Five Mountains The Rinzai Zen Monastic Institution in Medieval Japan - Harvard East Asian Monographs

In Japan today, Zen monastic life is practiced substantially as it was practiced in medieval Japan or Sung dynasty China. More than twenty-one thousand Zen temples are active. This book examines the Zen monastery as a major institution in medieval Japanese society. Focusing on the Five Mountains network of officially sponsored Zen monasteries, it describes the transmission of Rinzai and Soto Zen to Japan, traces the patterns of secular patronage, and discusses in detail the Zen monastic environment, the monastic rule, the community, and the economy.This is the first detailed study in any Western language of the social and institutional development of Zen Buddhism. Martin Collcutt's illustrated text should be valuable to those interested in medieval Japanese history as well as students of Zen practice and Zen-related culture.

ISBN:	9780674304987
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Imprint:	Harvard University Asia Center
Published date:	05 Feb 1996
Language:	English
Number of pages:	399
Weight:	652g
Height:	227mm
Width:	153mm
Spine width:	32mm

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