The Chan Master as Illusionist: Zhongfeng Mingben’s Huanzhu Jiaxun

@article{Heller2009TheCM,
  title={The Chan Master as Illusionist: Zhongfeng Mingben’s Huanzhu Jiaxun},
  author={Natasha Heller},
  journal={Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies},
  year={2009},
  volume={69},
  pages={271 - 308},
  url={https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:170819511}
}
  • Natasha Heller
  • Published 3 December 2009
  • History
  • Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies
To examine the metaphor of illusion in Chinese Buddhism, Natasha Heller focuses on “Huanzhu jiaxun” 幻住家訓 (The family instructions of “Illusory Abiding”) by the Chan monk Zhongfeng Mengben 中峰明本 (1263–1323). Considering Mingben’s usage of the term “illusory” (huan) in relation to its history in non-Buddhist and Buddhist sources, she examines how he addressed the use of language, with special reference to the Chan concept of “observing the key phrase” (kanhua). Mingben remained within the… 
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