John P. Keenan
John P. Keenan is Professor Emeritus of Religion at Middlebury College and vicar of St. Nicholas Episcopal Church in Scarborough, Maine. He has published translations and studies in Yogacara Buddhism, and has employed Mahayana Buddhist philosophy in works including The Meaning of Christ: A Mahayana Theology and The Letter of James: Everyday Practice for Everyday Christians. (Source Accessed Jul 22, 2020)
Library Items
Buddha Nature: A Festschrift in Honor of Minoru Kiyota
This book contains ten essays on the topic of buddha-nature by prominent Buddhist Studies scholars, written in honor of Professor Minoru Kiyota (1923–2013), who taught at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 1962 to 2008.
Griffiths, Paul J., and John P. Keenan eds. Buddha Nature: A Festschrift in Honor of Minoru Kiyota. Tokyo: Buddhist Books International, 1990. https://archive.org/details/buddhanatureafestschriftinhonorofminorukiyota_542_W/mode/2up.
Griffiths, Paul J., and John P. Keenan eds. Buddha Nature: A Festschrift in Honor of Minoru Kiyota. Tokyo: Buddhist Books International, 1990. https://archive.org/details/buddhanatureafestschriftinhonorofminorukiyota_542_W/mode/2up.;Buddha Nature: A Festschrift in Honor of Minoru Kiyota;Paul J. Griffiths; John P. Keenan;Buddha Nature: A Festschrift in Honor of Minoru Kiyota
Original Purity and the Focus of Early Yogācāra
In understanding the ongoing process of the development of any doctrinal system, isolated insights into particular texts or particular doctrinal themes are not sufficient. No number of monographs on ālayavijñāna or trisvabhāva suffices, for, although such studies do clarify particular themes, no understanding is gained of the overall purpose for which these themes were developed. What is desired is an overall insight into what the system is trying to achieve. In the case of the Yogācāra system, the question of its basic intent and overall purpose is not easily determined. There are, it would appear, two reasons for this situation. The first is that the complex of questions regarding the dating, authorship, and compilation of the various textual data have not yet received definite answers in many instances, and yet each of these questions bears directly upon the understanding of the lines of doctrinal development. A second reason is that the doctrinal focuses of some of the basic Yogācāra texts appear to differ.
The intent of this paper is to treat this latter concern. It will attempt to describe the basic doctrinal focus of four early Yogācāra texts, suggest the intent of their authors, and draw a hypothesis concerning the lines of development of early Yogācāra as seen in these texts. The texts selected are the Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra, the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra, the Mahāyānābhidharmasūtra, and the Madyāntavibhāgaśāstra. All four texts were composed before the time of the classical formulation of Yogācāra by Asaṅga and Vasubandhu. Although it is not possible to determine with any degree of certitude the temporal relationship among these texts, insight into their doctrinal emphases would help to identify the overall problematic that led the early, pre-Asaṅgan Yogācārins to develop their thinking. (Source Accessed Jan 28, 2020)
The intent of this paper is to treat this latter concern. It will attempt to describe the basic doctrinal focus of four early Yogācāra texts, suggest the intent of their authors, and draw a hypothesis concerning the lines of development of early Yogācāra as seen in these texts. The texts selected are the Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra, the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra, the Mahāyānābhidharmasūtra, and the Madyāntavibhāgaśāstra. All four texts were composed before the time of the classical formulation of Yogācāra by Asaṅga and Vasubandhu. Although it is not possible to determine with any degree of certitude the temporal relationship among these texts, insight into their doctrinal emphases would help to identify the overall problematic that led the early, pre-Asaṅgan Yogācārins to develop their thinking. (Source Accessed Jan 28, 2020)
Keenan, John P. "Original Purity and the Focus of Early Yogācāra." Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 5, no. 1 (1982): 7–18. https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/jiabs/article/view/8560/2467.
Keenan, John P. "Original Purity and the Focus of Early Yogācāra." Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 5, no. 1 (1982): 7–18. https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/jiabs/article/view/8560/2467.;Original Purity and the Focus of Early Yogācāra;ālayavijñāna;Yogācāra;Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra;Mahāyānābhidharmasūtra;John P. Keenan; 
The Doctrine of Buddha Nature in Chinese Buddhism—Hui-K'ai on Paramārtha
John P. Keenan, in his essay on Paramārtha and Hui-K'ai, explores the complex process by which Indian Buddhist texts were transmitted into China, and argues for the pervasive influence, both linguistic and conceptual, of pre-Buddhist Taoist ideas upon that process. This influence, he argues, was essentially "centrist" in that Taoist thought then focused upon nonbeing as the source or matrix of being, and upon the importance of the "original nature" of human persons; such ideas were naturally conducive to an emphasis upon Tathāgatagarbha and Buddha Nature terms and concepts, for the interpretive tools for understanding them were already present in China, while this was not the case for Indian ideas about sūnyatā and the dialectic of the two truths.
