Zen and 'cultural studies' group-think

[NEIL MARTIN]

Looks like I've opened a real can of worms here and I was only introducing
myself!  I never realised zen could provoke such an extreme reaction
(particularly from someone who has lived in a buddhist monastery).  one of
the questions I will be tackling in my forthcoming dissertation will be
along the lines of "Is the influence of Zen Buddhism apparent in Japanese
cinema?"  I believe that it is impossible to ignore the influence of
religion, and similar widely held beliefs, on the cultural product of any
given society.  It is somewhat naive or perhaps pretentious to ignore the
influence of Zen on Japanese cinema just because of a few clumsy, half baked
attempts of 30 years ago.  i feel it is valid to open a discussion on Zen
and Japanese film if only for the fact that it does indeed provoke a
discourse with varying opinions.
Yours not so skeptically,
Neil Martin.