Seeing through Zen: Encounter, Transformation, and Genealogy in Chinese Chan Buddhism
John McRae
Abstract
The tradition of Chan Buddhism—more popularly known as Zen—has been romanticized throughout its history. This book shows how modern critical techniques, supported by recent manuscript discoveries, make possible a more skeptical, accurate, and—ultimately—productive assessment of Chan lineages, teaching, fundraising practices, and social organization. Synthesizing twenty years of scholarship, it offers analytic models for the interpretation of Chan spiritual practices and religious history. The book traces the emergence of this Chinese spiritual tradition and its early figureheads, Bodhidharma a ... More
The tradition of Chan Buddhism—more popularly known as Zen—has been romanticized throughout its history. This book shows how modern critical techniques, supported by recent manuscript discoveries, make possible a more skeptical, accurate, and—ultimately—productive assessment of Chan lineages, teaching, fundraising practices, and social organization. Synthesizing twenty years of scholarship, it offers analytic models for the interpretation of Chan spiritual practices and religious history. The book traces the emergence of this Chinese spiritual tradition and its early figureheads, Bodhidharma and the “sixth patriarch” Hui-Neng, through the development of Zen dialogue and koans. In addition to constructing a central narrative for the doctrinal and social evolution of the school, it examines the religious dynamics behind Chan's use of iconoclastic stories and myths of patriarchal succession. The book argues that Chinese Chan is fundamentally genealogical, both in its self-understanding as a school of Buddhism and in the very design of its practices of spiritual cultivation. Furthermore, by forgoing the standard idealization of Zen spontaneity, we can gain new insight into the religious vitality of the school as it came to dominate the Chinese religious scene, providing a model for all of East Asia—and the modern world. Ultimately, the book aims to change how we think about Chinese Chan by providing new ways of looking at the tradition.
Keywords:
Chan Buddhism,
Chinese spiritual tradition,
figureheads,
Bodhidharma,
Hui-Neng,
koans,
Zen
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2004 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780520237971 |
| Published to California Scholarship Online: May 2012 |
DOI:10.1525/california/9780520237971.001.0001 |
