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Buddhist Faith and Sudden Enlightenment

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Buddhist Faith and Sudden Enlightenment explains how sudden enlightenment occurs through the awakening of patriarchal faith. This is the non-dual affirmation that one is already Buddha as opposed to the doctrinal, dualistic faith that one can become Buddha. The essence of the presentation is that patriarchal faith forms the basis for sudden enlightenment in Zen meditation. For the practitioner, this book establishes the Zen method of mind-cultivation on a higher level by introducing a new understanding of awakening right faith.

Included is extensive material on the history of faith in Buddhism with the main attention devoted to Ch'an (Zen) and Hua-yen. There are also substantial discussions of Buddhist antecedents to these schools and of the Pure Land School.

This is the first book in English to examine the central role of faith in Mahayana Buddhism. The author's approach develops from his personal experiences as a son (Zen) monk of the Chogye order, which was heavily influenced by the integration of meditation and scriptural study established by Chinul. (Source: Suny Press)

Citation	Park, Sung Bae. Buddhist Faith and Sudden Enlightenment. SUNY Series in Religious Studies. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1983.

Contents

• Prefacevii
• Introduction1

PART ONE: FAITH

• 1. The Primacy of Faith in Buddhism11
• 2. Patriarchal Faith and Doctrinal Faith19
• 3. Buddha-nature and Patriarchal Faith25
• 4. Essence-Function versus Subject-Object Constructions35
• 5. Nonbacksliding Faith and Backsliding Faith43
• 6. The Two Truths and Skill-in-Means49

PART TWO: PRACTICE

• 7. The Unity of Faith and Enlightenment in Practice55
• 8. Bodhidharma's Wall Meditation59
• 9. Questioning Meditation and the Dynamics of Faith66
• 10.Practice in the Treatise on Awakening Mahayana Faith78
• 11. Faith and Practice in Pure Land Buddhism90
• 12. Faith as the Practice of Compassion96

PART THREE: ENLIGHTENMENT

• 13. Sudden Enlightenment and Gradual Practice105
• 14. Faith and Enlightenment in the Hua-yen Sutra110
• 15. Kkaech'im: The Experience of Brokenness123
• 16. Revolution of the Basis126
• 17. The Three Gates133

• Conclusion137
• Abbreviations145
• Notes147
• Glossary of Chinese Characters159
• Bibliography169
• Index205

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