17 Robert van Gulik, Erotic Colour Prints of the Ming Period (Privately printed, Tokyo, 1951); Sexual Life in Ancient China: A Preliminary Survey of Chinese Sex and Society from ca. 1500 b.c. till 1644 a.d. (Kuala Lumpur, 1961; Leiden: Brill, 1974).

  18 Robert van Gulik, The Haunted Monastery: A Judge Dee Mystery (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2010; first published in 1961).

  19 Yasunari Kawabata (川端 康成, 1899–1972), Thousand Cranes (千羽鶴, Zenbazuru), trans. Edward G. Seidensticker (New York: Alfred Knopf, 1958; repr. New York: Vintage Books, 1996).

  20 Haruki Murakami, 1Q84 (いちきゅうはちよん, Ichi-Kyū-Hachi-Yon) (Tokyo: Shinchosha, 2009–2010), trans. Jay Rubin (New York: Harville Secker, 2011).

  21 Underground (アンダーグラウンド, Andāguraundo) (Tokyo: Kodansha, 1997–1998), trans. Alfred Birnbaum and Philip Gabriel as Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche (New York: Vintage Press, 2000).

  Glossary

  Amitābha (Chn. Omituofo, Jpn. Amida-butsu 阿彌陀佛) –

  Buddha of the Pure Land: an illustration of the Buddha as sambhoga-kāya, “celestial” or “bliss” body in the Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition

  anatta (anātman) –

  non-self: the Buddhist teaching that no permanent, unchanging self (Ātman in the Hindu tradition) is discovered in the process of meditation

  anicca –

  impermanence: one of the three marks of existence, together with anatta and dukha; in his final sermon the Buddha stated that “impermanence is the nature of all things”

  ashrama (āśrama) –

  stage of life: student, householder, retiree, sannyasin; in the Hindu conception of dharma (ethical responsibility), the practice of varna-ashrama-dharma – that is, ethical responsibility according to one's caste and stage of life – is conducive to karmic benefits

  aśubha –

  “revulsion,” the Theravāda monastic attitude toward the pleasures and desires of lay life

  Ātman –

  self in the Hindu sense: as a permanent, unchanging core underlying the changeable, impermanent self/ego that is subject to innumerable rebirths; in the experience of moksha (liberation), one realizes the identity between the “true” self (Ātman) and limitless spiritual oneness (Brahman)

  Avalokiteśvara (Chn. Guanyin, Jpn. Kannon 觀音) –

  the bodhisattva of compassion: an illustration of the Buddha as sambhoga-kāya in the Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition

  bodhi –

  literally “to wake up”: wisdom, enlightenment; the root of “Buddhism”

  Bodhidharma –

  legendary first patriarch of Zen, the “wall-gazing barbarian from the East”

  bodhisattva –

  enlightened being who vows to remain within the world of suffering (samsāra) until all sentient beings can be enlightened as well; a savior with supernatural powers of “skillful means” (upāya)

  bodhisattva-yana –

  the linear 10-stage bodhisattva path incorporating lay, monastic, and bodhisattva attainments

  Brahman –

  Ultimate Reality in the Hindu tradition of advaita-vedānta, the non-dualism of self (Ātman) and the “over-soul” (Brahman)

  Buddha –

  “the awakened one”

  cakravartin –

  “wheel-turner”; noting the “32 major marks and 80 minor marks” of the infant Buddha, seers prognosticated that the Śākyamuni Prince would become either the greatest conqueror the world had ever known or the greatest renunciant; as cakravartin, Śākyamuni Buddha became both, though he is a spiritual conqueror rather than a military one

  chanoyu (茶の湯) –

  tea ceremony

  dao (道) –

  the “Way”: both in the sense of “the Confucian Way” (= the way of virtue) and in the sense of “the Taoist Way” (= the way of nature or of the cosmos)

  dharma –

  duty (especially in the Hindu tradition); teaching, truth (in both the Hindu and the Buddhist tradition)

