Chinese Chan Buddhism Research Articles

APPROACHES TO CHAN, SŎN, AND ZEN STUDIES: CHINESE CHAN BUDDHISM AND ITS SPREAD THROUGHOUT EAST ASIA. Edited by AlbertWelter, StevenHeine, and Jin Y.Park. SUNY Series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2022. Pp. xiv + 462. Hardback, $95.00; Paperback, $34.95.

APPROACHES TO CHAN, SŎN, AND ZEN STUDIES: CHINESE CHAN BUDDHISM AND ITS SPREAD THROUGHOUT EAST ASIA. Edited by AlbertWelter, StevenHeine, and Jin Y.Park. SUNY Series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2022. Pp. xiv + 462. Hardback, $95.00; Paperback, $34.95.

Chinese Chan Buddhism and the Agrarian Aesthetic in the Garden

As the most important Buddhist school in the history of Chinese Buddhism, the philosophy of Chan Buddhism and its agricultural Chan practice have had a profound influence on the lives of the literati and scholars. Both historically and logically, the term “Chan Dharma 禪法” is extremely rich in connotations. The so-called “agricultural Chan 農禪” is a transformation of Chinese farming culture into the “Chan practice” by practising meditation through farming activities. The “garden farming 園耕” refers to the farming activities of the literati and scholars in the gardens, which were driven by the style of agricultural Chan. Under the influence of agricultural Chan, “garden farming” took on a new spiritual attitude towards crops and created a natural aesthetic realm of life in the act of farming. This article consists of three main sections. I start with an introduction to the religious thoughts and practices of Chan Buddhism, pointing out that the underlying colour of Chan Buddhism is the aesthetics of life, while gradually evoking its special practice of Chan. The second section discusses the concept of agricultural Chan and farming activities in gardens, to figure out the characteristics of agricultural Chan and how farming activities in gardens are carried out. In the third section, I argue for the beauty of farming in gardens, pointing out the essence of the beauty in garden farming and what aesthetic possibilities the act of farming in gardens may embody.

Chan studies as Chinese studies: Matsumoto Bunzaburo’s study of the history of Chinese Chan Buddhism

ABSTRACT Kyoto University has been for a long time an important center for Chinese Studies in Japan. It has attached great importance to the study of Chinese religions and attained considerable accomplishment. Unfortunately, the unique contribution that the scholars at Kyoto University made to the study of Chinese Chan Buddhism has been hitherto little known in the academic community. This article aims to address the oversight and introduce the scholarly achievement of Matsumoto Bunzaburo by analyzing the characteristics of his research in Chinese Chan Buddhism.

Where Linji Chan and the Huayan jing meet: on the Huayan jing in the essential points of the Linji [Chan] lineage

ABSTRACT Juefan Huihong’s 覺範惠洪 (1071–1128) Linji zongzhi shows that eminent statesmen and contemporary Chan monastics during the twelfth century in China interpreted the core teaching strategies of several Linji Chan patriarchs – especially Linji Yixuan 臨濟義玄 (d. 866) and Fenyang Shanzhao 汾陽善昭 (980–1024) – through the Buddhāvataṃsaka-sūtra (Huayan jing 華嚴經, T nos. 278–279), and with special consideration for Mañjuśrī and ṛṣi (seera) in the Gaṇḍavyūha (Ru fajie pin 入法界品) chapter, Bhīṣmôttaranirghoṣa 毗目仙人. Huihong was certainly influenced by the writings of the highly admired ‘Two Shuis’ – Changshui Zixuan 長水子璿 (964–1038) and Jinshui Jingyuan 晉水淨源 (1011–1088) – and by his close confidant, Zhang Shangying 張商英 (1043–1122), who visited Mount Wutai circa 1088 and recorded his journey in Xu Qingliang zhuan 續清涼傳 (Further Record of Mt. ‘Chill Clarity,’ T. 2100). In this article I reconsider the central role the Huayan jing and the cult of Mañjuśrī play in the core teachings of the Linji Chan lineage with particular attention to how current Song dynasty, rather than late Tang (618–907) era, readings and uses of the Huayan jing underscore the enduring significance of this seminal Mahāyāna Buddhist scripture and Mount Wutai as a sacred space in the history of Chinese Chan Buddhism.

