Monday, 7 March 2022

Understanding the structure of Zen Instructional Texts

Cleary explains in the introduction to his translation of Blue Cliff Record:

This set of one hundred kung an, "public cases" of ancient events, was compiled by the eminent Sugn dynasty Ch'an Master [Xuedou] (980-1052); Xuedou pointed out the import of each [case] with [instructional] verses and additional remarks of his own, as aid and guidance for observation and contemplation. About sixty years after Xuedou's death, another excellent Ch'an teacher, Yuanwu (1063-1135), gave a series of talks elucidating the original anecdotes and the verses of Xuedou's collection.

The [historical cases], Xuedou's verses, and Yuanwu's introductions, remarks, and commentaries all together form The Blue Cliff Record.

So, just to be clearly:

  1. Cleary didn't "write" the BCR.
  2. Xuedou's original collection of 100 Cases with instructional verses is not the BCR. It's known by another name.
  3. Yuanwu is a big talker.


Submitted March 08, 2022 at 07:49AM by ewk https://ift.tt/vfu9rVs

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