A01=Jeffrey L. Broughton
annotated translation
Author_Jeffrey L. Broughton
bodhidharma
buddhism
buddhist monk
Category=DSBB
Category=QRFB23
chan buddhism
chan literature
china
chinese culture
chinese history
chinese patriarch
chinese religion
confusion
dharma
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
liberation
master yuan
meditation
meditative practices
records
religious studies
scripture
self deception
study of zen
tang dynasty
teachers
the wall gazing brahmin
translated text
tun huang zen manuscripts
zen
zen dialogues
zen literature
Product details
- ISBN 9780520219724
- Weight: 318g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 21 Sep 1999
- Publisher: University of California Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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In the early part of this century, the discovery of a walled-up cave in northwest China led to the retrieval of a lost early Ch'an (Zen) literature of the T'ang dynasty (618-907). One of the recovered Zen texts was a seven-piece collection, the Bodhidharma Anthology. Of the numerous texts attributed to Bodhidharma, this anthology is the only one generally believed to contain authentic Bodhidharma material. Jeffrey L. Broughton provides a reliable annotated translation of the Bodhidharma Anthology along with a detailed study of its nature, content, and background. His work is especially important for its rendering of the three Records, which contain some of the earliest Zen dialogues and constitute the real beginnings of Zen literature. The vivid dialogues and sayings of Master Yuan, a long-forgotten member of the Bodhidharma circle, are the hallmark of the Records. Master Yuan consistently criticizes reliance on the Dharma, on teachers, on meditative practice, and on scripture, all of which lead to self-deception and confusion, he says.
According to Master Yuan, if one has spirit and does not seek anything, including the teachings of Buddhism, then one will attain the quietude of liberation. The boldness in Yuan's utterances prefigures much of the full-blown Zen tradition we recognize today. Broughton utilizes a Tibetan translation of the Bodhidharma Anthology as an informative gloss on the Chinese original. Placing the anthology within the context of the Tun-huang Zen manuscripts as a whole, he proposes a new approach to the study of Zen, one that concentrates on literary history, a genealogy of texts rather than the usual genealogy of masters.
Jeffrey L. Broughton is Professor of Religious Studies at California State University, Long Beach.
