According to the "Fox Koan", the second case in the "Wu-men Kuan Koan" collection, Zen master Pai-chang encounters a fox who claims to be a former abbot punished through endless reincarnations for denying the efficacy of karmic causality. Most traditional interpretations of the "Koan" focus on the philosophical issue of causality in relation to earlier Buddhist doctrines, such as independent origination and emptiness. This text examines the "Fox Koan" in relation to philosophical and institutional issues facing the Ch'an/Zen tradition in both Sung China and medieval and contemporary Japan. The author integrates his own philological analysis of the "Koan", textual analysis of the "Koan" collections and related literary genres in T'ang and Sung China, folkelore studies, and research on monastic codes and institutional history to craft this work.
- ISBN10 0824821971
- ISBN13 9780824821975
- Publish Date 31 March 2000 (first published 1 December 1999)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 28 June 2011
- Publish Country US
- Imprint University of Hawai'i Press
- Format Paperback
- Pages 232
- Language English