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Books > Religion & Spirituality > Non-Christian religions > Religions of Indic & Oriental origin > Buddhism > Zen Buddhism
This volume continues the work of a recent collection published in
2012 by Oxford University Press, Dogen: Textual and Historical
Studies. It features some of the same outstanding authors as well
as some new experts who explore diverse aspects of the life and
teachings of Zen master Dogen (1200-1253), the founder of the Soto
Zen sect (or Sotoshu) in early Kamakura-era Japan. The contributors
examine the ritual and institutional history of the Soto school,
including the role of the Eiheji monastery established by Dogen as
well as various kinds of rites and precepts performed there and at
other temples. Dogen and Soto Zen builds upon and further refines a
continuing wave of enthusiastic popular interest and scholarly
developments in Western appropriations of Zen. In the last few
decades, research in English and European languages on Dogen and
Soto Zen has grown, aided by an increasing awareness on both sides
of the Pacific of the important influence of the religious movement
and its founder. The school has flourished throughout the medieval
and early modern periods of Japanese history, and it is still
spreading and reshaping itself in the current age of globalization.
This book provides an in-depth textual and literary analysis of the
Blue Cliff Record (Chinese Biyanlu, Japanese Hekiganroku), a
seminal Chan/Zen Buddhist collection of commentaries on one hundred
gongan/koan cases, considered in light of historical, cultural, and
intellectual trends from the Song dynasty (960-1279). Compiled by
Yuanwu Keqin in 1128, the Blue Cliff Record is considered a classic
of East Asian literature for its creative integration of prose and
verse as well as hybrid or capping-phrase interpretations of
perplexing cases. The collection employs a variety of rhetorical
devices culled from both classic and vernacular literary sources
and styles and is particularly notable for its use of indirection,
allusiveness, irony, paradox, and wordplay, all characteristic of
the approach of literary or lettered Chan. However, as instrumental
and influential as it is considered to be, the Blue Cliff Record
has long been shrouded in controversy. The collection is probably
best known today for having been destroyed in the 1130s at the dawn
of the Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279) by Dahui Zonggao, Yuanwu's
main disciple and harshest critic. It was out of circulation for
nearly two centuries before being revived and partially
reconstructed in the early 1300s. In this book, Steven Heine
examines the diverse ideological connections and disconnections
behind subsequent commentaries and translations of the Blue Cliff
Record, thereby shedding light on the broad range of gongan
literature produced in the eleventh to thirteenth centuries and
beyond.
The Records of Mazu and the Making of Classical Chan Literature
explores the growth, makeup, and transformation of Chan (Zen)
Buddhist literature in late medieval China. The volume analyzes the
earliest extant records about the life, teachings, and legacy of
Mazu Daoyi (709-788), the famous leader of the Hongzhou School and
one of the principal figures in Chan history. While some of the
texts covered are well-known and form a central part of classical
Chan (or more broadly Buddhist) literature in China, others have
been largely ignored, forgotten, or glossed over until recently.
Poceski presents a range of primary materials important for the
historical study of Chan Buddhism, some translated for the first
time into English or other Western language. He surveys the
distinctive features and contents of particular types of texts, and
analyzes the forces, milieus, and concerns that shaped key
processes of textual production during this period. Although his
main focus is on written sources associated with a celebrated Chan
tradition that developed and rose to prominence during the Tang era
(618-907), Poceski also explores the Five Dynasties (907-960) and
Song (960-1279) periods, when many of the best-known Chan
collections were compiled. Exploring the Chan School's creative
adaptation of classical literary forms and experimentation with
novel narrative styles, The Records of Mazu and the Making of
Classical Chan Literature traces the creation of several
distinctive Chan genres that exerted notable influence on the
subsequent development of Buddhism in China and the rest of East
Asia.
In this groundbreaking collection of essays edited by Steven Heine,
leading scholars of Buddhism from both sides of the Pacific explore
the life and thought of Zen Master Dogen (1200-1253), the founder
of the Japanese Soto sect. Through both textual and historical
analysis, the volume shows Dogen in context of the Chinese Chan
tradition that influenced him and demonstrates the tremendous,
lasting impact he had on Buddhist thought and culture in Japan. The
essays provide critical new insight into Dogen's writings. Special
attention is given to the Shobogenzo and several of its fascicles,
which express Dogen's views on such practices and rituals as using
supranormal powers (jinzu), reading the sutras (kankin), diligent
training in zazen meditation (shikan taza), and the koan realized
in everyday life (genjokoan). Dogen: Textual and Historical Studies
also analyzes the historical significance of this seminal figure:
for instance, Dogen's methods of appropriating Chan sources and his
role relative to that of his Japanese Zen predecessor Eisai,
considered the founder of the Rinzai sect, who preceded Dogen in
traveling to China. This book is a crucial contribution to the
advancement of specialized studies of Dogen, as well as to the
Chan/Zen school in the context of East Asian religions and their
social and historical trends.
