Description

Book Synopsis

The book aims to describe the history of Chan (Japanese Zen) School thought from the standpoint of social history. Chan, a school of East Asian Buddhism, was influential on all levels of societies in the region because of its intellectual and aesthetic appeal. In China, Chan infiltrated all levels of society, mainly because it engaged with society and formed the mainstream of Buddhism from the tenth or eleventh centuries through to the twentieth century. This book, taking a critical stance, examines the entire history of Chan thought and practice from the viewpoint of a modern Chinese scholar, not a practitioner, but an intellectual historian who places ideological developments in social contexts.

The author suggests that core elements of Chan have their origins in Daoist philosophers, especially Zhuangzi, and not in Indian Buddhist concepts. Covering the period from the sixth century into the twentieth century, it deals with Chan interactions with neo-Confucianism, Quanzhen Daoism, and Gongyang new text philology, as well as with literature and scholarship, its fusion with Pure Land Buddhism, and its syncretic tendencies. Chan’s exchanges with emperors from the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasty, as well as the motives of some loyalists of the Ming Dynasty for joining Chan after the fall of the Ming, are described. The book concludes with an examination of the views of Chan of Hu Shi, D.T. Suzuki, and the scholar-monk Yinshun.



Table of Contents

Preface.

Forward.

Section 1 The Formation and Branching of Chan Thought

Chapter 1: An Investigation of Chan.

Chapter 2: The Foundations and Formation of Chan Thought

Chapter 3: The Branching of Chan Thought

Section 2 The Synthesis and Infiltration of Song-period Chan Thought

Chapter 4: An Outline of the Song-dynasty Chan School

Chapter 5: The Tolerant Cooperation and Interpenetration of Chan Thought

Part 1: Yanshou’s Convergence of Chan, Pure Land, and Doctrine.

Part 2: Qisong’s Chan Thought that Unified Confucianism and Buddhism.

Chapter 6. From Shanzhao to Chongxian’s Songgu baize (Hundred Old Cases with Hymns)

Part 1: Shanzhao and the Beginnings of Hymns on Old Cases (songgu).

Part 2. Chongxian’s Hymns on Old Cases and Their Successes and Failures.

Part 3. Keqin’s Biyan lu (Blue Cliff Record) and the Deluge of Lettered Chan.

Part 4. Huihong and Lettered Chan.

Chapter 7. The Branch Roads in the Development of Chan Thought: Kanhua Chan and Silent Illumination Chan

Part 1. Zonggao and kanhua Chan.

Part 2. Zhengjue and Silent Illumination Chan.

Part 3. Criticisms of kanhua Chan and Silent Illumination Chan.

Chapter 8. Researches on Chan History and Chan Learning.

Part 1. Zanning’s Chan History and Chan Learning.

Part 2. Puji and the Wudeng huiyuan.

Appendix. The Disputes over the Change of Affiliation to the Legitimate Lineage of Yunmen

Chapter 9. The Attractive Force of Chan Learning and Its Outwards Diffusion.

Part 1. The Chan Learning of the Gentry.

Part 2. The Chan Learning of the Lixue Neo-Confucians. A.

Part 3. The Chan Learning of the Lixue Scholars B.

Part 4. Poetry, Poetics, and Chan Learning.

Section 3 The Changes in Yuan and Ming Chan Thought

Chapter 10. The Vicissitudes of Chan Learning in the Early Yuan.

Part 1. Wansong Xingxiu and the Evaluations (pingchang) of the Yuan Period.

Part 2. The Chan of the Early Yuan Gentry and the Sanjiao pingxin lun.

Part 3. The Dispute Between the Chan-influenced Quanzhen and the Chan Way. A..

Part 4. The Dispute Between the Chan-influenced Quanzhen and the Chan Way.

Chapter 11. The Origins and Spread of Nianfo Chan.

Part 1. Mingben’s This Mind is Buddha Nianfo Chan.

Part 2. Weize’s Outward Chan and Inward Pure Land of the Imperishable Soul

Part 3. Fanqi and His Pure Land Faith.

Part 4. Zhuhong and His Theory of Rebirth in the Pure Land by the Joint Practice of Chan and Pure Land

Chapter 12. The Lettered Chan that Blends the Three Religions

Part 1. Zhenke’s Lettered Prajñā that Blends the Various Schools

Part 2. Deqing and his Mengyu quanji (Complete Works of Dream Travels) that Survey the Three Essentials

Part 3. Yuanlai’s Canchan jingyu (Warning Words on Investigating Chan) and Yuanxian’s Yiyan (Dream Words) that is the Chan that Saves Confucianism.

Chapter 13: Wang Yangming Chan and the Escapist Chan of the Gentry.

Part 1: The Chan Learning of the Early-Ming Grand Confucians and the Vanguard of Yangming-Chan

Part 2. The Great Vehicle of Confucianism: Yangming-Chan.

Part 3. The Descendants of Yangming-Chan.

Part 4: The Delight in Chan of the End of the Ming Confucians and the Gentry Escape into Chan

Chapter 14. Lineage Disputes and the Books on Chan Learning.

