Zen in medieval Vietnam
Book Description
Vietnamese Buddhism has long been misunderstood in the West, often viewed simply as an extension of Chinese Zen traditions. Scholar Cuong Tu Nguyen challenges this widespread assumption through rigorous historical analysis, revealing a far more complex spiritual landscape than previously recognized.
At the center of this scholarly investigation lies the Thien Uyen Tap Anh, a fourteenth-century Vietnamese text that has shaped modern perceptions of Vietnamese Buddhist lineages. Through careful textual analysis and historical comparison, Nguyen demonstrates how this influential work borrowed extensively from earlier Chinese sources, particularly the Jingde chuandeng lu from the eleventh century.
The author's findings reshape our understanding of how Zen manifested in medieval Vietnam. Rather than discovering unbroken lineages with clearly defined institutions and practices, Nguyen reveals that Vietnamese Zen expressed itself as a philosophical attitude and artistic sensibility woven throughout the broader fabric of religious and cultural life.
This groundbreaking study offers readers both critical scholarship and practical insight into how spiritual traditions develop and transform across cultures. The book includes the first complete English translation of the Thien Uyen, making this important historical text accessible to Western readers for the first time.
For those interested in Buddhist history, comparative religion, or the evolution of contemplative traditions, this work provides essential understanding of how spiritual practices adapt and flourish in different cultural contexts.
Who Is This For?
📖 Reading Level: Long (> 400 pages) (~13 hours)
🕉️ Tradition: Buddhism
📄 Length: 481 pages
What You'll Discover
- ✓ Explore Biography
- ✓ Explore Thiền uyển tập anh
- ✓ Discover Zen principles and teachings
- ✓ Explore Zen Budhism
- ✓ Explore Zen Priests
- ✓ Explore Priests, Buddhist
- ✓ Practice Zen Buddhist meditation
- ✓ Explore Buddhist Priests
