Eloquent Zen

Eloquent Zen PDF Author: Kenneth Kraft
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 9780824819521
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
Zen master Daito (1282-1337) played a leading role in the transmission of Zen (Ch'an) from China to Japan. He founded Daitokuji, a major monastery that has been influential for centuries, and he provided interpretations of Chinese texts. Daito's traditional biography is full of vivid episodes, including his years among the beggars of Kyoto and ending with his dramatic death in the meditation posture. Despite his importance, however, Daito has remained virtually unknown in the West. With the publication of Eloquent Zen Kenneth Kraft offers the first comprehensive account of the life and teachings of one of the greatest of Japan's Zen masters. Dr. Kraft begins with the foundations of medieval Japanese Zen. He shows that Daito's predecessors were concerned with clarifying the essentials of Zen as it began to take root in Japan. During this formative phase, the Zen pioneers embraced varied conceptions of enlightenment and divergent notions of authenticity. Kraft places Daito's contributions within this context, offering new insights about early Japanese Zen and about Zen itself. Throughout this study, Kraft looks closely at the complex role of language in Zen--a tradition supposedly distrustful of words. Daito wrote haiku-like poetry, participated in brilliant dialogues, and delivered powerful sermons. His virtuosity in articulating the way of Zen, "beyond words, beyond silence, " is nowhere more apparent than in his use of the capping phrase, an interpretive and commentarial device unique to Zen. Analyzing Daito's use of this device, Kraft elucidates the significance of the literary and aesthetic dimensions of the Zen tradition. Eloquent Zen includes valuable translations of Daito's poetryand other writings. Illustrations include three classic portraits of Daito and rare examples of his calligraphy. This lucid and engaging study will interest scholars and nonspecialists interested in Zen, Japanese culture, and Asian philosophy, poetry, and related fields.

Eloquent Zen

Eloquent Zen PDF Author: Kenneth Kraft
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 9780824819521
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 284

Get Book

Book Description
Zen master Daito (1282-1337) played a leading role in the transmission of Zen (Ch'an) from China to Japan. He founded Daitokuji, a major monastery that has been influential for centuries, and he provided interpretations of Chinese texts. Daito's traditional biography is full of vivid episodes, including his years among the beggars of Kyoto and ending with his dramatic death in the meditation posture. Despite his importance, however, Daito has remained virtually unknown in the West. With the publication of Eloquent Zen Kenneth Kraft offers the first comprehensive account of the life and teachings of one of the greatest of Japan's Zen masters. Dr. Kraft begins with the foundations of medieval Japanese Zen. He shows that Daito's predecessors were concerned with clarifying the essentials of Zen as it began to take root in Japan. During this formative phase, the Zen pioneers embraced varied conceptions of enlightenment and divergent notions of authenticity. Kraft places Daito's contributions within this context, offering new insights about early Japanese Zen and about Zen itself. Throughout this study, Kraft looks closely at the complex role of language in Zen--a tradition supposedly distrustful of words. Daito wrote haiku-like poetry, participated in brilliant dialogues, and delivered powerful sermons. His virtuosity in articulating the way of Zen, "beyond words, beyond silence, " is nowhere more apparent than in his use of the capping phrase, an interpretive and commentarial device unique to Zen. Analyzing Daito's use of this device, Kraft elucidates the significance of the literary and aesthetic dimensions of the Zen tradition. Eloquent Zen includes valuable translations of Daito's poetryand other writings. Illustrations include three classic portraits of Daito and rare examples of his calligraphy. This lucid and engaging study will interest scholars and nonspecialists interested in Zen, Japanese culture, and Asian philosophy, poetry, and related fields.

Eloquent Zen

Eloquent Zen PDF Author: Kenneth Kraft
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781422351581
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description


Zen and Material Culture

Zen and Material Culture PDF Author: Pamela D. Winfield
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190693738
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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Book Description
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: the interdisciplinary study of Zen's matters (objects and images) ultimately speaks to larger Zen matters (ideas, ideals) that matter (in the predicate sense) to both male and female practitioners, often because such matters (economic considerations) help to ensure the cultural and institutional survival of the tradition. Zen and Material Culture expands the study of Japanese Zen Buddhism to include material inquiry as an important complement to mainly textual, institutional, or ritual studies. It also broadens the traditional purview of art history by incorporating the visual culture of everyday Zen objects and images into the canon of recognized masterpieces by elite artists. Finally, the volume extends Japanese material and visual cultural studies into new research territory by taking up Zen's rich trove of materia liturgica and supplementing the largely secular approach to studying Japanese popular culture. This groundbreaking volume will be a resource for anyone whose interests lie at the intersection of Zen art, architecture, history, ritual, tea ceremony, women's studies, and the fine line between Buddhist materiality and materialism.

Eloquent Silence

Eloquent Silence PDF Author: Nyogen Senzaki
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0861715594
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 458

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Book Description
This new book, Eloquent Silence, brings depth and breadth to our knowledge and appreciation of this historic figure. For the first time, we can read Nyogen Senzaki's commentaries on the complete Gateless Gate, as well as on several cases from the Blue Rock Collection and the Book of Equanimity; and transcriptions of his talks on Zen, esoteric Buddhism, the Lotus Sutra, what it means to be a Buddhist monk, and many other subjects. Eloquent Silence also includes poems in Nyogen Senzaki's beautiful calligraphic hand (and his own translations); two early letters to his teacher, Soyen Shaku (who represented Japan at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893), as well as a partial autobiography of Soyen Shaku; a series of letters in response to an article by Nyogen Senzaki that was severely critical of the Japanese Zen establishment; and rare photographs. Roko Sherry Chayat has edited Nyogen Senzaki's words with sensitivity and grace, retaining his wry, probing style yet bringing clarity and accessibility to these remarkably contemporary teachings.

