Research Catalog
Patriarchs on paper : a critical history of medieval Chan literature
- Title
- Patriarchs on paper : a critical history of medieval Chan literature / Alan Cole.
- Author
- Cole, Alan, 1964-
- Publication
- Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2016]
- ©2016
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| Status | Format | Access | Call Number | Item Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schwarzman Building to submit a request in person. | Text | Use in library | JFE 17-1748 | Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315 |
Details
- Description
- xvii, 320 pages; 23 cm
- Summary
- "Chan Buddhism--better known as 'Zen'--produced an enormous amount of literature, and yet many Chan advocates, medieval and modern, insist that Chan and its truths can be found in neither language nor literature. Patriarchs on Paper explores this paradox by considering several genres of Chan literature that appeared during the Tang and Song dynasties (c. 600-1300), including genealogies, biographies, dialogues, poems, monastic handbooks, and koans. Looking carefully at this body of literature, Alan Cole shows how Chan authors gradually constructed, in ever more artful portrayals, images of the perfectly simple masters of the past, best known for their freedom from literature and cultural norms. Patriarchs on Paper explores how this kind of 'fantasy Buddhism' interacted with its more traditional Chinese forms and in so doing sheds new light on how Chan's illustrious ancestors were created in literature to satisfy a wide range of agendas"--Provided by publisher.
- Subjects
- Bibliography (note)
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Contents
- Introduction: Chan -- what is it? -- Making history : Chan as an art form -- Plans for the past : early accounts of how perfect truth came to China -- Portable ancestors : Bodhidharma gets two new families -- More local Buddhas appear : Jingjue, Huineng, Shenhui -- Truth, conspiracy, and careful writing : a new version of Huineng -- The Platform Sutra and other conspiracy theories -- Chan "dialogues" from the Tang Dynasty -- Chan compendiums from the Song Dynasty -- Rules for purity : handbooks for running Chan monasteries -- Koans and being there -- Conclusions : Chan, a Buddhist beauty.
- Call Number
- JFE 17-1748
- ISBN
- 9780520284067 (cloth : alk. paper)
- 0520284062 (cloth : alk. paper)
- 9780520284074 (pbk. : alk. paper)
- 0520284070 (pbk. : alk. paper)
- LCCN
- 2016021494
- OCLC
- 948339238
- Author
- Cole, Alan, 1964- author.
- Title
- Patriarchs on paper : a critical history of medieval Chan literature / Alan Cole.
- Publisher
- Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2016]
- Copyright Date
- ©2016
- Type of Content
- text
- Type of Medium
- unmediated
- Type of Carrier
- volume
- Bibliography
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Research Call Number
- JFE 17-1748