speed-reading on a Thai textbook in Thai titled, "Japan Built Its Nation with Patriotism and Loyalty," by Ajarn Yupa Klangsuwan and still could not make up my mind which part(s) of the book would be most useful to me for more in-depth reading and quoting in my dissertation.

In this book (p.115, as footnote 13), Bushido was referred to as a "Law" developed since the Kamakura era (1100s) for the "higher-class" samurai to teach responsibility and preach ideology and was later adopted in mid 19 century as the ethical code of conduct to help build the nation with patriotism and loyalty by focusing on selfless sacrifice.

Although according to this book Bushido was said to have had an influence from Zen, it was labelled as a "Confucius' Thoughts and Way of Life."

Ok, not bad for a busy day like this, ne? :-)

Day 14: Research, Research & Research

Not that I am too lazy to come up with a more appropriate title for today's entry, but this is really what I have been doing all day! I was going full speed and so immersed in doing one research and reading after another that I forgot to eat on time, postponing my excercise, and even skipped my Japanese class!

At the end, my back hurt so much from sitting too many hours today, so I had to go down to excercise anyway.

Among other things that I need to find soonest is how or where I could get the Japanese version of the book titles that I plan to use for my content analysis. But as I continue to comb the web, more questions came up in my mind. It was more as a self-doubt: am I really sure these would be the books I will use? Have I really explored enough? Should I tried investigate Tokugawa's other literature some more?

I finally ended up did more research on Tokugawa society, religion, and thoughts. I also did look up more Bushido resources from that era. I did make many clips and put it on my Google Notebook for future reference. I also spent some time skimming through my saved bookmark in Yahoo My Web and told myself may be I should start first from there because I have at least 50 fine Bushido resources there in store.

Tomorrow I may not have that much time to work on my dissertation because I have my sword class. But at least I think today I did cover a lot of ground.

I will give the list of literature I plan to cover to my sensei this weekend and hear what he thinks. May be he can even lend me his own copy, if he has some! Being a samurai sword teacher, I see no reason why he wouldn't have ALL of them! hee hee hee

They are (in no particular order):

1. Budo Shoshinshu
2. Hagakure
3. The Unfettered Mind
4. The Live-Giving Sword,
5. The Book of Five Rings

Well, actually I have some more in mind. But at least these 5 would be my basic starting point!

Can't wait to roll up my sleeves and delve right into this project!

Oh, my eyes are so tired. I'd better try to get some sleep. Didn't have enough sleep for many days now. My brain just refuses to rest. I will need all the rest I could get for my sword practice tomorrow!

Day 13: Met w/ Advisor, Got New Direction

Is it a co-incident that I happened to have an appointment with my chief advisor on Day 13?

Well, depends how you look at it. There are both good news and bad news.

Bad news first. After an hour of a very fruitful discussion, he gave me a new direction again! In other words, I would not be doing what I have been painstakingly putting together during these past few weeks anymore. But that's normal for Ph.D. students. We do change our topics or directions for thousands of times before it sort of comes together.

But it was not so bad as Apollo 13! What I mean is that, my proposal was not completely shot down. We did not really take it apart. My advisor quite liked it, actually. And he also believed and said, perhaps for the first time, that looks like I'm going to make it this time (!). He told me to keep the Bushido part (which is exactly what I had in mind!), and ditch the Budo practice. That could take the role of background support info.

Now comes the big announcement. He wants me to take the SOCIOLOGY OF LITERATURE's approach! Basically, I'm going to do a content analysis of Bushido literature from Tokugawa period! And may be some other literature by samurais during that time. I have the list of books I want to do already! It is in the Table of Content of the Introduction Chapter I gave him today. But may be I have to do some more research on Japanese literature, just in case that question comes up during my defense...

In fact, it's back to square one. Because this is what I originally proposed to JSPS and got my research grant for: looking for mindfulness elements in Bushido literature from Tokugawa period and analyze it in the social context of Tokugawa society in order to understand it better!

So, I think my advisor purposedly let me trying to find my way around for 3 years, reading everything I could relating to sociology, only to find out that my initial hunch was right in the first place! Gosh, what a clever way to teach! He has been very patient for 3 years, watching me growing up academically. Or have I? hmmm...May be not, because I guess I have forgotten what I read in the first year already! Darned!

Anyway, his approach is similar to my sword sensei, though. He waits until he sees that I'm ready. Then he told me what to do next. Sort of. He did not really tell me what to do, just give me more list of books to read (as usual) and told me to write. However, this time I really have to catch up fast with the reading list which I normally was too lazy to do. Big mistake! The list piles up fast, man! And before you know it, you feel you are never going to make it!

So, the first thing I did after coming back home after seeing him was Googling "Sociology of Literature." I groaned soon after the result came up? Why? First, the field was not covered in Wiki. And for me, if it is not in Wiki, then, something must be really, really wrong!

And, boy, was I right! Gosh, how come my advisor always send me on to the most difficult path? Why is that? Consider this:

The sociological interpretation Of literature is not a favorite son of organized social science. Since the emancipation of the study of literature from the rigid research dicta and historically cogent laws of philology, almost everybody with a fair access to reading and writing feels entitled to offer historical, aesthetic, and sociological criticism and generalization. The academic disciplines which have been traditionally charged with the history and analysis of literature have been caught unaware by the impact of mass literature, the best seller, the popular magazine, the comics and the like, and they have maintained an attitude of haughty indifference to the lower depths of imagination in print. A field and a challenge have thus been left open and the sociologist will have to do something about them.

Frankfurt School: On Sociology of Literature by Leo Lowenthal 1948

http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/lowenthal/1948/literature.htm

If I have more time and energy, I'll update some more about my revised proposal. But I have to do the actual revision first!

Like John Lennon once said, you win some, you lose some. You can't really have it all, I guess. But if you ask me how I felt after my first meeting with my chief advisor for the first time in what seems like aeons, I guess it's pretty ok. At least I got the answers I wanted for today. And I could work with more focus, although it seems I'm going to have even more work load than ever before with the new area I have to cover (soc of lit) and also some other books he mentioned today.

Again, the takeaway from this meeting is

• Keep Bushido, drop Budo.

• Drop Leadership Theory, develop own Operational Term for "Mindfulness" to use in Content Analysis.

• Methodology = Content Analysis.

• Content to be Analyzed = Bushido Literature from Tokugawa Period.

• Analytical Framework to make it Soc of Lit instead of just literature review = "Social Millieux" (or should it be Millieure?)

He also mentioned about Great Tradition and Little Tradition. Oh, there are still many more to read and understand. He emphasized the use of language and its symbolic interpretation. He also listened with interest and expressed agreement when I explained the changing meaning of the word "Nen" in Japanese to him. He said I could include that in my dissertation also.

So, what theories are we looking for now? Social exchange theory? Symbolic theory? Gee, I start to sound more and more like the professor in the Davinci Code who interprets the meaning of stuff in history. But that's what I'm about to set to do, to "decode" Bushido, the code of conduct for the legendary Tokugawa Samurai.

There you go, another title for my dissertation. I should start keeping tab of the ever-changing title of my dissertation, actually. May be that would be the last finishing touch of the whole work even! Don't you think?

Ok, as of today, let it be recorded as:

"Bushido Decoded: Unlocking the Mindfulness Elements in
Tokugawa Samurai's Code of Conduct"

Hmm...I like it. Sounds like "Matrix Reloaded" and "Da Vinci Code" reel into one! hee hee hee Well, we'll see if I could really reload it from the past decode it and deliver what this title promises!

Day 8: Tokugawa's Bushido vs. Meiji's Bushido

Today, I was mulling over the idea of doing the content analysis of comparing Bushido literature from the two periods. That would fall right into the realm of my advisor in Japan who has recommended me earlier!

During Meiji Era, the samurai class was effectively gone. And so would Bushido literature, theoretically. Therefore, the only book I know is the one by Professor Inazo Nitobe.

The problems are:

1. Would the idea of comparing Bushido literature from two periods alone would be substantive enough for a Ph.D. dissertation?

2. Would Nitobe's book alone enough to represent Meiji's era thinking?

Well, I still have to put "Transformational Leadership" into the equation, mind you!

Arghhhhhhh!!!!!!

Tough decision! Some body help me, please!

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Went to see Than Vor (W. Vajiramedhi), the young scholar monk today at Benjamabopit Temple to make merit & ask him to pray for Grandmom and also to ask his advice on my dissertation.

Upon hearing that I finally found the aspect I would like to talk about--Leadership--, he helped point out to me how Lord Buddha achieved his Leadership Attributes (Barami 10) and what were the tools through which he excercised his Leadership (Tosapolyan 10).

This is one of the reasons I like visiting him. He is such a wealth of treasure, not only on academic stuff, but also on the issue that is most important to me--Mindfulness Practice! Like Lord Buddha once said in Mangala Sutta, to see monks is one of the highest virtues! Indeed it is! :-)