Examining the Evolution and Dissemination of Zen Buddhist Verse-Style Memes: An Analysis of Jingde Chuandeng Lu
Author: Wan-Yu Kao (Department of Chinese Literature, Tamkang University)
Vol.&No.：Vol. 60, No. 1
Date：March 2015
Pages：31-57
DOI：10.6210/JNTNULL.2015.60(1).02
Abstract：
A kongan (kōan), which is a fundamental part of the history and lore of Zen Buddhism, generally appears to be incomprehensible and is understood only through the medium of wisdom. The quick-witted dialogs of the cultural phenomenon of Zen may seem profound and unfathomable, even absurd; for every Zen master, however, they are inseparable from the practice of Buddhism and enlightenment.
Some of the sentence structures in the seemingly odd or eccentric quick-witted dialogs are remarkably similar to or equivalent to verse, which is markedly abundant in kongan. These versestyle memes have been perpetually cloned and used, which can be regarded as a type of memetic dissemination.
This study examined the form of verse in the dialogs between Zen masters and disciples and its transformation. Specifically, Jingde Chuandeng Lu (1004) was used as the object of this research to examine the dissemination and development of verse-style memes.
Keywords：Jingde Chuandeng Lu, verse-style memes, memetics, kongan (koan), quick-witted dialogs
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