Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > Non-Christian religions > Religions of Indic & Oriental origin > Buddhism > Zen Buddhism
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Opening a Mountain - Koans of the Zen Masters (Paperback, New Ed)
Loot Price: R1,876
Discovery Miles 18 760
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Opening a Mountain - Koans of the Zen Masters (Paperback, New Ed)
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With the growing popularity of Zen Buddhism in the West, virtually
everyone knows, or thinks they know, what a koan is: a brief and
baffling question or statement that cannot be solved by the logical
mind and which, after sustained concentration, can lead to sudden
enlightenment. But the truth about koans is both simpler--and more
complicated--than this.
In Opening a Mountain, Steven Heine shows that koans, and the
questions we associate with them--such as "What is the sound of one
hand clapping?"--are embedded in larger narratives and belong to an
ancient Buddhist tradition of "encounter dialogues." These
dialogues feature dramatic and often inscrutable contests between
masters and disciples, or between masters and an array of natural
and supernatural forces: rouge priests, "wild foxes," hermits,
wizards, shapeshifters, magical animals, and dangerous women. To
establish a new monastery, "to open a mountain," the Zen master had
to tame these wild forces in regions most remote from civilization.
In these extraordinary encounters, fingers and arms are cut off,
pitchers are kicked over, masters appear in and interpret each
other's dreams, and seemingly absurd statements are shown to reveal
the deepest insights. Heine restores these koans to their original
traditions, allowing readers to see both the complex elements of
Chinese culture and religion that they reflect and the role they
played in Zen's transformation of local superstitions into its own
teachings.
Offering a fresh approach to one of the most crucial elements of
Zen Buddhism, Opening a Mountain is essential reading for anyone
seeking to understand the full story behind koans and the
mysterious worlds they come from.
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