Living in the Light of Death: Existential Philosophy in the Eastern Tradition, Zen, Samurai & Haiku

By developing an Eastern existential understanding of death from the perspective of Zen Buddhism, Bushido (the Way of the Samurai), and Japanese haiku poets, this book articulates an ethics of sincerity between the contemplative-meditation practice of mindfulness and the three Buddhist characteristics of existence: impermanence, suffering, and non-substantiality. Through an examination and discussion of the six perfections of Buddhism, karma and enlightenment, the samurai virtues of Bushido, and the Japanese aesthetic masterfully expressed in the nature, travel, and death poems of haiku poets (a mixture of Zen and mono no aware), readers may gain a deeper appreciation of the death-centered character ethics, or art of living, Scalambrino calls “living in the light of death.”