  Dharmacakra pravartana sūtra [= The Sūtra Setting in Motion the Wheel of the Dharma] –

  scripture (sūtra) recounting the first sermon of the Buddha, in a deer park near Benares: the declaration of the Four Noble Truths

  dharma-kāya –

  dharma body: third of the “three bodies” (trikāya) of the Mahāyāna; abstract conception of the Buddha

  dukha –

  suffering; characteristic of life in general (samsāra), according to the first sermon of the Buddha

  Eightfold Path –

  the path of Buddhist traditional practice, composed of three major categories: prajñā (wisdom), śīla (ethical conduct), samādhi (meditative concentration)

  Eka-ksara prajñā-pāramitā sūtra [=

  The Sūtra of Perfect Wisdom in One Letter]: this is the letter “a” in Sanskrit, meaning “non-,” “un-,” “im-,” void, emptiness; this sūtra is an illustration of the Mahāyāna doctrine of emptiness (śūnyatā)

  fengshui (風水) –

  geomancy: felicitous placement of human habitations, both for the living and for the dead; designed to secure future blessing for oneself and one's family

  five constants (wuchang, 五常) –

  fixed relationships in the Confucian tradition: ordered as parent–child, husband–wife, sibling–sibling or friend–friend, teacher–student, ruler–subject

  Flower Sermon of the Buddha –

  the “sermon” in which, according to Zen tradition, the Buddha held up a flower instead of speaking; the “first Zen patriarch,” Kasyapa, attained enlightenment upon “hearing” this “wordless teaching”

  Four Noble Truths –

  taught in the Dharmacakra-pravartana sūtra or “first sermon” of the Buddha: the fourfold teaching that life is characterized by suffering (samsāra); that the cause of suffering is attachment and desire (tanhā); that the end of suffering is nirvāa; and the way to the end of suffering is the Holy Eightfold Path

  Four Passing Sights –

  the encounters of the Śākyamuni Prince (the future Buddha), in four excursions from his father's palace: an old man, a sick man, a corpse, and a renunciant

  Great Going Forth (pravrajya) –

  the departure of the Śākyamuni Prince from his father's palace into homelessness; a phrase also used to describe the initiation of a young monk or nun

  haiku (俳句) –

  a poetic form inspired by Zen, consisting of a fixed metric scheme and alluding to Buddhist teachings of impermanence and awakening; according to R. H. Blythe, the “poetic transposition of satori”

  hua (化) –

  transformation, transmutability, as described by the Taoist philosopher Zhuangzi and realized in Taoist alchemical traditions of the cultivation of immortality

  Huineng (慧能) –

  Sixth Patriarch of Chinese Chan (Zen), the “illiterate woodcutter” and master of the “wordless teaching”

  hun (魂) –

  yang souls of mind, heart, and seminal energy, in complementary relationship with po (yin souls); after death, the hun souls depart the body and ascend to the heavens (ancient Chinese mortuary rituals included “calling the hun souls” to restore life to the dead)

  hundun (混沌) –

  the “Cosmic Egg”: name given to the primordial sea in Chinese cosmogony, as recounted in Huainanzi (Han Dynasty period)

  ikebana (生花) –

  flower arranging: a Zen art of “one-pointed” concentration

  Jātaka Tales –

  stories recounting prior lifetimes of the Buddha; often used as morality tales in children's education

  jiva –

  individual ego: in contrast to Ātman, the shared spirit or Brahman as universal soul; jiva is the aspect of soul that is subject to rebirth in the spinning wheel of samsāra

  junzi (君子) –

  gentleman, in the Confucian sense; attained through self-effort and the cultivation of knowledge and virtue

  karma –

  action; law of consequence

  karunā –

  compassion: a principal value in Mahāyāna Buddhism

  kōan (公案) –

  “public case”: employed as a meditation device in the Zen Buddhist tradition; kōans include “unanswerable questions” and “question–answer” (mondō) pairs that are surprising or illogical

  Kongfuzi (孔夫子) –

  Confucius, “first sage”

