Description

Yongjia’s Song of Actualizing the Way is a translation of the Yongjia zhengdao ge (T. 2014, usually referred to simply as Zhengdao ge) attributed to the Tang-period monk Xuanjue of Yongjia. The intent of the text is to provide a condensed summary to help in clarifying the emerging Chan approach, emphasizing the superiority of the Chan method of cutting off discrimination and devalorizing efforts to master the scriptural corpus. Included as an appendix is a short biographical sketch of Xuanjue, which presents a narrative of his encounter with the Fifth Chan Patriarch Huineng. After a Dharma battle with the renowned master, Huineng acknowledges Xuanjue’s enlightenment.

Observing the Mind, Awakening from a Dream is a translation of the Kanjin kakumushō (T. 2312) attributed to the Hossō monk Ryōhen. The text aims to provide a concise summary of the Yogâcāra system, explaining Yogâcāra understandings of karma, rebirth, cognition, practice, and liberation, primarily based on the treatment of these topics in the Cheng weishi lun and some of its major commentaries, notably those by the Chinese Yogâcāra masters Kuiji and Zhizhou. Ryōhen extracts and summarizes what he considers to be the essentials of consciousness-only doctrine; in this sense, the text could be considered “A Handbook of East Asian Yogâcāra.”