Three Chan Classics

Three Chan Classics PDF Author:
Publisher: BDK America
ISBN:
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 168

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Book Description
This volume includes The Recorded Sayings of Linji, Wumen's Gate, and The Faith-Mind Maxim. The Recorded Sayings of Linji is one of the seminal books of Zen. The great Zen teacher Linji lived and worked in ninth century China, but his teachings continued to guide and influence people for centuries afterward, and he was considered the grand ancestor of major streams of Zen in China, Korea, Vietnam, and Japan. The direct, incisive teachings preserved in his recorded sayings have shown a perennial power to challenge and stimulate would-be seekers of the truth. He strips away the supernatural aura of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and refers the symbolism of the Buddhist scriptures to human processes, to actual and potential psychological transformations involving individuals and social groups. He analyzes the relationship of language to reality and conditioning to perception and motivation in ways that both prefigure and surpass "modern" discussions on these points. Whether or not they are already familiar with Zen Buddhism, modern readers can read Linji's sayings as a direct demonstration of its viewpoint and call. Wu Men's Gate is a classic collection of forty-eight Zen "public cases" accompanied by comments and verses, presented as teaching materials within the Zen tradition. Zen students would focus their attention on these cases and meditate via their intricate patterns of meaning. By interrupting and reshaping patterns of thought, these classic Zen cases were intended as tools to refine minds and open them to wider perspectives on reality. The Faith-Mind Maxim is a short, 36 stanza poem written by Seng-can. It encompasses the thought of Early Buddhism and later developments such as the Voidness School, the representation-only School, and the Flower Garland School. It expressly extols the essence of the Mahayana and, above all, the One Vehicle ideal. It clarifies unique Zen attitudes, such as not depending on words by being beyond all discriminations and conventions, directly pointing to the mind (i.e. the One Mind), seeing one's own nature by returning to the root, and becoming a Buddha. The Faith-Mind Maximmay be regarded as the first revolutionary work in the Zen tradition or in Chinese Buddhism.

Three Chan Classics

Three Chan Classics PDF Author:
Publisher: BDK America
ISBN:
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 168

Get Book

Book Description
This volume includes The Recorded Sayings of Linji, Wumen's Gate, and The Faith-Mind Maxim. The Recorded Sayings of Linji is one of the seminal books of Zen. The great Zen teacher Linji lived and worked in ninth century China, but his teachings continued to guide and influence people for centuries afterward, and he was considered the grand ancestor of major streams of Zen in China, Korea, Vietnam, and Japan. The direct, incisive teachings preserved in his recorded sayings have shown a perennial power to challenge and stimulate would-be seekers of the truth. He strips away the supernatural aura of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and refers the symbolism of the Buddhist scriptures to human processes, to actual and potential psychological transformations involving individuals and social groups. He analyzes the relationship of language to reality and conditioning to perception and motivation in ways that both prefigure and surpass "modern" discussions on these points. Whether or not they are already familiar with Zen Buddhism, modern readers can read Linji's sayings as a direct demonstration of its viewpoint and call. Wu Men's Gate is a classic collection of forty-eight Zen "public cases" accompanied by comments and verses, presented as teaching materials within the Zen tradition. Zen students would focus their attention on these cases and meditate via their intricate patterns of meaning. By interrupting and reshaping patterns of thought, these classic Zen cases were intended as tools to refine minds and open them to wider perspectives on reality. The Faith-Mind Maxim is a short, 36 stanza poem written by Seng-can. It encompasses the thought of Early Buddhism and later developments such as the Voidness School, the representation-only School, and the Flower Garland School. It expressly extols the essence of the Mahayana and, above all, the One Vehicle ideal. It clarifies unique Zen attitudes, such as not depending on words by being beyond all discriminations and conventions, directly pointing to the mind (i.e. the One Mind), seeing one's own nature by returning to the root, and becoming a Buddha. The Faith-Mind Maximmay be regarded as the first revolutionary work in the Zen tradition or in Chinese Buddhism.

