Sunday, September 8, 2013

The Chinese Buddhist Canon (lectures)

Wisdom Quarterly; ICBS, University of the West (uwest.edu)
Associate Prof. Jiang Wu from the Dept. of East Asian Studies, University of Arizona is the author of Enlightenment in Dispute: The Reinvention of Chan Buddhism in Seventeenth-Century China.
 
"Truly a work of merit for the history of religious and intellectual thought, practice, and sociopolitics..."

"Jiang Wu's Enlightenment in Dispute succeeds in its bold claim that the revival of Chan Buddhism deserves to be seen as playing a significant role in 17th-century Chinese history.
 
"Among Wu's many important findings are his specific tracing of Chan in late Ming thought and factionalism, the significance of Chan 'textual spirituality' in the intellectual questing of the time, the surprising use of the law in the adjudication of disputed Dharma transmissions, the intersections of Chan with Ming loyalist sentiments and actions, and the central part played by Yongzheng (first as prince and then as emperor) in defining Chan doctrinal legitimacy and ultimately his own enlightenment.
 
"The book is a valuable addition to our studies of China's turbulent and formative 'long seventeenth century.'" --Jonathan Spence, author of The Search for Modern China and Return to Dragon Mountain

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