The Zen Monastic Experience
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.99 (651 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 069103477X |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 288 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2017-08-03 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
The author's treatment lucidly relates contemporary Zen practice to the historical development of the tradition and to Korean history more generally, and his portrayal of the life of modern Zen monks in Korea provides an innovative and provocative look at Zen from the inside.. In discussing the activities of the postulants, the meditation monks, the teachers and administrators, and the support monks of the monastery of Songgwang-sa, Buswell reveals a religious tradition that differs radically from the stereotype prevalent in the West. Robert Buswell, a Buddhist scholar who spent five years as a Zen monk in Korea, draws on personal experience in this insightful account of day-to-day Zen monastic practice
And he should know, having spent five years as a monk at Songgwang-sa, one of the largest Zen monasteries in Korea. Here, deftly weaving scholarship and memoir, Buswell depicts what life in a Zen monastery is really like. Although meditators comprise only a small percentage of the monks (with the rest devoted to support activities or ritual), their efforts astonish: sitting in meditation for 14 hours a day; for one week a year, sitting seven days straight without sleep; engaging in such severe practices as extensive fasting, never lying down to sleep, and the frowned-upon but ever-popular practice of burning off their fingers (a ``symbolic commitment'')
"Five Stars" according to rdv. Very good and informative; nice reading.. Insightful A Customer This is quite a good overview of the stucture and workings of a large Korean Buddhist monastery and the culture of Buddhist monks in Korea. I don't think that anyone has written a more detailed description of the monk's culture or of the jobs in big monasteries. Parts of it are somewhat dated and there are differences between temples (and people) but for the most part it's pretty accurate. The author's stories about his experiences are also in. C. Blomberg said Clear Picture. Below is an edited version of a critical book review for a class on Buddhism.Professor Buswell's book is an engaging and fascinating portrait of Buddhist life in a Korean Seon temple long before it became common for us to see books and dharma talks by foreign Seon monks. His tale is as rollicking an adventure story as a tale of quiet mediation and disciplined scholarship could be. Reading his words we imagine the idealistic young man Buswell m