New paperback edition The Sung Dynasty (960–1279) has long been recognized as a major watershed in Chinese history. Although there are recent major monographs on Sung society, government, literature, Confucian thought, and popular religion, the contribution of Buddhism to Sung social and cultural life has been all but ignored. Indeed, the study of Buddhism during the Sung has lagged behind that of other periods of Chinese history. One reason for the neglect of this important aspect of Sung society is undoubtedly the tenacity of the view that the Sung marked the beginning of an inexorable decline of Buddhism in China that extended down through the remainder of the imperial era. As this book attests, however, new research suggests that, far from signaling a decline, the Sung was a period of great efflorescence in Buddhism. This volume is the first extended scholarly treatment of Buddhism in the Sung to be published in a Western language. It focuses largely on elite figures, elite traditions, and interactions among Buddhists and literati, although some of the book’s essays touch on ways in which elite traditions both responded to and helped shape more popular forms of lay practice and piety. All of the chapters in one way or another deal with the two most important elite traditions within Sung Buddhism: Ch’an and T’ien-t’ai. Whereas most previous discussions of Buddhism in the Sung have tended to concentrate on Ch’an, the present volume is notable for giving T’ien-t’ai its due. By presenting a broader and more contextualized picture of these two traditions as they developed in the Sung, this work amply reveals the vitality of Buddhism in the Sung as well as its embeddedness in the social and intellectual life of the time.

First Published in 2000. This is Volume VI of six of the Oriental series looking at Arabic History and Culture. It was written in 1922, and presents discussions around the religion of Buddhism in China along with Tausim, Confucianism and Buddhist art. It highlights the Chinese Buddhists who contented for the immortality of the soul in the Northern Doctrines, against the followers of Confucius, that gave Chinese Buddhism a base and energy for the founding of new schools.

ung devotional texts shows, however, that many literati participated in intra-Buddhist debates. Others were drawn to Buddhism because of its power, which found expression and reinforcement in its ties with the state. For some, monasteries were extravagant houses of worship that reflected the corruption of the age; for others, the sacrifice and industry demanded by such projects were exemplars worthy of emulation. Finally, Buddhist temples could evoke highly personal feelings of filial piety and nostalgia.This book demonstrates that representations of Buddhism by lay people underwent a major change during the T’ang–Sung transition. These changes built on basic transformations within the Buddhist and classicist traditions and sometimes resulted in the use of Buddhism and Buddhist temples as frames of reference to evaluate aspects of lay society. Buddhism, far from being pushed to the margins of Chinese culture, became even more a part of everyday elite Chinese life.

Insights into the experience and philosophy of Buddhism from a Korean perspective. This book presents the author?s lifelong study and practice of Buddhism from a Korean perspective. With depth, sensitivity, and candor, Sung Bae Park discusses his country?s contribution to Mahayana Buddhism and also shares his personal experience. A monk in the Korean Chogye order during his early twenties, Park is uniquely qualified to offer the reader some valuable insights into the experience and philosophy of the Zen Buddhist. Focusing on the Korean concepts mom (which refers to the body) and momjit (which refers to its gestures or functions), Park examines their nondual, interdependent nature and their relevance to ordinary human beings who are living in these turbulent times. He also introduces a specialized spiritual practice using the hwadu, which aids the religious practitioner in loosening his conceptual, intellectual grip on his life and the world around him. In addition, the author explores the relevance of his views to other religions and philosophies, including Taoism, Confucianism, and Christianity. Those well acquainted with Buddhism will find much food for thought here, as familiar topics such as emptiness, nonduality, and enlightenment are presented in a refreshingly original way, and those new to Buddhist thought may find themselves stimulated to learn more. A helpful glossary of terms is included. Sung Bae Park is Professor of Asian Philosophy and Religions and Director of the Center for Korean Studies at Stony Brook University, State University of New York. He is the author of Buddhist Faith and Sudden Enlightenment, also published by SUNY Press.

The Tang (618-907) and Sung (960-1279) dynasties were times of great change in China. The economy grew spectacularly, the population doubled, migration brought more and more people to the fertile south, and printing led to a great increase in the availability of books. Buddhism became a fully sinicized religion that penetrated deeply into ordinary life. New cults and sects appeared and flourished. Chan became the dominant force within institutional Buddhism, Celestial Heart and Thunder Rites teachings gained prominence within Taoism, local gods such as Wen-chang came to be worshiped all over the country, and office-holding gods, such as the gods of city walls, became a common feature of the popular pantheon. Even Neo-Confucianism, often thought of simply as an intellectual movement, was in many ways like a new sect, its followers asked to alter fundamentally their patterns of daily life and even to worship at shrines to Confucian heroes. How were changes in the religions of the Chinese people implicated in the momentous social and cultural changes of this period? This volume represents a collaborative effort of nine scholars of Chinese religion, history, and thought to begin addressing this question. Their separate chapters vividly convey the diversity of the Tang and Sung religious world: gods that communicate through spirit writing; scholars who use veneration of maligned officials as subtle forms of political protest; local residents who try to enhance their power by asserting the power of their gods or getting titles for them; officials who seek the most up-to-date techniques to master occult forces. Still the larger goal of the authors is to contribute toward a more integrated understanding of Chinese culture and the ways it has changed. Basing themselves on close study of often difficult texts, each author has looked for evidence of interconnections: links between social and religious changes, between political or economic developments and religious ideas or practices, between folk religion and institutional religion, between Confucian philosophy and changes in the social and religious landscape, and between the ways religious and secular groups were organized. Taken together, these nine chapters present a new, fuller, and more nuanced view of the Chinese religions in this period of change.

Presents a collection of essays, which argue that Zen Buddism actually has a rich and varied literary heritage. Among the significant texts are hagiographic accounts and recorded sayings of individual Zen masters, koan collections and commentaries and rules for monastic life.