Zen Masters of Japan

Zen Masters of Japan PDF Author: Richard Bryan McDaniel
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
ISBN: 1462913571
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
Zen Masters of Japan is the second book in a series that traces Zen's profoundly historic journey as it spread eastward from China and Japan, toward the United States. Following Zen Masters of China, this book concentrates on Zen's significant passage through Japan. More specifically, it describes the lineage of the great teachers, the Zen monk pioneers who set out to enlighten an island ready for an inner transformation based on compassionate awareness. While the existing Buddhist establishment in Japan met early Zen pioneers like Dogen and Eisai with fervent resistance, Zen Buddhism ultimately perservered and continued to become further transformed in its passage through Japan. The Japanese culture and Japanese Buddhism practices further deepened and strengthened Zen training by combining it with a variety of esoteric contemplative arts—the arts of poetry, the tea ceremony, calligraphy, and archery. Zen Masters of Japan chronicles this journey with each Zen master profiled. The book shows how the new practices soon gained in popularity among all walks of life—from the lowly peasant, offering a hope of reincarnation and a better life; to the Samurai warrior due to its casual approach to death; to the ruling classes, challenging the intelligentsia because of its scholarly roots. A collection of Zen stories, meditation, and their wisdom, Zen Masters of Japan also explores the illusive state of 'No Mind' achieved in Japan that is so fundamental to Zen practices today.

Zen Masters of Japan

Zen Masters of Japan PDF Author: Richard Bryan McDaniel
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
ISBN: 1462913571
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 288

Get Book

Book Description
Zen Masters of Japan is the second book in a series that traces Zen's profoundly historic journey as it spread eastward from China and Japan, toward the United States. Following Zen Masters of China, this book concentrates on Zen's significant passage through Japan. More specifically, it describes the lineage of the great teachers, the Zen monk pioneers who set out to enlighten an island ready for an inner transformation based on compassionate awareness. While the existing Buddhist establishment in Japan met early Zen pioneers like Dogen and Eisai with fervent resistance, Zen Buddhism ultimately perservered and continued to become further transformed in its passage through Japan. The Japanese culture and Japanese Buddhism practices further deepened and strengthened Zen training by combining it with a variety of esoteric contemplative arts—the arts of poetry, the tea ceremony, calligraphy, and archery. Zen Masters of Japan chronicles this journey with each Zen master profiled. The book shows how the new practices soon gained in popularity among all walks of life—from the lowly peasant, offering a hope of reincarnation and a better life; to the Samurai warrior due to its casual approach to death; to the ruling classes, challenging the intelligentsia because of its scholarly roots. A collection of Zen stories, meditation, and their wisdom, Zen Masters of Japan also explores the illusive state of 'No Mind' achieved in Japan that is so fundamental to Zen practices today.

Living And Dying In Zazen

Living And Dying In Zazen PDF Author: Arthur Braverman
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 0834805316
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Living and Dying in Zazen combines the life stories and teaching of five teachers—Kodo Sawaki, Sodo Yokoyama, Kozan Kato, Motoko Ikebe, and Uchiyama—associated with Antaiji monastery and the story of Bravermen and other Western students coming to grips with Zen, Japanese culture, and themselves. The deification of Zen teachers by their followers has been a problematic issue in American Zen; this book provides a healthy antidote, presenting four men and one woman who have lived and died in Zen within the rich context of their personal lives and their culture, so that we can fully understand what makes a Zen master in Japan.

Zen and Japanese Culture

Zen and Japanese Culture PDF Author: Daisetz T. Suzuki
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 069118450X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 608

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Book Description
Zen and Japanese Culture is a classic that has influenced generations of readers and played a major role in shaping conceptions of Zen’s influence on Japanese traditional arts. In simple and poetic language, Daisetz Suzuki describes Zen and its historical evolution. He connects Zen to the philosophy of the samurai, and subtly portrays the relationship between Zen and swordsmanship, haiku, tea ceremonies, and the Japanese love of nature. Suzuki uses anecdotes, poetry, and illustrations of silk screens, calligraphy, and architecture. The book features an introduction by Richard Jaffe that acquaints readers with Suzuki’s life and career and analyzes the book’s reception in light of contemporary criticism, especially by scholars of Japanese Buddhism. Zen and Japanese Culture is a valuable source for those wishing to understand Zen in the context of Japanese life and art, and remains one of the leading works on the subject.

Zen Masters Of China

Zen Masters Of China PDF Author: Richard Bryan McDaniel
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
ISBN: 1462910505
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
Zen Masters of China presents more than 300 traditional Zen stories and koans, far more than any other collection. Retelling them in their proper place in Zen's historical journey through Buddhist Chinese culture, it also tells a larger story: how, in taking the first step east from India to China, Buddhism began to be Zen. The stories of Zen are unlike any other writing, religious or otherwise. Used for centuries by Zen teachers as aids to bring about or deepen the experience of awakening, they have a freshness that goes beyond religious practice and a mystery and authenticity that appeal to a wide range of readers. Placed in chronological order, these stories tell the story of Zen itself, how it traveled from West to East with each Zen master to the next, but also how it was transformed in that journey, from an Indian practice to something different in Chinese Buddhism (Ch'an) and then more different still in Japan (Zen). The fact that its transmission was so human, from teacher to student in a long chain from West to East, meant that the cultures it passed through inevitably changed it. Zen Masters of China is first and foremost a collection of mind-bending Zen stories and their wisdom. More than that, without academic pretensions or baggage, it recounts the genealogy of Zen Buddhism in China and, through koan and story, illuminates how Zen became what it is today.

