Chan Buddhism in Ritual Context (Routledgecurzon Studies in Asian Religion) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0415297486 ISBN 13: 9780415297486

Publisher: Routledge, 2003

Synopsis

The essays in this volume attempt to place the Chan and Zen tradition in their ritual and cultural contexts, looking at various aspects heretofore largely (and unduly) ignored. In particular, they show the extent to which these traditions, despite their claim to uniqueness, were indebted to larger trends in East Asian Buddhism, such as the cults of icons, relics and the monastic robe.
The book emphasises the importance of ritual for a proper understanding of this allegedly anti-ritualistic form of Buddhism. In doing so, it deconstructs the Chan/Zen 'rhetoric of immediacy' and its ideological underpinnings.

About this title

About the Author:

Bernard Faure is a Professor in the Department of Religious Studies, Stanford University and Co-Director of the Stanford Center for Buddhist Studies. His publications include The Rhetoric of Immediacy: A Cultural Critique of Chan/Zen Buddhism (1991), Chan Insights and Oversights: A Phenomenological Critique of the Chan/Zen Tradition (1993), Visions of Power: Imagining Medieval Japanese Buddhism (1996) and The Will to Orthodoxy: A Critical Genealogy of Northern Chan Buddhism (1997).

Review:

'It offers a probing, detailed and ultimately surprisingly revealing account of an important era of religious thought made all the more interesting by the variety of forms of accommodation to novelty reflected therein.' - Social Anthropology

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0415297486
• ISBN 13: 9780415297486
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 330
• Editor: Faure Bernard