Curt John Ducasse

The Belief in a Life after Death

The prima facie evidence of survival provided by an apparition is greatest when it supplies information that was unknown to the percipient. Among a number of well-attested reports of just this, two, which are so clear-cut that they have become classics in this field, may be cited briefly.

A Critical Examination of the Belief in a Life After Death.

Zen. He is quite adamant and uncompromising on the point that seven and only seven characteristics are derivable from the objects. Moreover, he says that each characteristic does not exist independently of the others, and that, in fact, they all exist simultaneously or interpenetratively with several or all of the others (p. 37). With the reviewers English rendition in parentheses, the seven characteristics are: (1) fukinsei (asymmetry), (2) kanso (simplicity), (3) kok6 (austerity and storied witheredness), (4) shizen (naturalness), (5) yigen (profundity), (6) datsuzoku (detachment or non-formalism), and (7) seijaku (tranquillity). These characteristics are by no means easy to understand, and yet by design perhaps understanding is facilitated somewhat by the copious running references to the plates in the text. Worth considering is Hisamatsus denial of the identity of simplicity and purity characteristic of Zen and Shinto forms of art. He contends that the structure of a Shinto shrine, such as the Grand Shrine of Ise and its compounds, does not exhibit the same characteristics as seen in the case of a Zen temple and its garden. It lacks such characteristics as asymmetry, detachment, and austerity and storied witheredness (p. 38). The Japanese text is relatively short, amounting to 106 pages, but it is to the point and permits the excellent selection of plates to speak for themselves. Much more could have been written about Zen and its characteristics, but, alas, Zen is no more when the ink dries. Certainly, several other unique characteristics of Zen entertained by other noted Zen scholars can be introduced for comparison and criticism, but it would seem better to have the reader judge for himself the measure of success achieved by the author in expressing the various dimensions and manifestations of Zen cultural life.