From Chinese Chan to Japanese Zen

From Chinese Chan to Japanese Zen PDF Author: Steven Heine
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190637498
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
From Chinese Chan to Japanese Zen investigates the remarkable century that lasted from 1225 to 1325, during which the transformation of the Chinese Chan school of Buddhism into the Japanese Zen sect was successfully completed. Steven Heine reveals how this school of Buddhism, which started half a millennium earlier as a mystical utopian cult for reclusive monks, gained a broad following among influential lay followers in both China and Japan.

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.

Zen Masters

Zen Masters PDF Author: Steven Heine
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199710082
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
Extending their successful series of collections on Zen Buddhism, Heine and Wright present a fifth volume, on what may be the most important topic of all - Zen Masters. Following two volumes on Zen literature (Zen Classics and The Zen Canon) and two volumes on Zen practice (The Koan and Zen Ritual) they now propose a volume on the most significant product of the Zen tradition - the Zen masters who have made this kind of Buddhism the most renowned in the world by emphasizing the role of eminent spiritual leaders and their function in establishing centers, forging lineages, and creating literature and art. Zen masters in China, and later in Korea and Japan, were among the cultural leaders of their times. Stories about their comportment and powers circulated widely throughout East Asia. In this volume ten leading Zen scholars focus on the image of the Zen master as it has been projected over the last millennium by the classic literature of this tradition. Each chapter looks at a single prominent master. Authors assess the master's personality and charisma, his reported behavior and comportment, his relationships with teachers, rivals and disciplines, lines of transmission, primary teachings, the practices he emphasized, sayings and catch-phrases associated with him, his historical and social context, representations and icons, and enduring influences.

Dharma Brothers Kodo and Tokujoo

Dharma Brothers Kodo and Tokujoo PDF Author: Arthur Braverman
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9781453861530
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 592

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Book Description
Dharma Brothers: Kodo and Tokujoo is based on the lives of two Japanese Zen Masters, how they grew from two ordinary boys, walking very different paths to become extraordinary men, and the deep spiritual bond between them. It is also the story of Japan from 1880 to 1965, of two personal accounts of Zen journeys to enlightenment, and of love and friendship. The story follows the lives of these two Dharma brothers, set against a backdrop of the Japanese-Russian War of 1905, and the rise of fascism in Japan in the 1930s. Kodo was an orphan, brought up in a harsh environment, while Tokujoo was the son of a well-to-do businessman. They both spent years studying in the most stringent Zen monasteries and became life-long friends. Each struggled to find his way clear of the circumstances in which he had been reared. Each sought a way of life offering more meaning and truth, ultimately becoming a different exemplar of Zen practice and living Buddhism.

Dogen

Dogen PDF Author: Steven Heine
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
ISBN: 1611809800
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 361

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Book Description
An essential introduction to the life, writings, and legacy of one of Japan's most prolific Buddhist masters. The founder of the Soto school of Zen in Japan, Eihei Dogen (1200–1253) is one of the most influential Buddhist teachers of all time. Although Dogen’s writings have reached wide prominence among contemporary Buddhists and philosophers, there is much that remains enigmatic about his life and writings. In Dogen: Japan’s Original Zen Teacher, respected Dogen scholar and translator Steven Heine offers a nuanced portrait of the master’s historical context, life, and work, paying special attention to issues such as: The nature of the “great doubt” that motivated Dogen’s religious quest The sociopolitical turmoil of Kamakura Japan that led to dynamic innovations in medieval Japanese Buddhism The challenges and transformations Dogen experienced during his pivotal time in China Key inflection points and unresolved questions regarding Dogen’s teaching career in Japan Ongoing controversies in the scholarly interpretations of Dogen’s biography and teachings Synthesizing a lifetime of research and reflection into an accessible narrative, this new addition to the Lives of the Masters series illuminates thought-provoking perspectives on Dogen’s character and teachings, as well as his relevance to contemporary practitioners.

Zen Sourcebook

Zen Sourcebook PDF Author: Stephen Addiss
Publisher: Hackett Publishing
ISBN: 0872209091
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 309

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Book Description
Introduction by Paula Arai. This is the first collection to offer selections from the foundational texts of the Chinese, Korean, and Japanese Zen traditions in a single volume. Through representative selections from their poetry, letters, sermons, and visual arts, the most important Zen Masters provide students with an engaging, cohesive introduction to the first 1200 years of this rich -- and often misunderstood -- tradition. A general introduction and notes provide historical, biographical, and cultural context; a note on translation, and a glossary of terms are also included.