The Koan: Texts and Contexts in Zen Buddhism / Edition 1

by Steven Heine, Dale S. Wright

Overview

Koans are enigmatic spiritual formulas used for religious training in the Zen Buddhist tradition. Arguing that our understanding of the koan tradition has been severely limited, contributors to this collection examine previously unrecognized factors in the formation of this tradition, and highlight the rich complexity and diversity of koan practice and literature.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195117493
Publisher:	Oxford University Press, USA
Publication date:	03/01/2000
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	9.20(w) x 5.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Steven Heine is professor of religious studies and history and director of the Institute for Asian Studies at Florida International University. Heine's research specializes in the life and thought of Zen master Dogen (1200-1253), the founder of the Soto sect in Japan, and he has published twenty books and dozens of articles on Japanese culture. His publications include Did Dogen Go to China? (Oxford, 2006), The Zen Poetry of Dogen (Tuttle, 1997), Dogen and the Koan Tradition (SUNY, 1993), Shifting Shape, Shaping Text (Hawaii, 2000), and White Collar Zen (Oxford, 2005), which has been reviewed in USA Today, The Washington Post, Harvard Business Working Knowledge, and elsewhere.

Editorial Reviews

"Anyone who would spend words on koans had best absorb the knowledge demonstrated in this book first."—Journal of Chinese Religions

"Those with a serious interest in the history of Zen Buddhism will find the essays collected here an invaluable resource. The koan, often subject of unwarranted mystification, is examined in a series of eleven substantial essays vy an international group of scholars."—Religious Studies Review

From the Publisher