The Linjilu (Record of Linji or LJL) is one of the foundational
texts of Chan/Zen Buddhist literature, and an accomplished work of
baihua (vernacular) literature. Its indelibly memorable title
character, the Master Linji-infamous for the shout, the whack of
the rattan stick, and the declaration that sutras are toilet
paper-is himself an embodiment of the very teachings he propounds
to his students: he is a "true person," free of dithering; he
exhibits the non-verbal, unconstrained spontaneity of the
buddha-nature; he is always active, never passive; and he is aware
that nothing is lacking at all, at any time, in his round of daily
activities. This bracing new translation transmits the LJL's living
expression of Zen's "personal realization of the meaning beyond
words," as interpreted by ten commentaries produced by Japanese Zen
monks, over a span of over four centuries, ranging from the late
1300s, when Five-Mountains Zen flourished in Kyoto and Kamakura,
through the early 1700s, an age of thriving interest in the LJL.
These Zen commentaries form a body of vital, in-house interpretive
literature never before given full credit or center stage in
previous translations of the LJL. Here, their insights are fully
incorporated into the translation itself, allowing the reader
unimpeded access throughout, with more extensive excerpts available
in the notes. Also provided is a translation of the earliest extant
material on Linji, including a neglected transmission-record entry
relating to his associate Puhua, which indicate that the LJL is a
fully-fledged work of literature that has undergone editorial
changes over time to become the compelling work we know today.
A koan is a narrative or dialogue used to provoke the "great doubt"
and test a student's progress in Zen practice. The Mu Koan consists
of a brief conversation in which a monk asks master Zhaozhou
Congshen whether or not a dog has Buddha-nature. The reply is Mu:
literally, ''No.'' This case is widely considered to be the single
best known and most widely circulated and transmitted koan record
of the Zen school of Buddhism. The Mu Koan is especially well known
for the intense personal experiences it offers those seeking an
existential transformation from anxiety to spiritual illumination.
Steven Heine demonstrates that the Gateless Gate version, preferred
by Dahui and so many other key-phrase advocates, does not by any
means constitute the final word concerning the meaning and
significance of the Mu Koan. Another impact version has been the
Dual Version, which is the ''Yes-No'' rendition to the Mu Koan.
Like Cats and Dogs offers critical insight and a new historical
perspective on ''the koan of koans.''
In 1654 Zen Master Yinyuan traveled from China to Japan. Seven
years later his monastery, Manpukuji, was built and he had founded
his own tradition called Obaku. The sequel to Jiang Wu's 2008 book
Enlightenment in Dispute: The Reinvention of Chan Buddhism in
Seventeenth-Century China, Leaving for the Rising Sun tells the
story of the tremendous obstacles Yinyuan faced, drawing parallels
between his experiences and the broader political and cultural
context in which he lived. Yinyuan claimed to have inherited the
"Authentic Transmission of the Linji Sect" and, after arriving in
Japan, was able to persuade the Shogun to build a new Ming-style
monastery for the establishment of his Obaku school. His arrival in
Japan coincided with a series of historical developments including
the Ming-Qing transition, the consolidation of early Tokugawa
power, the growth of Nagasaki trade, and rising Japanese interest
in Chinese learning and artistic pursuits. While Yinyuan's travel
has been noted, the significance of his journey within East Asian
history has not yet been fully explored. Jiang Wu's thorough study
of Yinyuan provides a unique opportunity to reexamine the crisis in
the continent and responses from other parts of East Asia. Using
Yinyuan's story to bridge China and Japan, Wu demonstrates that the
monk's significance is far greater than the temporary success of a
religious sect. Rather, Yinyuan imported to Japan a new discourse
of authenticity that gave rise to indigenous movements that
challenged a China-centered world order. Such indigenous movements,
however, although appearing independent from Chinese influence, in
fact largely relied on redefining the traditional Chinese discourse
of authenticity. Chinese monks such as Yinyuan, though situated at
the edge of the political and social arenas, actively participated
in the formation of a new discourse on authenticity, which
eventually led to the breakup of a China-centered world order.
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