The Records Of Mazu And The Making Of Classical Chan Literature

Download The Records Of Mazu And The Making Of Classical Chan Literature full books in PDF, epub, and Kindle. Read online The Records Of Mazu And The Making Of Classical Chan Literature ebook anywhere anytime directly on your device. Fast Download speed and no annoying ads. We cannot guarantee that every ebooks is available!

The Records of Mazu and the Making of Classical Chan Literature

Author : Mario Poceski
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190225769
Total Pages : 385 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (92 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Records of Mazu and the Making of Classical Chan Literature by : Mario Poceski

Download or read book The Records of Mazu and the Making of Classical Chan Literature written by Mario Poceski and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2015-07-16 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Records of Mazu and the Making of Classical Chan Literature explores the growth, makeup, and transformation of Chan (Zen) Buddhist literature in late medieval China. The volume analyzes the earliest extant records about the life, teachings, and legacy of Mazu Daoyi (709-788), the famous leader of the Hongzhou School and one of the principal figures in Chan history. While some of the texts covered are well-known and form a central part of classical Chan (or more broadly Buddhist) literature in China, others have been largely ignored, forgotten, or glossed over until recently. Poceski presents a range of primary materials important for the historical study of Chan Buddhism, some translated for the first time into English or other Western language. He surveys the distinctive features and contents of particular types of texts, and analyzes the forces, milieus, and concerns that shaped key processes of textual production during this period. Although his main focus is on written sources associated with a celebrated Chan tradition that developed and rose to prominence during the Tang era (618-907), Poceski also explores the Five Dynasties (907-960) and Song (960-1279) periods, when many of the best-known Chan collections were compiled. Exploring the Chan School's creative adaptation of classical literary forms and experimentation with novel narrative styles, The Records of Mazu and the Making of Classical Chan Literature traces the creation of several distinctive Chan genres that exerted notable influence on the subsequent development of Buddhism in China and the rest of East Asia.

The Records of Mazu and the Making of Classical Chan Literature

Author : Mario Poceski
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780190225773
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (257 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Records of Mazu and the Making of Classical Chan Literature by : Mario Poceski

Download or read book The Records of Mazu and the Making of Classical Chan Literature written by Mario Poceski and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Historical Dictionary of Chan Buddhism

Author : Youru Wang
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 1538105527
Total Pages : 387 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (381 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Historical Dictionary of Chan Buddhism by : Youru Wang

Download or read book Historical Dictionary of Chan Buddhism written by Youru Wang and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2017-06-27 with total page 387 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The popular name for Chan Buddhism, in the West, is Zen Buddhism, as it was Japanese scholars who first introduced Chan Buddhism to the West with this translation. Indeed, chan is a shortened form of the Chinese word channa, rendered from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which denotes practices of the concentration of the mind through meditation or contemplation. Although rooted in the Indian tradition of yoga, which aims at the unification of the individual with the divine, meditative concentration became integrated into the Buddhist path to enlightenment as one of the three learnings (sanxue) of Buddhism. Early Buddhist (or the so-called Hinayana Buddhist) scriptures include the teachings on four stages of meditation, four divine abodes, four formless meditations, the tranquility (samatha) and insight (vipassanā) meditations, and so on. Early Buddhist communities commonly practiced these meditations, along with the moral disciplines and the study of the scriptures and doctrines. Mahayana Buddhism, in India and East Asia, continued the practice of meditation as one of the six perfections (or virtues) of the bodhisattva path. In this general context, some eminent monks might have composed scriptures/treatises for the training of meditation or have become more famed with meditation. However, the school of Chan is more than just a group of meditation practitioners. As one of the Chinese Buddhist schools, it involves its own ideology, its own community, and its own genealogical history, serving to establish its own identity. The Historical Dictionary of Chan Buddhism contains a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 400 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, schools, texts, vocabularies, doctrines, rituals, temples, events, and other practices. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Chan Buddhism.

