BUDDHIST STUDIES
IRON EYES DO÷GEN ON MEDITATION The Life and Teachings AND THINKING of O÷baku Zen Master A Refl ection on Tetsugen Doµkoµ His View of Zen Helen J. Baroni Hee-Jin Kim
Looks at the contributions Looks at Doµgen’s writings of a major fi gure in Buddhism on meditation and thinking. and provides translations of his writings. Thirty years after the publication of his classic work Doµgen Kigen— Iron Eyes focuses on the Japanese Zen Mystical Realist, Hee-Jin Kim reframes master Tetsugen Doµkoµ (1630–1682), and recasts his understanding of the best-known exponent of O÷baku Zen in Japan and the West. Doµgen’s Zen methodology in this new book. Through meticulous O÷baku Zen arose during the seventeenth century and became textual analyses of and critical refl ections on key passages the third major Zen sect in Japan. O÷baku monks encouraged the primarily from Doµgen’s Shoµboµgenzoµ, Kim explicates hitherto laity to deepen their knowledge of and commitment to Buddhism. underappreciated aspects of Doµgen’s religion, such as ambiguity Tetsugen is credited with producing the fi rst complete wood block of delusion and also of enlightenment, intricacies of negotiating edition of the Chinese Buddhist scriptures in Japan. Legend has it the Way, the dynamic functions of emptiness, the realizational that Tetsugen had to raise the money for the project three times: view of language, nonthinking as the essence of meditation, and twice his great compassion led him to give away the money a multifaceted conception of reason. Kim also responds to many he had raised to the starving victims of natural disasters. This recent developments in Zen studies that have arisen in both Asia Zen story is well-known in Japan and has gained popularity and the West, especially Critical Buddhism. He brings Doµgen the among contemporary Buddhists in the West. The fi rst part of this meditator and Doµgen the thinker into relief. Kim’s study clearly book offers an introduction and a series of analytical chapters demonstrates that language, thinking, and reason constitute describing Tetsugen’s life, work, and teachings, as well as the the essence of Doµgen’s proposed Zen praxis, and that such legends related to him. The second part comprises annotated a Zen opens up new possibilities for dialogue between Zen and translations of his major teaching texts, important letters and contemporary thought. This fresh assessment of Doµgen’s Zen other historical documents, a selection of his poetry, and several represents a radical shift in our understanding of its place in the traditional biographies. history of Buddhism.
“Well researched and clearly written, Iron Eyes provides a “Kim has been very successful in providing novel, innovative thorough and insightful examination of Tetsugen Doµkoµ. The author means of interpreting Doµgen’s approach to such seminal issues is the only expert specialist in the subfi eld of the O÷baku school, as meditative thinking, nonduality, illusion, language, logical and she makes a signifi cant contribution to the burgeoning fi elds thinking, and realization. A new generation of readers will be of Tokugawa intellectual history, religious thought, and Buddhist eager to learn from the ‘grand master’ of the fi eld and will benefi t studies.” — Steven Heine, author of Doµgen and the Koµan from his insightful analysis of key passages from Doµgen’s collected Tradition: A Tale of Two Shoµboµgenzoµ Texts works. This book will takes its place among other prominent philosophical studies of Doµgen by Masao Abe, Joan Stambaugh, Helen J. Baroni is Associate Professor of Religion at the and Gereon Kopf.” — Steven Heine, author of Doµgen and the University of Hawaii at Manoa and the author of O÷baku Zen: Koµan Tradition: A Tale of Two Shoµboµgenzoµ Texts The Emergence of the Third Sect of Zen in Tokugawa Japan and The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Zen Buddhism. Hee-Jin Kim is Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at the University of Oregon and the author of Doµgen Kigen— OCTOBER I 240 pp Mystical Realist. $25.95 pb 0-7914-6892-5 $77.50 hc 0-7914-6891-7 NOVEMBER I 172 pp $21.95 pb 0-7914-6926-3 $65.50 hc 0-7914-6925-5
celebrating 40 years I 1966–2006 www.sunypress.edu I 15 BUDDHIST STUDIES
