Building Bridges between Chan Buddhism and Confucianism
A Comparative Hermeneutics of Qisong's "Essays on Assisting the Teaching"
- 310 pages
- English
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Building Bridges between Chan Buddhism and Confucianism
A Comparative Hermeneutics of Qisong's "Essays on Assisting the Teaching"
About This Book
In Building Bridges between Chan Buddhism and Confucianism, Diana Arghirescu explores the close connections between Buddhism and Confucianism during China's Song period (960â1279). Drawing on In Essays on Assisting the Teaching written by Chan monk-scholar Qisong (1007â1072), Arghirescu examines the influences between the two traditions. In his writings, Qisong made the first substantial efforts to compare the major dimensions of Confucian and Chan Buddhist thought from a philosophical view, seeking to establish a meaningful and influential intellectual and ethical bridge between them.
Arghirescu meticulously reveals a "Confucianized" dimension of Qisong's thought, showing how he revisited and reinterpreted Confucian terminology in his special form of Chan aimed at his contemporary Confucian readers and auditors "who do not know Buddhism." Qisong's form of eleventh-century Chan, she argues, is unique in its cohesive or nondual perspective on Chinese Buddhist, Confucian, and other philosophical traditions, which considers all of them to be interdependent and to share a common root.
Building Bridges between Chan Buddhism and Confucianism is the first book to identify, examine, and expand on a series of Confucian concepts and virtues that were specifically identified and discussed from a Buddhist perspective by a historical Buddhist writer. It represents a major contribution in the comparative understanding of both traditions.
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Table of contents
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations and Conventions
- Introduction
- 1. Chan Scholar-Monk Qisong on the Affinities and Differences between Chan Buddhism and Confucianism in âInquiry into the Teachingsâ (âYuanjiaoâ ĺć)
- 2. An Eleventh-Century Confucianized and Cohesive Form of Chan: Qisongâs Interpretation of âTeachingâ (Jiao ć) in the âExtensive Inquiry into the Teachingsâ (âGuang yuanjiaoâ 坣ĺć)
- 3. Qisongâs âLetter of Adviceâ (âQuanshuâ ĺ¸ć¸): An Examination and Correction of the Deficiencies of Confucianism
- 4. Qisong on Buddhist Filial Devotion (Xiao ĺ): A Buddhist-Confucian Comparative Perspective
- 5. Heart-Mind (Xin ĺż), Emotions (Qing ć ), and Nature-Emptiness (Xing ć§) in Qisongâs Thought: A Song-Dynasty Interpretation of Cohesive Chan Practice Intended for Confucian Scholars
- 6. Qisong on Universal Principle (Li ç), Nothingness (Wu çĄ), and the âEncomium of the Platform Sutraâ (âTanjing zanâ ĺŁçśč´): Answers avant la Lettre to Zhu Xiâs Twelfth-Century Criticism
- 7. Ethico-Spiritual Discipline, Emotions, and Behavior during the Song Dynasty: Zhu Xiâs and Qisongâs Commentaries on the Zhongyong in Comparative Perspective
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
- About the Author