The Chan Whip Anthology: A Companion to Zen Practice

Jeffrey L. Broughton offers an annotated translation of the Whip for Spurring Students Onward Through the Chan Barrier Checkpoints (Changuan cejin), which he abbreviates to Chan Whip. This anthology, compiled by Yunqi Zhuhong (1535-1615), has served as a Chan handbook in both China and Japan since its publication in 1600. To characterize the Chan Whip as "late Ming Chan" is inaccurate-in fact, it is a survey of virtually the entirety of Chan literature, running from the late 800s (Tang dynasty) to about 1600 (late Ming). The Chan extracts, the bulk of the book, are followed by a short section of extracts from Buddhist canonical works (showing Zhuhong's adherence to the "convergence of Chan and the teachings"). The Chan extracts deliberately eschew abstract discussions of theory in favor of autobiographical narratives, anecdotal sketches, exhortations, sermons, sayings, and letters that deal very frankly-sometimes humorously-with the concrete ups and downs of lived practice. Recent decades have seen the publication in English of a number of handbooks on Zen practice by contemporary East Asian masters. The Chan Whip, though 400 years old, is as invaluable to today's practitioners as these modern works. The scholarly literature on Chan until now has focused on the Tang and Song dynasties-by giving us in addition the sayings of Yuan- and Ming-dynasty masters this translation fills a gap in that literature.

Table of Contents:
Abbreviations Introduction Whip for Spurring Students Onward Through the Chan Barrier Checkpoints Preface to Whip for Spurring Students Onward Through the Chan Barrier Checkpoints Front Collection: The First Gate Front Collection: The Second Gate Back Collection: Single Gate Chinese Text of Changuan cejin Bibliography

About the Author :
Jeffrey L. Broughton is Professor of Religious Studies at California State University, Long Beach.

Review :
"Broughton delivers a very well crafted and eruditely annotated translation of the work. Those familiar with literary Chinese will also be happy to see that the original text is annexed. This is an important contribution to the growing body of scholarly translations of seminal Chan literature, deserving a wide readership. -- Lukas Pokorny, University of Vienna "Broughton has provided here both a lively and colloquial translation of often difficult material. He also offers an impressive introduction to the koan-centered teachings underlying Zhuhong's text, an introduction that incorporates the latest in Japanese and Western scholarship on this pivotal development in the history of Chinese Zen. An additional bonus for the reader of Chinese and Japanes is inclusion of a clearly printed Chinese character text of Zen Whip and original texts for quotations from sources both classical and modern that appear in the notes and introduction."--Zen Notes "The Chan Whip (C. Changuan cejin, K. Son'gwan ch'aekchin, J. Zenkan sakushin) is a work that played a major role in the revival of gong'an (K. kongan, J. koan) practice that swept the Chan, Son, and Zen schools of Buddhism in East Asia in the seventeenth century, and its influence continues to be felt down to the present. Jeffrey Broughton provides a clear and consistent translation of this inspiring but difficult work, together with a critical apparatus that is well-designed to make it as accessible as possible to a Western audience. Scholars and practitioners alike can benefit greatly from his philological expertise and sensitive interpretations of the material."--T. Griffith Foulk, Professor of Religion, Sarah Lawrence College