It is through the practice of the arts, and not through rules or theory that moral and spiritual values are taught in Japan. Author Robert E. Carter examines five arts (or "ways" in Japan): the martial art of aikido, Zen landscape gardening, the Way of Tea, the Way of Flowers, and pottery making. Each art is more than a mere craft, for each takes as its goal not just the teaching of ethics but the formation of the ethical individual. Transformation is the result of diligent practice and each art recognizes the importance of the body. Training the mind as well as the body results in important insights, habits, and attitudes that involve the whole person, both body and mind.

This fascinating book features the author's interviews with masters of the arts in Japan and his own experiences with the arts, along with background on the arts and ethics from Japanese philosophy and religion. Ultimately, the Japanese arts emerge as a deep cultural repository of ideal attitudes and behavior, which lead to enlightenment itself.

Foreword by Eliot Deutsch

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1.Self-Cultivation

The Bodymind
Unification of Body and Mind
Enlightenment
Meditation as a Path
The Resultant Transformation
Ki
A Brief Map

2. Aikido—The Way of Peace

The Beginnings
Aikido: One and Not One
Aikido and Budo
A Spiritual Way
Aikido and Ethics 
The Value and Worth of the Other
Aikido and Sports 
Yagyu
Letting Go of the Ego

3. Landscape Gardening as Interconnectedness

Prelude
The Shinto Influence
The Buddhist Influence
Zen-Inspired Gardens
Masuno’s Gardens
I and Thou
The Ethics of Gardens

4. The Way of Tea (Chado)—To Live without Contrivance

Background to the Way of Tea
Wabi
Zen and Pure Land
From Sen no Rikyu to Sen Genshitsu XV
Furyu
The Lineage
Beyond Language

5. The Way of Flowers (Ikebana)—Eternity

Is in the Moment
Introduction
Zen and Ikebana
Ikenobo
Shinto and Ikebana
The Koan of Living by Dying and Dying by Living
Reflections of a Pioneer
The Principle of Three
A Culture of Flowers

6. The Way of Pottery—Beauty Is in the Abdomen

Introduction
Non-Dualistic Awareness
Hamada: Teacher and Collector
. . . and Ethics?
Summary

Conclusion

Ethics and Self-Transformation
The Train to Takayama
Attitudes Revisited

Glossary
References
Index