The Record of Linji

The Record of Linji PDF Author: Thomas Yuho Kirchner
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 0824833198
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 522

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Book Description
The Linji lu (Record of Linji) has been an essential text of Chinese and Japanese Zen Buddhism for nearly a thousand years. A compilation of sermons, statements, and acts attributed to the great Chinese Zen master Linji Yixuan (d. 866), it serves as both an authoritative statement of Zen’s basic standpoint and a central source of material for Zen koan practice. Scholars study the text for its importance in understanding both Zen thought and East Asian Mahayana doctrine, while Zen practitioners cherish it for its unusual simplicity, directness, and ability to inspire. One of the earliest attempts to translate this important work into English was by Sasaki Shigetsu (1882–1945), a pioneer Zen master in the U.S. and the founder of the First Zen Institute of America. At the time of his death, he entrusted the project to his wife, Ruth Fuller Sasaki, who in 1949 moved to Japan and there founded a branch of the First Zen Institute at Daitoku-ji. Mrs. Sasaki, determined to produce a definitive translation, assembled a team of talented young scholars, both Japanese and Western, who in the following years retranslated the text in accordance with modern research on Tang-dynasty colloquial Chinese. As they worked on the translation, they compiled hundreds of detailed notes explaining every technical term, vernacular expression, and literary reference. One of the team, Yanagida Seizan (later Japan’s preeminent Zen historian), produced a lengthy introduction that outlined the emergence of Chinese Zen, presented a biography of Linji, and traced the textual development of the Linji lu. The sudden death of Mrs. Sasaki in 1967 brought the nearly completed project to a halt. An abbreviated version of the book was published in 1975, but neither this nor any other English translations that subsequently appeared contain the type of detailed historical, linguistic, and doctrinal annotation that was central to Mrs. Sasaki’s plan. The materials assembled by Mrs. Sasaki and her team are finally available in the present edition of the Record of Linji. Chinese readings have been changed to Pinyin and the translation itself has been revised in line with subsequent research by Iriya Yoshitaka and Yanagida Seizan, the scholars who advised Mrs. Sasaki. The notes, nearly six hundred in all, are almost entirely based on primary sources and thus retain their value despite the nearly forty years since their preparation. They provide a rich context for Linji’s teachings, supplying a wealth of information on Tang colloquial expressions, Buddhist thought, and Zen history, much of which is unavailable anywhere else in English. This revised edition of the Record of Linji is certain to be of great value to Buddhist scholars, Zen practitioners, and readers interested in Asian Buddhism.

Zen Echoes

Zen Echoes PDF Author: Zishou Miaozong
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 161429187X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 172

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Book Description
"Zen echoes is a collection of classic koans from Zen's Chinese history that were first collected and commented on by Miaozong, a twelfth-century nun so adept that her teacher, the legendary Dahui Zonggao, used to tell other students--male and female--that perhaps if they practiced hard enough, they might become as realized as her. Nearly five hundred years later, the seventeenth-century nuns Baochi and Zukui added their own commentaries to the collection. The three voices--distinct yet harmonious--remind us that enlightenment is at once universal and individual" --Page 4 of cover.

Hsin-Hsin Ming

Hsin-Hsin Ming PDF Author:
Publisher: White Pine Press
ISBN: 9781893996144
Category : Poetry
Languages : en
Pages : 20

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Book Description
"The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences."--Seng-t'san The Hsin Hsin Ming, Verses on the Faith-Mind by Seng-t'san, the third Chinese patriarch of Zen, is considered to be the first Chinese Zen document. Lucidly translated here by Richard B. Clark, it remains one of the most widely-admired and elegant of Zen writings, and is as relevant today as it was when it was written. In a world where stress seems unavoidable, Seng-t'san's words show us how to be fully aware of each moment.

The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye

The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye PDF Author: Sonny Liew
Publisher: Pantheon
ISBN: 1101870702
Category : Comics & Graphic Novels
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From a bestselling graphic novelist comes “a hugely ambitious, stylistically acrobatic work” (The New York Times Book Review) that brings us on a uniquely moving, funny, and thought-provoking journey through the life of an artist and the history of a nation. Meet Charlie Chan Hock Chye. Now in his early 70s, Chan has been making comics in his native Singapore since 1954, when he was a boy of 16. As he looks back on his career over five decades, we see his stories unfold before us in a dazzling array of art styles and forms, their development mirroring the evolution in the political and social landscape of his homeland and of the comic book medium itself. With The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye, Sonny Liew has drawn together a myriad of genres to create a thoroughly ingenious and engaging work, where the line between truth and construct may sometimes be blurred, but where the story told is always enthralling.

