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Patriarchs on Paper: A Critical History of Medieval Chan Literature

Alan Cole

The truth of Chan Buddhism—better known as “Zen”—is regularly said to be beyond language, and yet Chan authors—medieval and modern—produced an enormous quantity of literature over the centuries. To ... More

The truth of Chan Buddhism—better known as “Zen”—is regularly said to be beyond language, and yet Chan authors—medieval and modern—produced an enormous quantity of literature over the centuries. To make sense of this well-known paradox, this book explores several genres of Chan literature that appeared during the Tang and Song dynasties (c.600–1300), including genealogies, biographies, dialogues, poems, monastic handbooks, and koans. Working through this diverse body of literature, the text details how Chan authors developed several strategies to evoke images of a perfect Buddhism in which wonderfully simple masters transmitted Buddhism's final truth to one another, suddenly and easily, and, of course, independent of literature and the complexities of the Buddhist monastic system. Chan literature, then, reveled in staging delightful images of a Buddhism free of Buddhism, tempting the reader, over and over, with the possibility of finding behind the thick façade of real Buddhism—with all its rules, texts, doctrines, and institutional solidity—an ethereal world of pure spirit. This book charts the emergence of this kind of “fantasy Buddhism” and details how it interacted with more traditional forms of Chinese Buddhism in order to show how Chan's illustrious ancestors were created in literature in order to further a wide range of real-world agendas.Less

Selected Works of D.T. Suzuki, Volume III: Comparative Religion

Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki

Richard M. Jaffe, Jeff Wilson, and Tomoe Moriya (eds)

Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki was a key figure in the introduction of Buddhism to the non-Asian world. Many outside Japan encountered Buddhism for the first time through D. T. Suzuki's writings and ... More

Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki was a key figure in the introduction of Buddhism to the non-Asian world. Many outside Japan encountered Buddhism for the first time through D. T. Suzuki's writings and teaching, and for nearly a century his work and legacy have contributed to the ongoing religious and cultural interchange between Japan and the rest of the world, particularly the United States and Europe. This third volume brings together a diverse collection of Suzuki's letters, essays, and lectures about non-Buddhist religions and his thoughts on their relation to Buddhism, as well as his reflections on the nature of religion itself. Some of these writings have been translated into English for the first time in this volume. As a long-term resident of the United States, a world traveler, and a voracious consumer of information about all forms of religion, Suzuki was one of the foremost Japanese mediators of Eastern and Western religious cultures for nearly seven decades. An introduction analyzes Suzuki's frequent encounters with texts and practitioners of many religions, considers how events in Suzuki's lifetime affected his interpretations of Christianity, Shinto, and other traditions, and demonstrates that his legacy as a scholar extends well beyond Buddhism.Less

Selected Works of D.T. Suzuki, Volume II

Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki

A collection of newly edited essays on Pure Land Buddhism by D. T. Suzuki, along with an introduction by the editor concerning the intellectual influences on Suzuki’s religious thought and his ... More

A collection of newly edited essays on Pure Land Buddhism by D. T. Suzuki, along with an introduction by the editor concerning the intellectual influences on Suzuki’s religious thought and his interpretations of Pure Land Buddhism.Less

Selected Works of D.T. Suzuki, Volume I: Zen

Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki

A collection of newly edited essays concerning Zen Buddhism by D. T. Suzuki, along with a new introduction by the editor concerning Suzuki’s approach to Zen.

Miracles of Book and Body: Buddhist Textual Culture and Medieval Japan

Charlotte Eubanks

This book explores the intersection of two key genres of sacred literature in medieval Japan: sutras, or sacred Buddhist texts; and setsuwa, or “explanatory tales,” used in sermons and collected in ... More

This book explores the intersection of two key genres of sacred literature in medieval Japan: sutras, or sacred Buddhist texts; and setsuwa, or “explanatory tales,” used in sermons and collected in written compilations. For most of East Asia, Buddhist sutras were written in classical Chinese and inaccessible to many devotees. How, then, did such devotees access these texts? The book argues that the medieval genre of “explanatory tales” illuminates the link between human body (devotee) and sacred text (sutra). The author's approach to understanding Buddhist textuality focuses on the sensual aspects of religious experience and also looks beyond Japan to explore pre-modern book history, practices of preaching, miracles of reading, and the Mahāyāna Buddhist “cult of the book.”Less

