Some error occured while loading the Quick View. Please close the Quick View and try reloading the page.
How did Japanese Zen emerge from a secluded feudal tradition to become a vital force in a modern nation-state and colonial empire? How did this transformation help forge a Buddhist world across continents and oceans?
In this landmark study, Aihua Zheng elucidates the career of Zen abbot Shaku Sōen (1860–1919), the foundational figure of Western Zen, alongside modern developments within the Rinzai tradition and monastic institutions. She also traces Japanese Buddhists’ transnational engagements, from pan-Asian exchanges that fueled domestic revivals to collaborations with Theravādins and Vedāntins that introduced Buddhism to Western audiences.
These foundations directly shaped modern Buddhism and the global Zen boom—echoing all the way to figures such as Thich Nhat Hanh—and ultimately explain why Sōen and his Engakuji followers, including D. T. Suzuki, still provoke intense debate over their legacies.
Conventions
Introduction
1. Between Enlightenment and Modern Learning
2. Monastic Learning Across the Indian Ocean
3. Buddhist Reform in the Age of Empire
4. Negotiating Asian Buddhism in 1893 Chicago
5. Monastic Governance and Lay Engagement
6. Manchuria and the Second Journey to the West
7. The Abbot’s Return and the Transnational Sangha
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index