Patriarchs on Paper

Patriarchs on Paper PDF

Author: Alan Cole

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2016-11-08

Total Pages: 340

ISBN-13: 0520284062

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The truth of Chan Buddhism--better known as "Zen"--is regularly said to be beyond language, and yet Chan authors--medieval and modern--produced an enormous quantity of literature over the centuries. To make sense of this well-known paradox, Patriarchs on Paper explores several genres of Chan literature that appeared during the Tang and Song dynasties (c. 600-1300), including genealogies, biographies, dialogues, poems, monastic handbooks, and koans. Working through this diverse body of literature, Alan Cole details how Chan authors developed several strategies to evoke images of a perfect Buddhism in which wonderfully simple masters transmitted Buddhism's final truth to one another, suddenly and easily, and, of course, independent of literature and the complexities of the Buddhist monastic system. Chan literature, then, reveled in staging delightful images of a Buddhism free of Buddhism, tempting the reader, over and over, with the possibility of finding behind the thick façade of real Buddhism--with all its rules, texts, doctrines, and institutional solidity--an ethereal world of pure spirit. Patriarchs on Paper charts the emergence of this kind of "fantasy Buddhism" and details how it interacted with more traditional forms of Chinese Buddhism in order to show how Chan's illustrious ancestors were created in literature in order to further a wide range of real-world agendas.

Patriarchs on Paper

Patriarchs on Paper PDF

Author: Alan Cole

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2016-11

Total Pages: 340

ISBN-13: 0520284070

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"Chan Buddhism--better known as 'Zen'--produced an enormous amount of literature, and yet many Chan advocates, medieval and modern, insist that Chan and its truths can be found in neither language nor literature. Patriarchs on Paper explores this paradox by considering several genres of Chan literature that appeared during the Tang and Song dynasties (c. 600-1300), including genealogies, biographies, dialogues, poems, monastic handbooks, and koans. Looking carefully at this body of literature, Alan Cole shows how Chan authors gradually constructed, in ever more artful portrayals, images of the perfectly simple masters of the past, best known for their freedom from literature and cultural norms. Patriarchs on Paper explores how this kind of 'fantasy Buddhism' interacted with its more traditional Chinese forms and in so doing sheds new light on how Chan's illustrious ancestors were created in literature to satisfy a wide range of agendas"--Provided by publisher.

Fathering Your Father

Fathering Your Father PDF

Author: Alan Cole

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2009-02-09

Total Pages: 363

ISBN-13: 0520254856

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"Fathering Your Father is indubitably an important, timely work. In this incisive re-reading of the sources for the early history of Chinese Chan Buddhism, Cole conveys a new understanding of material familiar to scholars that might well make students engage with these sources more imaginatively. Hitherto scholars have pored over the five or six key sources; now we are invited to read them as successive literary inventions. In short, this study has no competition and is bound to provoke debate."—T. H. Barrett, Professor of East Asian History, School of Oriental and African Studies, London, and author of The Woman Who Discovered Printing

Fables for the Patriarchs

Fables for the Patriarchs PDF

Author: Jowen R. Tung

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 9780847695133

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This provocative study explores issues of gender in Tang-dynasty literature and culture, and their meaning for society as a whole. Drawing on a comprehensive range of historical, literary, and social texts, Jowen R. Tung unravels the complex mechanisms of one of the world's oldest patriarchal systems. With remarkable depth and originality of analysis, the author persuasively applies contemporary feminist theory to Tang dynasty poetry, narrative, and anecdotal literature. Interpreting both well-known and obscure works in fresh ways, Tung sheds light on areas long left shadowed or ignored. In the process, she paints a far darker picture of a period traditionally known as the 'golden age.'

The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Volume I

The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Volume I PDF

Author: Martin Luther King

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 1992-01-09

Total Pages: 516

ISBN-13: 9780520079502

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First in a series of 14 volumes, this book contains the complete texts of King's letters, speeches, sermons, student papers, and other articles. The papers range chronologically from his childhood to his young manhood. An introductory biographical essay presents a broad picture of the events that the documents themselves cover, while extensive annotations of the documents deal with specific details of King's life during these years. The passion that drove him is observable in nearly every document. ISBN 0-520-07950-7:

The Promise to the Patriarchs

The Promise to the Patriarchs PDF

Author: Joel S. Baden

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2013-04-04

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 0199898243

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Joel S. Baden examines the promise of land and progeny to the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—a central, recurring feature of the Pentateuch.