Zen and the Art of Nourishing Life: Labor, Exhaustion, and the Malady of Meditation
In his Yasenkanna and other writings Zen master Hakuin Ekaku (1686-1769) relies on two seemingly conflicting analogies to speak of the art of nourishing life (yōjō). On the one hand, he maintains that vital energy (ki) must be stored in the cinnabar field (tanden). On the other hand, he maintains th...
| Published in: | Japanese journal of religious studies |
|---|---|
| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Nanzan Institute
[2008]
|
| In: |
Japanese journal of religious studies
|
| Further subjects: | B
Soul music
B Kidneys B Zen Buddhism B Meditation B Alchemy B Physicians B Religious Studies B Exhaustion B Poetry |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | In his Yasenkanna and other writings Zen master Hakuin Ekaku (1686-1769) relies on two seemingly conflicting analogies to speak of the art of nourishing life (yōjō). On the one hand, he maintains that vital energy (ki) must be stored in the cinnabar field (tanden). On the other hand, he maintains that one must circulate vital energy in the body by engaging in labor lest it become stagnant. A similar tension can be observed in Kaibara Ekken's (1630-1714) immensely popular manual of nourishing life, Yōjōkun. Although Shigehisa Kuriyama points to the industrious revolution and what he calls the "anxiety of stagnation" that swept through the Tokugawa populace as a possible cause for the rise of this tension, the present article will suggest a fundamental redefinition of labor (rō) and, more specifically, reading practices that took place during this period as another possible factor behind this development. Labor, be it meditation or reading, had to demonstrate a sense of self-mastery for it to be true labor and failure to do so would result in exhaustion (rō) or what Hakuin preferred to call the malady of meditation (zenbyō). |
|---|---|
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Japanese journal of religious studies
|