Zen Ritual

These essays are valuable because they reflect a crucial sea change in the contemporary study of religion: a shift away from the study of what religion says it is about (as explained in sacred texts) to what religion is actually about (as discovered in historical records and sociological observation). * Buddhadharma *
This impressive collection of essays by prominent Zen scholars should dispel the popular notion of Zen as a religious experience independent of ritual and institutional structures. The writers explore a range of ritual activities in the tradition, including rituals to protect the emperor and the country, formulaic sermons, seated and walking meditation, empowerment and healing rituals conducted by nuns, and a dharma-transmission ceremony recently formulated for North American Zen. This volume fills an important lacuna in Zen Studies, and it merits a close reading by anyone interested in ritual, Buddhism, or East Asian cultures. * Christopher Ives, author of Zen Awakening and Society *
Zen Ritual is an excellent volume and should be of great interest to scholars of East Asian Buddhism, be useful in upper-level undergraduate courses, and may also challenge Western Zen practictioners to further refine and define their own traditions vis-a-vis Japanese Zen. Each essay has something interesting to contribute, and together they deomnstrate unequivocally that Zen, like all Buddhism, is inextricably associated with many kinds of ritual and that we cannot hope to understand Zen without understanding its rituals. * Journal of Japanese Studies *
Ten excellent scholars contribute nine chapters (plus an introduction) that cover such aspects as women's rituals of 'actualizing empowerment,' meditation as a rite of enactment of original enlightenment (in Dogen's enigmatic formation), and dharma transmission...Highly recommended. * Choice *