Образ Рахулы в японских ритуальных текстах косики

The main field of this study is the image of Rahula (Jp. Raun or Ragora), the son and disciple of Buddha Shakyamuni in the Japanese ritual Buddhist text “Raun koshiki” (XIII century), compiled by the Buddhist priest Yuixin. The main purpose of the koshiki texts was to strengthen the karmic connection between the adepts and the object of worship to whom this koshiki was dedicated – Buddha, bodhisattva, arhat or Buddhist patriarch. Therefore, the main content of the koshiki was: the history of the main character, the significance of his role to the Buddhist devotees, praise to his virtues and merit, and, most importantly, mention of those benefits which would gain the believers, taking part in the koshiki ritual. In this context, the creation of “Raun koshiki” and its identification as a special ritual text, which has the same sacred potential, shows the new movement in medieval Japanese Buddhism. It is characterized by the desire to return to the precepts of the original Indian Buddhism, formed in the circles of Nara Buddhism. This movement was a kind of response to the formation of the Japanese Amidaism and the spreading of Chinese Chan Buddhism in Japan

당대(唐代) 사인(士人)의 억불론(抑佛論)과 선종(禪宗)

당대(唐代) 사인(士人)의 억불론(抑佛論)과 선종(禪宗)

Mindfulness and Mindlessness in Early Chan

Some scholars of Chinese Chan Buddhism maintain that the innovations associated with early (eighth-century) Chan were largely in the area of doctrine and mythology. In other words, early Chan meditation and ritual practices would have been indistinguishable from non-Chan forms until the emergence, in the Song, of distinctive new methods such as kanhua meditation. This article argues that at least some of the early Chan patriarchs did indeed experiment with a new method (or methods), and that this method foreshadowed, at least superficially, techniques developed in twentieth-century Burmese Theravāda that we now associate with the satipaṭṭhāna movement (i.e., “mindfulness,” understood as “bare attention”); similar innovations, possibly influenced by early Chan, can be found in Tibetan Dzogchen. There is evidence that in eighth-century China, as in twentieth-century Burma, these new techniques emerged in order to make Buddhist practice more accessible to the laity, who were not in a position to engage in more traditional forms of meditation. And in China, as in Burma, the innovations sparked controversy: opponents held that the cultivation of a non-judgmental, non-discursive meditative state was ethically dubious and at odds with orthodox Buddhist teachings.

“Who Is Reciting the Name of the Buddha?” as Gongan in Chinese Chan Buddhism

Chan Buddhism’s ambivalent relationship with language and literature is perhaps most starkly seen in its practice of gongan meditation. This practice was first instituted by the famous Linji master Dahui and involves an intense meditational focus on the “punch line” (huatou) of what is typically a story about an ancient Chan master or an enigmatic question like “why did [the legendary founder of Chan] Bodhidharma come from the West?” In the Ming dynasty, a new gongan became widely used in Chan meditation: the phrase “who is reciting the name of the Buddha?” This was a reference to the widespread practice of chanting homage to the Buddha Amitābha in hope of getting reborn into his paradise. In using this new gongan, Chan seemingly embraced oral practice in an unprecedented move and appeared to combine the other-power of Amitābha worship with the self-power of Chan meditation. Scholars have struggled to understand this development, and several have dismissed it as an example of the degeneration of Chan and its later pandering to lay people. I argue that the development of this gongan can best be seen as an attempt to reframe the practice of Buddha-recitation in a Chan meditative framework; and further explore the rationale for the practice as given by the influential Buddhist thinker Yunqi Zhuhong, who was a staunch advocate of Buddha-recitation.

Readings of the Platform Sūtra ed. by Morten Shlütter and Stephen F. Teiser, and: The Platform Sūtra of the Sixth Patriarch: The Text of the Tun-huang Manuscript by Philip Yampolsky (review)

