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Did Dōgen Go to China?
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 324

Did Dōgen Go to China?

Dōgen (1200-1253), the founder of the Sōtō Zen sect in Japan, is especially known for introducing to Japanese Buddhism many of the texts and practices that he discovered in China. Heine reconstructs the context of Dōgen's travels to and reflections on China by means of a critical look at traditional sources both by and about Dōgen in light of recent Japanese scholarship. While many studies emphasize the unique features of Dōgen's Japanese influences, this book calls attention to the way Chinese and Japanese elements were fused in Dōgen's religious vision. It reveals many new materials and insights into Dogen's main writings, including the multiple editions of the Shōbōgenzō, and how and when this seminal text was created by Dōgen and was edited and interpreted by his disciples. This book is the culmination of the author's thirty years of research on Dōgen and provides the reader with a comprehensive approach to the master's life works and an understanding of the overall career trajectory of one of the most important figures in the history of Buddhism and Asian religious thought.

Zen and Material Culture
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 353

Zen and Material Culture

  • Categories: Art

The stereotype of Zen Buddhism as a minimalistic or even immaterial meditative tradition persists in the Euro-American cultural imagination. This volume calls attention to the vast range of "stuff" in Zen by highlighting the material abundance and iconic range of the Soto, Rinzai, and Obaku sects in Japan. Chapters on beads, bowls, buildings, staffs, statues, rags, robes, and even retail commodities in America all shed new light on overlooked items of lay and monastic practice in both historical and contemporary perspectives. Nine authors from the cognate fields of art history, religious studies, and the history of material culture analyze these "Zen matters" in all four senses of the phrase...

Buddhism in the Modern World : Adaptations of an Ancient Tradition
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 306

Buddhism in the Modern World : Adaptations of an Ancient Tradition

The history of Buddhism has been characterized by an ongoing tension between attempts to preserve traditional ideals and modes of practice and the need to adapt to changing cultural conditions. Many developments in Buddhist history, such as the infusion of esoteric rituals, the rise of devotionalism and lay movements, and the assimilation of warrior practices, reflect the impact of widespread social changes on traditional religious structures. At the same time, Buddhism has been able to maintain its doctrinal purity to a remarkable degree. This volume explores how traditional Buddhist communities have responded to the challenges of modernity, such as science and technology, colonialism, and ...

The Zen Canon
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 337

The Zen Canon

Bodhidharma, its first patriarch, reputedly said that Zen Buddhism represents "a special transmission outside the teaching/Without reliance on words and letters." This saying, along with the often perplexing use of language (and silence) by Zen masters, gave rise to the notion that Zen is a "lived religion," based strictly on non-linguistic practice and lacking a substantial canon of sacred texts. Even those who recognize the importance of Zen texts commonly limit their focus to a few select texts without recognizing the wide variety of Zen literature. This collection of previously unpublished essays argues that Zen actually has a rich and varied literary heritage. Among the most significant...

Flowers Blooming on a Withered Tree
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 293

Flowers Blooming on a Withered Tree

"This volume containing a translation, annotations, and historical studies of Giun's (1200-1253) Verse Comments on Dōgen's Treasury of the True Dharma Eye (Shōbōgenzō hinmokuju) represents the initial book-length contribution to a crucial though previously unnoticed sub-field in Japanese Buddhist studies involving text-historical and literary-philological examinations of a key example of the copious premodern collections of annotations and interpretations of the masterwork of Zen master Dōgen. It is the first study of the life and thought of Giun and of the 60-fascicle version of Dōgen's masterwork, which are crucial for understanding the history of the Sōtō Zen Buddhist sect's intellectual development. The main translation of this texts consists of four-line verses and capping phrases composed by Giun, which is accompanied by additional capping phrases that were contributed by an eighteenth-century commentator, Katsusdō Honkō. The book also provides an examination of the background and influences exerted on and by Giun's Verse Comments in relation to various aspects of Dōgen's writings and Zen thought in China and Japan"--

Buddhism in the Modern World
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 298

Buddhism in the Modern World

The history of Buddhism has been characterized by an ongoing tension between attempts to preserve traditional ideals and modes of practice and the need to adapt to changing cultural conditions. Many developments in Buddhist history, such as the infusion of esoteric rituals, the rise of devotionalism and lay movements, and the assimilation of warrior practices, reflect the impact of widespread social changes on traditional religious structures. At the same time, Buddhism has been able to maintain its doctrinal purity to a remarkable degree. This volume explores how traditional Buddhist communities have responded to the challenges of modernity, such as science and technology, colonialism, and ...

White Collar Zen
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 209

White Collar Zen

It is said that in traditional Japan the samurai embraced Zen because it helped them to be fearless in adversity, to act quickly and decisively, and to keep focused on their ultimate goal. In White Collar Zen, Steven Heine shows how, by applying Zen principles in our working lives, we can achieve the same results for ourselves. Heine describes the way Zen embraces two different yet harmonious paths. The Way of the Hermit teaches detachment--the mental clarity you need to view your situation dispassionately and impartially, to perceive who is an ally and who is a competitor, to understand what is possible and what is not. The Way of the Warrior teaches the ability to act without hesitation at...

The Koan
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 352

The Koan

  • Type: Book
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  • Published: 2000
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  • Publisher: Unknown

The essays collected in this volume argue that our understanding of the Koan tradition has been severely limited. The authors try to undermine stereotypes and problematic interpretations by examining unrecognized factors in the formation of this tradition.

Japan in Traditional and Postmodern Perspectives
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 368

Japan in Traditional and Postmodern Perspectives

  • Type: Book
  • -
  • Published: 1995-01-01
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  • Publisher: SUNY Press

This book displays the uniqueness and creativity of Japan in terms of the interplay between traditional and postmodern perspectives. It deals with the traditional elements in Japanese culture in the light of or in contrast to postmodernism.

Zen Classics
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 300

Zen Classics

  • Type: Book
  • -
  • Published: 2006
  • -
  • Publisher: Unknown

A companion volume to 'The Koan' and 'The Zen Canon' this text concentrates primarily on texts from Korea and Japan that brought the Zen tradition to fruition.