A Garland of Feminist Reflections: Forty Years of Religious Exploration

Rita Gross

The author of this book has long been acknowledged as a founder in the field of feminist theology. One of the earliest scholars in religious studies to discover how feminism affects that discipline, ... More

The author of this book has long been acknowledged as a founder in the field of feminist theology. One of the earliest scholars in religious studies to discover how feminism affects that discipline, she is recognized as preeminent in Buddhist feminist theology. The chapters in this book represent the major aspects of her work and provide an overview of her methodology in women's studies in religion and feminism. The introductory chapter, written specifically for this volume, summarizes the conclusions she has reached about gender and feminism after forty years of searching and exploring, and the autobiography, also written for this volume, narrates how those conclusions were reached. These chapters reveal the range of scholarship and reflection found in the author's work and demonstrate how feminist scholars in the 1970s shifted the paradigm away from an androcentric model of humanity and forever changed the way we study religion.Less

Fathering Your Father: The Zen of Fabrication in Tang Buddhism

Alan Cole

This book offers a provocative rereading of the early history of Chan Buddhism (Zen). Working from a history-of-religions point of view that asks how and why certain literary tropes were chosen to ... More

This book offers a provocative rereading of the early history of Chan Buddhism (Zen). Working from a history-of-religions point of view that asks how and why certain literary tropes were chosen to depict the essence of the Buddhist tradition to Chinese readers, this analysis focuses on the narrative logics of the early Chan genealogies—the seventh- and eighth-century lineage texts that claimed that certain high-profile Chinese men were descendants of Bodhidharma and the Buddha. This book argues that early Chan's image of the perfect-master-who-owns-tradition was constructed for reasons that have little to do with Buddhist practice, new styles of enlightened wisdom, or “orthodoxy,” and much more to do with politics, property, geography, and, of course, new forms of writing.Less

Encountering the Dharma: Daisaku Ikeda, Soka Gakkai, and the Globalization of Buddhist Humanism

Richard Hughes Seager

This deeply personal book, illuminating the search for meaning in today's world, offers a rare insider's look at Soka Gakkai Buddhism, one of Japan's most influential and controversial religious ... More

This deeply personal book, illuminating the search for meaning in today's world, offers a rare insider's look at Soka Gakkai Buddhism, one of Japan's most influential and controversial religious movements, and one that is experiencing explosive growth around the world. Unique for its multiethnic make-up, Gakkai Buddhists can be found in more than 100 countries from Japan to Brazil to the United States and Germany. In this book, the author, an American professor of religion trying to come to terms with the death of his wife, travels to Japan in search of the spirit of the Soka Gakkai. The book tells of his journey toward understanding in a compelling narrative woven out of his observations, reflections, and interviews, including several rare one-on-one meetings with Soka Gakkai president Daisaku Ikeda. Along the way, the book also explores broad-ranging controversies arising from the Soka Gakkai's efforts to rebuild post-war Japan, its struggles with an ancient priesthood, and its motives for propagating Buddhism around the world. One turning point in his understanding comes as Ikeda and the Soka Gakkai strike an authentically Buddhist response to the events of September 11, 2001.Less

Text as Father: Paternal Seductions in Early Mahayana Buddhist Literature

Alan Cole

This work sheds new light on the origins and nature of Mahayana Buddhism, with close readings of four well-known texts: the Lotus Sutra, Diamond Sutra, Tathagatagarbha Sutra, and Vimalakirti Nirdesa. ... More

This work sheds new light on the origins and nature of Mahayana Buddhism, with close readings of four well-known texts: the Lotus Sutra, Diamond Sutra, Tathagatagarbha Sutra, and Vimalakirti Nirdesa. Treating these sutras as literary works rather than as straightforward philosophic or doctrinal treatises, the author argues that these writings were carefully sculpted to undermine traditional monastic Buddhism, and to gain legitimacy and authority for Mahayana Buddhism as it was veering away from Buddhism's older oral and institutional forms. His analysis of the narrative structures and seductive literary strategies used in these sutras suggests that they were specifically written to encourage devotion to the written word instead of other forms of authority, be they human, institutional, or iconic.Less

Seeing through Zen: Encounter, Transformation, and Genealogy in Chinese Chan Buddhism

John McRae

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, ... 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.Less