The Theory and Practice of Zen Buddhism

Author : Charles S. Prebish
Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 9811682860
Total Pages : 342 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (116 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Theory and Practice of Zen Buddhism by : Charles S. Prebish

Download or read book The Theory and Practice of Zen Buddhism written by Charles S. Prebish and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-02-15 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book brings together an impressive group of scholars to critically engage with a wide-ranging and broad perspective on the historical and contemporary phenomenon of Zen. The structure of the work is organized to reflect the root and branches of Zen, with the root referring to important episodes in Chan/Zen history within the Asian context, and the branches referring to more recent development in the West. In collating what has transpired in the last several decades of Chan/Zen scholarship, the collection recognizes and honors the scholarly accomplishments and influences of Steven Heine, arguably the most important Zen scholar in the past three decades. As it looks back at the intellectual horizons that this towering figure in Zen/Chan studies has pioneered and developed, it seeks to build on the grounds that were broken and subsequently established by Heine, thereby engendering new works within this enormously important religio-cultural scholarly tradition. This curated Festschrift is a tribute, both retrospective and prospective, acknowledging the foundational work that Heine has forged, and generates research that is both complementary and highly original. This academic ritual of assembling a liber amicorum is based on the presumption that sterling scholarship should be honored by conscientious scholarship. In the festive spirit of a Festschrift, this anthology consists of the resounding voices of Heine and his colleagues. It is an indispensable collection for students and scholars interested in Japanese religion and Chinese culture, and for those researching Zen Buddhist history and philosophy.

Chan Rhetoric of Uncertainty in the Blue Cliff Record

Author : Steven Heine
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199397775
Total Pages : 361 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (993 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Chan Rhetoric of Uncertainty in the Blue Cliff Record by : Steven Heine

Download or read book Chan Rhetoric of Uncertainty in the Blue Cliff Record written by Steven Heine and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides an innovative and critical analysis, in light of Song dynasty (960-11279) Chinese cultural and intellectual historical trends, of the Blue Cliff Record, the seminal Chan/Zen Buddhist collection of commentaries on one hundred gongan/koan cases, which has long been celebrated for its intricate and articulate interpretative methods.

Li Bo Unkempt

Author : Kidder Smith
Publisher : punctum books
ISBN 13 : 1953035426
Total Pages : 501 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (53 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Li Bo Unkempt by : Kidder Smith

Download or read book Li Bo Unkempt written by Kidder Smith and published by punctum books. This book was released on 2021-03-25 with total page 501 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Zen Master Tales

Author : Peter Haskel
Publisher : Shambhala Publications
ISBN 13 : 1611809606
Total Pages : 257 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (118 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Zen Master Tales by : Peter Haskel

Download or read book Zen Master Tales written by Peter Haskel and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 2022-04-26 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A lively collection of folk tales and Buddhist teaching stories from four noted premodern Japanese Zen masters: Taigu Sôchiku (1584–1669), Sengai Gibon (1750-1831), Hakuin Ekaku (1686-1769), and Taigu Ryôkan (1758-1831). Zen Master Tales collects never before translated stories of four prominent Zen masters from the Edo period of Japanese history (1603-1868). Drawn from an era that saw the “democratization” of Japanese Zen, these stories paint a picture of robust, funny, and poignant engagement between Zen luminaries and the emergent chоnin or “townsperson” culture of early modern Japan. Here we find Zen monks engaging with samurai, merchants, housewives, entertainers, and farmers. These masters affirmed that the essentials of Zen practice—zazen, koan study, even enlightenment—could be conveyed to all members of Japanese society in ordinary speech, including even comic verse and work songs. Against the backdrop of this rich tableau, Zen Master Tales serves not only as a text for Zen students but also as a wide-ranging window onto the fascinating literary, material, and social history of Edo Japan. In his introduction, translator Peter Haskel explains the history of Zen “stories” from the tradition’s Golden Age in China through the compilation of the classic koan collections and on to the era from which the stories in Zen Master Tales are drawn. What was true of the Chinese tradition, he writes—“its focus on the individual’s ordinary activity as the function, the manifestation of the absolute”—continued in the Japanese context. “Most of these Japanese stories, however unabashedly humorous and at times crude, impart something of the character of the Zen masters involved, whose attainment must be plainly manifest in even the most humble and unlikely of situations.”