Reviewed by: Readings of the Platform Sūtra ed. by Morten Shlütter and Stephen F. Teiser, and: The Platform Sūtra of the Sixth Patriarch: The Text of the Tun-huang Manuscript by Philip Yampolsky Chanju Mun (bio) Morten Schlütter and Stephen F. Teiser, editors. Readings of the Platform Sūtra. Columbia Readings of Buddhist Literature. New York: Columbia University Press, 2012. ix, 232 pp. Hardcover $82.50, isbn 978-0-231-15820-6. Paperback $27.50, isbn 978-0-231-15821-3. Philip Yampolsky. The Platform Sūtra of the Sixth Patriarch: The Text of the Tun-huang Manuscript. New foreword by Morten Schlütter. New York: Columbia University Press, 2012. 276 pp. Hardcover $25.00, isbn 978-0-231-15957-9. Before reviewing Readings of the Platform Sūtra, I will give an overview of the history of Chinese Chan Buddhism by referring to John R. McRae’s (1947–2011) succinct Seeing through Zen: Encounter, Transformation, and Genealogy in Chinese Buddhism (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003). McRae demythologized and objectively outlined the history of Chinese Chan/Zen/Sŏn Buddhism in four periods: (1) proto-Chan (ca. 500–600); (2) early Chan (ca. 600–900); (3) middle Chan (ca. 750–1000); and (4) Song dynasty Chan (ca. 950–1300). He does not include history after the Song dynasty up to the present. [End Page 111] Modern scholars, including McRae, Philip B. Yampolsky (1920–1996), and contributors to Readings of the Platform Sūtra, deconstructed the general picture of Chinese Chan Buddhism romanticized retrospectively by Song-dynasty Chan historians and text compilers and accepted traditionally among Chan Buddhists. They academically investigated the historical development of Chan Buddhism and removed the mythologized and mystified religious elements in early Chinese Chan Buddhism, in particular, and Chinese Chan Buddhism, in general, attempting to understand it objectively. First, proto-Chan Buddhism designates ascetic practices and meditation of the practitioners including Bodhidharma, Huike, and their direct disciples. They meditated based on the theory of Buddha-nature at multiple locations in north China. Since then, modern scholars removed the religiously fabricated elements in proto-Chan Buddhism and academically reconstructed the characteristics of proto-Chan Buddhism based on Treatise on the Two Entrances and Four Practices, attributed to Bodhidharma; traditional Chan texts; and a few Dunhuang documents. Second, the development of early Chan Buddhism began with meditators such as Daoxin (580–651), Hongren (601–674), Shenxiu (606?–706), Huineng (638–713), and Shenhui (648–758), as well as the practitioners of northern, southern, and Oxhead factions. Each Chan group began to practice its different methods of meditation and develop its own lineage theory as its unifying ideology. Modern scholars can outline early Chan Buddhism through the Platform Sūtra of the Sixth Patriarch, numerous Dunhuang manuscripts, and traditional Chan sources. The Platform Sūtra is a fascinating text attributed to Huineng, the legendary founder of Chan Buddhism, and the only text that attained sūtra status among the texts that Chinese made. Third, the major figures of middle Chan are Mazu (709–788), Shitou (710–790), and Linji (d. 867). The antecedent masters of the Five Houses, coming from the Hongzhou and Hubei factions that originated from Mazu and Shitou, respectively, began to use encounter dialogues as a major mode of practice and discourse between masters and disciples. Chan Buddhists used to define middle Chan as a golden age of Chinese Buddhism by uncritically adopting the expressions of Song dynasty Chan texts, which in some cases turned into stereotypes. Fourth, the major figures of Song dynasty Chan are Dahui (1089–1163), a leader of the Linji school, and Hongzhi (1091–1157), a leader of the Caodong school. Song dynasty Chan historians retrospectively depicted Tang dynasty Chan masters in highly ritualized Song dynasty settings. The mature Song dynasty forms of Chinese Chan Buddhism continued into the modern era without serious alterations. McRae described Song dynasty Chan as the greatest flourishing of Chan. Even though Song dynasty Chinese Buddhism was basically ecumenical, it institutionally arranged Chan lineages over other doctrinal and vinaya lineages. [End Page 112] Of the four stages that McRae introduced, Schlütter and Teiser’s Readings of the Platform Sūtra is...

Review: Seeing through Zen: Encounter, Transformation, and Genealogy in Chinese Chan Buddhism, by John R. McRae

Review: <i>Seeing through Zen: Encounter, Transformation, and Genealogy in Chinese Chan Buddhism</i>, by John R. McRae

Guanyin/Avalokitesvara in Encounter Dialogues: Creating a Place for Guanyin in Chinese Chan Buddhism

(2006). Guanyin/Avalokitesvara in Encounter Dialogues: Creating a Place for Guanyin in Chinese Chan Buddhism. Journal of Chinese Religions: Vol. 34, No. 1, pp. 1-28.

Seeing Through Zen: Encounter, Transformation, and Genealogy in Chinese Chan Buddhism (review)

