Dear colleagues,
I am pleased to announce that my book, Buddhist Hermeneutics and East Asian Buddhist Interpreters: Delivering Dharma of No Dharma, has been published (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, December 2022).
https://www.cambridgescholars.com/product/978-1-5275-9189-9
From the blurb:
"This book explores the hermeneutic question of how non-conceptual religious reality is conceptually interpreted in the Buddhist tradition. While interpreters of religion have to perform their task through the process of conceptualization of their subjects, religious reality is typically considered as transcending conceptual categorization. Noting this dilemmatic problem, this work discusses the issues involved in Buddhist hermeneutics. It consists of two parts, the first of which discusses possibilities and problems associated with Buddhist hermeneutics, through three different topics: two exegetic strategies of the Indian Buddhist tradition, interpretive problems in the realistic approach to Buddhism, and historicist interpretations of Buddhism in modern times. The second part examines particular interpretive approaches to reality in East Asian Buddhism, such as the Chinese meditative practice of kanhua Chan, the Korean scholar-monk Wŏnhyo’s (617–686) view on non-duality of buddha-nature, and the Japanese monk Kūkai’s (774–835) perspective on emptiness. By addressing these issues, this volume illuminates the fundamental hermeneutic challenge in Buddhism: how to deliver dharma of no dharma."
CONTENTS
Abbreviations ............................................................................................ vi
Introduction ................................................................................................ 1
Part I. Possibilities and Problems
Chapter 1 .................................................................................................. 10
Two Hermeneutic Strategies in Buddhist Tradition
Chapter 2 .................................................................................................. 26
Investigation of Realism from Buddhist Perspective
Chapter 3 .................................................................................................. 42
A Critique of Historical Hermeneutics
Part II. Hermeneutic Approaches in East Asian Buddhism
Chapter 4 .................................................................................................. 60
Language of Enlightenment and Kanhua Chan
Chapter 5 .................................................................................................. 71
Wŏnhyo’s Understanding of the Non-Duality of Buddha-Nature
Chapter 6 .................................................................................................. 85
Kūkai’s Esoteric Approach to Emptiness
Best regards,
Sumi Lee
Assistant Professor
Department of Philosophy
College of Humanites and Social Sciences
Duksung Women's University
Seoul, South Korea
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