The Sensation of Doubt' in East Asian Zen Buddhism and Some Parallels with Pāli Accounts of Meditation Practice
The technique of examining meditative topics' (Chinese kanhua Chan) is one of the emblematic practices of the Zen' traditions of East Asia. (We in the West know this technique better as koan practice, after its later Japanese analogues.) An emblematic feature of this technique is the gen...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Routledge
[2018]
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| In: |
Contemporary buddhism
Year: 2018, Volume: 19, Issue: 1, Pages: 69-82 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | The technique of examining meditative topics' (Chinese kanhua Chan) is one of the emblematic practices of the Zen' traditions of East Asia. (We in the West know this technique better as koan practice, after its later Japanese analogues.) An emblematic feature of this technique is the generation of a sense of inquiry, or more literally a feeling' or sensation of doubt'. This inquiry creates an intense introspective focus that, in some strands of the practice, may be accompanied by palpable physical sensations; these sensations seem to be analogous to the experience of excitation' or rapture' (P. pīti, Skt. prīti) described in contemporary samatha/samatha and vipassanā/vipasyanā practice. I explore the treatment of prīti in Abhidharma theory and suggest that, where prīti is not classified as a discrete dharma, it might best be classified as a type of otherworldly vedanā that is free from carnality' (nirāmisa-vedanā/nirāmiṣa-vedanā). I conclude with a discussion of an explicit questioning dimension in commentarial discussions of satipaṭṭhāna practice in the Pāli tradition, where inquiring Who goes? Whose is this going?' helps to transform the act of walking into an act of mindfulness. This questioning dimension suggests possible parallels with the Zen notion of doubt'. |
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| ISSN: | 1476-7953 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Contemporary buddhism
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/14639947.2018.1443556 |