| Abstract [eng] |
The Master's thesis focuses on three seminal works of Thomas P. Kasulis, linking Shintoism, Zen Buddhism and cultural orientation theory. The aim of the thesis is to reveal Kasulis's thinking on the religious worldview in Japan and to assess how he highlights the differences between Western and Japanese thinking as well as how he conveys the differences between Western and Eastern thinking through the models of cultural orientation that he invented. The objectives of the paper are as follows: to clarify how Kasulis defines and categorizes spirituality in the context of Shinto, to show how the researcher analyses and what traditional Shinto values he identifies. To explain how Kasulis approaches the traditional aspects of Zen Buddhism through the linguistic features of the Japanese language and the importance of context, and to analyze how Kasulis defines Zen Buddhist philosophy. Finally, to examine the author's models of cultural orientation and their applicability to Japanese culture. Using the method of critical discourse analysis, it is concluded that Kasulis distinguishes two forms of spirituality: the existential and the essentialist relation. The existentialist relation is based on engagement and bodily participation, while the essentialist one is related to ontological innate relationships. Looking at the Shinto values mentioned by the author, it was concluded that Kasulis not only describes but also discursively constructs these values as an alternative to Western rationality, presenting Shinto as a living form of culture that is revealed through experience. The analysis also shows that Kasulis presents Zen not as a system of theoretical ideas, but as a "philosophy of action" in which knowledge is derived from direct, pre-reflective experience. Using the linguistic features of the Japanese language and the principles of spontaneous action, Kasulis shows that Zen does not only present religious motifs but also expresses a shared cultural worldview. Finally, the fifth task analyzed Kasulis' theory of cultural orientations - the distinction between intimacy and integrity. The intimacy orientation, which is characteristic of Japanese culture, is associated with bodily cognition, emotional involvement and belonging, while the integrity orientation is associated with rationality, autonomy and conceptual knowledge. Kasulis’s theory has been shown to be conceptually compatible with theories of cultural psychology, which provide empirical support for such worldview differences. The Master's thesis may be useful for scholars to investigate how Kasulis’ models could be applied to the interpretation of other religious traditions (e.g. Confucianism or Daoism), or how his cultural orientations works in contemporary, globalized Japanese society today. |
