5/11/2023 0 Comments Zen bound 2 repack![]() Similar to his work in the following essay, Sharf argues in the aforementioned books for a re-evaluation of the many theories and models that have come to define the field of Buddhist studies. In both, Sharf questions certain scholarly understandings of Asian religions that have created “master narratives” through which Buddhism, in particular, has been popularly portrayed. ![]() Sharf is the author of Coming to Terms with Chinese Buddhism: A Reading of the Treasure Store Treatise (2002) and co-editor of Living Images: Japanese Buddhist Icons in Context (2001). Having earned degrees in Chinese studies and Buddhist studies, Sharf's work focuses primarily on medieval Chinese Buddhism, as well as Japanese Buddhism, Buddhist art, and the study of ritual, theory, and method in the study of religion. “Experience,” from Critical Terms for Religious Studies Robert Sharf is a professor of Buddhist studies at the University of California, Berkeley. The book examines the transcultural conundrum: how did Zen, which started half a millennium earlier as a mystical utopian cult primarily for reclusive monks who withdrew from society, gain a broad following among influential lay followers in both countries? It answers this question by developing a focus on the main mythical elements that contributed to the overall effectiveness of this transition, especially the Legend of Living Buddhas. The transmission culminated in the 1320s when prominent leaders Daitō and Musō learned enough Chinese to overcome challenges from other sects with their Zen methods. Following the arrival of a series of émigré monks, who gained the strong support of the shoguns for their continental teachings, Zen became the mainstream religious tradition in Japan. However, foreign rituals and customs met with resistance, so by the end of the thirteenth century it was difficult to imagine the success Zen would soon achieve. After receiving Dharma transmission through face-to-face meetings with prominent Chinese teachers, the Japanese monks returned with many spiritual resources. They quickly learned that Chan, with the strong support of the secular elite, was well organized in terms of the intricate teaching techniques of various temple lineages. The cycle of transfer began with a handful of Japanese pilgrims traveling to China, including Eisai, Dōgen, and Enni, in order to discover authentic Buddhism. ![]() This work provides a survey and critical investigation of the remarkable century from 1225 to 1325, during which the transformation of the Chinese Chan school into the Japanese Zen sect was successfully completed. Such new understandings of language and experience offer not only new perspectives on Dōgen’s “Zen within words and letters” and his embodied approach to enlightened experience, but also an expanded view on what it means to understand Dōgen. Zen language was approached as an instrumental tool, and Zen enlightenment experience was imagined as an ineffable “pure experience.” More recent postmodernist approaches to Zen language and experience have stressed the interrelatedness of language and experience, and the importance of embodied approaches to experience. This article first describes how Charles Taylor’s notion of the immanent frame has shaped Western modernist understanding of Zen language and experience in the twentieth century. We have to explicate both the modern Western secular horizon and the medieval Japanese Zen horizon. ![]() Understanding Zen views on language and experience from a philosophical hermeneutical point of view means conceiving such an understanding as a merging of horizons.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |