The Syncretism Of Chan And Pure Land Buddhism

This fascinating book examines the syncretism of Ch'an (Zen) and Pure Land Buddhism in China. It discusses the syncretic character of Chinese culture and Buddhism. The doctrinal basis of the Ch'an-Pure Land syncretism is thoroughly investigated. As Yung-ming Yen-shou (905-975) is the instrumental figure for the promotion and popularization of the syncretism, the book fully examines his thought and influence. Analyzing the two distinctive types of Buddhist experiences, this book is the first on this subject ever published in English.

Chinese Pure Land Buddhism: Understanding a Tradition of Practice is the first book in any western language to provide a comprehensive overview of Chinese Pure Land Buddhism. Even though Pure Land Buddhism was born in China and currently constitutes the dominant form of Buddhist practice there, it has previously received very little attention from western scholars. In this book, Charles B. Jones examines the reasons for the lack of scholarly attention and why the few past treatments of the topic missed many of its distinctive features. He argues that the Chinese Pure Land tradition, with its characteristic promise of rebirth in the Pure Land to even non-elite or undeserving practitioners, should not be viewed from the perspective of the Japanese Pure Land tradition, which differs greatly. More accurately contextualizing Chinese Pure Land Buddhism within the landscape of Chinese Buddhism and the broader global Buddhist tradition, this work celebrates Chinese Pure Land, not as a school or sect, but as a unique and inherently valuable “tradition of practice.” This volume is organized thematically, clearly presenting topics such as the nature of the Pure Land, the relationship between “self-power” and “other-power,” the practice of nianfo (buddha-recollection), and the formation of the line of “patriarchs” that keep the tradition grounded. It guides us in understanding the vigorous debates that Chinese Pure Land Buddhism evoked and delves into the rich apologetic literature that it produced in its own defense. Drawing upon a wealth of previously unexamined primary source materials, as well as modern texts by contemporary Chinese Pure Land masters, the author provides lucid translations of resources previously unavailable in English. He also shares his lifetime of experience in this field, enlivening the narrative with personal anecdotes of his visits to sites of Pure Land practice in China and Taiwan. The straightforward and nontechnical prose makes this book a standby resource for anyone interested in pursuing research in this lively, sophisticated, and still-evolving religious tradition. Scholars—including undergraduates—specializing in East Asian Buddhism, as well as those interested in Buddhism or Chinese religion and history in general, will find this book invaluable.

Chinese Pure Land Buddhism: Understanding a Tradition of Practice is the first book in any western language to provide a comprehensive overview of Chinese Pure Land Buddhism. Even though Pure Land Buddhism was born in China and currently constitutes the dominant form of Buddhist practice there, it has previously received very little attention from western scholars. In this book, Charles B. Jones examines the reasons for the lack of scholarly attention and why the few past treatments of the topic missed many of its distinctive features. He argues that the Chinese Pure Land tradition, with its characteristic promise of rebirth in the Pure Land to even non-elite or undeserving practitioners, should not be viewed from the perspective of the Japanese Pure Land tradition, which differs greatly. More accurately contextualizing Chinese Pure Land Buddhism within the landscape of Chinese Buddhism and the broader global Buddhist tradition, this work celebrates Chinese Pure Land, not as a school or sect, but as a unique and inherently valuable “tradition of practice.” This volume is organized thematically, clearly presenting topics such as the nature of the Pure Land, the relationship between “self-power” and “other-power,” the practice of nianfo (buddha-recollection), and the formation of the line of “patriarchs” that keep the tradition grounded. It guides us in understanding the vigorous debates that Chinese Pure Land Buddhism evoked and delves into the rich apologetic literature that it produced in its own defense. Drawing upon a wealth of previously unexamined primary source materials, as well as modern texts by contemporary Chinese Pure Land masters, the author provides lucid translations of resources previously unavailable in English. He also shares his lifetime of experience in this field, enlivening the narrative with personal anecdotes of his visits to sites of Pure Land practice in China and Taiwan. The straightforward and nontechnical prose makes this book a standby resource for anyone interested in pursuing research in this lively, sophisticated, and still-evolving religious tradition. Scholars—including undergraduates—specializing in East Asian Buddhism, as well as those interested in Buddhism or Chinese religion and history in general, will find this book invaluable.

First published in 1981, The Renewal of Buddhism in China broke new ground in the study of Chinese Buddhism. An interdisciplinary study of a Buddhist master and reformer in late Ming China, it challenged the conventional view that Buddhism had reached its height under the Tang dynasty (618–907) and steadily declined afterward. Chün-fang Yü details how in sixteenth-century China, Buddhism entered a period of revitalization due in large part to a cohort of innovative monks who sought to transcend sectarian rivalries and doctrinal specialization. She examines the life, work, and teaching of one of the most important of these monks, Zhuhong (1535–1615), a charismatic teacher of lay Buddhists and a successful reformer of monastic Buddhism. Zhuhong’s contributions demonstrate that the late Ming was one of the most creative periods in Chinese intellectual and religious history. Weaving together diverse sources—scriptures, dynastic history, Buddhist chronicles, monks’ biographies, letters, ritual manuals, legal codes, and literature—Yü grounds Buddhism in the reality of Ming society, highlighting distinctive lay Buddhist practices to provide a vivid portrait of lived religion. Since the book was published four decades ago, many have written on the diversity of Buddhist beliefs and practices in the centuries before and after Zhuhong’s time, yet The Renewal of Buddhism in China remains a crucial touchstone for all scholarship on post-Tang Buddhism. This fortieth anniversary edition features updated transliteration, a foreword by Daniel B. Stevenson, and an updated introduction by the author speaking to the ongoing relevance of this classic work.

