Writings from the Zen Masters

Author: Various
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0141956674
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 105

Book Description
These are unique stories of timeless wisdom and understanding from the Zen Masters. With rich and fascinating tales of swords, tigers, tea, flowers and dogs, the writings of the Masters challenge every perception - and seek to bring all readers closer to enlightenment. Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives - and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are.

Games Zen Masters Play

Author: Reginald Horace Blyth
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Zen Buddhism
Languages : en
Pages : 180

Book Description

Zen

Author: Helmut Brinker
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 9783907070628
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 384

Book Description
This book places Zen art in a new and proper perspective and notes its seminal influences. By concentrating on major figures from Zen history and legend and on some outstanding prelates of the medieval Zen clergy, it is intended to bring these masters into the clearest possible focus, to "re-animate" them by means of their extant works and the interpretative representation of their physical appearances. This new study reveals the intrinsic worth of Zen architecture, sculpture, writings, and paintings themselves, as well as their cultural and historic setting. The book has the character of a richly illustrated compendium of Zen art.

The Essential Dogen

Author: Kazuaki Tanahashi
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
ISBN: 0834828472
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 273

Book Description
These pithy and powerful readings provide a perfect introduction to the teachings of Zen master Dogen—and will inspire spiritual practice in people of all traditions Eihei Dogen (1200–1253), founder of the Soto School of Zen Buddhism, is one of the greatest religious, philosophical, and literary geniuses of Japan. His writings have been studied by Zen students for centuries, particularly his masterwork, Shobo Genzo or Treasury of the True Dharma Eye. This is the first book to offer the great master’s incisive wisdom in short selections taken from the whole range of his voluminous works.

The Dude and the Zen Master

Author: Jeff Bridges
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101600756
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 188

Book Description
The perfect gift for fans of The Big Lebowski, Jeff Bridges's "The Dude", and anyone who could use more Zen in their lives. Zen Master Bernie Glassman compares Jeff Bridges’s iconic role in The Big Lebowski to a Lamed-Vavnik: one of the men in Jewish mysticism who are “simple and unassuming,” and “so good that on account of them God lets the world go on.” Jeff puts it another way. “The wonderful thing about the Dude is that he’d always rather hug it out than slug it out.” For more than a decade, Academy Award-winning actor Jeff Bridges and his Buddhist teacher, renowned Roshi Bernie Glassman, have been close friends. Inspiring and often hilarious, The Dude and the Zen Master captures their freewheeling dialogue and remarkable humanism in a book that reminds us of the importance of doing good in a difficult world.

Mystics and Zen Masters

Author: Thomas Merton
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 1429944005
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 323

Book Description
Thomas Merton was recognized as one of those rare Western minds that are entirely at home with the Zen experience. In this collection, he discusses diverse religious concepts-early monasticism, Russian Orthodox spirituality, the Shakers, and Zen Buddhism-with characteristic Western directness. Merton not only studied these religions from the outside but grasped them by empathy and living participation from within. "All these studies," wrote Merton, "are united by one central concern: to understand various ways in which men of different traditions have conceived the meaning and method of the 'way' which leads to the highest levels of religious or of metaphysical awareness."

Only Don't Know

Author: Seung Sahn
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
ISBN: 1570624321
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 205

Book Description
Here is the inimitable Zen Master Seung Sahn up close and personal—in selections from the correspondence that was one of his primary modes of teaching. Seung Sahn received hundreds of letters per month, each of which he answered personally, and some of the best of which are included here. His frank and funny style, familiar to readers of Dropping Ashes on the Buddha, is seen here in a most intimate form. The beloved Zen master not only answers questions on Zen teaching and practice, but applies an enlightened approach to problems with work, relationships, suffering, and the teacher-student relationship.

The Unfettered Mind

Author: Takuan Soho
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
ISBN: 0834827891
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 131

Book Description
The classic samurai-era text that fused Japanese swordsmanship with Zen philosophy—written by the incomparable Zen master Takuan Soho Written by the seventeenth-century Zen master Takuan Soho (1573–1645), The Unfettered Mind is a book of advice on swordsmanship and the cultivation of right mind and intention. It was written as a guide for the samurai Yagyu Munenori, who was a great swordsman and rival to the legendary Miyamoto Musashi. Takuan was a giant in the history of Zen; he was also a gardener, calligrapher, poet, author, adviser to samurai and shoguns, and a pivotal figure in Zen painting. He was known for his brilliance and acerbic wit. In these succinct and pointed essays, Takuan is concerned primarily with understanding and refining the mind—both generally and when faced with conflict. The Unfettered Mind was a major influence on the classic manifestos on swordsmanship that came after it, including Miyamoto Musashi's Book of Five Rings and Yagyu Munenori's Life-Giving Sword.

Great Fool

Author:
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 0824862708
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 325

Book Description
Taigu Ryokan (1759-1831) remains one of the most popular figures in Japanese Buddhist history. Despite his religious and artistic sophistication, Ryokan referred to himself as "Great Fool" and refused to place himself within the cultural elite of his age. In contrast to the typical Zen master of his time, who presided over a large monastery, trained students, and produced recondite religious treatises, Ryokan followed a life of mendicancy in the countryside. Instead of delivering sermons, he expressed himself through kanshi (poems composed in classical Chinese) and waka and could typically be found playing with the village children in the course of his daily rounds of begging. Great Fool is the first study in a Western language to offer a comprehensive picture of the legendary poet-monk and his oeuvre. It includes not only an extensive collection of the master's kanshi, topically arranged to facilitate an appreciation of Ryokan's colorful world, but selections of his waka, essays, and letters. The volume also presents for the first time in English the Ryokan zenji kiwa (Curious Accounts of the Zen Master Ryokan), a firsthand source composed by a former student less than sixteen years after Ryokan's death. Although it lacks chronological order, the Curious Account is invaluable for showing how Ryokan was understood and remembered by his contemporaries. It consists of colorful anecdotes and episodes, sketches from Ryokan's everyday life. To further assist the reader, three introductory essays approach Ryokan from the diverse perspectives of his personal history and literary work.

Zen Master Class

Author: Stephen Hodge
Publisher: Quest Books
ISBN: 9780835608183
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 148

Book Description
Learn from the original Zen Masters of China and Japan in this journey through the history and evolution of Zen Buddhism. From the Indian monk Bodhidharma, who traveld alone to China and changed the Buddhist world, to the Japanese Master Ryokan, whose elegant poetry, simplicity, and kindness represent all that is beautiful in Zen, this Master Class offers heartening stories, insightful teachings, and practical lessons for incorporating the original Masters' teachings into our daily lives.