metaphysics

The Temple of the Golden Pavilion（三島由紀夫の金閣寺、英訳はIvan Morris）を読み始めました。英訳版は初めにNancy Wilson Rossの書いたIntroductionがあり、原本を読んだことのない私には参考になりますが、ここは小説を読んだ後に再度読んだ方が良さそうな内容です。今日取り上げる単語はこのIntroductionからです。
These special Zen technique are even utilized for ulterior purposes. So openly is this done by some of Mishima's characters that I was reminded of a criticism once written by Gerald Heard about the dangers inherent in the possible malpractice of Zen tenets: "Zen's anxiety to avoid metaphysics and to be purely empiric can end in the forging of an instrument which may be used by a fiend."
"metaphysics" は通常日本語で形而上学なる訳語があてられていますが、良く考えるとそもそも形而上学がなんたるものか余り意味が分かっていません。そこで英英辞書での説明を見る事にしました。
・Macmillan Dictionary: the part of philosophy that involves the study of ideas about life, existence, and other things that are not part of the physical world: Philosophy:dialectic, metaphysics, ontology...
・Vocabulary.com: Metaphysics is philosophical study of being and knowing. If you have ever contemplated your own existence in the universe, you were dabbling in metaphysics.
Metaphysics comes from the Greek meta ta physika ("the works after the Physics"), which refers those of Aristotle's writings that followed the natural sciences. This field of inquiry was later understood as "the science of things transcending what is physical and natural," like the existence of god or the origin of human knowledge. Metaphysics must therefore rely on philosophical logic, rather than scientific experiments, in exploring these questions.
なるほど、そうすると金閣寺は私には苦手な内容の話になりそうです。