Don't think of what you left behind. And don't think too far ahead. For how can one leave something to which one is tied? And how can one feel accomplishment in something never attained? One should set a destination that is within one's reach. As one reaches that point another slightly higher goal can be set - and so on, as one travels up the path. In this way the mountain can be climbed in increments. Look not at the vast mountain as a whole. Rather look minutely and scrutinize each individual step. There will thus be no discouragement, for every step is a success.

"Zen Foot-Notes: Upon the Unknown Passage" is the journal of an expedition's ascent of the highest mountain in the world - not Everest, as everyone assumes, but Pochen Point - the fabled summit of the nether world. The expedition to climb the highest mountain in the nether world is a symbol for mankind's journey through life. The summit is different for each member of the expedition. And yet, because it also symbolizes death, it is essentially the same. The expedition members discover that what matters is not the goal, but merely the path. And some realize that it is not even the path that matters, but rather the passage - the pathless path.

Wayne Omura lives and writes in Denver, Colorado. He is the author of "Movies and the Meaning of Life: The Most Profound Films in Cinematic History."

"Extraordinary Zen Masters: A Maverick, a Master of Masters, and a Wandering Poet" tells the life stories of Ikkyu (1394-1481), Hakuin (1686-1768), and Ryokan (1758-1831). Each was an outstanding figure who manifested Zen in his own way. Ikkyu was unconventional and uncompromising, a relentless enemy of the sham and hypocrisy that pervaded the religious circles of his day. Hakuin underwent a lengthy and strenuous apprenticeship to become a Master Teacher of Zen, training hundreds of disciples and insisting that they endure the same trials and surmount the same massive barriers that he had. Ryokan, in contrast, was a gentle, self-effacing recluse who never became an abbot but lived in quiet hermitages, savoring nature and writing poetry. All three were artists of the highest order, employing brush, ink, and paper as a means of transmitting Zen teachings and creating unique works of art.

These are three of the greatest Zen masters in history-each unique, each an outstanding artist, and each a teacher of future generations. The biographies of these three men, in one volume, constitute an enlivening reading experience, full of insight on leading a meaningful life.

John Stevens lived in Japan for thirty-five years, where he was a professor of Buddhist studies at Tohoku Fukushi University in Sendai. Stevens is a widely respected translator, an ordained Buddhist priest, a curator of several major exhibitions of Zen art, and an aikido instructor. He has authored more than thirty books and is one of the foremost Western experts on aikido, holding a ranking of 7th dan Aikikai. Stevens has also studied calligraphy for decades, authoring the classic "Sacred Calligraphy of the East." Other John Stevens titles that are likely to be of interest include "The Philosophy of Aikido, " and "The Marathon Monks of Mount Hiei.""

2013 Reprint of 1955 Edition. Exact facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. This collection of essays reprints seven articles or lectures written by Suzuki beginning in 1906. The are: The Zen Sect of Buddhism Zen Buddhism An Interpretation of Zen-Experience Reason and Intuition in Buddhist Philosophy Zen: A Reply to Dr. Hu Shih Mondo The Role of Nature in Zen Buddhism Index

The object of this little book is to show how the Mahayanistic view of life and of the world differs markedly from that of Hinayanism, which is generally taken as Buddhism by Westerners, to explain how the religion of Buddha has adapted itself to its environment in the Far East, and also to throw light on the existing state of the spiritual life of modern Japan.

2012 Reprint of 1956 Edition. Exact facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. The "Book of Tea" by Okakura Kakuz is a long essay linking the role of tea (Teaism) to the aesthetic and cultural aspects of Japanese life. Addressed to a western audience, it was originally written in English and is one of the great English Tea classics. Okakura had been taught at a young age to speak English and was proficient at communicating his thoughts to the Western mind. In his book, he discusses such topics as Zen and Taoism, but also the secular aspects of tea and Japanese life. The book emphasizes how Teaism taught the Japanese many things; most importantly, simplicity. Kakuz argues that this tea-induced simplicity affected art and architecture, and he was a long-time student of the visual arts. He ends the book with a chapter on Tea Masters. This edition contains a new forward and a biographical sketch augmenting the original 1906 edition.

This book provides an intuitive insight into the heart of Zen through a translation of Seng-Ts'an's poem, Hsin Hsin Ming. Reading through the pages you will become familiar with the basic principles of Zen with an interesting collection of perspectives from Quantum Physics to more traditional views of Taoism. These different thoughts are brought together to serve the reader a rewarding experience. Hsin Hsin Ming by Seng-Ts'an is the Zen Poem that is often referred to as the poem of nothing. While very short, it is the fusion of Lao Tzu's Taoism and Buddha's Buddhism into what is known as Zen. It is like a waterfall that you listen to. It says nothing but speaks the unknown to those who can hear it. Become like a temple to hear the what isn't being said. This is to know the meaning of this poem. The central message of the Hsin Hsin Ming is to point directly to the mind by giving up judgments and opinions so you can see the Oneness and the Nothingness of what reality really is. The poem professes the need to live life with equanimity, to practice living in a state of non-duality while in this dualistic world. It is a guide to the path of Enlightenment. It isn't about trying to attain anything, rather it is about losing false views and perceptions. To remove all that the ego so desires to cling to. The path to enlightenment is the realization that there is nothing to find, nowhere to go, nothing to achieve. There is no need to search for God for God has been within you always. God, itself is your true self, your true being. It is nothing more than waking up from the dream. "Upon returning home on a cold winter night, I begin my evening by building a fire in the fireplace to chase away the chill. Once I have gathered the logs and placed them so, I start the fire. At the birth of the flames starting to flicker among the logs, it is in that moment I know that I am releasing all the memories that have been stored up in that tree. I know that I am releasing the sunshine that gave warmth to that tree, that tree from whence the firewood came. I know that I am releasing the clouds that gave it shade, the rain that quenched its thirst, the soil from which it received its nourishment, and all those enjoyments that the tree experienced so joyfully, like those memories of the autumn breeze caressing its leaves and the still of the moonlight on a winter night while that tree stood stoic in deep contemplation. And in the knowing of giving shelter in the spring and being a refuge to the song birds and the animals that called it home. Yes, while I witness the flickering of those flames, I see all of this and more, for the log in the fire is more than what it seems. It is at once an explosion of all its life's experiences and joys, and a reminder of what we leave behind, for this log has shown me, how even I, am connected to it all."

