Research Catalog

Title

Wordsworth and the Zen mind : the poetry of self-emptying / John G. Rudy.

Author

Rudy, John G., 1943-

Publication

Albany : State University of New York Press, 1996.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xv, 268 p.; 24 cm.

Summary

• This book demonstrates that Zen thought and art provide both a generative and a formative context for understanding the spirituality of the English poet William Wordsworth (1770-1850).
• Combining methods of modern literary scholarship with the philosophical initiatives of the Kyoto School, the text crosses disciplines as well as cultures, offering a nonmonotheistic, nonpantheistic philosophical ground upon which to study what Wordsworth calls the "tranquil soul" and "the one Presence" that underlines " the great whole of life". Anticipating a variety of audiences, the discourse progresses from general, introductory level discussions of Zen philosophy and literature to the more technical philosophical idiom of the Kyoto School, employing intertextual readings of a variety of Wordsworthian and Zen documents to broaden and deepen the East-West dialogue as it has been unfolding since the pioneering work of D.T.
• Suzuki and Kitaro Nishida. An important aspect of this study is its twofold purpose: to situate Wordsworth more centrally in the evolving global community of intercultural and interreligious communication and to demonstrate the unique flexibility and universality of Zen as a medium of spiritual growth and aesthetic understanding.

Subject

• Wordsworth, William, 1770-1850 > Philosophy
• Self (Philosophy) in literature
• Spiritual life in literature
• Zen Buddhism in literature

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Introduction: The Purer Mind -- pt. 1. Wordsworthian Capaciousness and Zen Emptiness. 1. Capaciousness as Natural Process. 2. Capaciousness as Receptacle -- pt. 2. Wordsworth's Endless Way and the Tao of Zen. 3. "Stepping Westward" and "The Solitary Reaper" 4. The Alpine Crossing. 5. "The Blind Highland Boy" -- pt. 3. Zen Moods and the Poetry of Emptiness. 6. Sabi: The Spirit of Solitude and Freedom. 7. Wabi: The Spirit of Poverty. 8. Aware: The Spirit of Impermanence. 9. Yugen: The Spirit of Depth. 10. The Lesson of the Conch. Conclusion: Forgetting the Mind.

ISBN

• 0791429032 (CH : alk. paper)
• 0791429040 (pbk. : alk. paper)

LCCN

^^^95019528^

OCLC

• 32548243
• SCSB-11007139

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library