Chan rhetoric of uncertainty in the Blue Cliff Record : sharpening a sword at the dragon gate

This work provides an innovative and critical analysis, in light of Song dynasty (960-11279) Chinese cultural and intellectual historical trends, of the Blue Cliff Record, the seminal Chan/Zen Buddhist collection of commentaries on one hundred gongan/koan cases, which has long been celebrated for its intricate and articulate interpretative methods. Abstract: This work provides an innovative and critical analysis, in light of Song dynasty (960-11279) Chinese cultural and intellectual historical trends, of the Blue Cliff Record, the seminal Chan/Zen Buddhist collection of commentaries on one hundred gongan/koan cases, which has long been celebrated for its intricate and articulate interpretative methods Chan Rhetoric of Uncertainty provides an innovative, critical textual and literary analysis, in light of Song dynasty (960-1279) Chinese cultural and intellectual historical trends, of the Blue Cliff Record (C. Biyanlu , J. Hekiganroku ), the seminal Chan/Zen Buddhist collection of commentaries on one hundred gongan / kōan cases long celebrated for its intricate and articulate interpretative methods. Compiled by Yuanwu Keqin (1063-1135) in 1128, the Blue Cliff Record is considered a classic of East Asian literature for creatively integrating prose and verse as well as hybrid or capping-phrase ( zhuoyu ) interpretations of puzzling and perplexing cases, originally selected nearly a century before with verse comments ( songgu ) added by Xuedou Chonggxian (980-1052), through employing a variety of rhetorical devices culled from both classic and vernacular Chinese literary sources and styles. The spiritual vision expressed in the Blue Cliff Record , apparently originally known as the Blue Cliff Collection (C. Biyanji , J. Hekiganshū ) with the title undergoing a change in Edo period Japan, is based on what I refer to as the principle of “uncertainty,” which indicates a resourceful approach to discourse that is characterized by fundamental ambiguity and purposeful inconclusiveness. This approach places full responsibility for attaining self-realization on the individual trainee, who through engaging multiple rhetorical perspectives without fixation or limitation gains spontaneous liberation from intellectual fetters and emotional attachments. What the authors try to reveal are not definitive explications or solutions for enigmatic gongan cases, but a way of exploring and making an assessment of various viewpoints that serves as a model for self-reliance and self-realization. In numerous examples throughout the work, highly stylized remarks seek to upend dramatically or reverse radically staid and stereotypical opinions via a Chan adept’s symbolic ability to “overturn a trainee’s meditation seat and chase the great assembly” or more expansively to “reverse the flow of the great seas, topple Mount Sumeru [the mythical cosmic Buddhist summit], and scatter the white clouds.” This book provides an in-depth textual and literary analysis of the Blue Cliff Record (Chinese Biyanlu, Japanese Hekiganroku), a seminal Chan/Zen Buddhist collection of commentaries on one hundred gongan/koan cases, considered in light of historical, cultural, and intellectual trends from the Song dynasty (960-1279). Compiled by the disciples of Yuanwu Keqin in 1128, the Blue Cliff Record is considered a classic of East Asian literature for its creative integration of prose and verse as well as hybrid or capping-phrase interpretations of perplexing cases.The collection employs a variety of rhetorical devices culled from both classic and vernacular literary sources and styles and is particularly notable for its use of indirection, allusiveness, irony, paradox, and wordplay, all characteristic of the approach of literary or lettered Chan. However, as instrumental and influential as it is considered to be, the Blue Cliff Record has long been shrouded in controversy. The collection is probably best known today for having been destroyed in the 1130s at the dawn of the Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279) by Dahui Zonggao, Yuanwu's main disciple and harshest critic. It was out of circulation for nearly two centuries before being revived and partially reconstructed in the early 1300s. In this book, Steven Heine examines the diverse ideological connections and disconnections behind subsequent commentaries and translations of the Blue Cliff Record, thereby shedding light on the broad range of gongan literature produced in the eleventh to thirteenth centuries and beyond. This Book Provides An Innovative, Critical Textual And Literary Analysis, In Light Of Song Dynasty (960-11279) Chinese Cultural And Intellectual Historical Trends, Of The Blue Cliff Record, The Seminal Chan/zen Buddhist Collection Of Commentaries On One Hundred Gongan/koan Cases Long Celebrated For Its Intricate And Articulate Interpretative Methods-- Preface -- 1. Prolegomenon To A New Hermeneutic: On Being Uncertain About Uncertainty -- 2. Entering The Dragon Gate: Textual Formation In Historical And Rhetorical Contexts -- 3. Unintended Baggage? Part One: Yuanwu In His Own Write Vis-à-vis Xuedou -- 4. Unintended Baggage? Part Two: Yuanwu In His Own Write Vis-à-vis Dahui -- 5. Sharpening A Sword: Case Studies Of Representative Gongan -- 6. Questions Are In The Answers: Enduring Legacy In Relation To Textual Controversies -- Appendicies. Steven Heine. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 325-336) And Index. Machine generated contents note: -- Preface -- 1. Prolegomenon to a New Hermeneutic: On Being Uncertain About Uncertainty -- 2. Entering the Dragon Gate: Textual Formation in Historical and Rhetorical Contexts -- 3. Unintended Baggage? Part One: Yuanwu in His Own Write Vis-à-vis Xuedou -- 4. Unintended Baggage? Part Two: Yuanwu in His Own Write Vis-à-vis Dahui -- 5. Sharpening a Sword: Case Studies of Representative Gongan -- 6. Questions Are in the Answers: Enduring Legacy in Relation to Textual Controversies -- Appendix -- Notes -- Sino-Japanese Glossary "This book provides an innovative, critical textual and literary analysis, in light of Song dynasty (960-11279) Chinese cultural and intellectual historical trends, of the Blue Cliff Record, the seminal Chan/Zen Buddhist collection of commentaries on one hundred gongan/koan cases long celebrated for its intricate and articulate interpretative methods"-- Provided by publisher