Tracing Back the Radiance: Chinul's Korean Way of Zen (Classics in East Asian Buddhism) [Paperback]

Chinul (Author), Robert E. Buswell (Translator)

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Korean

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Univ of Hawaii Pr (November 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0824814274
• ISBN-13: 978-0824814274
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #662,333 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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35 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Go drink tea, and taste Korean Zen, July 10, 2001

By 

Algernon D'Ammassa (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tracing Back the Radiance: Chinul's Korean Way of Zen (Classics in East Asian Buddhism) (Paperback)

This is an abridged edition of a more comprehensive collection and commentary on Chinul (1158-1210), whose writings and talks, as well as his personal practice, re-defined Korean Zen Buddhism during the Koryo dynasty. Disgruntled with the ecclesia of the time, he established a retreat society and set down a range of practice techniques which are still taught. He also did his best to address the schism between sutra study and meditation practice.

Robert Buswell, himself a practitioner and former monk, renders translations of Chinul's "Secrets On Cultivating the Mind," "Straight Talk on the True Mind," and excerpts from Chinul's "Dharma Collection and Special Practice Record with Personal Notes" that are accessible, challenging to the general reader, and - for the practitioner - a long finger pointing us to our own mind.

This is not, however, practice-oriented material, so the Zen student looking for encouragement in practice will not find much "dharma candy" here. With Buswell's extensive introduction, the book offers us a history of Buddhism in Korea, a biography and extensive critique of his philosophy and methods, in addition to the translations. This offers some edifying history to a Zen student with a scholarly bent, but with this caveat: these are dead words! They were set down at a certain time as medicine for the kinds of dharma sickness Chinul confronted. Don't let this old medicine become a disease!

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buswell's work offers us more than the usual examination of a Zen master, June 9, 2008

By 

Ted Biringer "Author of The Flatbed Sutra of ... (Anacortes, Washington United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tracing Back the Radiance: Chinul's Korean Way of Zen (Classics in East Asian Buddhism) (Paperback)

Born in 1158, Chinul almost single-handedly reformed and re-vitalized Zen in Korea by the time of his death in 1210. An intellectual giant, and deeply enlightened master, Chinul's influence of Buddhism in Korea parallels that of the greatest masters of all time. All of the surviving Korean schools of Zen trace their lineage through this uniquely gifted Zen master.

Chinul, is sometimes called the "Dogen of Korea", and this abridgement of Robert Buswell's masterpiece makes it clear why. Buswell's work offers us more than the usual examination of a Zen master. Provides readers with a thorough account of the history of Buddhism in Korea, as well as an account of Chinul's remarkable life, including detailed examinations of all three major awakenings that shaped the future course of Chinul's teachings.

Buswell walks us through a meticulous examination of the Chinul's thought and teaching. From Chinul's exposition and integration of Huayen Buddhism, especially as presented by Tsung-mi, to his understanding of original enlightenment and gradual cultivation, and his view on koan practice, and more.

Perhaps the greatest treasure is Buswell's inclusion of translations from Chinul's major works including Secrets on Cultivating the Mind, Straight Talk on the True Mind, Excerpts from the Dharma Collection and Special Practice Record, and more...

All the extras of a scholarly work, including an extensive and detailed easy to use index. This text will is a great exploration of the classic wisdom of Zen.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Chinul's texts are brilliant,but the commentary seems tarnished, December 20, 2011

By 

James Cartwright "bodhi-mine" (Albuquerque, NM) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tracing Back the Radiance: Chinul's Korean Way of Zen (Classics in East Asian Buddhism) (Paperback)

This text is valuable for the quotes from Chinul, Tsung-mi and others, but the commentary seems to miss the mark fairly consistently--as if failing to see the forest for the trees. Approaching the matter of the dharma and its transmission as if such were a matter of practices and doctrines is to miss the essence due to over-reification of the forms. The idea that Ch'an and Huayen needed someone to "merge the two sects doctrinally [and] practically" or that the one represents practice while the other represents pure theory indicates a lack of perception for the fact that the schools always were unified, and that each has an integrated body of theory and practice. Granted, Chinul initiated such a merging, but this was to make clear what always was, not to make something so that had never been. The author/editor seems to occasionally understand this, but he also seems to forget this when he indicates that Tsung-mi (and Chih-i and Fa-tsang) approached the matter (of harmonization of the two schools, and of practice and sutra generally) from "the standpoint of their own sectarian proclivities," even though Chinul, in "Excerpts from the Dharma Collection" clearly demonstrates what Tsung-mi was NOT saying - that any sectarian elements were apparent rather than real. Luckily the antidote to the misreadings which abound in the introduction, "The life and thought of Chinul," can be found right in the translated texts of Chinul. Perhaps this very fact makes this book even more valuable.