Approaches to Chan, Sŏn, and Zen Studies

Approaches to Chan, Sŏn, and Zen Studies PDF Author: Albert Welter
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438490909
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 390

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Book Description
This volume focuses on Chinese Chan Buddhism and its spread across East Asia, with special attention to its impacts on Korean Sŏn and Japanese Zen. Zen enthralled the scholarly world throughout much of the twentieth century, and Zen Studies became a major academic discipline in its wake. Interpreted through the lens of Japanese Zen and its reaction to events in the modern world, Zen Studies incorporated a broad range of Zen-related movements in the East Asian Buddhist world. As broad as the scope of Zen Studies was, however, it was clearly rooted in a Japanese context, and aspects of the "Zen experience" that did not fit modern Japanese Zen aspirations tended to be marginalized and ignored. Approaches to Chan, Sŏn, and Zen Studies acknowledges the move beyond Zen Studies to recognize the changing and growing parameters of the field. The volume also examines the modern dynamics in each of these traditions.

Zen Ritual

Zen Ritual PDF Author: Steven Heine
Publisher: OUP USA
ISBN: 0195304675
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
Written by prominent scholars, this text covers rituals from the early Chan period to modern Japan and key developments that occurred in the Linji/Rinzai and Caodon/Soto schools. It describes how rituals mould the lives of its practitioners in accordance with the ideal of Zen awakening.

Zen Classics

Zen Classics PDF Author: Steven Heine
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 9780195175264
Category : Zen Buddhism
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description
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.

Zen Pathways

Zen Pathways PDF Author: Bret W. Davis
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0197573681
Category : Zen Buddhism
Languages : en
Pages : 481

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Book Description
Preface: Why Write or Read this Book? -- 1. What Really is Zen? Recovering the Beginner's Open Mind -- 2. Previewing the Path of Zen: Know Thyself, Forget Thyself, Open Thyself -- 3. Zen Meditation as a Practice of Clearing the Heart-Mind -- 4. How to Practice Zen Meditation: Attending to Place, Body, Breath, and Mind -- 5. The Buddha's First and Last Lesson: The Middle Way of Knowing What Suffices -- 6. The Buddha's Strong Medicine: Embracing Impermanence -- 7. The True Self is Egoless -- 8. We are One: Loving Others as Yourself -- 9. But We Are Not the Same: Taking Turns as the Center of the Universe -- 10. Who or What is the Buddha? -- 11. Mind is Buddha: So, if You Encounter the Buddha, Kill Him! -- 12. Dying to Live: Zen, Pure Land Buddhism, and Christianity -- 13. Zen as Trans-Mysticism: Everyday Even Mind is the Way -- 14. Engaged Zen: From Inner to Outer Peace -- 15. The Dharma of Karma: We Reap What We Sow -- 16. Zen and Morality: Following Rules to Where There Are No Rules -- 17. Being in the Zone of Zen: The Natural Freedom of No-Mind -- 18. Zen Lessons from Nature: Samu and the Giving Leaves -- 19. Zen and Art: Cultivating Naturalness -- 20. Zen and Language: The Middle Way Between Silence and Speech -- 21. Between Zen and Philosophy: Commuting with the Kyoto School -- 22. Sōtō and Rinzai Zen Practice: Just Sitting and Working with Kōans -- 23. Death and Rebirth--Or, Nirvana Here and Now -- 24. Reviewing the Path of Zen: The Ten Oxherding Pictures -- Endnotes -- Discussion Questions -- Index.

Zen Sand

Zen Sand PDF Author: Victor Sogen Hori
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 0824865677
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 785

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Book Description
Zen Sand is a classic collection of verses aimed at aiding practitioners of kôan meditation to negotiate the difficult relationship between insight and language. As such it represents a major contribution to both Western Zen practice and English-language Zen scholarship. In Japan the traditional Rinzai Zen kôan curriculum includes the use of jakugo, or "capping phrases." Once a monk has successfully replied to a kôan, the Zen master orders the search for a classical verse to express the monk’s insight into the kôan. Special collections of these jakugo were compiled as handbooks to aid in that search. Until now, Zen students in the West, lacking this important resource, have been severely limited in carrying out this practice. Zen Sand combines and translates two standard jakugo handbooks and opens the way for incorporating this important tradition fully into Western Zen practice. For the scholar, Zen Sand provides a detailed description of the jakugo practice and its place in the overall kôan curriculum, as well as a brief history of the Zen phrase book. This volume also contributes to the understanding of East Asian culture in a broader sense.

Esoteric Zen

Esoteric Zen PDF Author: Stephan Kigensan Licha
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004541896
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 357

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Book Description
When a Zen teacher tells you to point at your mind, which part of your body do you point at? According to the Japanese master Chikotsu Daie (1229–1312), you should point at the fistful of meat that is your heart. Esoteric Zen demonstrates that far from an outlier, Daie's understanding reflects the medieval Buddhist mainstream, in which tantric teachings and Zen were closely entwined movements that often developed within the same circles of thinkers and texts. ,br/> Drawing on newly discovered manuscript materials, it shows how medieval practitioners constructed a unique form of Zen by drawing on tantric doctrinal discourses.