Laiguo Miaoshu: the Making of a Modern Chan Master

Benjamin Brose

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Chapter 7 Laiguo Miaoshu: the Making of a Modern Chan Master

In: Inner Worlds: Individuals and Interiority in Chinese Religious Life

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Benjamin Brose

Benjamin Brose
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 193–219

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004738331_009

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Abstract

This chapter explores the autobiographical writings of the modern Chan master Laiguo Miaoshu 來果妙樹 (1881–1953). Beginning with the premise that autobiographical accounts, especially in Buddhist contexts, have a didactic function, the author reads the records of Laiguo’s early years as a young monk not (or not only) as an account of actual events, but as a carefully considered illustration of an exemplary life of practice. The autobiographical accounts relayed in the lectures (kaishi) Laiguo delivered during an extended meditation retreat at Gaomin Monastery in 1942 and the autobiography he completed in 1949 both detail his time as a monk in training, his awakening at Jinshan, and his years spent in solitary retreat before assuming the abbacy of Gaomin. This chapter looks closely at those accounts in an effort to understand Laiguo’s state of mind when he was an older master engaged in training a new generation of monks.

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Inner Worlds: Individuals and Interiority in Chinese Religious Life

Series: Studies on East Asian Religions, Volume: 14

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004738331

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 01 Jul 2025

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Part 1 Exploring the Inner Life: Dreams, Visions, and Signs

Part 2 Constructing Identity: Karma, Hagiography, and Autobiography

Part 3 Refining the Individual: How to Die and How to Live

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Chapter 7 Laiguo Miaoshu: the Making of a Modern Chan Master

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Inner Worlds: Individuals and Interiority in Chinese Religious Life

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