final essay

Fall 2018 EAS361. Zen Buddhism

Final Essay Essay requirements:

• Please answer the following essay question in no more than 5-7 pages (12-point font, double-spaced); the essay is worth 30% of your final grade.

• No outside research is required; that said, you are expected to consult class readings, as well as lecture notes, in the preparation of your essay

• Be sure to include a bibliography of all your sources (primary and secondary) • You are free to follow the citation method (footnotes, endnotes, in-text citations) and

style manual (MLA, Chicago, APA) of your choice, but be consistent throughout (that is, follow the same citation method and style conventions throughout your essay)

• Please proofread your work and include your name and student ID number • Hard copies of completed essays must be submitted in the red dropbox located outside

the elevators in the Dept. for the Study of Religion, Floor 3, Jackman Humanities Building (170 St. George Street), by 5pm on Tuesday, December 11, 2018

• Please note that no late papers will be accepted without a documented medical excuse Please answer the following question: In the introduction to his book Seeing through Zen: Encounter, Transformation, and Genealogy in Chinese Chan Buddhism, John McRae provides a periodization scheme meant to account for the development of the Chinese Chan tradition. Central to the early Chan “project” was the literary construction of narratives of transmission between an exclusive line of realized Chan masters called patriarchs. The Chan patriarchate is outlined in a number of early transmission histories (or “transmission of the lamp histories”), and elaborated upon in several additional genres, including “encounter dialogues” and gong’an (aka kōans) collections. Within these texts, the ideal Chan patriarch is presented as lineage holder, enlightened teacher, and living buddha. In 5-7 pages I would like you to unpack the trope of “transmission” in the Chan tradition. Begin by defining what McRae means by the Chan “genealogical model,” noting the specific texts in which a distinctly Chan genealogy is constructed. Next, explain what is meant by the Chan expression “separate lineage outside of words and letters.” In the course of preparing your essay, you should rely on both McRae’s introduction, as well as the texts and analysis presented in Chapters 4 and 5 of Sam van Schaik’s Tibetan Zen: Discovering A Lost Tradition; you may also want to reference specific gong’an to clarify points in your discussion related to specific rhetorical strategies and literary devices used in collections like the Blue Cliff Record to construct the image of enlightened Chan masters and their teachings. Be sure to cite all sources, primary and secondary.