  Krishna (Ka) –

  the “blue god,” representative of the Hindu bhakti (devotional) tradition

  Kitigarbha (Jpn. Jizō, 地藏) –

  bodhisattva of the underworld; protector of children who have died prematurely, of aborted fetuses, and of persons whose wrong-doing would condemn them to one of the Buddhist hells; an example of the Buddha as sambhoga-kāya in the Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition

  li (禮) –

  rites, propriety: the model of Confucian individual and social cultivation

  līlā –

  play, sport; the nature of the cosmos from the perspective of Brahman; the creative energy/force/spirit of the universe

  ligam –

  male mark; symbol of the god Shiva

  Lunyu (論 語) –

  The Analects: sayings and conversations attributed to Confucius

  mahāsattvas –

  great beings: they include innumerable Buddhas and bodhisattvas of the Mahāyāna tradition

  Maitreya Buddha (Chn. Milefo, 彌勒佛) –

  Buddha of Future Blessing

  māyā –

  illusion, ignorance; the world of samsāra as seen from the enlightened perspective of Hindu liberation

  moksha (moka) –

  liberation; realization of the unity of Ātman and Brahman in the Hindu advaita-vedanta (non-dual) tradition

  mondō (問答) –

  question and answer in which the answer is illogical or unexpected; a type of kōan

  mu (無) –

  “no,” “non,” “emptiness,” “woof” (the “solution” to the mu kōan, “Does a dog have Buddha-nature?”)

  Nirgua Brahman –

  aniconic (that is, symbolic or non-representational) forms of Brahman

  nirmāna-kāya –

  transformation body; first of the “three bodies” (trikāya) of Buddha in the Mahāyāna tradition

  nirvāa –

  cessation; annihilation of the individuated ego and of false conceptions of an independent, unchanging self; expression of Buddhist enlightenment

  Parable of the Burning House –

  story from The Lotus sūtra recounting how the “children” of the world, caught up in their imaginary play, are brought to salvation by upāya (skillful means)

  pārājika –

  “failure”: name given to four violations of the Buddhist monastic code, all of which result in expulsion from the monastery

  pari-nirvāa –

  “complete annihilation”: physical death of the Buddha

  philosophical Taoism –

  Taoist teachings about spontaneity and freedom from convention, as represented in books attributed to Zhuangzi (The Book of Zhuangzi, 莊子) and to Laozi (老子) (The Dao de jing, 道德經)

  po (魄) –

  yin souls associated with the internal organs of the body and with the “seven emotions” (joy, anger, pleasure, sorrow, like, dislike, desire); after death, the po souls adhere to the bones; in Chinese, they are the “white souls” and are venerated at graveside rituals

  pratītya-samutpāda –

  co-dependent origination: a key teaching in Mahāyāna Buddhism

  pu (樸) –

  uncarved block; image of the individual who has not been “bent” or corrupted by societal influences, as taught in the Taoist philosophical tradition

  puruārtha –

  want, preoccupation: name given to kāma (pleasure), artha (wealth), dharma (duty), and moksha (liberation); loosely associated with the varnas (castes) and with spiritual progression through lives

  qi (氣) –

  breath, vapor, energy, power; the primary “stuff” of the universe, as taught in the Huainanzi and other ancient Chinese compendia

  religious Taoism –

  spatio-temporal dimensions of yin–yang cosmology, emphasizing temple-based cults dedicated to local gods

  ren (仁) –

  co-humanity, kindness, benevolence: a primary Confucian virtue

  Rinzai (臨済) (Chn. Linji) –

  Japanese school of Zen emphasizing the “wordless teaching” of the “stick and shout”

  rōoshi (老師) –

  Zen master who assigns a kōan to the student for meditation

  Rujiao (儒 教) –

  Confucian school, “school of the scholars”

  Sagua Brahman –

  anthropomorphic representations of Brahman, especially in the bhakti tradition

  sambhoga-kāya –

  “celestial” or “bliss” body of Buddha: one of the “three bodies” (trikāya); represented by mahāsattvas

  samsāra –

  wheel; world cycle; seen ultimately as painful, limiting, and unsatisfying in Hindu and Buddhist traditions

  sanskara –

  mark of learning in the progression of the jiva through life (samsāra)

  sangha (sagha) –

  religious community where Buddha and dharma are, together, one of the “three jewels” of the Buddhist tradition; monks and nuns

