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Zen and the Art of Nourishing Life: Labor, Exhaustion, and the Malady of Meditation |
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| Author |
Ahn, Juhn Y.
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| Source |
Japanese Journal of Religious Studies
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| Volume | v.35 n.2 |
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| Date | 2008 |
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| Pages | 177 - 229 |
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| Publisher | Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture=南山宗教文化研究所 |
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| Publisher Url |
http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/en/
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| Location | 名古屋, 日本 [Nagoya, Japan] |
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| Content type | 期刊論文=Journal Article |
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| Language | 英文=English |
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| Note | Juhn Ahn is Assistant Professor in the Department and Centre for the Study of Religion and the Department of East Asian Studies at the University of Toronto. |
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| Keyword | Hakuin Ekaku; Kaibara Ekken; labor; Zen; meditation; naikan |
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| Abstract | In his Yasenkanna and other writings Zen master Hakuin Ekaku (1686–1769)
relies on two seemingly conflicting analogies to speak of the art of nourishing
life (yōjō). On the one hand, he maintains that vital energy (ki) must be stored
in the cinnabar field (tanden). On the other hand, he maintains that one must
circulate vital energy in the body by engaging in labor lest it become stagnant.
A similar tension can be observed in Kaibara Ekken’s (1630–1714) immensely
popular manual of nourishing life, Yōjōkun. Although Shigehisa Kuriyama
points to the industrious revolution and what he calls the “anxiety of stagnation”
that swept through the Tokugawa populace as a possible cause for the rise of
this tension, the present article will suggest a fundamental redefinition of labor
(rō) and, more specifically, reading practices that took place during this period
as another possible factor behind this development. Labor, be it meditation or
reading, had to demonstrate a sense of self-mastery for it to be true labor and
failure to do so would result in exhaustion (rō) or what Hakuin preferred to
call the malady of meditation (zenbyō). |
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| ISSN | 03041042 (P) |
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| Hits | 1187 |
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| Created date | 2008.12.15 |
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| Modified date | 2017.09.07 |
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