Seeing through Zen

Seeing through Zen PDF Author: John R. Mcrae
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520937074
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
The tradition of Chan Buddhism—more popularly known as Zen—has been romanticized throughout its history. In this book, John R. McRae shows how modern critical techniques, supported by recent manuscript discoveries, make possible a more skeptical, accurate, and—ultimately—productive assessment of Chan lineages, teaching, fundraising practices, and social organization. Synthesizing twenty years of scholarship, Seeing through Zen offers new, accessible analytic models for the interpretation of Chan spiritual practices and religious history. Writing in a lucid and engaging style, McRae traces the emergence of this Chinese spiritual tradition and its early figureheads, Bodhidharma and the "sixth patriarch" Huineng, through the development of Zen dialogue and koans. In addition to constructing a central narrative for the doctrinal and social evolution of the school, Seeing through Zen examines the religious dynamics behind Chan’s use of iconoclastic stories and myths of patriarchal succession. McRae argues that Chinese Chan is fundamentally genealogical, both in its self-understanding as a school of Buddhism and in the very design of its practices of spiritual cultivation. Furthermore, by forgoing the standard idealization of Zen spontaneity, we can gain new insight into the religious vitality of the school as it came to dominate the Chinese religious scene, providing a model for all of East Asia—and the modern world. Ultimately, this book aims to change how we think about Chinese Chan by providing new ways of looking at the tradition.

Seeing through Zen

Seeing through Zen PDF Author: John R. Mcrae
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520937074
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 232

Get Book

Book Description
The tradition of Chan Buddhism—more popularly known as Zen—has been romanticized throughout its history. In this book, John R. McRae shows how modern critical techniques, supported by recent manuscript discoveries, make possible a more skeptical, accurate, and—ultimately—productive assessment of Chan lineages, teaching, fundraising practices, and social organization. Synthesizing twenty years of scholarship, Seeing through Zen offers new, accessible analytic models for the interpretation of Chan spiritual practices and religious history. Writing in a lucid and engaging style, McRae traces the emergence of this Chinese spiritual tradition and its early figureheads, Bodhidharma and the "sixth patriarch" Huineng, through the development of Zen dialogue and koans. In addition to constructing a central narrative for the doctrinal and social evolution of the school, Seeing through Zen examines the religious dynamics behind Chan’s use of iconoclastic stories and myths of patriarchal succession. McRae argues that Chinese Chan is fundamentally genealogical, both in its self-understanding as a school of Buddhism and in the very design of its practices of spiritual cultivation. Furthermore, by forgoing the standard idealization of Zen spontaneity, we can gain new insight into the religious vitality of the school as it came to dominate the Chinese religious scene, providing a model for all of East Asia—and the modern world. Ultimately, this book aims to change how we think about Chinese Chan by providing new ways of looking at the tradition.

The Zen of Seeing

The Zen of Seeing PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 168

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Book Description
A Dutch artist offers his concept of seeing and drawing as a discipline by which the world may be rediscovered, a way of experiencing Zen.

How Zen Became Zen

How Zen Became Zen PDF Author: Morten Schlutter
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 0824835085
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
How Zen Became Zen takes a novel approach to understanding one of the most crucial developments in Zen Buddhism: the dispute over the nature of enlightenment that erupted within the Chinese Chan (Zen) school in the twelfth century. The famous Linji (Rinzai) Chan master Dahui Zonggao (1089–1163) railed against "heretical silent illumination Chan" and strongly advocated kanhua (koan) meditation as an antidote. In this fascinating study, Morten Schlütter shows that Dahui’s target was the Caodong (Soto) Chan tradition that had been revived and reinvented in the early twelfth century, and that silent meditation was an approach to practice and enlightenment that originated within this "new" Chan tradition. Schlütter has written a refreshingly accessible account of the intricacies of the dispute, which is still reverberating through modern Zen in both Asia and the West. Dahui and his opponents’ arguments for their respective positions come across in this book in as earnest and relevant a manner as they must have seemed almost nine hundred years ago. Although much of the book is devoted to illuminating the doctrinal and soteriological issues behind the enlightenment dispute, Schlütter makes the case that the dispute must be understood in the context of government policies toward Buddhism, economic factors, and social changes. He analyzes the remarkable ascent of Chan during the first centuries of the Song dynasty, when it became the dominant form of elite monastic Buddhism, and demonstrates that secular educated elites came to control the critical transmission from master to disciple ("procreation" as Schlütter terms it) in the Chan School.

Keep Me in Your Heart a While

Keep Me in Your Heart a While PDF Author: Dosho Port
Publisher: ReadHowYouWant.com
ISBN: 1458715566
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 178

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Book Description
One of the great pioneers of Zen in America, Dainin Katagiri had a teaching style that was at once powerful, gentle, and sometimes even casual. For his student, Dosho Mike Port, some of Katagiri's most profound teachings came in the simple moments of everyday interactions. Keep Me in Your Heart a While is built around a series of these vivid, truth-revealing incidents that evoke the feel of ancient Zen koans. Each chapter starts with an encounter with Katagiri and unfolds from there, touching on subjects such as the nature and the purpose of Zen, the dynamic and working of realization, and the evolving relationship between teacher and student. In sharing what it was like to train with one of the first generation of American Zen teachers, Dosho Mike Port preserves and revitalizes this incredible path, making it available to the next generation of seekers.