Patriarchs on Paper

Author : Alan Cole
Publisher : Univ of California Press
ISBN 13 : 0520959752
Total Pages : 340 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (29 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Patriarchs on Paper by : Alan Cole

Download or read book Patriarchs on Paper written by Alan Cole and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2016-11-01 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The truth of Chan Buddhism—better known as “Zen”—is regularly said to be beyond language, and yet Chan authors—medieval and modern—produced an enormous quantity of literature over the centuries. To make sense of this well-known paradox, Patriarchs on Paper explores several genres of Chan literature that appeared during the Tang and Song dynasties (c. 600–1300), including genealogies, biographies, dialogues, poems, monastic handbooks, and koans. Working through this diverse body of literature, Alan Cole details how Chan authors developed several strategies to evoke images of a perfect Buddhism in which wonderfully simple masters transmitted Buddhism’s final truth to one another, suddenly and easily, and, of course, independent of literature and the complexities of the Buddhist monastic system. Chan literature, then, reveled in staging delightful images of a Buddhism free of Buddhism, tempting the reader, over and over, with the possibility of finding behind the thick façade of real Buddhism—with all its rules, texts, doctrines, and institutional solidity—an ethereal world of pure spirit. Patriarchs on Paper charts the emergence of this kind of “fantasy Buddhism” and details how it interacted with more traditional forms of Chinese Buddhism in order to show how Chan’s illustrious ancestors were created in literature in order to further a wide range of real-world agendas.

The Buddhist Roots of Zhu Xi's Philosophical Thought

Author : John Makeham
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 019087855X
Total Pages : 369 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (98 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Buddhist Roots of Zhu Xi's Philosophical Thought by : John Makeham

Download or read book The Buddhist Roots of Zhu Xi's Philosophical Thought written by John Makeham and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Zhu Xi (1130-1200) is the most influential Neo-Confucian philosopher and arguably the most important Chinese philosopher of the past millennium, both in terms of his legacy and for the sophistication of his systematic philosophy. The Buddhist Roots of Zhu Xi's Philosophical Thought combines in a single study two major areas of Chinese philosophy that are rarely tackled together: Chinese Buddhist philosophy and Zhu Xi's Neo-Confucian philosophy. Despite Zhu Xi's importance as a philosopher, the role of Buddhist thought and philosophy in the construction of his systematic philosophy remains poorly understood. What aspects of Buddhism did he criticize and why? Was his engagement limited to criticism (informed or otherwise) or did Zhu also appropriate and repurpose Buddhist ideas to develop his own thought? If Zhu's philosophical repertoire incorporated conceptual structures and problematics that are marked by a distinct Buddhist pedigree, what implications does this have for our understanding of his philosophical project? The five chapters that make up The Buddhist Roots of Zhu Xi's Philosophical Thought present a rich and complex portrait of the Buddhist roots of Zhu Xi's philosophical thought. The scholarship is meticulous, the analysis is rigorous, and the philosophical insights are fresh. Collectively, the chapters illuminate a greatly expanded range of the intellectual resources Zhu incorporated into his philosophical thought, demonstrating the vital role that models derived from Buddhism played in his philosophical repertoire. In doing so, they provide new perspectives on what Zhu Xi was trying to achieve as a philosopher, by repurposing ideas from Buddhism. They also make significant and original contributions to our understanding of core concepts, debates and conceptual structures that shaped the development of philosophy in East Asia over the past millennium.

Philosophical Hermeneutics and the Priority of Questions in Religions

Author : Nathan Eric Dickman
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1350202177
Total Pages : 225 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (52 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Philosophical Hermeneutics and the Priority of Questions in Religions by : Nathan Eric Dickman

Download or read book Philosophical Hermeneutics and the Priority of Questions in Religions written by Nathan Eric Dickman and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2022-02-24 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Buddhas, gods, prophets and oracles are often depicted as asking questions. But what are we to understand when Jesus asks “Who do you say that I am?”, or Mazu, the Classical Zen master asks, “Why do you seek outside?" Is their questioning a power or weakness? Is it something human beings are only capable of due to our finitude? Is there any kind of question that is a power? Focusing on three case studies of questions in divine discourse on the level of story - the god depicted in the Jewish Bible, the master Mazu in his recorded sayings literature, and Jesus as he is depicted in canonized Christian Gospels - Nathan Eric Dickman meditates on human responses to divine questions. He considers the purpose of interreligious dialogue and the provocative kind of questions that seem to purposefully decenter us, drawing on methods from confessionally-oriented hermeneutics and skills from critical thinking. He allows us to see alternative ways of interpreting religious texts through approaches that look beyond reading a text for the improvement of our own religion or for access to some metaphysically transcendent reality. This is the first step in a phenomenology of religions that is inclusive, diverse, relevant and grounded in the world we live in.

