Modern zen and militarism

The Zen establishment were also fervent supporters of Japanese militarism from the Meiji period up through World War II. Produced lots of pro-war propaganda, taught that the Emperor was an enlightened being and that China was being "liberated from suffering", etc etc. The book Zen at War covers the history in great detail.The author traces modern Zen militarism back to how Zen was (almost?) totally banned during the early Meiji period -- it was seen as less Japanese than Shinto -- and the major temples and sects responded by cozying up to the state. Almost total support for Japan's imperial adventures followed.One detail that sticks with me was that there was this one Buddhist teacher in the countryside, who became an anarcho-communist after reading some communist texts and deciding they were in line with traditional buddhist teachings... He was executed by the state for trying to organize local peasants, with the complete support of the Zen establishment.Anyway, all this to say that yeah, Buddhism is just another world religion, with all the grime and killing that entails. (I say this as a Western Buddhist myself, lol.)Reddit user.