Search results for ""KOAN""

Genjo Koan is the most important chapter in Zen master Dogen's principal major work, the Shobogenzo. Although Genjo Koan has been translated into English many times, and is familiar to Buddhists both east and west, it is still not well understood. This new commentary by Buddhist teacher and author David Brazier draws back the curtain revealing the deeper meaning of the text in language that will be as transparent to the general reader as it is informative to the specialist. The Dark Side of the Mirror reveals the pivotal principle at the heart of Dogen's Zen and shows how his revelation of it was rooted in his personal experience, as well as in the religious consciousness of his time. For Dogen scholars, Brazier provides a wealth of previously unpublished connections within Dogen's thought, resolving knotty problems of interpretation. For Zen practitioners, Genjo Koan reveals the meaning of satori and the way that it irreversibly commits the practitioner to a life-long 'going forth' in the service of all sentient beings. For the general reader it provides a unique insight into Japanese and Chinese medieval religion and, through this prism, throws light upon spirituality and spiritual experience universally.

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This volume focuses on the pottery classes of the ‘Entangled Tradition’, recovered at the settlement of the ‘Serraglio’ on Kos during the early Late Bronze Age period. The results reveal new information on the chronology, typology, and decoration of Koan Painted Fine (PF) and Painted Medium-Coarse to Coarse (PMC-C) ceramics. Moreover, the analysis of manufacturing processes and consumption patterns contributes to a better comprehension of the socio-cultural and political context in which Koan entangled classes were produced. The data presented in this volume indicate that PF and PMC-C ceramics represent a unique case of fully entangled classes in the Aegean, which merge features of the Koan ‘Local Tradition’ with characteristics of the Minoan potting tradition into a new technological and stylistic language. Contacts between these different cultures are explained based on the theoretical model provided by ‘human mobility’. The specific Koan cultural synthesis was endorsed and promoted by the local elites of the ‘Serraglio’, who aimed to participate in the ‘new environment’ determined by the economic and cultural expansion of Neopalatial Crete. In this respect, the manufacture of Koan entangled classes served a dual role. On the one hand, using transport containers made in the PMC-C class, Koan products were exported and exchanged throughout the Aegean. In addition, the finer vessels of the Koan ‘Entangled Tradition’ were utilized for promoting Minoan-type social practices at the ‘Serraglio’. Through these practices, Koan elites reshaped their identity and portrayed an image of higher status within the local social arena.

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