Reviewed by: Seeing Through Zen: Encounter, Transformation, and Genealogy in Chinese Chan Buddhism Albert Welter Seeing Through Zen: Encounter, Transformation, and Genealogy in Chinese Chan Buddhism. By John R. McRae. Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press, 2003. Pp. xx + 204. The field of Chan and Zen studies has been in transformation in recent decades, as an increasing number of scholars have begun to challenge the accepted story of Chan's rise and dissemination. In the process, a disjuncture has developed between how scholars have come to view Chan narrative as mythos rooted in the circumstances of Chan's development, and how it is still depicted in many textbooks and popular publications on Zen. Teachers aware of this gap have been at a loss when looking for new texts to supplant the old ones and give a more accurate view of Chan, its history, and its development. Aside from the compelling sway that Chan and Zen narratives have over the popular understanding, part of the difficulty is that the field is still in transformation. While scholars are altering, sometimes radically, perceptions and assumptions about how Chan developed, this process is ongoing. And while the picture is growing clearer, a full consensus has not yet emerged. Into the breach a new book has come along: Seeing Through Zen: Encounter, Transformation, and Genealogy in Chinese Chan Buddhism, by John R. McRae. McRae's name will certainly be recognizable to all who work in the field of Chan and Zen studies. Along with Bernard Faure, Professor McRae pioneered the study of the previously maligned, so-called "Northern School" in the West (The Northern School and the Formation of Early Ch'an Buddhism), utilizing to full advantage the scholarship of the doyenne of twentieth-century Zen studies, Yanagida Seizan. [End Page 355] Through a series of articles, McRae has contributed greatly to emerging perspectives on Chan. The current volume under review may be taken as McRae's current observations on the subject of Chinese Chan, based on his own recent research and that of others. The chapters that constitute Seeing Through Zen were first prepared in Spanish translation for presentation at the Templo Zen Luz Serena in Valencia, Spain. The expected readership includes three groups: "Zen and other Buddhist practitioners; students and scholars of Chinese religions, Buddhist studies, and related fields; and a general audience interested in Asian religions and human culture" (p. xi). While some of the propositions in the book will, by design, provoke healthy debate among scholars, the primary purpose for this book as I see it is as a classroom text, either at universities or for temple instruction for practitioners interested in current scholarly assessments of their religion (according to the author, many of the chapters were the basis for presentations to various groups of Chan and Zen practitioners). Seeing Through Zen comprises six chapters: "Looking at Lineage: A Fresh Perspective on Chan Buddhism," "Beginnings: Differentiating/Connecting Bodhidharma and the East Mountain Teaching," "Metropolitan Chan: Imperial Patronage and the Chan Style," "The Riddle of Encounter Dialogue: Who, What, When, and Where?" "Zen and the Art of Fund-Raising: Religious Vitality and Institutional Dominance in the Song Dynasty," and "Climax Paradigm: Cultural Polarities and Patterns of Self-Cultivation in Song-Dynasty Chan." In addition to the back matter-"Notes," "Character Glossary," "Bibliography," and "Index"-the front matter includes a "Preface," "Conventions," and a section titled "McRae's Rules of Zen Studies." These "rules of Zen"-(1) It's not true, and therefore it's more important; (2) Lineage assertions are as wrong as they are strong; (3) Precision implies inaccuracy; and (4) Romanticism breeds cynicism (pp. xix-xx)-with accompanying explanations, provide an accessible orientation to McRae's approach and touchstones that are frequently returned to in the materials introduced in the following chapters. I have two reactions to Seeing Through Zen, one as a teacher and one as a scholar. For the teacher, Seeing Through Zen represents a welcome addition indeed! I look forward to using it in my classes, and I'm sure others will as well. Written in a lively, engaging style, it is sophisticated in its analysis and creative in drawing on analogies from research...

Seeing through Zen: Encounter, Transformation, and Genealogy in Chinese Chan Buddhism. By John R. McRae. University of California Press, 2003. 204 pages. $19.95.

Seeing through Zen: Encounter, Transformation, and Genealogy in Chinese Chan Buddhism. By John R. McRae. University of California Press, 2003. 204 pages. $19.95.

Three Language-related Methods in Early Chinese Chan Buddhism

It is an assertion routinely made that the rise of Chan represents a new stage in the development of Chinese Buddhism. But there can be no philosophical breakthrough without the discovery of new conceptual tools or perspectives. The histories and philosophical meanings of three language-related Chan methods are explored here; it is shown that not only are the methods vital to our understanding of Chan Buddhism but also they explain why Chan is so different from anything Chinese philosophy had seen up until the rise of Chan.

John R. McRae, Seeing through Zen. Encounter, Transformation, and Genealogy in Chinese Chan Buddhism

John R. McRae, Seeing through Zen. Encounter, Transformation, and Genealogy in Chinese Chan Buddhism

Seeing through Zen: encounter, transformation, and genealogy in Chinese Chan Buddhism

Seeing through Zen: encounter, transformation, and genealogy in Chinese Chan Buddhism

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

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

Some Remarks to Medieval Commentaries on 'Levels' of Discernment of Reality of the Texts by Dongshan Liangjie

Dongshan Liangjie (807-869), the founder of the Caodong (Jap. Soto) Branch of Chinese Chan Buddhism, formed and elaborated the theory of “five positions”, or five levels of discernment of true reality. The main philosophical implications of the theory are believed to be rooted in the teachings of the Huayan tradition of Chinese Buddhism, especially in the theory of the “four dharmadhatus”. Many mediaeval commentators of Dongshan's positions seem to accentuate this aspect of his teachings, among many others, Dongshan's direct disciple Cashan Benji and Chan master Yongjue Yuanxian.

The Pragmatics of 'Never Tell Too Plainly': Indirect communication in Chan Buddhism

This is a philosophical investigation of the linguistic strategy of Chinese Chan Buddhism. First, it examines the underlying structure of Chan communication, which determines the Chan pragmatics of 'never tell too plainly'. The examination of the structural features of Chan communication reveals what the Chan 'special transmission' means. The Chan definition of communication is very different from the Aristotelian conception of communication in the West. The Aristotelian hierarchy of speaker over listener, or the direct over indirect, is absent is Chan communication. Communication in the Chan context is interactive, open-ended and determined by its existentio-practical concern. Second, this essay investigates the different types of the Chan strategies of indirect communication, such as the use of paradoxical, tautological and poetic language, which best demonstrate the principle of 'never tell too plainly'. The whole study indicates that Chan Buddhism provides the resources for our contemporary inquiry into the issue of indirect communication.

Kuan-Yin: The Cult of Half Asia

Previous articleNext article No AccessKuan-Yin: The Cult of Half AsiaC. N. TayC. N. Tay Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by History of Religions Volume 16, Number 2Nov., 1976 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/462762 Views: 14Total views on this site Citations: 13Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1976 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Jitnisa Roenjun, Mark Speece, Leela Tiangsoongnern Spirituality and ethical treatment of customers and employees by devout Thai women small business owners, Business Ethics, the Environment & Responsibility 30, no.44 (Jul 2021): 818–831.https://doi.org/10.1111/beer.12375Minqin (敏) Wang, Lee W. Bailey Guanyin, (Jun 2020): 1004–1011.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24348-7_792David A. Palmer, Martin M. H. Tse, Chip Colwell Guanyin's Limbo: Icons as Demi‐Persons and Dividuating Objects, American Anthropologist 121, no.44 (Aug 2019): 897–910.https://doi.org/10.1111/aman.13317Peter Harvey Buddhism and Monotheism, 36 (Jul 2019).https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108758390Mark W. Speece Sustainable development and Buddhist economics in Thailand, International Journal of Social Economics 46, no.55 (May 2019): 704–721.https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSE-08-2018-0405Paul Hedges Comparative Theology, Brill Research Perspectives in Theology 1, no.11 (Oct 2017): 1–89.https://doi.org/10.1163/24683493-12340001Yu-Hsiang Yang, Huimin Bhikshu, Rua-Huan Tsaih The Power of One Sentient Being: The Computer Simulation of a Bodhisattva's Altruism Using Agent-based Modelling, Contemporary Buddhism 16, no.22 (Jun 2015): 330–354.https://doi.org/10.1080/14639947.2015.1041676Paul Hedges The identity of Guanyin: Religion, convention and subversion, Culture and Religion 13, no.11 (Mar 2012): 91–106.https://doi.org/10.1080/14755610.2012.658426Miriam Levering Guanyin/Avalokitesvara in Encounter Dialogues: Creating a Place for Guanyin in Chinese Chan Buddhism, Journal of Chinese Religions 34, no.11 (Nov 2013): 1–28.https://doi.org/10.1179/073776906803525147John Nelson From Battlefield to Atomic Bomb to the Pure Land of Paradise: Employing the Bodhisattva of Compassion to Calm Japan's Spirits of the Dead, Journal of Contemporary Religion 17, no.22 (Aug 2010): 149–164.https://doi.org/10.1080/13537900220125154Laurel Means The “Orient-Ation” of Eden: Christian/Buddhist Dialogics in the Poetry of Shirley Geok-Lin Lim, Christianity & Literature 43, no.22 (Jul 2016): 189–203.https://doi.org/10.1177/014833319404300205Chün-fang Yü Feminine Images of Kuan-Yin in Post-T'ang China, Journal of Chinese Religions 18, no.11 (Jul 2013): 61–89.https://doi.org/10.1179/073776990805307937 C. N. Tay The Lotus Sutra in Its Latest Translation, History of Religions 19, no.44 (Oct 2015): 372–377.https://doi.org/10.1086/462858