Robert H Sharf
Biographic Data
| ID | 820238 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Robert H Sharf |
| GIVEN NAMES | Robert H |
| FAMILY NAME | Sharf |
| SIGNATURE | SHARF R H |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of California, Berkeley |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 23 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 113 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 23 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1992 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2021 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
What Can't be Said
Paradox drives a good deal of philosophy in every tradition. In the Indian and Western traditions, there is a tendency among many (but not all) philosophers to run from contradiction and paradox. If and when a contradiction appears in a theory, it is regarded as a sure sign that something has gone amiss. This aversion to paradox commits them, knowingly or not, to the view that reality must be consistent. In East Asia, however, philosophers have r…
The Looping Structure of Buddhist Thought (Or, How Chan Buddhism Resolves the Quantum Measurement Problem)
Is there a world out there when nobody is looking? This is a question that medieval Buddhist scholiasts struggled with over many centuries, giving rise to a variety of competing positions. In this article, I identify a loop that runs through and structures seemingly antithetical positions—some realist, some antirealist—in these debates. My claim is that the loop is a feature of our lifeworld, and thus any serious reflection on the mind/world rela…
What Do Nanquan and Schrödinger Have Against Cats
Research Article| November 01 2018 What Do Nanquan and Schrödinger Have Against Cats? Robert H. Sharf Robert H. Sharf Robert H. Sharf is D. H. Chen Distinguished Professor of Buddhist Studies in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, as well as Chair of the Center for Buddhist Studies, at the University of California, Berkeley. He works primarily in the area of medieval Chinese Buddhism (especially Chan), but he also dabbles in Japa…
Is Mindfulness Buddhist? (And Why It Matters)
Modern exponents of mindfulness meditation promote the therapeutic effects of “bare attention”—a sort of non-judgmental, non-discursive attending to the moment-to-moment flow of consciousness. This approach is arguably at odds with more traditional Theravāda Buddhist doctrine and meditative practice, but the cultivation of present-centered awareness is not without precedent in Buddhist history; similar innovations arose in medieval Chinese Zen (C…
How to Think with Chan Gong’an
Chinese Buddhism and the Cosmology of Sympathetic Resonance
Coming to Terms with Chinese Buddhism
The issue of sinification-the manner and extent to which Buddhism and Chinese culture were transformed through their mutual encounter and dialogue-has dominated the study of Chinese Buddhism for much of the past century. Robert Sharf opens this important and far-reaching book by raising a host of historical and hermeneutical problems with the encounter paradigm and the master narrative on which it is based. Coming to Terms with Chinese Buddhism i…
Is Yogācāra Phenomenology? Some Evidence from the Cheng weishi lun
Is mindfulness Buddhist? (and why it matters)
Modern exponents of mindfulness meditation promote the therapeutic effects of "bare attention"-a sort of non-judgmental, non-discursive attending to the moment-to-moment flow of consciousness. This approach to Buddhist meditation can be traced to Burmese Buddhist reform movements of the first half of the 20th century, and is arguably at odds with more traditional Theravāda Buddhist doctrine and meditative practices. But the cultivation of present…
Chapter 8. Is Nirvāṇa the Same as Insentience? Chinese Struggles with an Indian Buddhist Ideal
Mindfulness and Mindlessness in Early Chan
Some scholars of Chinese Chan Buddhism maintain that the innovations associated with early (eighth-century) Chan were largely in the area of doctrine and mythology. In other words, early Chan meditation and ritual practices would have been indistinguishable from non-Chan forms until the emergence, in the Song, of distinctive new methods such as kanhua meditation. This article argues that at least some of the early Chan patriarchs did indeed exper…
The Buddha's Finger Bones at Famensi and the Art of Chinese Esoteric Buddhism
In 1987 archaeologists discovered a crypt beneath the Famensi (Dharma Gate Monastery) in Shaanxi Province, China, containing four “finger-bone” relics of the Buddha along with a trove of invaluable medieval religious artifacts. Some of the finds are associated with “Esoterism,” an important but poorly understood Buddhist ritual tradition that flourished briefly during the Tang dynasty (618–907 CE). A new reading of the Famensi relics and their ne…
Thinking with Cases
On Pure Land Buddhism and Ch'an/Pure Land Syncretism in Medieval China
Modern studies of Buddhism and Chinese religion often refer to an indigenous Chinese Pure Land that arose in the medieval period. This school is typically characterized as a distinct tradition with its own teachings and its own line of patriarchs, including T'an-luan (476-542), Tao-ch'o (562-645), and Shantao (613-681). In the Sung, exegetes such as Yung-ming Yen-shou (904-975) are credited with creating a of Pure Land teachings and Ch'an, and th…