ZEN SANCTUARY INTO THE JAWS OF PURPLE ROBES OF YAMA, Japan’s Toµkeiji Convent LORD OF DEATH Since 1285 Buddhism, Bioethics, Sachiko Kaneko Morrell and and Death Robert E. Morrell Karma Lekshe Tsomo
A fascinating look at a Zen A fascinating look at Buddhist, convent throughout its history. especially Tibetan, views of death and their implications Zen Sanctuary of Purple Robes for a Buddhist bioethics. examines the affairs of Rinzai Zen’s Toµkeiji Convent, founded in 1285 This book explores the Buddhist by nun Kakusan Shidoµ after the death of her husband, Hoµjoµ view of death and its implications for contemporary bioethics. Tokimune. It traces the convent’s history through seven centuries, Writing primarily from within the Tibetan tradition, author including the early nuns’ Zen practice; Abbess Yoµdoµ’s imperial Karma Lekshe Tsomo discusses Buddhist notions of human lineage with nuns in purple robes; Hideyori’s seven-year-old consciousness and personal identity and how these fi gure in the daughter—later to become the convent’s twentieth abbess, Buddhist view of death. Beliefs about death and enlightenment Tenshuµ—spared by Tokugawa Ieyasu at the Battle for Osaka and states between life and death are also discussed. Tsomo goes Castle; Toµkeiji as “divorce temple” during the mid-Edo period and on to examine such hot-button topics as cloning, abortion, assisted a favorite topic of senryuµ satirical verse; the convent’s gradual suicide, euthanasia, organ donation, genetic engineering, decline as functioning nunnery but its continued survival during and stem-cell research within a Buddhist context, introducing the early Meiji persecution of Buddhism; and its current prosperity. new ways of thinking about these highly controversial issues. The work includes translations, charts, illustrations, bibliographies, and indices. Beyond such historical details, the authors emphasize “This is an extremely clear, cogent, compassionate, and well- the convent’s “inclusivist” Rinzai Zen practice in tandem with the written survey of Buddhist philosophical, religious, ethical, and nearby Engakuji Temple. The rationale for this “inclusivism” is the practical perspectives on the question of death and dying. continuing acceptance of the doctrine of “Skillful Means” (hoµben) The author does a marvelous job presenting not only the as expressed in the Lotus Sutra—a notion repudiated or radically range of traditional views, but also some of the contemporary reinterpreted by most of the Kamakura “reformers.” In support conversations and debates being held both in Asia and the West of this contention, the authors include a complete translation of about this timely topic.” — Beata Grant, translator of Daughters the Mirror for Women by Kakusan’s contemporary, Mujuµ Ichien. of Emptiness: Poems of Chinese Buddhist Nuns
“This cultural history of the famous Toµkeiji Convent is rich in detail Karma Lekshe Tsomo is Assistant Professor of Theology and and generous in providing translations of the prose and poetry Religious Studies at the University of San Diego. She is the editor speaking to both its Rinzai Zen cult and its popular reputation as of Buddhist Women and Social Justice: Ideals, Challenges, and a sanctuary for women escaping from abusive marriages. This is Achievements and Buddhist Women Across Cultures: Realizations, engaged scholarship.” — Edwin Cranston, Harvard University and the author of Sisters in Solitude: Two Traditions of Buddhist Monastic Ethics for Women, all published by SUNY Press. “This long-awaited tome on Toµkeiji through the ages is chock JULY I 288 pp full of witty insights, poetic excerpts, irascible comments, and $27.95 pb 0-7914-6832-1 fascinating information. A delightful read.” — Paul L. Swanson, $83.50 hc 0-7914-6831-3 coeditor of Nanzan Guide to Japanese Religions
Sachiko Kaneko Morrell is retired from her position as East Asian Librarian at Washington University in St. Louis. Robert E. Morrell is Professor Emeritus of Japanese Literature and Buddhism at Washington University in St. Louis and the author of Sand and Pebbles (Shasekishuµ): The Tales of Mujuµ Ichien, A Voice for Pluralism in Kamakura Buddhism, also published by SUNY Press, and Early Kamakura Buddhism: A Minority Report.
JULY I 288 pp 13 b/w photographs, 5 tables, 5 fi gures $27.95 pb 0-7914-6828-3 $83.50 hc 0-7914-6827-5 Sales restricted in Japan.
16 I www.sunypress.edu celebrating 40 years I 1966–2006 BUDDHIST STUDIES
POPULARIZING THE HONGZHOU SCHOOL BUDDHISM OF CHAN BUDDHISM Preaching as Performance IN EIGHTH- THROUGH in Sri Lanka TENTH-CENTURY CHINA Mahinda Deegalle Jinhua Jia
Explores the ritual practice A comprehensive study of Buddhist preaching. of the Hongzhou school of Chan Buddhism, long The fi rst book to focus on the ritual regarded as the Golden Age practice of Buddhist preaching in Asia, of this tradition, using many Popularizing Buddhism examines previously ignored texts, the role of preaching in Buddhist including stele inscriptions. devotional life and its relationship to the vernacular Sinhala literature of late medieval Sri Lanka. Blending ethnography, This book provides a wide-ranging examination of the Hongzhou textual and doctrinal studies, and an analysis of untranslated school of Chan Buddhism—the precursor to Zen Buddhism—under Sinhala vernacular Buddhist texts, Mahinda Deegalle traces Mazu Daoyi (709–788) and his successors in eighth- through the development of Buddhist preaching within the Sri Lankan tenth-century China, which was credited with creating a Golden Theravaµda Buddhist tradition. He explains the preaching Age or classical tradition. Jinhua Jia uses stele inscriptions and ceremony popularly known as ban|a and offers a rich depiction of other previously ignored texts to explore the school’s teachings preaching styles, events, and specifi c preachers. The book delves and history. Defending the school as a full-fl edged, signifi cant into the debates surrounding the preaching ritual’s origin and its lineage, Jia reconstructs Mazu’s biography and resolves potential beginning and continuity within the bhaµn|aka (reciter) controversies about his disciples. In contrast to the many scholars tradition, and explores the interactions between vernacular who either accept or reject the traditional Chan histories and religious traditions of Sri Lanka with cosmopolitan Buddhism. discourse records, she thoroughly examines the Hongzhou Deegalle advances previous research on the transmission literature to differentiate the original, authentic portions from later of Buddhist teachings by constructing a vivid picture of the way layers of modifi cation and recreation. Sri Lankan Buddhist traditions have shaped the nature of Theravaµda Buddhism. The book describes the emergence and maturity of encounter dialogue and analyzes the new doctrines and practices of the “In his research Deegalle has examined the most important school to revise the traditional notion of Mazu and his followers and relevant sources and has demonstrated a sense of priority as iconoclasts. It also depicts the strivings of Mazu’s disciples for in recognizing the most pertinent discussions within them. orthodoxy and how the criticisms of and refl ections on Hongzhou I applaud his sense of historical perspective, his acute sensitivity doctrine led to the schism of this line and the rise of the Shitou to the Sri Lankan Buddhist religious and cultural context, and his line and various houses during the late Tang and Five Dynasties willingness to make critical assessments of previous scholarship periods. Jia refutes the traditional Chan genealogy of two lines when needed. His book fi lls a vacuum.” — John Clifford Holt, and fi ve houses and calls for new frameworks in the study of coeditor of Constituting Communities: Theravaµda Buddhism and Chan history. An annotated translation of datable discourses of the Religious Cultures of South and Southeast Asia Mazu is also included.
Mahinda Deegalle is Senior Lecturer in the Study of Religions “Jia critically surveys the available scholarship in Japanese, at Bath Spa University in England. He is the editor of Buddhism, English, and Chinese, and puts forth her own conclusions Confl ict, and Violence in Modern Sri Lanka and coeditor (with supported by extensive citations of traditional Chinese sources Frank J. Hoffman) of Paµli Buddhism. that have generally been overlooked.” — Steven Heine, author of Doµgen and the Koµan Tradition: A Tale of Two OCTOBER I 246 pp Shoµboµgenzoµ Texts $65.00 hc 0-7914-6897-6 Jinhua Jia is Assistant Professor of Chinese Literature at the City University of Hong Kong.
AUGUST I 256 pp $65.00 hc 0-7914-6823-2
celebrating 40 years I 1966–2006 www.sunypress.edu I 17