Zen Buddhism Books

Book SynopsisBodhidharma, 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 This collection of previously unpublished essays argues that Zen actually has a rich and varied literary heritage.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 textual genres are hagiographic accounts and recorded sayings of individual Zen masters, koan collections and commentaries, and rules for monastic life. During times of political turmoil in China and Japan, these texts were crucial to the survival and success of Zen, and they have for centuries been va

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Book SynopsisThe Chan (Zen in Japanese) school of Chinese Buddhism began when, in the seventh century, a small religious community gathered around a Buddhist monk named Hongren. Over the centuries, Chan Buddhism grew from an obscure movement to an officially recognized and eventually dominant form of Buddhism in China and throughout East Asia. In this book Albert Welter presents, for the first time in a comprehensive fashion in a Western work, the story of the rise of Chan, a story which has been obscured by myths about Zen. Zen apologists in the twentieth century, Welter argues, sold the world on the story of Zen as a transcendental spiritualism untainted by political and institutional involvements. In fact, Welter shows that the opposite is true: relationships between Chan monks and political rulers were crucial to Chan''s success. The book concentrates on an important but neglected period of Chan history, the 10th and 11th centuries, when monks and rulers created the so-called Chan golden age and the classic principles of Chan identity.Trade ReviewWelter's Monks, Rulers, and Literati is a much needed and very readable work that presents a rich and multifaceted picture of the development of Chan and significantly advances our understanding of it. It is a must-read for every scholar interested in Chinese Buddhism. I will also be highly useful in graduate seminars and even in upper-level undergraduate courses. * Journal of Chinese Religions *

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Book SynopsisThis is a companion volume to The Koan and The Zen Canon, by the same editors. The first volume collected original essays on koan collections, recorded sayings of individual masters, histories of major schools, and compilations of monastic regulations. The second focuses on the early history of Zen in China, providing overview assessments of many of the most important canonical texts that set the Zen tradition in motion throughout East Asia. Zen Classics will follow that historical movement, focusing primarily on texts from Korea and Japan that brought this Buddhist movement to fruition. Although enormously diverse in style and structure all of the texts and genres of texts considered here were fundamental to the unfolding of Zen in East Asia. The range of genres reveals the varieties of Zen practice, from rules of daily practice to sermons and meditation manuals. The all new essays in this volume will be contributed by an international team of distinguished scholars of Buddhism. It is aimed at a broad audience including college students, Zen practitioners, and scholars of East Asian history, religion, and culture, as well as specialists in Buddhist history.Trade Reviewa welcome addition to university libraries * The Middle Way *

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Book SynopsisSince Zen Buddhism first captivated the attention of Western seekers the dominant discourse about this sect has been romantic, idealistic, and utopian. The essence of Zen has been described as ineffable, wholistic, and promoting social harmony. In recent years, however, some scholars have begun to examine Zen through the lenses of historical and cultural criticism, producing a sharp challenge to the traditional view. These clashing viewpoints are now entrenched in two warring camps, and their exponents talk past each other with virtually no constructive interaction. In this book, Steven Heine argues that a constructive compromise is possible. He focuses on three principal areas of disagreement: (1) the role of language and discourse in a tradition that claims to be ''outside words and letters,'' yet has produced a voluminous body of texts, (2) the function of rituals and objects of worship to gain world benefit in a tradition supposedly founded on unmediated experience attained in an iTrade ReviewIn each chapter he [Heine] brings to attention a number of examples that playfully juxtapose both sides of the story..By bringing together discussions about literature, ritual and ethics in one book, Heine portrays Zen as a multidimensional, multivocal tradition...[this is] an excellent contribution to scholarship...[which] contains a number of engaging observations * Brian Black, Times Higher Education Supplement *

