Silent Accord
Qi 契 as a Metaphor for Enlightenment and Transmission in Chan Buddhist Discourse
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3300626 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Aleksi Järvelä (University of Helsinki, corresponding author), Tero Tähtinen (0000-0003-4402-0647, Tampere University) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 12 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 279 |
| Publication date | 2021-04-16 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Religions (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444 |
| Publisher | MDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT) |
| DOI | 10.3390/rel12040279 |
| OpenAlex | W3154817167 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 20 |
In this paper, we explore the historical background and the semantic underpinnings of a central, if marginally treated, metaphor of enlightenment and transmission in Chan discourse, "silent accord" 默契. It features centrally in Essentials of the Transmission of Mind 傳心法要, a text that gathers the teachings of Chan master Huangbo Xiyun (d. ca. 850), a major Tang dynasty figure. "Silent accord" is related to the concept of mind-to-mind transmission, which lies at the very core of Chan Buddhist self-understanding. However, Chan historiography has shown that this self-understanding was partially a product of the Song dynasty lineage records, historically retroactive syncretic constructs produced by monks and literati as efforts towards doctrinal and political recognition and orthodoxy. There are thus lacunae in the history of Chan thought opened up by the retrospective fictions of Song dynasty, and a lack of reliable, dateable documents from the preceding Tang dynasty era, possibly fraught with later additions. We situate the metaphor "silent accord" in the history of Chan thought by searching for its origins, mapping its functions in Chan literature, arguing for its influence and thereby its role in helping to bridge the ninth century gap
Art · Buddhism · Enlightenment · Epistemology · Historiography · Linguistics · Literature · Metaphor · Orthodoxy · Politics · Theology · Chinese history and philosophy · History · Law · Philosophy
Mahākāśyapa’s Smile Silent Transmission And The Kung-An (Koan) Tradition
Buddhist Hermeneutics
Ordinary Mind as the Way
Monks, Rulers, and Literati
How Zen Became Zen
The Northern School and the Formation of Early Ch'an Buddhism
The Mystique of Transmission
Hongzhou School of Chan Buddhism in Eighth- through Tenth-Century China, The
Philosophical Meditations on Zen Buddhism
The Zen Canon
The Bodhidharma Anthology
The Medieval Chinese Gāthā and Its Relationship to Poetry
Becoming Chinese Buddhas
The Blue Cliff Record
The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch (The Text of the Tun-Huang Manuscript)
Signs of Power
Tsung-mi and the Sinification of Buddhism
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |