Hwadu is the most authoritative edition of Zen questions and answers by JeonBeop Zen Master DaeWon Moon JaeHyeon. Through Hwadu one may encounter the living Zen of the Korean tradition.

Chinul (1158–1210) was the founder of the Korean tradition of Zen. He provides one of the most lucid and accessible accounts of Zen practice and meditation to be found anywhere in East Asian literature. Tracing Back the Radiance, an abridgment of Buswell’s Korean Approach to Zen: The Collected Works of Chinul, combines an extensive introduction to Chinul’s life and thought with translations of three of his most representative works.

No detailed description available for "Traditions of Meditation in Chinese Buddhism".

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. Buswell's depiction of Zen reveals a religious tradition that differs radically from the stereotype prevalent in the West. Westerners exposed to Zen through English-language materials have been offered a picture of an iconoclastic religion that is bibliophobic, institutionally subversive, aesthetically sophisticated, devoted to manual labor, and intent solely on sudden enlightenment. Its most revered teachers are depicted as torching their sacred religious icons, bullying their students into enlightenment, rejecting the value of all the scriptures of Buddhism, and even denying the worth of Zen itself. In discussing the activities of the postulants, the meditation monks, the teachers and administrators, and the support monks of Song-gwang-sa, a major Korean Buddhist monastery, Buswell challenges much of this picture. In the "counterparadigm" of Zen offered in the daily lives of the monks, Zen's putative iconoclasts are replaced by resolute members of a community dedicated to a methodical regimen of spiritual training. Zen's apparent bibliophobia pales to reveal contemplatives learned in classical Chinese and often having extensive experience in Buddhist seminaries. And the brash challenge allegedly made to systematizations of religion, even to Zen itself, fades before monks with strong faith in the arduous way of life they have undertaken. The author's treatment lucidly relates contemporary Zen practice to the historical development of the tradition and to Korean history more generally, and his intimate, sympatheticportrayal of the life of modern Zen monks in Korea provides an innovative and provocative look at Zen from the inside.

The world of Buddhism has always been a dynamic one. There are endless developments and interactions as the dharma spread throughout Asia. In more recent times Buddhism has even made a more global appeal, dharma centers are everywhere nowadays. Transforming Buddhism presents a number of casestudies of a group of scholars who each of them focus on the ways how Buddhism transforms and is transformed, both in the past and in modernity. The book presents results of research performed in Asia for instance on women in the Buddhist monastic tradition of Thailand, foreigners living in the harsh conditions of specific Thai Theravāda monasteries, and childmonks in Tibet. Other subjects are developments within Japanese Zen Buddhism in interaction with modern western philosophy and the Japanese Buddhism incited by Kōbō Daishi (774-835). Next there is the inspiration for modernity that can be found in the works of the Korean monk Chinul (1158-1210), and themes in Buddhist life-histories, legendary, historical and personal. As such Transforming Buddhism gives a broad view on a number of transformations of the Buddhist dharma from various perspectives.

Jeffrey L. Broughton here offers a study and partial translation of Core Texts of the S&on Approach (S&onmun ch'waryo), an anthology of texts foundational to Korean S&on (Chan/Zen) Buddhism. Core Texts of the S&on Approach provides a convenient entrée to two fundamental themes of Korean S&on: S&on vis-à-vis the doctrinal teachings of Buddhism (in which S&on is shown to be superior) and the huatou (i.e., phrase; Korean hwadu) method of practice-work originally popularized by the Song dynasty Chinese Chan master Dahui Zonggao. This method consists of "raising to awareness" or "keeping an eye on" the phrase, usually No (Korean mu). No mental operation whatsoever is to be performed upon the phrase. One lifts the phrase to awareness constantly, when doing "quiet" cross-legged sitting as well as when immersed in the "noisiness" of everyday life. Core Texts of the S&on Approach, which was published in Korea during the first decade of the twentieth century (the identity of the compiler is not known for certain), contains eight Chan texts by Chinese authors (two translated here) and seven S&on texts by Korean authors (three translated here), showing the organic relationship between the parent Chinese tradition and its Korean inheritor. The set of translations in this volume will give readers access to some of the key texts of the Korean branch of this influential East Asian school of Buddhism.