To illustrate this general point Keenan considers the case of the translator Paramārtha and his amanuensis Hui-k'ai, and shows that in their work on Indic texts they not infrequently added references to tathtāgatagarbha and Buddha Nature where no such mention was made in the originals; they thus contributed to the centrality of Buddha Nature thought in East Asian Buddhism. (Griffiths and Keenan, introduction to Buddha Nature, 5)
To illustrate this general point Keenan considers the case of the translator Paramārtha and his amanuensis Hui-k'ai, and shows that in their work on Indic texts they not infrequently added references to tathtāgatagarbha and Buddha Nature where no such mention was made in the originals; they thus contributed to the centrality of Buddha Nature thought in East Asian Buddhism. (Griffiths and Keenan, introduction to Buddha Nature, 5)
Keenan, John P. "The Doctrine of Buddha Nature in Chinese Buddhism—Hui K'ai on Paramārtha." In Buddha Nature: A Festschrift in Honor of Minoru Kiyota, edited by Paul J. Griffiths and John P. Keenan, 125–37. Tokyo: Buddhist Books International, 1990.
Keenan, John P. "The Doctrine of Buddha Nature in Chinese Buddhism—Hui K'ai on Paramārtha." In Buddha Nature: A Festschrift in Honor of Minoru Kiyota, edited by Paul J. Griffiths and John P. Keenan, 125–37. Tokyo: Buddhist Books International, 1990.;The Doctrine of Buddha Nature in Chinese Buddhism—Hui-K'ai on Paramārtha;The doctrine of buddha-nature in Chinese Buddhism;tathāgatagarbha;Paramārtha;John P. Keenan; 
The Realm of Awakening
This translation and study of Chapter Ten of Asanga's Mahayanasamgraha, one of the foundational documents of the Yogacara school of Mahayana Buddhism, presents the systematic thinking of one of the greatest early Buddhist theoreticians on the nature of the Buddha. Providing insight into Asanga's thought and influence in the development of Mahayana Buddhism in India, Tibet, China, and Japan, the book includes translations of early Indian commentaries on the text which have been preserved in earlier Chinese and Tibetan translations. (Source Accessed March 20, 2020)
Griffiths, Paul J., Noriaki Hakamaya, John P. Keenan, and Paul L. Swanson, trans. The Realm of Awakening: A Translation and Study of the Tenth Chapter of Asaṅga's Mahāyānasaṅgraha. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. http://promienie.net/images/dharma/books/asanga_mahayanasangraha.pdf.
Griffiths, Paul J., Noriaki Hakamaya, John P. Keenan, and Paul L. Swanson, trans. The Realm of Awakening: A Translation and Study of the Tenth Chapter of Asaṅga's Mahāyānasaṅgraha. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. http://promienie.net/images/dharma/books/asanga_mahayanasangraha.pdf.;The Realm of Awakening;Pure Land;Textual study;Yogācāra;Asaṅga;ཐོགས་མེད་;thogs med;slob dpon thogs med;སློབ་དཔོན་ཐོགས་མེད་;Āryāsaṅga; Paul J. Griffiths;Hakamaya Noriaki;John P. Keenan;Paul Swanson;The Realm of Awakening: A Translation and Study of the Tenth Chapter of Asaṅga's Mahāyānasaṅgraha;Asaṅga
The Scripture on the Explication of Underlying Meaning
Taishō 676
(Source: BDK America)
Volume 16
The basic sūtra of the Faxiang School, The Scripture on the Explication of Underlying Meaning expounds the thought of the Yogācāra or Mind-Only School (Vijñānavāda), stating that all phenomena are manifestations of the mind. It belongs to the middle period of Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism and is considered to have been composed at the start of the fourth century A.D. It is divided into eight chapters, and gives a detailed exposition of the philosophy of the Yogācāra School. Judging from the fact that the greater part of this sūtra is quoted in the Yogācārabhūmi (Taishō 53), and that numerous citations from it are to be found in such works as the Mahāyānasaṃgraha (Taishō 57) and Jō-yui-shiki-ron (Taishō 54), it is clear that it exerted considerable influence in later times.
Source
(Source: BDK America)
Keenan, John P., trans. The Scripture on the Explication of Underlying Meaning. Translated from the Chinese of Hsüan-tsang (Taisho Volume 16, Number 676). BDK English Tripiṭaka 25, no. 4. Berkeley, CA: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, 2000. https://bdkamerica.org/product/the-scripture-on-the-explication-of-underlying-meaning/.
Keenan, John P., trans. The Scripture on the Explication of Underlying Meaning. Translated from the Chinese of Hsüan-tsang (Taisho Volume 16, Number 676). BDK English Tripiṭaka 25, no. 4. Berkeley, CA: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, 2000. https://bdkamerica.org/product/the-scripture-on-the-explication-of-underlying-meaning/.;The Scripture on the Explication of Underlying Meaning;Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra;John P. Keenan; Xuanzang;Chen Hui (or Chen Yi);The Scripture on the Explication of Underlying Meaning
Affiliations & relations
- Middlebury College, Vermont · workplace affiliation
