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Chan Buddhism--better known as 'Zen'--produced an enormous amount of literature, and yet many Chan advocates, medieval and modern, insist that Chan and its truths can be found in neither language nor literature. Patriarchs on Paper explores this paradox by considering several genres of Chan literature that appeared during the Tang and Song dynasties (c. 600-1300), including genealogies, biographies, dialogues, poems, monastic handbooks, and koans. Looking carefully at this body of literature, Alan Cole shows how Chan authors gradually constructed, in ever more artful portrayals, images of the perfectly simple masters of the past, best known for their freedom from literature and cultural norms. Patriarchs on Paper explores how this kind of 'fantasy Buddhism' interacted with its more traditional Chinese forms and in so doing sheds new light on how Chan's illustrious ancestors were created in literature to satisfy a wide range of agendas.

Zen literature, Chinese --- Zen Buddhism --- Chinese Zen literature --- Chinese literature --- Chʻan Buddhism --- Dhyāna (Sect) --- Zen --- Zen (Sect) --- Buddhism --- Mahayana Buddhism --- History and criticism. --- History of doctrines --- Zen literature, Chinese - China - History and criticism. --- Zen Buddhism - History of doctrines - Middle Ages, 600-1500. --- buddha. --- buddhism. --- chan buddhism. --- chan literature. --- chan. --- chinese buddhism. --- cultural studies. --- eastern culture. --- fantasy buddhism. --- final truth. --- huineng. --- institutional solidarity. --- jingjue. --- koans. --- literary tradition. --- medieval writers. --- modern writers. --- monastic handbooks. --- monastic system. --- perfect buddhism. --- poems. --- pure spirit. --- religion. --- religious doctrines. --- religious history. --- religious literature. --- religious studies. --- shenhui. --- song dynasty. --- spiritual. --- tang dynasty. --- zen philosophy. --- zen.