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Book SynopsisAs a religion concerned with eternal salvation, Zen is based on and grew out of a Buddhist worldview very different from the currently prevalent scientific materialism. Indeed, says Taigen Dan Leighton, Zen cannot be fully understood outside of a worldview that sees reality itself as a vital, ephemeral agent of awareness and healing. In this book, Leighton explicates that worldview through the writings of the Zen master Eihei Dogen (1200-1253), considered the founder of the Japanese Soto Zen tradition, which is now spreading in many places in the West. Broader awareness of Dogen''s worldview and its implications, says Leighton, is helpful for a modern understanding of Zen and Mahayana praxis, and is relevant to contemporary environmental and ethical concerns.Trade Review"Leighton's clear, articulate prose renders Dogen's writings alive, accessible, and relevant to life in the twenty-first century."-Philosophy East and WestTable of ContentsI. THE PIVOTAL LOTUS STORY AND DOGEN'S WORLDVIEW ; II. . Hermeneutics and Discourse Styles in Study of the Lotus Sutra and Dogen ; III. . Selected East Asian Interpretations of the Story ; IV. . Dogen's Interpretations of this Lotus Sutra Story ; V. . Dogen's View of Earth, Space, and Time Seen in Mahayana Context ; AFTERWORD: IMPLICATIONS OF DOGEN'S MAHAYANA WORLDVIEW

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Book SynopsisThis volume continues the work of a recent collection published in 2012 by Oxford University Press, Dogen: Textual and Historical Studies. It features some of the same outstanding authors as well as some new experts who explore diverse aspects of the life and teachings of Zen master Dogen (1200-1253), the founder of the Soto Zen sect (or Sotoshu) in early Kamakura-era Japan. The contributors examine the ritual and institutional history of the Soto school, including the role of the Eiheji monastery established by Dogen as well as various kinds of rites and precepts performed there and at other temples. Dogen and Soto Zen builds upon and further refines a continuing wave of enthusiastic popular interest and scholarly developments in Western appropriations of Zen. In the last few decades, research in English and European languages on Dogen and Soto Zen has grown, aided by an increasing awareness on both sides of the Pacific of the important influence of the religious movement and its founTrade ReviewThis book offers many original insights into both Dogen (1200-1253) and the influence of the Soto school that his teachings later inspired... This volume of collected essays by respected academics is another valuable contribution from editor Steven Heine. * Taigen Dan Leighton, Monumenta Nipponica *This excellent volume sheds new and corrective light on Dogen and the Soto Zen tradition. Exploring a rich array of topics- Dogen's views of meditation, women, poetry, and death; his standing as a philosopher; distinctive Soto approaches to texts, precepts, liturgical practices, robes, and monastic architecture-the contributors bridge the divide between textual analyses of Dogen's thought and scholarship on institutional facets of Soto Zen. A must read for anyone with a serious interest in Zen. * Christopher Ives, author of Imperial-Way Zen *Heine is one of the most important Dogen scholars active today ... the volume continues to build on recent trends in Buddhist/Zen studies ... Highly recommended. * G. Wrisley, CHOICE *Table of ContentsContributors ; Acknowledgments ; Abbreviations ; Editor's Introduction: Two for the Price of One - Steven Heine ; Part I. Studies of Dogen ; 1. Dogen's Use of Rujing's 'Just Sit' (shikan taza) and Other Koans - T. Griffith Foulk ; 2. 'Raihaitokuzui' and Dogen's Views of Gender and Women: A Reconsideration - Miriam Levering ; 3. Dogen, A Medieval Japanese Monk Well-Versed in Chinese Poetry: What He Did and Did Not Compose - Steven Heine ; 4. Negotiating the Divide of Death in Japanese Buddhism: Dogen's Difference - John C. Maraldo ; 5. 'When all Dharmas are the Buddha-dharma': Dogen as Comparative Philosopher - Gereon Kopf ; Part II. Studies of Soto Zen ; 6. Keizan's Denkoroku: A Textual and Contextual Overview - William M. Bodiford ; 7. Are Soto Zen Precepts for Ethical Guidance or Ceremonial Transformation? Menzan's Attempted Reforms and Contemporary Practices - David Riggs ; 8. Vocalizing the Remembrance of Dogen: A Study of the Shinpen Hoon Koshiki - Michaela Mross ; 9. Interpreting the Material Heritage of the 'Elephant Trunk Robe' in Soto Zen - Diane Riggs ; 10. Embodying Soto Zen: Institutional Identity and Ideal Body-Image at Daihonzan Eiheiji - Pamela D. Winfield ; Sino-Japanese Glossary ; Index