Part 1. Fazang’s Wuzong yuan (On the Origins of the Five Lineages) and Yuanwu’s Three Treatises of Biwang (Exorcising Falsity)

Part 2. Luo Qinshun’s Du Foshu bian (Judgements on Reading Buddhist Books) and Qu Ruji’s Zhiyue lu (Records of Pointing at the Moon)

Part 3. Monk Biographies and Lamplight Records.

Section 4 The Turn Towards the Human World of Qing-dynasty Chan Thought

Chapter 15. The Early Qing Monk Disputes and Yongzheng’s Protection of the Dharma.

Part 1. The Linji Chan Masters of the Early Qing (A)

Part 2. The Linji Chan Masters of the Early Qing (B)

Part 3. The Caodong Chan Masters of the Early Qing.

Part 4. Yongzheng’s Chan Learning and His Jianmo bianyi lu.

Chapter 16. The Qing Confucians’ Sublation and Reformation of Chan Learning.

Part 1. Early Qing Practical Learning and Dai Zhen’s Criticism of Chan Learning.

Part 2. The Early Qing Confucians and Peng Shaosheng’s Praise of Chan Learning.

Part 3. The New Text Classicists’ Use of Their Own Ideas to Promote or Dismiss Chan Learning and Their Use of Chan Learning.

Chapter 17. The Particpatory Spirit of the Chan Monks of the End of the Qing and the Early Republican Period

Part 1. The Four Great Venerable Elders of the End of the Qing, and Others.

Part 2. Jing’an’s Chan Poetry on Protecting the Teachings and Loving the Country and Taixu’s Buddhist Reform Movement

Section 5 A Comparison of Research into the Chan School in Recent Times: A Contemporary Explanation of Chan

Chapter 18. A Comparison of the Genesis of the Research into the Chan School by Hu Shi, Suzuki Daisetsu, and Yinshun.

Chapter 19. A Comparison of the Core Concepts of the Chan Learning of Hu Shi, Suzuki Daisetsu, and Yinshun

Chapter 20: A Comparison of the Research Methodology of the Chan Learning of Hu Shi, Suzuki Daisetsu, and Yinshun

Chapter 21. A Comparison of Concrete Problems in the Research on the History of the Chan School of Hu Shi, Suzuki Daisetsu, and Yinshun.

Postscript

Conventions.

Further Reading

History of the Development of Chinese Chan

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    A Hardback by Tianxiang Ma, John Alexander Jorgensen

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      Publisher: Springer Verlag, Singapore
      Publication Date: 12/09/2023
      ISBN13: 9789819956852, 978-9819956852
      ISBN10: 9819956854
      Also in:
      East Asian and Indian philosophy Philosophy of religion Zen Buddhism

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      The book aims to describe the history of Chan (Japanese Zen) School thought from the standpoint of social history. Chan, a school of East Asian Buddhism, was influential on all levels of societies in the region because of its intellectual and aesthetic appeal. In China, Chan infiltrated all levels of society, mainly because it engaged with society and formed the mainstream of Buddhism from the tenth or eleventh centuries through to the twentieth century. This book, taking a critical stance, examines the entire history of Chan thought and practice from the viewpoint of a modern Chinese scholar, not a practitioner, but an intellectual historian who places ideological developments in social contexts.

      The author suggests that core elements of Chan have their origins in Daoist philosophers, especially Zhuangzi, and not in Indian Buddhist concepts. Covering the period from the sixth century into the twentieth century, it deals with Chan interactions with neo-Confucianism, Quanzhen Daoism, and Gongyang new text philology, as well as with literature and scholarship, its fusion with Pure Land Buddhism, and its syncretic tendencies. Chan’s exchanges with emperors from the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasty, as well as the motives of some loyalists of the Ming Dynasty for joining Chan after the fall of the Ming, are described. The book concludes with an examination of the views of Chan of Hu Shi, D.T. Suzuki, and the scholar-monk Yinshun.



      Table of Contents

      Preface.

      Forward.

      Section 1 The Formation and Branching of Chan Thought

      Chapter 1: An Investigation of Chan.

      Chapter 2: The Foundations and Formation of Chan Thought

      Chapter 3: The Branching of Chan Thought

      Section 2 The Synthesis and Infiltration of Song-period Chan Thought

      Chapter 4: An Outline of the Song-dynasty Chan School

      Chapter 5: The Tolerant Cooperation and Interpenetration of Chan Thought

      Part 1: Yanshou’s Convergence of Chan, Pure Land, and Doctrine.

      Part 2: Qisong’s Chan Thought that Unified Confucianism and Buddhism.

      Chapter 6. From Shanzhao to Chongxian’s Songgu baize (Hundred Old Cases with Hymns)

      Part 1: Shanzhao and the Beginnings of Hymns on Old Cases (songgu).

      Part 2. Chongxian’s Hymns on Old Cases and Their Successes and Failures.

      Part 3. Keqin’s Biyan lu (Blue Cliff Record) and the Deluge of Lettered Chan.

      Part 4. Huihong and Lettered Chan.

      Chapter 7. The Branch Roads in the Development of Chan Thought: Kanhua Chan and Silent Illumination Chan

      Part 1. Zonggao and kanhua Chan.