On the Allure of Buddhist Relics
Research Article| April 01 1999 On the Allure of Buddhist Relics Robert H. Sharf Robert H. Sharf Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Representations (1999) 66: 75–99. https://doi.org/10.2307/2902880 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Robert H. Sharf;…
Sanbōkyōdan
The Sanbõkyõdan (Three Treasures Association) is a contemporary Zen movement that was founded by Yasutani Hakuun (1885–1973) in 1954. The style of Zen propagated by Sanbõkyõdan teachers, noteworthy for its single-minded emphasis on the experience of kenshõ, diverges markedly from more traditional models found in Sõtõ, Rinzai, or Õbaku training halls. In fact, the Sanbõkyõdan displays many characteristic traits of the so-called New Religions. (Thi…
Buddhist Modernism and the Rhetoric of Meditative Experience
The category “experience” has played a cardinal role in modern studies of buddhism. Few scholars seem to question the notion that Buddhist monastic practice, particularly meditation, is intended first and foremost to inculcate specific religious or “mystical” experiences in the minds of practitioners. Accordingly, a wide variety of Buddhist technical terms pertaining to the “stages on the path” are subject to a phenomenological hermeneutic—they a…
Chan Insights and Oversights
Zen and the Art of DeconstructionThe Rhetoric of Immediacy
Eloquent Zen
On the Ritual Use of Ch'an Portraiture in Medieval China
Foulk T. Griffith, Sharf Robert H. On the Ritual Use of Ch'an Portraiture in Medieval China. In: Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie, vol. 7, 1993. Numéro spécial sur le Chan/Zen : Special Issue on Chan/Zen. En l'honneur de Yanagida Seizan. pp. 149-219
The Zen of Japanese Nationalism
The Idolization of Enlightenment
Buddhist Modernism and the Rhetoric of Meditative Experience
The category “experience” has played a cardinal role in modern studies of buddhism. Few scholars seem to question the notion that Buddhist monastic practice, particularly meditation, is intended first and foremost to inculcate specific religious or “mystical” experiences in the minds of practitioners. Accordingly, a wide variety of Buddhist technical terms pertaining to the “stages on the path” are subject to a phenomenological hermeneutic—they a…
On the Allure of Buddhist Relics
Research Article| April 01 1999 On the Allure of Buddhist Relics Robert H. Sharf Robert H. Sharf Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Representations (1999) 66: 75–99. https://doi.org/10.2307/2902880 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Robert H. Sharf;…
Is mindfulness Buddhist? (and why it matters)
Modern exponents of mindfulness meditation promote the therapeutic effects of "bare attention"-a sort of non-judgmental, non-discursive attending to the moment-to-moment flow of consciousness. This approach to Buddhist meditation can be traced to Burmese Buddhist reform movements of the first half of the 20th century, and is arguably at odds with more traditional Theravāda Buddhist doctrine and meditative practices. But the cultivation of present…
The Zen of Japanese Nationalism
The Idolization of Enlightenment
The Looping Structure of Buddhist Thought (Or, How Chan Buddhism Resolves the Quantum Measurement Problem)
Is there a world out there when nobody is looking? This is a question that medieval Buddhist scholiasts struggled with over many centuries, giving rise to a variety of competing positions. In this article, I identify a loop that runs through and structures seemingly antithetical positions—some realist, some antirealist—in these debates. My claim is that the loop is a feature of our lifeworld, and thus any serious reflection on the mind/world rela…
Is Yogācāra Phenomenology? Some Evidence from the Cheng weishi lun
Zen and the Art of DeconstructionThe Rhetoric of Immediacy
The Idolization of Enlightenment
On the Ritual Use of Ch'an Portraiture in Medieval China
Foulk T. Griffith, Sharf Robert H. On the Ritual Use of Ch'an Portraiture in Medieval China. In: Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie, vol. 7, 1993. Numéro spécial sur le Chan/Zen : Special Issue on Chan/Zen. En l'honneur de Yanagida Seizan. pp. 149-219
The Zen of Japanese Nationalism
Zen and the Art of DeconstructionThe Rhetoric of Immediacy
Eloquent Zen
Sanbōkyōdan
The Sanbõkyõdan (Three Treasures Association) is a contemporary Zen movement that was founded by Yasutani Hakuun (1885–1973) in 1954. The style of Zen propagated by Sanbõkyõdan teachers, noteworthy for its single-minded emphasis on the experience of kenshõ, diverges markedly from more traditional models found in Sõtõ, Rinzai, or Õbaku training halls. In fact, the Sanbõkyõdan displays many characteristic traits of the so-called New Religions. (Thi…
Buddhist Modernism and the Rhetoric of Meditative Experience
The category “experience” has played a cardinal role in modern studies of buddhism. Few scholars seem to question the notion that Buddhist monastic practice, particularly meditation, is intended first and foremost to inculcate specific religious or “mystical” experiences in the minds of practitioners. Accordingly, a wide variety of Buddhist technical terms pertaining to the “stages on the path” are subject to a phenomenological hermeneutic—they a…
Chan Insights and Oversights
