Among them, most basic are. The qin zither is exceptionally well represented online, but I rather like my succinct playlist. The Western vogue for Zen was already well established when I sought to learn about it in my teens see here. Blyth , I read the works of D. Suzuki with an enthusiasm that I now learn was misguided. For historians and ethnographers, participant observation is optional; and practitioners of religion need not be versed in scholarly literature.
Indeed, writing about anything is different from doing it— music, for example. But Chinese Chan and Japanese Zen make particularly stimulating examples of the contrast. However, quite remote from our modern iconoclastic image of Zen, the doctrinal history of Chan is remarkably verbose and discursive. The modern Western fantasy of Zen is based on the numinous reputation of the Tang dynasty.
Much of the evidence for the early history of Chan is based on the transmission texts, sermons, and doctrinal writings of leading patriarchs such as Bodhidharma, Shenxiu, and Huineng—received images of whom are based on their portrayal by Song-dynasty writers. The connection with the glories of the bygone Tang era bestowed a sense of sanctity and was a potent tool for legitimising the Chan school in the religious world of Song China.
One revealing theme is the many cogent criticisms of the koan system , both within Chan and by modern scholars. Poceski again:. Although Zen is often portrayed as promoting spontaneity and freedom, encounter-dialogue exegesis actually points in the opposite direction, namely towards a tradition bound by established parameters of orthodoxy.
Popular image notwithstanding, I deduce that beyond those monks and patrons, penetrating the gnomic aphorisms of the Tang and Song masters has played only a minor role in temple routine. Among Western scholars, Bernard Faure has an informed view of the broader picture see e. Chan insights and oversights: an epistemological critique of the Chan tradition , In his Introduction to Chan Buddhism in ritual context he gives a useful survey of the field.
