The Letters of Chan Master Dahui Pujue

by Elise Yoko Watanabe (With)

Overview

The Letters of Chan Master Dahui Pujue offers a complete annotated translation, the first into English, of a Chan Buddhist classic, the collected letters of the Southern Song Linji Chan teacher Dahui Zonggao (1089-1163). Addressed to forty scholar-officials, members of the elite class in Chinese society, and to two Chan masters, these letters are dharma talks on how to engage in Buddhist cultivation. Each of the letters to laymen is fascinating as a document directed to a specific scholar-official with his distinctive niche, high or low, in the Song-dynasty social-political landscape, and his idiosyncratic stage of development on the Buddhist path. Dahui is engaging, incisive, and often quite humorous in presenting his teaching of "constantly lifting to awareness the phrase (huatou)," his favored phrases being No (wu) and dried turd. Throughout one's busy twenty-four hours, the practitioner is not to perform any mental operation whatsoever on this phrase, and to "take awakening as the standard." This epistolary compilation has long constituted a self-contained course of study for Chan practitioners. For centuries, Letters of Dahui has been revered throughout East Asia. It has exerted a formative influence on Linji Chan practice in China, molded S

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190664183
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	07/03/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	400
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

Jeffrey Broughton is Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at California State University, Long Beach.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations Introduction Epistolary Chan A Brief Biography of Dahui The Editor-in-Chief of Letters of Dahui: Huang Wenchang Dating of the Letters Confucianism and the Chan Gongfu of Dahui Dahui's Diagnosis of Scholar-Officials' Stumbling Block in the Study of Chan Two Perverse Chan Teachings According to Dahui Dahui's Huatou Practice: An Inheritance from His Teacher(s)? Dahui's Huatou-Practice Vocabulary Dahui on Sitting Practice in the Context of Huatou Practice What Not to Do in Huatou Practice Recurring Motifs in Huatou Practice Dahui's Collection Correct Dharma-Eye Depository and Letters of Dahui Mujaku D?ch?'s Commentary Pearl in the Wicker-Basket Two Korean Commentaries: Hyesim and "Korean Anonymous" Influence of Letters of Dahui in China Influence of Letters of Dahui in Korea Influence of Letters of Dahui in Japan Three Hanging Scrolls Letters of Chan Master Dahui Pujue Volume One 1. In Reply to Vice Minister Ceng (Tianyou) (Question Letter Attached) 2. Continued [Second Letter in Reply to Vice Minister Ceng] 3. Continued [Third Letter in Reply to Vice Minister Ceng] 4. Continued [Fourth Letter in Reply to Vice Minister Ceng] 5. Continued [Fifth Letter in Reply to Vice Minister Ceng] 6. Continued [Sixth Letter in Reply to Vice Minister Ceng] 7. In Reply to Participant in Determining Governmental Matters Li (Hanlao) (Question Letter Attached) 8. Continued [Second Letter in Reply to Participant in Determining Governmental Matters Li] (Question Letter Attached) 9. In Reply to Supervising Secretary Jiang (Shaoming) 10. In Reply to Administrator of the Bureau of Military Affairs Fu (Jishen) 11. Continued [Second Letter in Reply to Administrator of the Bureau of Military Affairs Fu] 12. Continued [Third Letter in Reply to Administrator of the Bureau of Military Affairs Fu] 13. [Confidential] Auxiliary Note to Reply to Participant in Determining Governmental Matters Li (Hanlao) [Letters #7-8] 14. In Reply to Vice Minister Chen (Jiren) 15. Continued [Second Letter in Reply to Vice Minister Chen] 16. In Reply to Edict Attendant Zhao (Daofu) 17. In Reply to Administrator for Public Order Xu (Shouyuan) 18. Continued [Second Letter in Reply