Journal article
"Who Is Reciting the Name of the Buddha?" as Gongan in Chinese Chan Buddhism
Frontiers of history in China, Vol.8(3), pp.366-388
01/01/2013
DOI: 10.3868/s020-002-013-0026-4
Abstract
Chan Buddhism's ambivalent relationship with language and literature is perhaps most starkly seen in its practice of gongan meditation. This practice was first instituted by the famous Linji master Dahui and involves an intense meditational focus on the "punch line" (huatou) of what is typically a story about an ancient Chan master or an enigmatic question like "why did [the legendary founder of Chan] Bodhidharma come from the West?" In the Ming dynasty, a new gongan became widely used in Chan meditation: the phrase "who is reciting the name of the Buddha?" This was a reference to the widespread practice of chanting homage to the Buddha Amitabha in hope of getting reborn into his paradise. In using this new gongan, Chan seemingly embraced oral practice in an unprecedented move and appeared to combine the other-power of Amitabha worship with the self-power of Chan meditation. Scholars have struggled to understand this development, and several have dismissed it as an example of the degeneration of Chan and its later pandering to lay people. I argue that the development of this gongan can best be seen as an attempt to reframe the practice of Buddha-recitation in a Chan meditative framework; and further explore the rationale for the practice as given by the influential Buddhist thinker Yunqi Zhuhong, who was a staunch advocate of Buddha-recitation.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- "Who Is Reciting the Name of the Buddha?" as Gongan in Chinese Chan Buddhism
- Creators
- Morten Schluetter - Univ Iowa, Dept Religious Studies, Iowa City, IA 52242 USA
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Frontiers of history in China, Vol.8(3), pp.366-388
- DOI
- 10.3868/s020-002-013-0026-4
- ISSN
- 1673-3401
- eISSN
- 1673-3525
- Publisher
- Higher Education Press
- Number of pages
- 23
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 01/01/2013
- Academic Unit
- International Programs; Religious Studies
- Record Identifier
- 9984397941902771
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