Ancient practice and Modern practice within the Soto lineage
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2016 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | The paper deals with everyday practice in monasteries of the Soto Zen lineage ranging from their employment in medieval Japan until present day Western environment. About ancient practices we read in the works of Dogen, the founder of the school, as he has handed them down to his students and followers in his numerous writings. From the various texts we learn Dogen’s ideas about everyday monastic practices such as daily sits (zazen), chanting of the sutras (fugin), walking meditation (kinhin), work practice (samu), as well as various procedures (saho) for ritualizing other aspects of everyday life. In his writings, however, we also learn about sutra study (kankin) and about contemplation on the case study, i.e. koan study (kanna), which are monastic practices usually understood in connection with the Rinzai school of Zen Buddhism. How did this development continue and how did the modern Soto Zen school come to terms with these practices will be the topic of the present paper. |
| Related projects: |