Member Book, Heine, Chan Rhetoric of Uncertainty in the Blue Cliff Record

H-Asia Member Book, Heine, Chan Rhetoric of Uncertainty in the Blue Cliff Record

Discussion published by Steven Heine on Thursday, April 21, 2016

Steven Heine, author or editor of more than two dozen books on the history and thought of Zen Buddhism and East Asian religions, is publishing a new volume, Chan Rhetoric of Uncertainty in the Blue Cliff Record: Sharpening a Sword at the Dragon Gate (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016), 360 pages. ISBN-13: 978-0199397778, $35 paper. Release date: May 30, 2016.

“Drawing from his impressive expertise and mastery of Chan literature, Steven Heine has written a tour de force. In this first extensive scholarly treatment ofthe Blue Cliff Record koan collection, Heine explores how the text, with its open-ended rhetoric of uncertainty, functions to extricate its readers from all assumptions and promote the existential doubt that precedes religious awakening. Scholars and Chan/Zen practitioners alike will relish this innovative and groundbreaking achievement.” --Christopher Ives, author of Imperial-Way Zen

Chan Rhetoric of Uncertainty provides an in-depth textual and literary analysis of theBlue 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 ofgongan literature produced in the eleventh to thirteenth centuries and beyond.

Chan Rhetoric of Uncertainty Table of Contents

Preface

1. Prolegomenon to a New Hermeneutic: On Being Uncertain about Uncertainty

2. Entering the Dragon Gate: Textual Formation in Historical and Rhetorical Contexts

3. Unintended Baggage? Part I: Yuanwu in His Own Write Vis- à- Vis Xuedou

Citation: Steven Heine. Member Book, Heine, Chan Rhetoric of Uncertainty in the Blue Cliff Record. H-Asia. 04-21-2016. https://networks.h-net.org/node/22055/discussions/121766/member-book-heine-chan-rhetoric-uncertainty-blue-cliff-record Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 1 H-Asia

4. Unintended Baggage? Part II: Yuanwu in His Own Write Vis- à- Vis Dahui

5. Sharpening a Sword: Case of Studies Representative Gongan

6. Questions Are in the Answers: Enduring Legacy in Relation to Textual Controversies

Appendix 1: Blue Cliff Record Lineage Chart

Appendix 2: Blue Cliff Record Cases with Notes

Appendix 3: Blue Cliff Record Cases in Other Chan/ Zen Tests

Appendix 4: Yuanwu Keqin Timeline

Notes

Sino- Japanese Glossary

Bibliography

Index

For more information, visit: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/chan-rhetoric-of-uncertainty-in-the-blue-cliff-record- 9780199397778?cc=us&lang=en&