      Part 2. Zhengjue and Silent Illumination Chan.

      Part 3. Criticisms of kanhua Chan and Silent Illumination Chan.

      Chapter 8. Researches on Chan History and Chan Learning.

      Part 1. Zanning’s Chan History and Chan Learning.

      Part 2. Puji and the Wudeng huiyuan.

      Appendix. The Disputes over the Change of Affiliation to the Legitimate Lineage of Yunmen

      Chapter 9. The Attractive Force of Chan Learning and Its Outwards Diffusion.

      Part 1. The Chan Learning of the Gentry.

      Part 2. The Chan Learning of the Lixue Neo-Confucians. A.

      Part 3. The Chan Learning of the Lixue Scholars B.

      Part 4. Poetry, Poetics, and Chan Learning.

      Section 3 The Changes in Yuan and Ming Chan Thought

      Chapter 10. The Vicissitudes of Chan Learning in the Early Yuan.

      Part 1. Wansong Xingxiu and the Evaluations (pingchang) of the Yuan Period.

      Part 2. The Chan of the Early Yuan Gentry and the Sanjiao pingxin lun.

      Part 3. The Dispute Between the Chan-influenced Quanzhen and the Chan Way. A..

      Part 4. The Dispute Between the Chan-influenced Quanzhen and the Chan Way.

      Chapter 11. The Origins and Spread of Nianfo Chan.

      Part 1. Mingben’s This Mind is Buddha Nianfo Chan.

      Part 2. Weize’s Outward Chan and Inward Pure Land of the Imperishable Soul

      Part 3. Fanqi and His Pure Land Faith.

      Part 4. Zhuhong and His Theory of Rebirth in the Pure Land by the Joint Practice of Chan and Pure Land

      Chapter 12. The Lettered Chan that Blends the Three Religions

      Part 1. Zhenke’s Lettered Prajñā that Blends the Various Schools

      Part 2. Deqing and his Mengyu quanji (Complete Works of Dream Travels) that Survey the Three Essentials

      Part 3. Yuanlai’s Canchan jingyu (Warning Words on Investigating Chan) and Yuanxian’s Yiyan (Dream Words) that is the Chan that Saves Confucianism.

      Chapter 13: Wang Yangming Chan and the Escapist Chan of the Gentry.

      Part 1: The Chan Learning of the Early-Ming Grand Confucians and the Vanguard of Yangming-Chan

      Part 2. The Great Vehicle of Confucianism: Yangming-Chan.

      Part 3. The Descendants of Yangming-Chan.

      Part 4: The Delight in Chan of the End of the Ming Confucians and the Gentry Escape into Chan

      Chapter 14. Lineage Disputes and the Books on Chan Learning.

      Part 1. Fazang’s Wuzong yuan (On the Origins of the Five Lineages) and Yuanwu’s Three Treatises of Biwang (Exorcising Falsity)

      Part 2. Luo Qinshun’s Du Foshu bian (Judgements on Reading Buddhist Books) and Qu Ruji’s Zhiyue lu (Records of Pointing at the Moon)

      Part 3. Monk Biographies and Lamplight Records.

      Section 4 The Turn Towards the Human World of Qing-dynasty Chan Thought

      Chapter 15. The Early Qing Monk Disputes and Yongzheng’s Protection of the Dharma.

      Part 1. The Linji Chan Masters of the Early Qing (A)

      Part 2. The Linji Chan Masters of the Early Qing (B)

      Part 3. The Caodong Chan Masters of the Early Qing.

      Part 4. Yongzheng’s Chan Learning and His Jianmo bianyi lu.

      Chapter 16. The Qing Confucians’ Sublation and Reformation of Chan Learning.

      Part 1. Early Qing Practical Learning and Dai Zhen’s Criticism of Chan Learning.

      Part 2. The Early Qing Confucians and Peng Shaosheng’s Praise of Chan Learning.

      Part 3. The New Text Classicists’ Use of Their Own Ideas to Promote or Dismiss Chan Learning and Their Use of Chan Learning.

      Chapter 17. The Particpatory Spirit of the Chan Monks of the End of the Qing and the Early Republican Period

      Part 1. The Four Great Venerable Elders of the End of the Qing, and Others.

      Part 2. Jing’an’s Chan Poetry on Protecting the Teachings and Loving the Country and Taixu’s Buddhist Reform Movement

      Section 5 A Comparison of Research into the Chan School in Recent Times: A Contemporary Explanation of Chan

      Chapter 18. A Comparison of the Genesis of the Research into the Chan School by Hu Shi, Suzuki Daisetsu, and Yinshun.

      Chapter 19. A Comparison of the Core Concepts of the Chan Learning of Hu Shi, Suzuki Daisetsu, and Yinshun

      Chapter 20: A Comparison of the Research Methodology of the Chan Learning of Hu Shi, Suzuki Daisetsu, and Yinshun

      Chapter 21. A Comparison of Concrete Problems in the Research on the History of the Chan School of Hu Shi, Suzuki Daisetsu, and Yinshun.

      Postscript

      Conventions.

      Further Reading

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