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Eihei Kōroku
''Eihei Kōroku'' (), also known by its English translation ''Dōgen's Extensive Record'', is a ten volume collection of works by the Sōtō Zen monk Eihei Dōgen. The bulk of the text, accounting for volumes one through seven, are "Dharma hall discourses" (''jōdō''; 上堂), which are highly formalized Dharma talks, given from 1236 to 1252. Volume eight consists of "informal meetings" (''shōsan''; 小參) that would have taken place in Dōgen's quarters with select groups of monks, as well as "Dharma words" (''hōgo''; 法語), which were letters containing practice instructions to specific students. Volume nine includes a collection of 90 traditional kōans with verse commentary by Dōgen, while volume 10 collects his Chinese poetry. Unlike Dōgen's other major work the ''Shōbōgenzō'', which was written in vernacular Late Middle Japanese, the text of ''Eihei Kōroku'' is written in the Japanese version of Classical Chinese, known as Kanbun. While Dōgen is also better know ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sōtō
Sōtō Zen or is the largest of the three traditional sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism (the others being Rinzai and Ōbaku). It is the Japanese line of the Chinese Cáodòng school, which was founded during the Tang dynasty by Dòngshān Liánjiè. It emphasizes Shikantaza, meditation with no objects, anchors, or content. The meditator strives to be aware of the stream of thoughts, allowing them to arise and pass away without interference. The Japanese brand of the sect was imported in the 13th century by Dōgen Zenji, who studied Cáodòng Buddhism () abroad in China. Dōgen is remembered today as the co-patriarch of Sōtō Zen in Japan along with Keizan Jōkin. With about 14,000 temples, Sōtō is one of the largest Japanese Buddhist organizations. Sōtō Zen is now also popular in the West, and in 1996 priests of the Sōtō Zen tradition formed the Soto Zen Buddhist Association based in North America. History Chinese origins The original Chinese version of Sōtō- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kōan
A (; , ; ko, 화두, ; vi, công án) is a story, dialogue, question, or statement which is used in Zen practice to provoke the "great doubt" and to practice or test a student's progress in Zen. Etymology The Japanese term is the Sino-Japanese reading of the Chinese word (). The term is a compound word, consisting of the characters "public; official; governmental; common; collective; fair; equitable" and "table; desk; (law) case; record; file; plan; proposal." According to the Yuan dynasty Zen master Zhongfeng Mingben ( 1263–1323), originated as an abbreviation of (, Japanese —literally the "official correspondence; documents; files" of a "government post"), which referred to a "public record" or the "case records of a public law court" in Tang dynasty China. / thus serves as a metaphor for principles of reality beyond the private opinion of one person, and a teacher may test the student's ability to recognize and understand that principle. Commentaries in col ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Classical Chinese Poetry
Classical Chinese poetry is traditional Chinese poetry written in Classical Chinese and typified by certain traditional forms, or modes; traditional genres; and connections with particular historical periods, such as the poetry of the Tang dynasty. The existence of classical Chinese poetry is documented at least as early as the publication of the ''Classic of Poetry'' (''Shijing''). Various combinations of forms and genres have developed over the ages. Many or most of these poetic forms were developed by the end of the Tang dynasty, in 907 CE. The use and development of Classical Chinese poetry actively continued up until the May Fourth Movement, in 1919, and is still developed even today. Poetry created during this period of more-or-less continuous development displays a great deal of diversity – categorized by both major historical periods and by dynastic periods (the traditional Chinese historical method). Another key aspect of Classical Chinese poetry is its intense int ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shōbōgenzō
is the title most commonly used to refer to the collection of works written in Japan by the 13th century Buddhist monk and founder of the Sōtō Zen school, Eihei Dōgen. Several other works exist with the same title (see above), and it is sometimes called the ''Kana Shōbōgenzō'' in order to differentiate it from those. The term shōbōgenzō can also be used more generally as a synonym for Buddhism as viewed from the perspective of Mahayana Buddhism. Source of the title Shōbōgenzō as a general term In Mahayana Buddhism the term ''True Dharma Eye Treasury'' () refers generally to the Buddha Dharma, and in Zen Buddhism, it specifically refers to the realization of Buddha's awakening that is not contained in the written words of the sutras. In general Buddhist usage, the term "treasury of the Dharma" refers to the written words of the Buddha's teaching collected in the Sutras as the middle of the Three Treasures of the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. In Zen, however, the rea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Late Middle Japanese
was a stage of the Japanese language following Early Middle Japanese and preceding Early Modern Japanese. It was a period of transition in which the language shed many of its archaic features and became closer to its modern form. The period spanned roughly 500 years from the 12th century to the 16th century and is customarily divided into Early and Late periods. Politically, the first half of Late Middle Japanese was the end of the Heian period, known as ''Insei'' and the Kamakura period. The second half of Late Middle Japanese was the Muromachi period. Background The late 12th century was a time of transition from the aristocratic society of nobles in the Heian period to the feudal society of the warrior class. Accompanying that change, the political center moved with the establishment of various shogunates in the east. Various new Buddhist movements began and literacy increased because of their spread. In the mid-16th century, Portuguese Christian missionaries arrived in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Classical Chinese
Classical Chinese, also known as Literary Chinese (古文 ''gǔwén'' "ancient text", or 文言 ''wényán'' "text speak", meaning "literary language/speech"; modern vernacular: 文言文 ''wényánwén'' "text speak text", meaning "literary language writing"), is the language of the classic literature from the end of the Spring and Autumn period through to the either the start of the Qin dynasty or the end of the Han dynasty, a written form of Old Chinese (上古漢語, ''Shànɡɡǔ Hànyǔ''). Classical Chinese is a traditional style of written Chinese that evolved from the classical language, making it different from any modern spoken form of Chinese. Literary Chinese was used for almost all formal writing in China until the early 20th century, and also, during various periods, in Japan, Ryukyu, Korea and Vietnam. Among Chinese speakers, Literary Chinese has been largely replaced by written vernacular Chinese, a style of writing that is similar to modern spoken Mandarin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kanbun
A is a form of Classical Chinese used in Japan from the Nara period to the mid-20th century. Much of Japanese literature was written in this style and it was the general writing style for official and intellectual works throughout the period. As a result, Sino-Japanese vocabulary makes up a large portion of the Japanese lexicon and much classical Chinese literature is accessible to Japanese readers in some semblance of the original. The corresponding system in Korean is ''gugyeol'' (). History The Japanese writing system originated through adoption and adaptation of Written Chinese. Some of Japan's oldest books (e.g., '' Nihon Shoki'') and dictionaries (e.g., ''Tenrei Banshō Meigi'' and ''Wamyō Ruijushō'') were written in ''kanbun''. Other Japanese literary genres have parallels; the ''Kaifūsō'' is the oldest collection of "Chinese poetry composed by Japanese poets". Burton Watson's English translations of ''kanbun'' compositions provide an introduction to this literary fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kyoto
Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the city had a population of 1.46 million. The city is the cultural anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area known as Greater Kyoto, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) home to a census-estimated 3.8 million people. Kyoto is one of the oldest municipalities in Japan, having been chosen in 794 as the new seat of Japan's imperial court by Emperor Kanmu. The original city, named Heian-kyō, was arranged in accordance with traditional Chinese feng shui following the model of the ancient Chinese capital of Chang'an/Luoyang. The emperors of Japan ruled from Kyoto in the following eleven centuries until 1869. It was the scene of several key events of the Muromachi period, Sengoku period, and the Boshin War, such as the Ōnin War, the Ho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eihei-ji
250px is one of two main temples of the Sōtō school of Zen Buddhism, the largest single religious denomination in Japan (by number of temples in a single legal entity). Eihei-ji is located about east of Fukui in Fukui Prefecture, Japan. In English, its name means "temple of eternal peace" (in Japanese, 'ei' means "eternal", 'hei' means "peaceful", and 'ji' means "Buddhist temple"). Its founder was Eihei Dōgen who brought Sōtō Zen from China to Japan during the 13th century. The ashes of Dōgen and a memorial to him are in the ''Jōyōden'' (the Founder's Hall) at Eihei-ji. William Bodiford of UCLA writes that, "The rural monastery Eiheiji in particular aggrandized Dōgen to bolster its own authority ''vis-à-vis'' its institutional rivals within the Sōtō denomination." Eihei-ji is a training monastery with more than two hundred monks and nuns in residence. As of 2003, Eihei-ji had 800,000 visitors per year, less than half the number of tourists who came ten years before ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taigen Dan Leighton
Taigen Dan Leighton (born 1950, grew up in Pittsburgh, PA) is a Sōtō priest and teacher, academic, and author. He is an authorized lineage holder and Zen teacher in the tradition of Shunryū Suzuki and is the founder and Guiding Teacher of Ancient Dragon Zen Gate in Chicago, Illinois. Leighton is also an authorized teacher in the Japanese Sōtō School (''kyōshi''). Biography Leighton's father was a medical school professor and cancer researcher, his mother a high school French teacher and librarian. Leighton began his Zen practice in 1975 at the New York Zen Center, training under Kando Nakajima rōshi. He studied at Columbia University, where he obtained a bachelor's degree in East Asian studies. Leighton worked as a television and film editor in New York City, and then San Francisco. In 1978, he moved to California and eventually became a resident at San Francisco Zen Center, where he worked at Tassajara Bakery and other of Zen Center's businesses. In subsequent years, Leight ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
