Dōgen on Meditation and Thinking: A Reflection on His View of ZenThirty years after the publication of his classic work Dōgen Kigen—Mystical Realist, Hee-Jin Kim reframes and recasts his understanding of Dōgen's Zen methodology in this new book. Through meticulous textual analyses of and critical reflections on key passages primarily from Dōgen's Shōbōgenzō, Kim explicates hitherto underappreciated aspects of Dōgen's religion, such as the ambiguity of delusion and also of enlightenment, intricacies of negotiating the Way, the dynamic functions of emptiness, the realizational view of language, nonthinking as the essence of meditation, and a multifaceted conception of reason. Kim also responds to many recent developments in Zen studies that have arisen in both Asia and the West, especially Critical Buddhism. He brings Dōgen the meditator and Dōgen the thinker into relief. Kim's study clearly demonstrates that language, thinking, and reason constitute the essence of Dōgen's proposed Zen praxis, and that such a Zen opens up new possibilities for dialogue between Zen and contemporary thought. This fresh assessment of Dōgen's Zen represents a radical shift in our understanding of its place in the history of Buddhism. |
Contents
1 | |
2 Negotiating the Way | 21 |
3 Weighing Emptiness | 39 |
4 The Reason of Words and Letters | 59 |
5 Meditation as Authentic Thinking | 79 |
Dōri | 99 |
Postscript | 121 |
Glossary of SinoJapanese Words Names and Titles | 125 |
Notes | 137 |
153 | |
161 | |
Other editions - View all
Dogen on Meditation and Thinking: A Reflection on His View of Zen Hee-Jin Kim No preview available - 2007 |
Common terms and phrases
attain body-mind buddha buddha-ancestors Buddha-nature challenges chapter construed context Critical Buddhists D. T. Suzuki datsuraku delusion and enlightenment dependent origination Dharma Dharma-nature dialectical dim-sightedness discriminative thinking doctrine Dōgen’s view Dōgen’s Zen dōri dream dualism duality and nonduality dynamic entwined equilibrium existential expression fascicle foci function greatly enlightened person hanging in empty hermeneutic Hosshō human illumined jinen karmic consciousness Karoku kōan language liberation Ma-tsu Mādhyamika Mahāyāna meditation metaphysical mind moral mystical Nan-yüeh nature never nevertheless deluded nonduality nonthinking notion one’s original perspective practice and enlightenment practitioners prajñā present radiant light radical rational reality realization reason reconstructive reflection relationship religion religious salvific samādhi sentient setsumu shinjin Shinran Shōbōgenzō skillful means soteric soteriological Sōtō spiritual steelyard striving sūtras tathāgata-garbha teleological temporal Tendai Theravāda things thinking and not-thinking thusness tion tradition ultimate truth understanding vision Wind and fire wisdom words and letters worldly truth zammai zazen Zazenshin
Popular passages
Page xi - He who by re-animating the Old can gain knowledge of the New is fit to be a teacher.