Zen's Chinese Heritage -- The Masters & Their Teachings [Paperback]

Andrew Ferguson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 2000

Zen's Chinese Heritage surveys twenty-five generations of enlightened Buddhist teachers through brief biographies and starkly beautiful prose and poetry from Chinese Zen sources. Andrew Ferguson moves chronologically through successive generations of Zen masters, supplementing their core teachings with history, biography, and poetry. The result is an organic understanding of the tradition's evolution as a religious, literary, and historical force. Capturing the austere beauty of the Zen masters' manner of teaching — their earthy style, humor, and humanity — Zen's Chinese Heritage is an intimate and profound human portrait of the enlightened Zen ancients, and an unprecedented look into the depths of this rich cultural heritage. The book includes a deluxe fold-out lineage chart of the Zen ancestors.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The history of Zen can be almost as perplexing as its cryptic koan. In many accounts of Zen history, it is hard to tell who is Chinese and who is Japanese, who lived in the 6th century and who in the 16th. Andy Ferguson attempts to clear the air once and for all. In Zen's Chinese Heritage, he organizes all of the Chinese Zen masters from Bodhidharma at the turn of the 5th century to Huikai in the 13th century, presenting their core records and writings in chronological order by generation--25 generations in all. Drawing from Wudeng Huiyan (Compendium of Five Lamps) and other records, Ferguson translates the classic Zen teachings (including dialogues, anecdotes, and koan) in spare, straightforward language. He also presents an expertly arranged foldout lineage chart of the Zen ancestors, with cross-referencing by Japanese, Chinese pinyin, and Chinese Wade-Giles transcriptions. Ferguson's work is not only a priceless treasury of Zen literature but also a road map to the history of Zen. --Brian Bruya

From Library Journal

It is something of a commonplace that Zen Buddhism is the property of Japan; this excellent and exhaustive book reminds us of the vast, though now neglected, patrimony of Buddhist spiritual knowledge that comes not from Japan but China. Ferguson's work is at once a history and an anthology of this fascinating tradition and includes many koans, anecdotes, and stories, as well as a wonderfully clear wallchart "Map of the Zen Ancestors." This splendid repository should give instruction and pleasure to the general reader as well as the professed Buddhist. Highly recommended for general and academic collections alike.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Wisdom Publications (April 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0861711637
• ISBN-13: 978-0861711635
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,432,986 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Discovering Our Zen Heritage, June 13, 2000

By 

JOSEPH DIVINCENZO (USA, Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Zen's Chinese Heritage -- The Masters & Their Teachings (Paperback)

Zen's Chinese Heritage - The masters and their teachings, by Andrew Ferguson, is a long awaited reference for those wishing to appreciate the origins of the Zen tradition. As a long time practioner of Zen, the many illustrious and noteworthy ancestors of my tradition, have often been nothing more than a confusing collection of names, difficult to pronounce and even more difficult to appreciate as once real and living men and women. Andrew Ferguson's painstaking efforts at bringing to life these practioners of old, and providing us with history and anecdotes from their allusive lives, has enlivened my practice and given new meaning to the many wonderful and amazing persons I encounter in my koan study. This book is a wonderful guide and reference, especially with its accompanying lineage chart, for anyone who is either a practioner of this wonderful tradition or is solely interested in furthering their appreciation for the history of Zen.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Long Awaited Chan History Book, November 13, 2004

By 

T. D. Schott "Shen Tianrong" (Santa Clarita, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Zen's Chinese Heritage -- The Masters & Their Teachings (Paperback)

I read this book back when I was living in a monastery. I found it to be extraordinary, the other monk that I was living with at the time was also amazed that such a book had been written and he was the one that order one for the monks and one for the nuns.

The book goes through the very beginnings of Chan (Chinese word for Zen) up through the "Golden Age" and beyond. I found very intriguing particularly to see that at one point in the Chan history that there was this point when so many enlightened masters had arose at once. Probably something we may never see again. You will find all Five Schools in here plus other schools that were not so prominent but had an impact as well.

Definitely a book worthy of your dollar.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Banquet, December 20, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Zen's Chinese Heritage -- The Masters & Their Teachings (Paperback)

I took months to read this book and only ever reached the stage of being an open-mouthed, lightning-struck bystander. Such a treasure is not often found in one life. I congratulate the authors on feeding us such juicy and tangy fruit.