On the Allure of Buddhist Relics
Research Article| April 01 1999 On the Allure of Buddhist Relics Robert H. Sharf Robert H. Sharf Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Representations (1999) 66: 75–99. https://doi.org/10.2307/2902880 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Robert H. Sharf;…
On Pure Land Buddhism and Ch'an/Pure Land Syncretism in Medieval China
Modern studies of Buddhism and Chinese religion often refer to an indigenous Chinese Pure Land that arose in the medieval period. This school is typically characterized as a distinct tradition with its own teachings and its own line of patriarchs, including T'an-luan (476-542), Tao-ch'o (562-645), and Shantao (613-681). In the Sung, exegetes such as Yung-ming Yen-shou (904-975) are credited with creating a of Pure Land teachings and Ch'an, and th…
Thinking with Cases
The Buddha's Finger Bones at Famensi and the Art of Chinese Esoteric Buddhism
In 1987 archaeologists discovered a crypt beneath the Famensi (Dharma Gate Monastery) in Shaanxi Province, China, containing four “finger-bone” relics of the Buddha along with a trove of invaluable medieval religious artifacts. Some of the finds are associated with “Esoterism,” an important but poorly understood Buddhist ritual tradition that flourished briefly during the Tang dynasty (618–907 CE). A new reading of the Famensi relics and their ne…
Chapter 8. Is Nirvāṇa the Same as Insentience? Chinese Struggles with an Indian Buddhist Ideal
Mindfulness and Mindlessness in Early Chan
Some scholars of Chinese Chan Buddhism maintain that the innovations associated with early (eighth-century) Chan were largely in the area of doctrine and mythology. In other words, early Chan meditation and ritual practices would have been indistinguishable from non-Chan forms until the emergence, in the Song, of distinctive new methods such as kanhua meditation. This article argues that at least some of the early Chan patriarchs did indeed exper…
Is Yogācāra Phenomenology? Some Evidence from the Cheng weishi lun
Is mindfulness Buddhist? (and why it matters)
Modern exponents of mindfulness meditation promote the therapeutic effects of "bare attention"-a sort of non-judgmental, non-discursive attending to the moment-to-moment flow of consciousness. This approach to Buddhist meditation can be traced to Burmese Buddhist reform movements of the first half of the 20th century, and is arguably at odds with more traditional Theravāda Buddhist doctrine and meditative practices. But the cultivation of present…
Is Mindfulness Buddhist? (And Why It Matters)
Modern exponents of mindfulness meditation promote the therapeutic effects of “bare attention”—a sort of non-judgmental, non-discursive attending to the moment-to-moment flow of consciousness. This approach is arguably at odds with more traditional Theravāda Buddhist doctrine and meditative practice, but the cultivation of present-centered awareness is not without precedent in Buddhist history; similar innovations arose in medieval Chinese Zen (C…
How to Think with Chan Gong’an
Chinese Buddhism and the Cosmology of Sympathetic Resonance
Coming to Terms with Chinese Buddhism
The issue of sinification-the manner and extent to which Buddhism and Chinese culture were transformed through their mutual encounter and dialogue-has dominated the study of Chinese Buddhism for much of the past century. Robert Sharf opens this important and far-reaching book by raising a host of historical and hermeneutical problems with the encounter paradigm and the master narrative on which it is based. Coming to Terms with Chinese Buddhism i…
What Do Nanquan and Schrödinger Have Against Cats
Research Article| November 01 2018 What Do Nanquan and Schrödinger Have Against Cats? Robert H. Sharf Robert H. Sharf Robert H. Sharf is D. H. Chen Distinguished Professor of Buddhist Studies in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, as well as Chair of the Center for Buddhist Studies, at the University of California, Berkeley. He works primarily in the area of medieval Chinese Buddhism (especially Chan), but he also dabbles in Japa…
What Can't be Said
Paradox drives a good deal of philosophy in every tradition. In the Indian and Western traditions, there is a tendency among many (but not all) philosophers to run from contradiction and paradox. If and when a contradiction appears in a theory, it is regarded as a sure sign that something has gone amiss. This aversion to paradox commits them, knowingly or not, to the view that reality must be consistent. In East Asia, however, philosophers have r…
The Looping Structure of Buddhist Thought (Or, How Chan Buddhism Resolves the Quantum Measurement Problem)
Is there a world out there when nobody is looking? This is a question that medieval Buddhist scholiasts struggled with over many centuries, giving rise to a variety of competing positions. In this article, I identify a loop that runs through and structures seemingly antithetical positions—some realist, some antirealist—in these debates. My claim is that the loop is a feature of our lifeworld, and thus any serious reflection on the mind/world rela…
Philosophy (18 works) · Chinese history and philosophy (17 works) · Buddhism (16 works) · History (12 works) · Epistemology (9 works) · Theology (9 works) · Archaeology (8 works) · Art (8 works) · Indian and Buddhist Studies (8 works) · Ancient history (7 works)