About this item
This sweeping collection of new translations paints a brilliant picture of the development of Ch'an (Zen) Buddhism, China's most radical philosophical and meditative tradition.. In this landmark anthology of some two dozen translations, celebrated translator David Hinton shows how Ch'an (Japanese: Zen) - too long considered a perplexing school of Chinese Buddhism - was in truth a Buddhist-inflected form of Taoism, China's native system of spiritual philosophy. The texts in The Way of Ch'an build from seminal Taoism through the "Dark-Enigma Learning" literature and on to the most important pieces from all stages of the classical Ch'an tradition. Guided by Hinton's accessible introductions, readers will encounter texts and authors including: .
About the Author
David Hinton is a writer and translator who has produced a body of work exploring the weave of consciousness and landscape. This exploration is informed throughout by the insights of ancient Chinese culture; and it has primarily taken the form of translation, which he uses as a way to make contemporary poetry that operates outside the limitations of self-identity and the Western intellectual tradition. This has also functioned as a kind of apprenticeship, and Hinton has recently moved toward writing that is original in a more traditional sense.This work can be seen at: davidhinton.net