| This essay traces a link between the core concepts of Chan thought and some contemporary and modern literary works in English language. Excerpts from the Platform Sutra and the Record of Linji are compared with passages from The Art of Travel by Alain De Botton, Walden or, Life in the Woods by Henry David Thoreau, Paulo Coehlo’s The Alchemist and The Journey by Brandon Bays. Through the comparison, it is highlighted how the issues concerning the "self" individuated in the literary analysis of these modern and contemporary authors have been confronted in the recorded sayings of the two traditional Chan masters and how they can be related to the experience of prajna. Since the books that are surveyed together with the Platform Sutra and the Records of Linji are all at present bestselling, this essay can also be used to draw considerations about the inner pursuits of the individual in contemporary society. |
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