Zen Seeing, Zen Drawing

Zen Seeing, Zen Drawing PDF Author: Frederick Franck
Publisher: Bantam
ISBN:
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 198

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Book Description
Franck, the author of Zen of Seeing, the classic guide, returns with more teachings and instructions.

Essential Chan Buddhism

Essential Chan Buddhism PDF Author: Guo Jun
Publisher: Monkfish Book Publishing
ISBN: 1939681030
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 176

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Book Description
Essential Chan Buddhism is the rare unearthing of an ancient and remarkable Chinese spiritual tradition. Master Guo Jun speaks through hard-won wisdom on Chan's spiritual themes familiar to Western readers, such as mindfulness and relaxation in meditation, as well as profound, simply expressed teachings and insightful explorations of religious commitment. Essential Chan Buddhism filters formal spiritual practices through the lens of mundane and everyday life activities. The work captures the lyrical beauty and incantatory style of Guo Jun’s spoken English from the talks he gave at a fourteen-day retreat near Jakarta in 2010 and in subsequent conversations with his editor Kenneth Wapner. This value-priced hardcover edition is both a distinctive addition to Buddhist collections and a thoughtful gift for anyone looking for spiritual guidance. Chan master Guo Jun is one of a new breed of international teachers taking the world’s great wisdom traditions into the twenty-first century. He is currently abbot of Mahabodhi Monastery in Singapore and teaches internationally. Chan master Sheng Yen’s youngest dharma heir, he served as abbot of his Pine Bush, New York, retreat center from 2005 to 2008. A native of Singapore, Guo Jun received his full monastic ordination in Taiwan. He is a lineage holder and successor in Chan as well as the Xianshou and Cien schools of Chinese Buddhism. Essential Chan Buddhism is his first book. Kenneth Wapner’s Peekamouse Books is a book packager and editor. Clients include Bantam, Tarcher/Putnam, Ballantine, and Doubleday. He is well known for his work on Rabbi Jesus, Bones of the Master, and The Zen of Creativity.

Zen at War

Zen at War PDF Author: Brian Daizen Victoria
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ISBN: 1461647479
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
A compelling history of the contradictory, often militaristic, role of Zen Buddhism, this book meticulously documents the close and previously unknown support of a supposedly peaceful religion for Japanese militarism throughout World War II. Drawing on the writings and speeches of leading Zen masters and scholars, Brian Victoria shows that Zen served as a powerful foundation for the fanatical and suicidal spirit displayed by the imperial Japanese military. At the same time, the author recounts the dramatic and tragic stories of the handful of Buddhist organizations and individuals that dared to oppose Japan's march to war. He follows this history up through recent apologies by several Zen sects for their support of the war and the way support for militarism was transformed into 'corporate Zen' in postwar Japan. The second edition includes a substantive new chapter on the roots of Zen militarism and an epilogue that explores the potentially volatile mix of religion and war. With the increasing interest in Buddhism in the West, this book is as timely as it is certain to be controversial.

Zen and the Magic of Photography

Zen and the Magic of Photography PDF Author: Wayne Rowe
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781933952543
Category : Composition
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Photographic equipment & techniques.

Nietzsche and Zen

Nietzsche and Zen PDF Author: Andre van der Braak
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 0739168843
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description
In Nietzsche and Zen: Self-Overcoming Without a Self, André van der Braak engages Nietzsche in a dialogue with four representatives of the Buddhist Zen tradition: Nagarjuna (c. 150-250), Linji (d. 860), Dogen (1200-1253), and Nishitani (1900-1990). In doing so, he reveals Nietzsche's thought as a philosophy of continuous self-overcoming, in which even the notion of "self" has been overcome. Van der Braak begins by analyzing Nietzsche's relationship to Buddhism and status as a transcultural thinker, recalling research on Nietzsche and Zen to date and setting out the basic argument of the study. He continues by examining the practices of self-overcoming in Nietzsche and Zen, comparing Nietzsche's radical skepticism with that of Nagarjuna and comparing Nietzsche's approach to truth to Linji's. Nietzsche's methods of self-overcoming are compared to Dogen's zazen, or sitting meditation practice, and Dogen's notion of forgetting the self. These comparisons and others build van der Braak's case for a criticism of Nietzsche informed by the ideas of Zen Buddhism and a criticism of Zen Buddhism seen through the Western lens of Nietzsche - coalescing into one world philosophy. This treatment, focusing on one of the most fruitful areas of research within contemporary comparative and intercultural philosophy, will be useful to Nietzsche scholars, continental philosophers, and comparative philosophers.

Zen in America

Zen in America PDF Author: Helen Tworkov
Publisher: Kodansha
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
This expanded edition of the highly acclaimed investigation of Zen teaching in America, by the founder and editor of America's first Buddhist magazine, lays bare the issues at the heart of the Zen mission. Through in-depth portraits of five American Zen masters, Tworkov creates a trenchant sociological picture of an important strand of American spiritual life. 27 photos.