Daughters of Emptiness

Daughters of Emptiness PDF Author: Beata Grant
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0861718224
Category : Poetry
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Book Description
Women played major roles in the history of Buddhist China, but given the paucity of the remaining records, their voices have all but faded. In Daughters of Emptiness, Beata Grant renders a great service by recovering and translating the enchanting verse - by turns assertive, observant, devout - of forty-eight nuns from sixteen centuries of imperial China. This selection of poems, along with the brief biographical accounts that accompany them, affords readers a glimpse into the extraordinary diversity and sometimes startling richness of these women's lives. A sample poem for this stunning collection: The sequence of seasons naturally pushes forward, Suddenly I am startled by the ending of the year. Lifting my eyes I catch sight of the winter crows, Calling mournfully as if wanting to complain. The sunlight is cold rather than gentle, Spreading over the four corners like a cloud. A cold wind blows fitfully in from the north, Its sad whistling filling courtyards and houses. Head raised, I gaze in the direction of Spring, But Spring pays no attention to me at all. Time a galloping colt glimpsed through a crack, The tap [of Death] at the door has its predestined time. How should I not know, one who has left the world, And for whom floating clouds are already familiar? In the garden there grows a rosary-plum tree: Whose sworn friendship makes it possible to endure. - Chan Master Jingnuo

Shattering the Great Doubt

Shattering the Great Doubt PDF Author: Sheng Yen
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
ISBN: 0834826674
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
Huatou is a skillful method for breaking through the prison of mental habits into the spacious mind of enlightenment. The huatou is a confounding question much like a Zen koan. Typical ones are "What is wu [nothingness]?" or "What was my original face before birth-and-death?" But a huatou is unlike a koan in that the aim is not to come up with an answer. The practice is simple: ask yourself your huatou relentlessly, in meditation as well as in every other activity. Don't give up on it; don't try to think your way to an answer. Resolve to live with the sensation of doubt that arises, and it will pervade your entire existence with a sense of profound wonder, ultimately leading to the shattering of the sense of an independent self. Master Sheng Yen brings the traditional practice to life in this practical guide based on talks he gave during a series of huatou retreats. He teaches the method in detail, giving advice for dealing with the typical pitfalls and problems that arise, and answering retreat participants' questions as they experience the practice themselves. He then offers commentary on four classic huatou texts, grounding his instructions in the teaching of the great Chan masters.

Zen Wisdom

Zen Wisdom PDF Author: Shengyan
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781556433863
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Book Description
Master Sheng-yen combines wisdom gained from years of study and practice with knowledge of the contemporary world to show how Chan and Buddha’s teachings are still relevant today. Beginners, as well as those already on the path, will find clear and useful guidance as the revered teacher answers questions from his students on the simple yet elusive principles of Chan (Zen) practice.

Zen Echoes

Zen Echoes PDF Author:
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1614292043
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 176

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Book Description
The voices of three female Zen masters reverberate in this much-needed collection. Too often the history of Zen seems to be written as an unbroken masculine line: male teacher to male student. In this timely volume, Beata Grant shows us that women masters do exist—and have always existed. Zen Echoes is a collection of classic koans from Zen’s Chinese history that were first collected and commented on by Miaozong, a twelfth-century nun so adept that her teacher, the legendary Dahui Zonggao, used to tell other students that perhaps if they practiced hard enough, they might be as realized as her. Nearly five hundred years later, the seventeenth-century nuns Baochi and Zukui added their own commentaries to the collection. The three voices—distinct yet harmonious—remind us that enlightenment is at once universal and individual. In her introduction to this shimmering translation, Professor Grant tells us that the verses composed by these women provide evidence that “in a religious milieu made up overwhelmingly of men, there were women who were just as dedicated to Chan practice, just as advanced in their spiritual realization, and just as gifted at using language to convey that which is beyond language.”

The Essence of Chan

The Essence of Chan PDF Author: Guo Gu
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
ISBN: 0834843080
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 130

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Book Description
Clear and illuminating commentary on one of Bodhidharma’s most important texts—designed to help Chan practitioners apply timeless and essential advice to their practice Legend has it that more than a thousand years ago an Indian Buddhist monk named Bodhidharma arrived in China. His approach to teaching was unlike that of any of the Buddhist missionaries who had come to China before him. He confounded the emperor with cryptic dialogues, traveled the country, lived in a cave in the mountains, and eventually paved the way for a unique and illuminating approach to Buddhist teachings that would later spread across the whole of East Asia in the form of Chan—later to be known as Seon in Korean, Thien in Vietnamese, and Zen in Japanese. This book, a translation and commentary on one of Bodhidharma’s most important texts, explores Bodhidharma’s revolutionary teachings in English. Guo Gu weaves his commentary through modern and relatable contexts, showing that this centuries-old wisdom is just as crucial for life now as it was when it first came to be. Masterfully translated and accompanied by helpful insights to supplement daily practice, The Essence of Chan is the perfect guide for those new to Chan, those returning, or those who have been practicing for years.