Teaching Zen to Americans Pubblico
Boykin, Kim (2010)
Abstract
Abstract
Teaching Zen to Americans
By Kim Boykin
Teachers in the Zen Buddhist tradition have used a variety of
strategies for
describing Buddhist practice and its relationship to enlightenment
or buddhahood. In
examining the stream of Mahayana Buddhist thought and teaching that
leads to and
includes Japanese Zen, I find three main varieties of
"instrumental" (goal-oriented)
descriptions of Buddhist practice as a means to attain
enlightenment: (1) practice as a
means to attain prajña (the wisdom of shunyata,
or emptiness); (2) practice as a means to
"uncover" inherent buddha-nature; and (3) practice as a means to
"realize" inherent
buddha-nature. I also find a "noninstrumental" description of
Buddhist practice as
manifestation or expression of inherent buddhahood-a description
exemplified by the
teachings of Dogen. I then focus on descriptions of practice in
three classic texts of
American Zen: The Three Pillars of Zen by Philip Kapleau,
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
by Shunryu Suzuki, and Everyday Zen by Charlotte Joko
Beck.
I argue that all teachers in the Zen tradition, even those who
describe practice as
instrumental for attaining enlightenment, are challenging, to one
degree or another, an
instrumental orientation to Buddhist practice in particular and
life in general--that is, an
orientation of striving to attain a goal--and in the American
context, Shunryu Suzuki's
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind and Joko Beck's Everyday
Zen offer interesting new
pedagogical strategies, challenging the instrumental orientation
more strongly than do
most of their predecessors other than Dogen, while also
incorporating an instrumental
element that Dogen eschews almost entirely and that is probably
important for the
instrumentally oriented Zen student.
Teaching Zen to Americans
By
Kim Boykin
B.A., Vassar College, 1987
M.T.S., Candler School of Theology, Emory University, 1996
Advisor: Wendy Farley, Ph.D.
Advisor: Gary Laderman, Ph.D.
A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the
James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies of Emory University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
in the Graduate Division of Religion
American Religious Cultures
2010
Table of Contents
Contents
1. Introduction
2. "Practice and Enlightenment" in the Asian Development of Zen
3. The Modernization and American Immigration of Zen
4. Philip Kapleau's The Three Pillars of Zen
5. Shunryu Suzuki's Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
6. Charlotte Joko Beck's Everyday Zen
7. Conclusion
Appendix: Ch'an/Zen Lineage Chart
References
About this Dissertation
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