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Book SynopsisEnlightenment in Dispute is the first comprehensive study of the revival of Chan Buddhism in seventeenth-century China. Focusing on the evolution of a series of controversies about Chan enlightenment, Jiang Wu describes the process by which Chan reemerged as the most prominent Buddhist establishment of the time. He investigates the development of Chan Buddhism in the seventeenth century, focusing on controversies involving issues such as correct practice and lines of lineage. In this way, he shows how the Chan revival reshaped Chinese Buddhism in late imperial China. Situating these controversies alongside major events of the fateful Ming-Qing transition, Wu shows how the rise and fall of Chan Buddhism was conditioned by social changes in the seventeenth century.Table of ContentsConventions and Explanatory Notes ; Chronology ; Introduction ; Part I: The Context of Seventeenth-Century China ; 1. Reenvisioning Buddhism in the Late Ming ; 2. The Literati and Chan Buddhism ; 3. The Rise of Chan Buddhism ; Part II: The Principle of Chan ; 4. Clashes among Enlightened Minds ; 5. The Divergence of Interpretation ; 6. The Yongzheng Emperor and Imperial Intervention ; Part III: Lineage Matters ; 7. The Debate about Tianhuang Daowu and Tianwang Daowu in the Late Ming ; 8. The Lawsuit about Feiyin Tongrong's Wudeng yantong in the Early Qing ; 9. The Aftermath ; Part IV: Critical Analysis ; 10. Explaining the Rise and Fall of Chan Buddhism ; 11. The Pattern of Buddhist Revival in the Past ; Concluding Remarks ; Appendix 1 ; Appendix 2 ; Appendix 3 ; Glossary ; Abbreviations of Dictionaries and Collections ; Notes ; Bibliography ; Index

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Book SynopsisA long overdue corrective to the androcentric scholarship that has ignored Zen nuns'' importance.... This very readable book is ideal for classroom use.-Religious Studies ReviewArai''s sensitive first-hand account is at times emotional, but the reflexive recollections that derive from her personal experiences and interactions with the nuns are insightful and well documented....the book is valuable in providing us with a different mode of appreciation in order to understand the position of women living in [an]other religious and cultural context.--Japanese Journal of Religious StudiesThis is an anthropological study, carried out with love, care, and attention to detail...By the end of the journey, readers will find themselves moved, their humanity reassured and refreshed.--Journal of Asian StudiesIn this study, based on both historical evidence and ethnographic data, Paula Arai shows that nuns were central agents in the foundation of Buddhism in Japan in the sixth century. They were actTrade Review...a long overdue corrective to the androcentric scholarship that has ignored Zen nuns' importance.... This very readable book is ideal for classroom use. * Religious Studies Review *...a long overdue corrective to the androcentric scholarship that has ignored Zen nuns' importance.... This very readable book is ideal for classroom use. * Religious Studies Review *A long overdue corrective to the androcentric scholarship that has ignored Zen nuns' importance . . . This very readable book is ideal for classroom use. * Religious Studies Review *Arai's sensitive first-hand account is at times emotional, but the reflexive recollections that derive from her personal experiences and interactions with the nuns are insightful and well documented....the book is valuable in providing us with a different mode of appreciation in order to understand the position of women living in another religious and cultural context. * Japanese Journal of Religious Studies *This is an anthropological study, carried out with love, care, and attention to detail...By the end of the journey, readers will find themselves moved, their humanity reassured and refreshed. * Journal of Asian Studies *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ; Transliteration Guide ; Prologue ; One: Introduction ; Scholarly Contexts ; Theoretical Considerations ; Methodological Considerations ; Two: Historical Background ; Pioneering Monastics ; Dogen and Women ; Tokugawa Encroachments ; Meiji Reclamations ; Three: Twentieth-Century Leadership ; First Generation: Rapid Ascent Through Education ; Second Generation: Stategists of Egalitarianism ; Third Generation: Zen Master of a New Tradition ; Four: The Monastic Practices of Zen Nuns ; Nuns' Vision of Monastic Life ; Daily Life in a Monastery of Zen Nuns ; Divisions within the Monastery ; Ceremonial Rituals and Activities ; Educational Curriculum and Degrees ; The Aesthetics of Discipline ; Five: Motivations, Commitments, and Self-Perceptions ; Changing Life Patterns of Twentieth-Century Zen ; Buddhist Practice: Meaning and Action ; Nuns' Views on Monastic Life ; Six: Conclusion: Innovators for the Sake of Tradition ; Preservers and Creators of Buddhist Tradition ; Bearers and Transmitters of Traditional Japanese Culture ; Notes ; Appendix A: Questionnaire ; Appendix B: Glossary of Japanese Terms ; Bibliography ; Index