In this engagingly written account, Martine Batchelor relays the challenges a new ordinand faces in adapting to Buddhist monastic life: the spicy food, the rigorous daily schedule, the distinctive clothes and undergarments, and the cultural misunderstandings inevitable between a French woman and her Korean colleagues. She reveals as well the genuine pleasures that derive from solitude, meditative training, and communion with the deeply religiouswhom the Buddhists call "good friends." Batchelor has also recorded the oral history/autobiography of her teacher, the eminent nun Son'gyong Sunim, leader of the Zen meditation hall at Naewonsa. It is a profoundly moving, often light-hearted story that offers insight into the challenges facing a woman on the path to enlightenment at the beginning of the twentieth century. Original English translations of eleven of Son'gyong Sunim's poems on Buddhist themes make a graceful and thought-provoking coda to the two women's narratives. Western readers only familiar with Buddhist ideas of female inferiority will be surprised by the degree of spiritual equality and authority enjoyed by nuns in Korea. While American writings on Buddhism increasingly emphasize the therapeutic, self-help, and comforting aspects of Buddhist thought, Batchelor's text offers a bracing and timely reminder of the strict discipline required in traditional Buddhism.

Insights into the experience and philosophy of Buddhism from a Korean perspective. This book presents the author?s lifelong study and practice of Buddhism from a Korean perspective. With depth, sensitivity, and candor, Sung Bae Park discusses his country?s contribution to Mahayana Buddhism and also shares his personal experience. A monk in the Korean Chogye order during his early twenties, Park is uniquely qualified to offer the reader some valuable insights into the experience and philosophy of the Zen Buddhist. Focusing on the Korean concepts mom (which refers to the body) and momjit (which refers to its gestures or functions), Park examines their nondual, interdependent nature and their relevance to ordinary human beings who are living in these turbulent times. He also introduces a specialized spiritual practice using the hwadu, which aids the religious practitioner in loosening his conceptual, intellectual grip on his life and the world around him. In addition, the author explores the relevance of his views to other religions and philosophies, including Taoism, Confucianism, and Christianity. Those well acquainted with Buddhism will find much food for thought here, as familiar topics such as emptiness, nonduality, and enlightenment are presented in a refreshingly original way, and those new to Buddhist thought may find themselves stimulated to learn more. A helpful glossary of terms is included. Sung Bae Park is Professor of Asian Philosophy and Religions and Director of the Center for Korean Studies at Stony Brook University, State University of New York. He is the author of Buddhist Faith and Sudden Enlightenment, also published by SUNY Press.

It is often said that enlightenment means "crossing over to the other shore," that far-off place where we can at last be free from suffering. Likewise, it is said that Buddhist teachings are the raft that takes us there. In this sparkling collection from one of the most vital teachers of modern Korean Buddhism, Zen Master Daehaeng shows us that there is no raft to find and, truly, no river to cross. She extends her hand to the Western reader, beckoning each of us into the unfailing wisdom accessible right now, the enlightenment that is always, already, right here. A Zen (or seon, as Korean Zen is called) master with impeccable credentials, Daehaeng has developed a refreshing approach; No River to Cross is surprisingly personal. It's disarmingly simple, yet remarkably profound, pointing us again and again to our foundation, our "True Nature" - the perfection of things just as they are.

A variety of crucial and still most relevant ideas about nothingness or emptiness have gained profound philosophical prominence in the history and development of a number of South and East Asian traditions—including in Buddhism, Daoism, Neo-Confucianism, Hinduism, Korean philosophy, and the Japanese Kyoto School. These traditions share the insight that in order to explain both the great mysteries and mundane facts about our experience, ideas of "nothingness" must play a primary role. This collection of essays brings together the work of twenty of the world’s prominent scholars of Hindu, Buddhist, Daoist, Neo-Confucian, Japanese and Korean thought to illuminate fascinating philosophical conceptualizations of "nothingness" in both classical and modern Asian traditions. The unique collection offers new work from accomplished scholars and provides a coherent, panoramic view of the most significant ways that "nothingness" plays crucial roles in Asian philosophy. It includes both traditional and contemporary formulations, sometimes putting Asian traditions into dialogue with one another and sometimes with classical and modern Western thought. The result is a book of immense value for students and researchers in Asian and comparative philosophy. Chapter 20 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.