Daoism and Environmental Philosophy

Author : Eric S. Nelson
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 0429678223
Total Pages : 262 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (296 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Daoism and Environmental Philosophy by : Eric S. Nelson

Download or read book Daoism and Environmental Philosophy written by Eric S. Nelson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-10-01 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Daoism and Environmental Philosophy explores ethics and the philosophy of nature in the Daodejing, the Zhuangzi, and related texts to elucidate their potential significance in our contemporary environmental crisis. This book traces early Daoist depictions of practices of embodied emptying and forgetting and communicative strategies of undoing the fixations of words, things, and the embodied self. These are aspects of an ethics of embracing plainness and simplicity, nourishing the asymmetrically differentiated yet shared elemental body of life of the myriad things, and being responsively attuned in encountering and responding to things. These critical and transformative dimensions of early Daoism provide exemplary models and insights for cultivating a more expansive ecological ethos, environmental culture of nature, and progressive political ecology. This work will be of interest to students and scholars interested in philosophy, environmental ethics and philosophy, religious studies, and intellectual history.

The Linji Lu and the Creation of Chan Orthodoxy

Author : Albert Welter
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199887055
Total Pages : 269 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (998 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Linji Lu and the Creation of Chan Orthodoxy by : Albert Welter

Download or read book The Linji Lu and the Creation of Chan Orthodoxy written by Albert Welter and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2008-02-28 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Linji lu, or Record of Linji, ranks among the most famous and influential texts of the Chan and Zen traditions. Ostensibly containing the teachings of the Tang dynasty figure Linji Yixuan, the text has generally been accepted at face value, as reliable records of the teachings of this historical figure. In this book, Albert Welter offers the first systematic study of the Linji lu in a western language. Welter places the Linji lu in its historical context, showing how the text was manipulated over time by the Linji faction. Rather than recording the teachings of the illustrious patriarch of legend, the text reflects the motivations of Linji-faction descendants in the Song dynasty (960–1279). The story of the Linji lu is not simply the story of one heroic figure, Linji Yixuan, but the story of an entire movement that sought validation through retrospective image making. The success of this effort is seen in Chan's rise to prominence. Drawing on the findings of Japanese scholars, Welter moves beyond the minutiae of textual analysis to place the development of Linji lu within the broader forces shaping the development of the Chinese Records of Sayings literary genre as a whole.

The Poetry Demon

Author : Jason Protass
Publisher : University of Hawaii Press
ISBN 13 : 082488907X
Total Pages : 353 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (248 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Poetry Demon by : Jason Protass

Download or read book The Poetry Demon written by Jason Protass and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2021-07-31 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chinese Buddhist monks of the Song dynasty (960–1279) called the irresistible urge to compose poetry “the poetry demon.” In this ambitious study, Jason Protass seeks to bridge the fields of Buddhist studies and Chinese literature to examine the place of poetry in the lives of Song monks. Although much has been written about verses in the gong’an (Jpn. kōan) tradition, very little is known about the large corpora—roughly 30,000 extant poems—composed by these monastics. Protass addresses the oversight by using strategies associated with religious studies, literary studies, and sociology. He weaves together poetry with a wide range of monastic sources and in doing so argues against positing a “literary Chan” movement that wrote poetry as a path to awakening; he instead presents an understanding of monks’ poetry grounded in the Song discourse of monks themselves. The work begins by examining how monks fashioned new genres, created their own books, and fueled a monastic audience for monks’ poetry. It traces the evolution of gāthā from hymns found in Buddhist scripture to an independent genre for poems associated with Chan masters as living buddhas. While Song monastic culture produced a prodigious amount of verse, at the same time it promoted prohibitions against monks’ participation in poetry as a worldly or Confucian art: This constructive tension was an animating force. The Poetry Demon highlights this and other intersections of Buddhist doctrine with literary sociality and charts productive pathways through numerous materials, including collections of Chan “recorded sayings,” monastic rulebooks, “eminent monk” and “flame record” hagiographies, manuscripts of poetry, Buddhist encyclopedia, primers, and sūtra commentary. Two chapter-length case studies illustrate how Song monks participated in two of the most prominent and conservative modes of poetry of the time, those of parting and mourning. Protass reveals how monks used Chan humor with reference to emptiness to transform acts of separation into Buddhist teachings. In another chapter, monks in mourning expressed their grief and dharma through poetry. The Poetry Demon impressively uncovers new and creative ways to study Chinese Buddhist monks’ poetry while contributing to the broader study of Chinese religion and literature.

