Fathering Your Father: The Zen of Fabrication in Tang Buddhism

by Alan Cole

Book Overview

This book offers a provocative rereading of the early history of Chan Buddhism (Zen). Working from a history-of-religions point of view that asks how and why certain literary tropes were chosen to depict the essence of the Buddhist tradition to Chinese readers, this analysis focuses on the narrative logics of the early Chan genealogies--the seventh-and eighth-century lineage texts that claimed that certain high-profile Chinese men were descendents...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0520254856
• ISBN13: 9780520254855
• Release Date: February 2009
• Publisher: University of California Press
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.8" x 8.7"