The Awakening of Faith

The Awakening of Faith
Author: Asvaghosa
Publisher: Courier Corporation
Total Pages: 196
Release: 2012-04-30
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0486148777

Comprehensive and coherent, this guide to a complex system of Buddhism is so authoritative that it has been employed in the instruction of Buddhist priests. Readers will find that it offers the keys to the essentials of Mahayana Buddhism, a liberal and theistic branch of the faith practiced chiefly in China and Japan. Translated by the distinguished scholar Teitaro Suzuki, the text discusses how humans can transcend their finite state to partake in the life of the infinite. Practices and techniques to assist believers in the awakening and growth of faith appear here, in addition to the most developed form of tathagata-garbha, or Buddha-matrix teachings. This accessible work was written specifically for those who prefer a brief and pithy presentation to extensive discourse.

Açvaghosha's Discourse on the Awakening of Faith in the Mahāyāna

Açvaghosha's Discourse on the Awakening of Faith in the Mahāyāna
Author: Aśvaghoṣa
Publisher: Jain Publishing Company
Total Pages: 182
Release: 2001
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0895819392

The Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana is a classic of East Asian Buddhism. Its concept of faith, is not the same as that of Western religions. The book's title may also be translated as The Generating of Confidence in the Mahayana. Confidence and trust is generated as a result of examining the Mahayana Buddhist teachings, which are concisely summarized here. This book is said to have been written for those who find the wordiness of extensive discourse wearisome, and who prefer a brief tretise with a lot of meaning. Doctrinally, it presents the tathagata-garbha or Buddha-matrix teachings in their most developed form.

The Beauty of Balance

The Beauty of Balance
Author: Young Woon Ko
Publisher: University Press of America
Total Pages: 121
Release: 2009-12-22
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0761847170

These essays examine the significance of balance between the opposites in order to understand God and the world. The author argues that opposites-the subject and object, mind and nature, good and evil, truth and falsehood-are not separated from each other but interdependent in the relational paradigm. Each cannot exist without the other. Creative advancement is achieved by their dynamic tensions. The paradoxical relationship between the opposites is not posited in the mechanistic model in which opposites are recognized as separate entities and thereby antagonists; rather, they are dialectical and creative in the organic model. Based on this organic model, the relationship between God and the world is not hierarchical but interdependent. In the organic model, God is not described simply as a transcendent reality in a dualistic structure of God and the world. God reveals God-self in harmonious order and pattern as the ultimate principle formed in the world. In other words, God reveals God-self in the relative contexts of the opposites good and evil, true and false. Unlike Aristotle's Law of Contrast, God is both A (transcendent) and -A (immanent), which is the basic logic of the organic model. In this context, God is different from eternal reality such as Plato's Idea or the transcendent God developed in the Western tradition. In this text, the author explores how the complex of divine reality entails the dialogue of differences in a constructive way, using inter-religious dialogue and religion-nature dialogue as examples. The author also brings the theme of paradox into his discussion to connect the West with the East and explore how it can be a positive method of understanding God and the world in the organic model, which can in turn be a key to the understanding of the common good.

Philosopher, Practitioner, Politician

Philosopher, Practitioner, Politician
Author: Jinhua Chen
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 561
Release: 2007
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9004156135

The Buddhist master Fazang is regarded as one of the greatest metaphysicians in medieval Asia. This study aims at correcting misinterpretations and shedding light on neglected areas, opening up for discussion the various structures of medieval East Asian monastic biography.

A Handbook of Korean Zen Practice

A Handbook of Korean Zen Practice
Author: John Jorgensen
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2015-02-28
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0824854225

Sŏn (Japanese Zen) has been the dominant form of Buddhism in Korea from medieval times to the present. A Handbook of Korean Zen Practice: A Mirror on the Sŏn School of Buddhism (Sŏn'ga kwigam) was the most popular guide for Sŏn practice and life ever published in Korea and helped restore Buddhism to popularity after its lowest point in Korean history. It was compiled before 1569 by Sŏsan Hyujŏng (1520–1604), later famed as the leader of a monk army that helped defend Korea against a massive Japanese invasion in 1592. In addition to succinct quotations from sutras, the text also contained quotations from selected Chinese and Korean works together with Hyujŏng's explanations. Because of its brevity and organization, the work proved popular and was reprinted many times in Korea and Japan before 1909. A Handbook of Korean Zen Practice commences with the ineffability of the enlightened state, and after a tour through doctrine and practice it returns to its starting point. The doctrinal rationale for practice that leads to enlightenment is based on the Mahayana Awakening of Faith, but the practice Hyujŏng enjoins readers to undertake is very different: a method of meditation derived from the kongan (Japanese koan) called hwadu (Chinese huatou), or "point of the story," the story being the kongan. This method was developed by Dahui Zonggao (1089–1163) and was imported into Korea by Chinul (1158–1210). The most famous hwadu is the mu (no) answer by Zhaozhou to the question, "Does a dog have a buddha-nature?" Hyujŏng warns of pitfalls in this practice, such as the delusion that one is already enlightened. A proper understanding of doctrine is required before practicing hwadu. Practice also requires faith and an experienced teacher. Hyujŏng outlines the specifics of practice, such as rules of conduct and chanting and mindfulness of the Buddha, and stresses the requirements for living the life of a monk. At the end of the text he returns to the hwadu, the need for a teacher, and hence the importance of lineage. He sketches out the distinctive methods of practice of the chief Sŏn (Chinese Chan) lineages. His final warning is not to be attached to the text. The version of the text translated here is the earliest and the longest extant. It was "translated" into Korean from Chinese by one of Hyujŏng's students to aid Korean readers. The present volume contains a brief history of hwadu practice and theory, a life of Hyujŏng, and a summary of the text, plus a detailed, annotated translation. It should be of interest to practitioners of meditation and students of East Asian Buddhism and Korean history.