Mastodawn

📰 Monk Dangui and the High Qing Censorship against Him (A free, 22-page article from 2024)

Tags: #ZenHistory #History #Sangha #Enculturation #Qing
https://buddhistuniversity.net/content/articles/into-buddhism-yet-hardly-escape_lin-h

Into Buddhism, Yet Hardly an Escape: Monk Dangui and the High Qing Censorship against Him

In 1775, during the process of collecting books for the Sìkù qúanshū (四庫全書) project, an empire-wide literary inquisition was imposed on the deceased monk Jīnshì Dánguī (今釋澹歸) (1614–80).

The Open Buddhist University

The Open Buddhist University Mar 27

📑 The *Sutra of Druma, King of the Kinnara* and the Buddhist Philosophy of Music (A free, 17-page paper from 2021)

Tags: #Buddhastatue #ZenHistory #Gagaku
https://buddhistuniversity.net/content/papers/sutra-of-druma-king-of-kinnara_rambelli-fabio

The Sutra of Druma, King of the Kinnara and the Buddhist Philosophy of Music

This chapter discusses a little-known Buddhist scripture, the Sutra of the Questions by Druma, King of the Kinnara (Daiju kinnara-ō shomon-gyō), translated into Chinese by Kumārajīva in the early fifth century. This sutra is unique in that it proposes a powerful, and sympathetic, philosophy of music rooted in the Mahayana doctrines of emptiness; it also offers a template for Buddhist rituals involving music and dance that have been performed in Japan since the eighth century as part of the Gagaku and Bugaku repertory.

The Open Buddhist University

The Open Buddhist University Mar 15

📰 Multilevel Pagodas in China’s Middle Period (A free, 35-page article from 2016)

Tags: #ZenHistory #Buddhastatue #Architecture
https://buddhistuniversity.net/content/articles/performing-center-in-vertical-rise_lin-wei-cheng

Performing Center in a Vertical Rise: Multilevel Pagodas in China’s Middle Period

An unprecedented number of multilevel pagodas were built in China from the tenth through the thirteenth century. This growing emphasis on verticality, in contrast to the usual horizontal sprawl of China’s building tradition, raises questions about what “height” meant in the history of Chinese architecture. This essay argues that the height of the multilevel pagoda was necessarily performative: not so much because the pagoda served as a means of ascending to that height, but because it drew the attention of the faithful.

The Open Buddhist University

Mind Light Way

Feb 28

In the 7th century, the Chan master Huike was executed after rivals bribed the authorities and accused him of “demonic speech.”

The biography that preserves his life does not present him as a revolutionary. It stages a tension: teaching embodied rather than institutionalized, clarity recognized without formal office.

Huike: The Zen (Chan) Master They Killed
https://www.mindlightway.org/zen-history-blog/huike-the-zen-chan-master-they-killed

#ZenHistory #Chan #TangDynasty #zen

PArt 9 | Huike: The Zen (Chan) Master They Killed — MIND LIGHT WAY

A historical study of Huike, the Chan master executed for his teaching, and how direct insight can challenge institutional authority.

MIND LIGHT WAY

Mind Light Way

Jan 25

One of the most striking things about Bodhidharma’s earliest biography is how little it tries to explain or conclude.

Even the famous “single sandal” story is recorded without interpretation.

That restraint may be the most instructive thing of all.

https://www.mindlightway.org/zen-history-blog/the-earliest-biography-of-bodhidharma

#zen
#ZenHistory
#Bodhidharma
#EarlyChan
#BuddhistTexts
#Dhyana

The earliest biography of Bodhidharma from the Xu Gaoseng Zhuan before later Zen legends. — MIND LIGHT WAY

The earliest biography of Bodhidharma from the Xu Gaoseng Zhuan (Further Biographies of Eminent Monks), before later Zen legends.

MIND LIGHT WAY

Mind Light Way

Jan 23

New blog: Bodhidharma Before Zen Took Shape
Before Zen became legend, Bodhidharma appears quietly in a 7th-century Buddhist biography.

I’ve translated and examined his earliest surviving biography from the Xu Gaoseng Zhuan (Further Biographies of Eminent Monks), focusing on practice, historical context, and what the text actually says—without later mythmaking.

Read: Bodhidharma Before Zen
https://www.mindlightway.org/zen-history-blog/the-earliest-biography-of-bodhidharma

#ZenHistory
#Bodhidharma
#EarlyChan
#BuddhistTexts
#Dhyana

The earliest biography of Bodhidharma from the Xu Gaoseng Zhuan before later Zen legends. — MIND LIGHT WAY

The earliest biography of Bodhidharma from the Xu Gaoseng Zhuan (Further Biographies of Eminent Monks), before later Zen legends.

MIND LIGHT WAY

The Open Buddhist University Dec 23

📕 Wonhyo Selected Works (A free book translation from 2012)

Tags: #ZenHistory #Korea
https://buddhistuniversity.net/content/monographs/wonhyo-selected-works_muller-park-vermeersch

Wonhyo Selected Works

Wonhyo examined the broad range of Mahāyāna doctrines in a systematic, rational, thoroughgoing, and insightful manner. In addition to the breadth of his scholarly mastery of the Mahāyāna system, he possessed excellent skills in literary Chinese, and the combination of these talents allowed his writings to bring a profound influence on the development of Buddhism in East Asia.

The Open Buddhist University

The Open Buddhist University Dec 21

📕 *Joseon Bulgyosa-go* (A free, 222-page book translation from 2016)

Tags: #Korea #ZenHistory
https://buddhistuniversity.net/content/monographs/sheaves-of-korea-buddhist-history_jongwook-kim

Sheaves of Korean Buddhist History: Joseon Bulgyosa-go

The significance of this book within the history of research lies in its comparatively rigorous and objective interpretation of the entire history of Korean Buddhism, from the Three Kingdoms period to modern times.

The Open Buddhist University

The Open Buddhist University Dec 15

📰 The Case of the Buddhist Monk Yixing (A free, 24-page article from 2022)

Tags: #ZenHistory #HistoryOfScience #Time
https://buddhistuniversity.net/content/articles/precepts-and-calculation-of-time_zhan-ru

Precepts and the Calculation of Time: The Case of the Buddhist Monk Yixing

This article focuses on the relationship between Buddhism and science illustrated by 一行 Yīxíng’s (683–727) participation in [Chinese] calendar formulation.

The Open Buddhist University

The Open Buddhist University Dec 7

📰 Genres of Buddhist Commentarial Literature in Medieval China (A free, 19-page article from 2021)

Tags: #Buddhism #ZenHistory
https://buddhistuniversity.net/content/articles/genres-of-buddhist-literature-medieval-china_li-silong

Genres of Buddhist Commentarial Literature in Medieval China

In the Northern and Southern Dynasties, there were many types of Buddhist scripture-interpretation literature, including xuányì 玄義, xuánlun 玄論, yìshū 義疏, yìzhāng 義章, etc. These exegetical forms are related to Chinese traditional literary style, but mainly inherit the tradition of Indian Buddhist hermeneutics. In this paper, all such types would be summarized as yì (義, exegesis), lun (論, treatise) and shū (疏, commentaries), which are described as follows…

The Open Buddhist University