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Books > Religion & Spirituality > Non-Christian religions > Religions of Indic & Oriental origin > Buddhism > Zen Buddhism
At the heart of this book is one of the most ancient and profound
question philosophers, spiritual seekers, and curious individuals
have pondered since the beginning of history: "Who am I?". Advances
in modern science, and access to Zen tradition, have provided us
with broader and richer understanding of this topic. Over the
chapters the author, a psychologist and Zen master, investigates
how the brain fosters a sense of an independent self, situating his
research in the contexts of neuroscience, ecology, evolution,
psychology, and of the principles Eastern wisdom traditions. The
book explores a broad range of insights from brain science,
evolutionary biology, astronomy, clinical psychology, thoughts and
emotions, mental health disorders, and Zen Buddhism. This book will
appeal to psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers,
counsellors, and researchers of Eastern traditions. General readers
interested in the functioning of the brain will discover practical
ways to integrate fascinating new findings on an age-old question
into their everyday life.
This book tells about the "History of Zen" in China and Japan. It
has altogether 16 chapters. The first eight chapters are about Zen
in China and the later eight chapters about Zen in Japan. It is
mainly concerned with a detailed account of inheriting lineage and
sermons of different Zen schools and sects in China and Japan as
well as the specific facts of Chinese monks crossing over to Japan
for preaching and Japanese monks coming to China for studying. Chan
(Zen) Buddhism first arose in China some fifteen hundred years ago,
with Bodhidarma or Daruma being the First Patriarch. It would go on
to become the dominant form of Buddhism in China in the late Tang
Dynasty, absorbing China's local culture to form a kind of Zen
Buddhism with Chinese characteristics. Zen Buddhism has not only
exerted considerable influence on Chinese society and culture
throughout its history, but has also found its way into Japan and
the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The lineage charts at
the end of the book, collected by the author from different corners
of the world, represent an invaluable resource. Further, the works
and views on Zen of Western scholars introduced in this book are of
great reference value for the Zen world.
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