  Sanskrit –

  classical language of India

  sanzen (参禅) –

  consultation with a Japanese Zen master regarding a kōan assigned to a student

  sat-chit-ānanda –

  perfect being, consciousness, bliss; the Hindu experience of moksha and the ultimate nature of the soul (Ātman or Brahman)

  satori (悟り) –

  enlightenment in Japanese Zen

  Shiva (Śiva) –

  the Destroyer: one of the Hindu Trimūrti (three forms of Brahman)

  shu (恕) –

  reciprocity, treating others as one wishes to be treated, and assuming the “like-heartedness” of all persons: a primary Confucian virtue

  Siddhārtha Gautama –

  Śākyamuni Buddha (the enlightened prince of the Śākya clan)

  skandhas –

  five aggregates: the five components of personal identity (form, sensation, perception, mental formation, consciousness), all characterized by suffering (dukha), change (anicca), and impermanence (anatta)

  Sukhāvatī –

  Pure Land or “Western Paradise,” ruled by the Buddha Amitābha (a mahāsattva in the Mahāyāna tradition)

  śūnyatā –

  emptiness, the absence of “own-being” or independent existence, as described in the Mahāyāna tradition

  tanhā –

  thirst, craving: attachment to things and ideas one already has, and desire for things and ideas one lacks; according to the Buddha, the cause of suffering (dukha)

  Tianming (天命) –

  the Mandate of Heaven, the “divine right to rule” in ancient China

  trikāya –

  the “three bodies” of Buddha in the Mahāyāna tradition: nirmana-kāya (transformation body), sambhoga-kāya (celestial or bliss body) and dharma-kāya (formless body of emptiness)

  trimūrti –

  the three “forms” or manifestations of Brahman in the Hindu bhakti tradition: Brahma (the Creator), Vishnu (the Preserver), Shiva (the Destroyer)

  upāya –

  efficient means; a bodhisattva's self-transformational power, designed to bring all beings to salvation in the Mahāyāna tradition

  varna –

  social class according to Hindu dharma (law of the cosmos): Brahmin (priestly), Kshatriya (governing), Vaishya (merchant), Shudra (labor)

  Vinaya –

  the first of the “three baskets” of the Buddhist canon: the Vinaya (monastic code), sūtras (teachings of the Buddha), and Abhidharma (commentaries)

  wuwei (無為) –

  non-action in the Taoist sense: non-interfering, reactive, yielding, natural, non-aggressive

  wuxing (五行) –

  the “five elements” in their active senses: the hardening of metal, the moistening of water, the burning of fire, the covering of earth, and the growing of plants

  wuyong zhi yong (無用之用) –

  the usefulness of uselessness, as taught by Zhuangzi and in the Taoist philosophical tradition

  xiao (孝) –

  filial piety: a primary Confucian virtue

  yin (陰)/yang (陽) –

  principle of receptivity / principle of aggression in Taoist cosmology

  yoga –

  “discipline”: it includes jñāna-yoga (discipline of mind), bhakti-yoga (discipline of emotion), karma-yoga (discipline of action), rāja-yoga (discipline of psycho-physical exercise) in the Hindu tradition

  yoni –

  female mark; symbol of the female aspect of Shiva; Shakti, the Goddess

  Zen (禅) (Jpn.) –

  Chan (Chn.): school of Buddhist practice originating in China and developing in Japan (as Zen), Korea (as Seon), and Vietnam (as Thiền)

  ziran (自然) –

  nature, spontaneity, as taught by the Taoist philosophical tradition

  Index

  Abrahamic traditions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam)

  afterlife, conceptions of

  agriculture, farming

  alcohol

  Amaterasu (“Sun's Brilliance”)

  Amitābha (Chn. Omituofo, Jpn. Amida-butsu 阿彌陀佛)

  Analects see Lunyu (論 語, The Analects)

  anatta (non-self)

  anicca (impermanence)

  art and literature, religious dimensions

  ashrama (āśrama, stage of life)

  aśubha (“revulsion”)

  Ātman (self in the Hindu sense)

  authority, religious conceptions of

  Avalokiteśvara (Chn. Guanyin, Jpn. Kannon 觀音)

 

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