Environmental Philosophy and East Asia

Author : Hiroshi Abe
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1000604535
Total Pages : 186 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (6 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Environmental Philosophy and East Asia by : Hiroshi Abe

Download or read book Environmental Philosophy and East Asia written by Hiroshi Abe and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2022-07-08 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the contributions of East Asian traditions, particularly Buddhism and Daoism, to environmental philosophy in dialogue with European philosophy. It critically examines the conceptions of human responsibility toward nature and across time presented within these traditions. The volume rethinks human relationships to the natural world by focusing on three main themes: Daoist and Eurodaoist perspectives on nature, human responsibility toward nature, and Buddhist perspectives on life and nature. By way of discussing East Asian traditions and European thinkers, this collection reveals that the impact of humanity on the environment is shaped not only by distinctive modes of economic production, but also by cultural beliefs and practices. Representing a unique constellation of environmental and intercultural philosophy, the contributions present systematic approaches to the global need for cultivating environmental responsibility across cultures and generations to address the political, ethical, and aesthetic challenges arising from humanity’s transformative impact on the natural world. Presenting a critical re-evaluation of human relationships to the natural world in dialogue with East Asian traditions, this will be a valuable resource for students and scholars of Philosophy, Environmental Studies and Asian Studies.

Sun-Face Buddha

Author : Ma-tsu
Publisher : Jain Publishing Company
ISBN 13 : 0875730221
Total Pages : 172 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (757 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Sun-Face Buddha by : Ma-tsu

Download or read book Sun-Face Buddha written by Ma-tsu and published by Jain Publishing Company. This book was released on 1992 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A translation of the primary materials on the life and teachings of Ma-Tsu (709-788), the successor to the great sixth patriarch and the greatest Ch'an master in history, Hui-Neng (638-713). The book should be invaluable to all who wish to study the development of the Zen thought and philosophy over the course of history.

Not Seeing Snow: Musō Soseki and Medieval Japanese Zen

Author : Molly Vallor
Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 9004393897
Total Pages : 278 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (43 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Not Seeing Snow: Musō Soseki and Medieval Japanese Zen by : Molly Vallor

Download or read book Not Seeing Snow: Musō Soseki and Medieval Japanese Zen written by Molly Vallor and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2019-08-26 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Not Seeing Snow examines the life, thought, poetry, and garden design of influential Zen monk Musō Soseki.

A Book to Burn and a Book to Keep (Hidden)

Author : Zhi Li
Publisher : Columbia University Press
ISBN 13 : 0231541538
Total Pages : 409 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (315 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis A Book to Burn and a Book to Keep (Hidden) by : Zhi Li

Download or read book A Book to Burn and a Book to Keep (Hidden) written by Zhi Li and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2016-06-07 with total page 409 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Li Zhi's iconoclastic interpretations of history, religion, literature, and social relations have fascinated Chinese intellectuals for centuries. His approach synthesized Confucian, Buddhist, and Daoist ethics and incorporated the Neo-Confucian idealism of such thinkers as Wang Yangming (1472–1529). The result was a series of heretical writings that caught fire among Li Zhi's contemporaries, despite an imperial ban on their publication, and intrigued Chinese audiences long after his death. Translated for the first time into English, Li Zhi's bold challenge to established doctrines will captivate anyone curious about the origins of such subtly transgressive works as the sixteenth-century play The Peony Pavilion or the eighteenth-century novel Dream of the Red Chamber. In A Book to Burn and a Book to Keep (Hidden), Li Zhi confronts accepted ideas about gender, questions the true identity of history's heroes and villains, and offers his own readings of Confucius, Laozi, and the Buddha. Fond of vivid sentiment and sharp expression, Li Zhi made no distinction between high and low literary genres in his literary analysis. He refused to support sanctioned ideas about morality and wrote stinging social critiques. Li Zhi praised scholars who risked everything to expose extortion and misrule. In this sophisticated translation, English-speaking readers encounter the best of this heterodox intellectual's vital contribution to Chinese thought and culture.