Drawing on his personal experience of growing up exposed to the rituals of Chinese Buddhism, and yet embracing Catholicism and being ordained a Jesuit priest, Fr. Ari Dy ventures to examine Chinese Buddhism in the Philippines, analyzing its adaptation to the Philippines and its contribution to conceptions of Chinese identity.

"What, if anything, is Esoteric Pure Land Buddhism? In 1224, the medieval Japanese scholar-monk Dohan (1179-1252) composed The Compendium on Esoteric Mindfulness of Buddha (Himitsu nenbutsu sho), which begins with another seemingly simple question: Why is it that practitioners of mantra and meditation rely on the recitation of the name of the Buddha Amitabha? To answer this question, Dohan explored diverse areas of study spanning the whole of the East Asian Mahayana Buddhist tradition. Although contemporary scholars often study Esoteric Buddhism and Pure Land Buddhism as if they were mutually exclusive, diametrically opposed, schools of Buddhism, in the present volume Aaron Proffitt examines Dohan's Compendium in the context of the eastward flow of Mahayana Buddhism from India to Japan and uncovers Mahayana Buddhists employing multiple, overlapping, so-called esoteric approaches along the path to awakening. Proffitt divides his study into two parts. In Part I he considers how early Buddhologists, working under colonialism, first constructed Mahayana Buddhism, Pure Land Buddhism, and Esoteric Buddhism as discrete fields of inquiry. He then surveys the flow of Indian Buddhist spells, dharaòni, and mantra texts into China and Japan and the diverse range of Buddhist masters who employed these esoteric techniques to achieve rebirth in Sukhavati, the Pure Land of Bliss. In Part II, he considers the life of Dohan and analyzes the monk's comprehensive view of buddhanusmrti as a form of ritual technology that unified body and mind, Sukhavati as a this-worldly or other-worldly soteriological goal synonymous with nirvana itself, and the Buddha Amitabha as an object of devotion beyond this world of suffering. The work concludes with the first full translation of Dohan's Himitsu nenbutsu sho into a modern language"--

In what appears to be a long time ago, in the summer of 1990, a friend drew our attention to a manuscript anthologizing the teachings of two eminent Chinese masters of the sixteenth century. We recall reading through the text with keen interest, hoping that it would soon become widely available. • The matter then skipped our minds as we busied ourselves, in the intervening years, with editing and publishing the four-volume Pure Land Series of the Sutra Translation Committee. One thing leading to another, in early 1993, we were reminded of the manuscript, still unpublished at the time, and opened discussions in earnest with the translator, Dr. J.C. Cleary. One more year would go by, however, before the matter was finally settled, thanks in large part to the assistance of Master Lok To and Mr. Lee Tsu-ku. Causes and conditions having finally met, we believe that the reader will find Dr. Cleary's translation a lucid and inspiring text on Pure Land - a Buddhist tradition widely followed in Asia but little known in the West. The present volume contains Dr. Cleary's original manuscript, except for the section on Master Chu-hung's "Answers to Forty-Eight Questions on the Pure Land," which is being considered for a separate publication. Transcription of names is in the Wade-Giles system to conform to other works in this Pure Land Series. *** To those pressed for time and hungry for solace, Buddha Sakyamuni left behind a treasure trove of 84,000 Dharma gems. All of them are rare, exquisite and priceless, beyond mankind's deepest and wildest dreams; Whatever gem strikes your fancy, be it the brilliant Zen diamond or the fiery Esoteric ruby, do not forget the translucent green jade of Pure Land, bestowed upon Sudhana - the quintessential seeker of the Way. In the words of the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra, Sudhana's fifty­ third and last teacher in the Avatamsaka Sutra: The supreme and endless blessings of Samantabhadra's deeds, I now universally transfer. May every living being, drowning and adrift, Soon return to the Land of Limitless Light -· of Amitabha Buddha!

After the death of his master Gaofeng Yuanmiao, Zhongfeng Mingben (1263-1323) left Gaofeng's mountain and lived in solitude. For many years, he resided in various small mountain hermitages (often called "Dwelling-in-the-Phantasmal Hermitages") or houseboats. He drew students from all over East Asia: Yunnan, Turfan, Mongolia, Korea, Japan, and elsewhere. The Recorded sayings of Chan Master Zhongfeng Mingben provides an introduction, from the perspective of Chan/Zen Studies, to the teachings of this key figure of Yuan-dynasty Chan. Jeffrey Broughton focuses on selected works in Zhongfeng's two Chan records, the enormous Extensive Record of Preceptor Tianmu Zhongfeng, and the much smaller ancillary Zhongfeng Record B. Included translations are Instructions to the Assembly; selected Dharma Talks; the miscellany Night Conversations in a Mountain Hermitage; the dharma talk entitled House Instructions for Dwelling-in-the-Phantasmal Hermitage; In Imitation of Hanshan's Poems (one-hundred poems); Song of Dwelling-in-the-Phantasmal Hermitage; Cross-Legged Sitting Chan Admonitions (with Preface); Ten Poems on Living on a Boat; and Ten Poems on Living in Town.