Description
Book SynopsisFor many people attracted to Eastern religions (particularly Zen Buddhism), Asia seems the source of all wisdom. This book examines the study of Chan/Zen from the standpoint of postmodern human sciences and literary criticism. It also questions the assumptions of 'Easterners'.
Trade ReviewWinner of the 1993 Tricycle Prize for Excellence in Buddhist Scholarship "A highly sensitive and richly textured re-examination of the Chan/Zen tradition. [Faure] is to be congratulated for having provided us with just such a fruitful (and by no means temporary) scholarship that enriches our understanding of Chan/Zen. It makes us keenly aware that Chan/Zen is ... a continuously evolving entity that can withstand the most rigorous and critical scholarly inquiry."--Richard Shek, The Journal of Asian History "Thoughtful and thought-provoking. After reading Faure's contributions in The Rhetoric of Immediacy and Insights and Oversights, none of us working the fields of Zen, Buddhist studies, or historical and cultural studies can go about our work in quite the same way... Our thinking [is] reshaped by the topics he raises and the approaches he uses."--Martin Collcutt, Journal of Japanese Studies
Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsAbbreviationsIntroduction3Chan as Secondary Orientalism5The Cultural "Encounter Dialogue"9Comparison, Counterpoint, Intertwining10Ch. 1Chan/Zen in the Western Imagination15Missionary Accounts15Buddhism and Quietism29Chan and Indian Mysticism34The Apostle Bodhidharma45Claudel and Buddhism50Ch. 2The Rise of Zen Orientalism52Suzuki's Zen53The Western Critics of Suzuki67Nishida and the Kyoto School74Ch. 3Rethinking Chan Historiography89Places and People92The Rise of Chan Historiography in Japan99The Cost of Objectivism110The Teleological Fallacy114Writing Chan History123Ch. 4Alternatives126The Structural Approach126The Hermeneutic Approach135Toward a Performative Scholarship145Ch. 5Space and Place155Chan and Local Spirits156From Place to Space159Chan In-sights and Di-visions167Ch. 6Times and Tides175Conflicting Models177Dogen and His Times187The Ritualization of Time192Ch. 7Chan and Language: Fair and Unfair Games195On the Way to Language199Poetical Language in Chan205How to Do Things with the Koan211Ch. 8In-scribing/De-scribing Chan217A Qualified Anti-intellectualism217Chan Logocentrism220Orality in Chan228Chan as a Kind of Writing233Another Differend234Chan Rhetoric237Ch. 9The Paradoxes of Chan Individualism243The Western Configuration of the Self243Early Buddhist Conceptions251Chinese Conceptions254The Individual and Power257Solitaire/Solidaire261Epilogue269Glossary275Bibliography281Index317
