A comprehensive, accessible guide to the fascinating history of Zen Buddhismincluding important figures, schools, foundational texts, practices, and politics.

Full Description:   

A comprehensive, accessible guide to the fascinating history of Zen Buddhismincluding important figures, schools, foundational texts, practices, and politics. A comprehensive, accessible guide to the fascinating history of Zen Buddhismincluding important figures, schools, foundational texts, practices, and politics. Zen Buddhism has a storied historyBodhidharma sitting in meditation in a cave for nine years; a wouldbe disciple cutting off his own arm to get the master's attention; the proliferating schools and intense Dharma combat of the Tang and Song Dynasties; Zen nuns and laypeople holding their own against patriarchal lineages; the appearance of new masters in the Zen schools of Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and later the Western world. In The Circle of the Way, Zen practitioner and popular religion writer Barbara O'Brien brings clarity to this huge swath of history by charting a middle way between Zen's traditional lore and the findings of modern historical scholarship. In a clear and often funny style, O'Brien parses fact from fiction while always attending to the greatest interest of contemporary practitionersthe development of Zen doctrine and practice as a living tradition across cultures and centuries.

328 Pages

If Out of Print. Customer will be contacted with option for new edition, replacement or cancel.