The Koan Texts and Contexts in Zen Buddhism

by Heine, Steven; Wright, Dale S.

• ISBN13: 9780195117493
• ISBN10: 0195117492
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-04-20
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Koans are enigmatic spiritual formulas used for religious training in the Zen Buddhist tradition. Arguing that our understanding of the koan tradition has been extremely limited, contributors to this collection examine previously unrecognized factors in the formation of this tradition, andhighlight the rich complexity and diversity of koan practice and literature.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations	ix
List of Contributors	xi
Introduction: Koan Tradition---Self-Narrative and Contemporary Perspectives	3	(12)
Steven Heine
Dale S. Wright
The From and Function of Koan Literature: A Historical Overview	15	(31)
T. Griffith Foulk
The Antecedents of Encounter Dialogue in Chinese Ch'an Buddhism	46	(29)
John R. McRae
Mahakasyapa's Smile: Silent Transmission and the Kung-an (Koan) Tradition	75	(35)
Albert Welter
Kung-an Ch'an and the Tsung-men t'ung-yao chi	110	(27)
Ishii Shudo
Visions, Divisions, Revisions: The Encounter between Iconoclasm and Supernaturalism in Koan Cases about Mount Wu-t'ai	137	(31)
Steven Heine
``Before the Empty Eon'' versus ``A Dog Has No Buddha-Nature'': Kung-an Use in the Ts'ao-tung Tradition and Ta-hui's Kung-an Introspection Ch'an	168	(32)
Morten Schlutter
Koan History: Transformative Language in Chinese Buddhist Thought	200	(13)
Dale S. Wright
Ikkyu and Koans	213	(20)
Alexander Kabanoff
Transmission of Kirigami (Secret Initiation Documents): A Soto Practice in Medieval Japan	233	(11)
Ishikawa Rikizan
Emerging from Nonduality: Koan Practice in the Rinzai Tradition since Hakuin	244	(36)
Michel Mohr
Koan and Kensho in the Rinzai Zen Curriculum	280	(37)
G. Victor Sogen Hori
Index	317