The Zen Monastic Experience

Download or read book The Zen Monastic Experience written by Robert E. Buswell, Jr. and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-07-21 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Robert Buswell, a Buddhist scholar who spent five years as a Zen monk in Korea, draws on personal experience in this insightful account of day-to-day Zen monastic practice. In discussing the activities of the postulants, the meditation monks, the teachers and administrators, and the support monks of the monastery of Songgwang-sa, Buswell reveals a religious tradition that differs radically from the stereotype prevalent in the West. The author's treatment lucidly relates contemporary Zen practice to the historical development of the tradition and to Korean history more generally, and his portrayal of the life of modern Zen monks in Korea provides an innovative and provocative look at Zen from the inside.