Chan Rhetoric of Uncertainty in the Blue Cliff Record: Sharpening a Sword at the Dragon Gate

Heine, Steven

ISBN 10: 0199397775 / ISBN 13: 9780199397778

Published by Oxford University Press, 2016

About this Item

Used - very good. Light shelf wear. Binding good. Cover in good condition. Small pen mark on the front cover, no other markings.

Seller Inventory # ABE-1786556160875

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Chan Rhetoric of Uncertainty in the Blue Cliff Record: Sharpening a Sword at the Dragon Gate
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication Date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0199397775
• ISBN 13: 9780199397778
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Very Good
• Dimensions: 15.57W x 23.5H x 2.29D centimeters 15.57 centimeters width by 23.5 centimeters height by 2.29 centimeters depth
• Weight: 499 grams

About this title

Synopsis

This book provides an in-depth textual and literary analysis of the Blue Cliff Record (Chinese Biyanlu, Japanese Hekiganroku), a seminal Chan/Zen Buddhist collection of commentaries on one hundred gongan/koan cases, considered in light of historical, cultural, and intellectual trends from the Song dynasty (960-1279). Compiled by the disciples of Yuanwu Keqin in 1128, the Blue Cliff Record is considered a classic of East Asian literature for its creative integration of prose and verse as well as hybrid or capping-phrase interpretations of perplexing cases.The collection employs a variety of rhetorical devices culled from both classic and vernacular literary sources and styles and is particularly notable for its use of indirection, allusiveness, irony, paradox, and wordplay, all characteristic of the approach of literary or lettered Chan.

However, as instrumental and influential as it is considered to be, the Blue Cliff Record has long been shrouded in controversy. The collection is probably best known today for having been destroyed in the 1130s at the dawn of the Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279) by Dahui Zonggao, Yuanwu's main disciple and harshest critic. It was out of circulation for nearly two centuries before being revived and partially reconstructed in the early 1300s. In this book, Steven Heine examines the diverse ideological connections and disconnections behind subsequent commentaries and translations of the Blue Cliff Record, thereby shedding light on the broad range of gongan literature produced in the eleventh to thirteenth centuries and beyond.

About the Author

Steven Heine is Professor of Religious Studies and History and Founding Director of the Institute for Asian Studies at Florida International University.