How Zen Became Zen by Morten Schlutter [pdf] {dtyxxytd}

How Zen Became Zen: The Dispute Over Enlightenment and the Formation of Chan Buddhism in Song-Dynasty China 
pdf 1.7MB
by Morten Schlutter

from Amazon:

Series: Studies in East Asia Buddhism (Book 22)
Paperback: 289 pages
Publisher: Univ of Hawaii Pr (April 30, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0824835085
ISBN-13: 978-0824835088

From the Publisher
How Zen Became Zen takes a novel approach to understanding one of the most crucial developments in Zen Buddhism: the dispute over the nature of enlightenment that erupted within the Chinese Chan (Zen) school in the twelfth century. The famous Linji (Rinzai) Chan master Dahui Zonggao (1089-1163) railed against "heretical silent illumination Chan" and strongly advocated kanhua (kōan) meditation as an antidote. In this fascinating study, Morten Schlūtter shows that Dahui's target was the Caodong (Sōtō) Chan tradition that had been revived and reinvented in the early twelfth century, and that silent meditation was an approach to practice and enlightenment that originated within this "new" Chan tradition. Schlūtter has written a refreshingly accessible account of the intricacies of the dispute, which is still reverberating through modern Zen in both Asia and the West. Dahui and his opponents' arguments for their respective positions come across in this book in as earnest and relevant a manner as they must have seemed almost nine hundred years ago. Although much of the book is devoted to illuminating the doctrinal and soteriological issues behind the enlightenment dispute, Schlūtter makes the case that the dispute must be understood in the context of government policies toward Buddhism, economic factors, and social changes. He analyzes the remarkable ascent of Chan during the first centuries of the Song dynasty, when it became the dominant form of elite monastic Buddhism, and demonstrates that secular educated elites came to control the critical transmission from master to disciple ("procreation" as Schlūtter terms it) in the Chan School.

From the Back Cover
"This is an important book that will significantly contribute to our knowledge of Song-dynasty Buddhism. It joins a growing body of work that seeks to place the development of Buddhism (and particularly Chan) within its broader social and cultural history. Schlütter's research into a wide range of source materials is meticulous and thorough. Because of the important connections he draws among the state, independent (or local) literati, and Buddhist monks, this work has the potential to appeal to a wide audience of scholars beyond the field of Buddhism, including social, institutional, and intellectual historians of the Song." --Ellen Neskar, Sarah Lawrence College
"Scholars have been telling each other for years that it was during the Song dynasty in China (960-1279) that Zen, or Chan, Buddhism achieved its true `golden age,' but it is only with Morten Schlütter's wonderful new book that we get an explanation of how this was actually so. Based on very thorough and in many ways groundbreaking new research, Schlütter weaves an intricate and convincing fabric of relationships between Chan approaches to meditation and self-cultivation, styles of lineage transmission and monastic administration, and interaction with lay leaders and political systems. This book is a delightful read book that will form a cornerstone of Chan studies for years to come." --John McRae, author of The Northern School and the Formation of Early Chan Buddhism and Seeing through Zen --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.