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Book SynopsisThe Linjilu (Record of Linji or LJL) is one of the foundational texts of Chan/Zen Buddhist literature, and an accomplished work of baihua (vernacular) literature. Its indelibly memorable title character, the Master Linji--infamous for the shout, the whack of the rattan stick, and the declaration that sutras are toilet paper--is himself an embodiment of the very teachings he propounds to his students: he is a true person, free of dithering; he exhibits the non-verbal, unconstrained spontaneity of the buddha-nature; he is always active, never passive; and he is aware that nothing is lacking at all, at any time, in his round of daily activities. This bracing new translation transmits the LJL''s living expression of Zen''s personal realization of the meaning beyond words, as interpreted by ten commentaries produced by Japanese Zen monks, over a span of over four centuries, ranging from the late 1300s, when Five-Mountains Zen flourished in Kyoto and Kamakura, through the early 1700s, an ageTrade ReviewJeffrey Broughton's Record of Linji is a magnificent work of scholarship. It translates what the author rightly calls 'the most prominent work in all of Chan literature,' and goes far beyond all previous translations in making this seminal text understandable by embedding the ten most important Zen commentaries into the original text. This rich textual tradition is made readily available to readers of Broughton's translation and the result is an opportunity to enter into Chan and Zen discourse that has been previously unavailable to western readers. * Dale Wright, David B. and Mary H. Gamble Professor in Religion, Occidental College *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ; Abbreviations ; Introduction ; Translation of the Linjilu ; Part I: Dharma-Hall Convocations ; Part II: Sangha Instruction ; Part III: Calibrating and Adjudicating ; Part IV: Record of the Karman of the Master's Career ; Part V: Stupa Record of Chan Master Linji Huizhao ; Yuanjue Zongyan's Xuanhe 2 (1120) Linjilu Edition (LJL) ; Appendix 1: Pre-Song Linji and Puhua Sayings and Episodes Preserved in the Collection of the Patriarchal Hall (Zutangji) ; Appendix 2: Pre-Song Linji Sayings Preserved in the Mind-Mirror Record (Zongjinglu) ; Notes ; Bibliography ; Index

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Book SynopsisIn his definitive introduction to Zen Buddhism, Alan Watts (the perfect guide for a course correction in life —Deepak Chopra), explains the principles and practices of this ancient religion. With a rare combination of freshness and lucidity, he delves into the origins and history of Zen to explain what it means for the world today with incredible clarity. Watts saw Zen as “one of the most precious gifts of Asia to the world,” and in The Way of Zen he gives this gift to readers everywhere.“Perhaps the foremost interpreter of Eastern disciplines for the contemporary West, Watts had the rare gift of ‘writing beautifully the unwritable.’” —Los Angeles Times

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Book SynopsisMaster Sheng-yen, a dharma descendant from the founders of Buddhism in China, considers the concepts of suffering, enlightenment, and compassion; provides a glossary of key terms; and briefly recaps the history of Buddhism in China. But he goes beyond these issues to discuss contemporary matters and questions he has encountered in his years of teaching in the United States. Sometimes personal and always instructive, Sheng-yen's introductory work is perfect for those just coming to Buddhism, and for those who are already very familiar with the Tibetan and Zen schools.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisThis biography concentrates on Tosui's years as a beggar and labourer, recounting episodes from an unorthodox life while at the same time opening a new window on 17th-century Japan.

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Book SynopsisTakuan Sōho’s (1573–1645) two works on Zen and swordsmanship are among the most straightforward and lively presentations of Zen ever written and have enjoyed great popularity in both pre-modern and modern Japan.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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