to Administrator for Public Order Xu] 19. In Reply to Auxiliary Academician of the Hall for Treasuring Culture Liu (Yanxiu) 20. In Reply to Controller-General Liu (Yanchong) 21. Continued [Second Letter in Reply to Controller-General Liu Yanchong] 22. In Reply to Grand Mistress of the State of Qin 23. In Reply to Grand Councilor Zhang (Deyuan) [Zhang Jun] 24. In Reply to Judicial Commissioner Zhang (Yangshu) 25. In Reply to Palace Writer Zhu (Yanzhang) 26. Continued [Second Letter in Reply to Palace Writer Zhu] 27. Continued [Third Letter in Reply to Palace Writer Zhu] Letters of Chan Master Dahui Pujue Volume One Ends Letters of Chan Master Dahui Pujue Volume Two 28. In Reply to Chief Transport Commissioner Xia 29. In Reply to Secretariat Drafter Lü (Juren) 30. In Reply to Director Lü (Longli) 31. [Second Letter] in Reply to Secretariat Drafter Lü (Juren) 32. Continued [Third Letter in Reply to Secretariat Drafter Lü] 33. In Reply to Principal Graduate Zhu (Shengxi) 34. Continued [Second Letter in Reply to Principal Graduate Zhu] 35. In Reply to Auxiliary in the Hall [of the Dragon Diagram] Zong 36. In Reply to Participant in Determining Governmental Matters Li (Taifa) 37. In Reply to Assistant Director of the Court of the Imperial Clan Zeng (Tianyin) 38. In Reply to Instructor Wang (Dashou) 39. In Reply to Vice Minister Liu (Jigao) 40. Continued [Second Letter in Reply to Vice Minister Liu] 41. In Reply to Director Li (Sibiao) 42. In Reply to [Academician of the Hall for] Treasuring Culture Li (Maojia) 43. In Reply to Vice Minister Xiang (Bogong) 44. In Reply to Instructor Chen (Fuxiang) 45. In Reply to Supervisor Lin (Shaozhan) 46. In Reply to District Magistrate Huang (Ziyu) 47. In Reply to Instructor Yan (Ziqing) 48. In Reply to Vice Minister Zhang (Zishao) ["Old Vimalak?rti] 49. In Reply to [Scholar of the Hall of] Clear Stratagems Xu (Zhishan) 50. In Reply to Instructor Yang (Yanhou) 51. In Reply to Administrator of the Bureau of Military Affairs Lou 52. Continued [Second Letter in Reply to Administrator of the Bureau of Military Affairs Lou] 53. In Reply to Defender-in-Chief Cao (Gongxian) 54. In Reply to Vice Minister Rong (Maoshi) 55. Continued [Second Letter in Reply to Vice Minister Rong] 56. In Reply to Transit Authorization Bureau Huang (Jiefu) 57. In Reply to District Magistrate Sun 58. In Reply to Secretariat Drafter Principal Graduate Zhang (Anguo) 59. In Reply to Grand Councilor Tang (Jinzhi) 60. In Reply to Judicial Commissioner Fan (Maoshi) 61. In Reply to Preceptor Shengquan Gui 62. In Reply to Elder Gushan Dai 63. [Postface] Five-Mountains (Gozan) Edition of Letters of Chan Master Dahui Pujue (Dahui Pujue chanshi shu/Daie Fukaku zenji sho) Bibliography

Editorial Reviews

"T]his book is a wonderful resource to all who would read Dahui's epistles. The inclusion of lucid translations from multiple historical commentaries-a rich exegetical apparatus-is a great contribution. We are all indebted to the translators' work."—Jason Protass, Reading Religion

"Dahui's Letters is an important work of Southern Song Chan that has had profound influence throughout the East Asian Chan, Son, and Zen worlds. This translation by Broughton will become required reading for students and scholars alike, as it illuminates the teachings of one of the Chan tradition's seminal thinkers, Dahui Zonggao."—Albert Welter, Professor of East Asian Studies, University of Arizona

"The Letters of Dahui—essential Chan/Zen reading for centuries now available to us! Written by the greatest Chan master of the Song to prominent lay people rather than to monks, these letters highlight the question of how to live a life of Zen in the midst of a noisy and contentious world—perfect for our time! An essential text by the master translator of our time for Chan literature."—Dale Wright, David B. and Mary H. Gamble Professor in Religion, Occidental College

From the Publisher