Dogen's great spiritual teachings are the foundation of Soto Zen. For the first time, contemporary American women Zen masters in the Soto tradition, join together to reach within Dogen's mind to make his masterpieces accessible and practical for those seeking deeper realization and understanding.

This classic Zen Buddhist collection of 49 koans with commentary by Mumon was originally published in 1934, and later included in Paul Reps and Nyogen Senzaki's popular anthology Zen Flesh, Zen Bones. Due to non-renewal it is currently in the public domain in the US (although other parts of Zen Flesh, Zen Bones are not).

THE ORAL TRANSMISSIONS OF THE 52 SOTO ZEN ANCESTORS: Shakyamuni Buddha founded the path of the successive 52 Soto Zen Ancestors when he awakened to the Way. The transmissions of the teachings to the 52 Ancestors in Zen Buddhist Tradition were never meant to reach the eyes of laymen. 'The Denkoroku: The Record of the Transmission of Light' was originally written only for the eyes of Zen monks. Shasta Abbey's late Abbess, Jiyu Kennett, who translated the text into English often said that the long sentences used in Zen would likely annoy American readers. But she made the decision to share some of the deeper teachings of Zen with the lay public even if they were unable to penetrate into the deeper meaning of the words. This book gives you an overview and insight into a subject otherwise only understood through lengthy study. (For more info - www.outofbodytravel.org)

At the heart of Zen Buddhism is the practice of meditation. The Little Book of Zen Meditation is as one-pointed as the mind of the meditative Buddhist. It directs the reader in a exacting manner in the techniques of Zen Meditation in order that the practitioner may focus their mind and walk the path towards Nirvana.

This fascinating and innovative book explores the relationship between the philosophical underpinnings of Advaita Vedanta, Zen Buddhism and the experiential journey of spiritual practitioners. Taking the perspective of the questioning student, the author highlights the experiential deconstructive processes that are ignited when students' "everyday" dualistic thought structures are challenged by the non-dual nature of these teachings and practices.
Although Advaita Vedanta and Zen Buddhism are ontologically different, this unique study shows that in the dynamics of the practice situation they are phenomenologically similar.
Distinctive in scope and approach "Advaita Vedanta and Zen Buddhism: Deconstructive Modes of Spiritual Inquiry" examines Advaita and Zen as living practice traditions in which foundational non-dual philosophies are shown "in action" in contemporary Western practice situations thus linking abstract philosophical tenets to concrete living experience. As such it takes an important step toward bridging the gap between scholarly analysis and the experiential reality of these spiritual practices.

The Zen Follies, by Fil Lewitt, with plenty of B & W photos and drawings of zenbos, oddballs, and unusual locations, takes a close, sometimes ironic and often funny look at the business and pleasures of Zen Buddhism, and tells through stories, essays, autobiography, and some poetry the path one person took to find the Way, and what happened along the way. The book is aimed at the general reader with no special knowledge of Zen. Lewitt has been practicing Zen Buddhist meditation for more than forty years, and now in his 70th year, was ready to write about it. He spent 1972 as a student/monk at Tassajara Monastery deep in the coastal range of central California, and founded and helped direct a small Zen Buddhist community, Big River Farm Sangha, in Mendocino, California, during the 70s and 80s.

"The Record of the Dharma-Jewel Through the Generations" ( "Lidai fabao ji") is a little-known Chan/Zen Buddhist text of the eighth century, rediscovered in 1900 at the Silk Road oasis of Dunhuang. The only remaining artifact of the Bao Tang Chan school of Sichuan, the text provides a fascinating sectarian history of Chinese Buddhism intended to showcase the iconoclastic teachings of Bao Tang founder Chan Master Wuzhu (714--774). Wendi Adamek not only brings Master Wuzhu's experimental community to life but also situates his paradigm-shifting teachings within the history of Buddhist thought. Having published the first translation of the "Lidai fabao ji" in a Western language, she revises and presents it here for wide readership.

Written by disciples of Master Wuzhu, the "Lidai fabao ji" is one of the earliest attempts to implement a "religion of no-religion," doing away with ritual and devotionalism in favor of "formless practice." Master Wuzhu also challenged the distinctions between lay and ordained worshippers and male and female practitioners. The "Lidai fabao ji" captures his radical teachings through his reinterpretation of the Chinese practices of merit, repentance, precepts, and Dharma transmission. These aspects of traditional Buddhism continue to be topics of debate in contemporary practice groups, making the "Lidai fabao ji" a vital document of the struggles, compromises, and insights of an earlier era. Adamek's volume opens with a vivid introduction animating Master Wuzhu's cultural environment and comparing his teachings to other Buddhist and historical sources.

Koans are an indispensable tool on the path to enlightenment. They reveal Truth through presenting the reader with a paradox that can only be solved by changing one's attitudes. The venerable Koans of the past, those that have been handed down through the generations are written in the language of the past. The reader needs to be able to fully enter into that archaic language if they are to benefit. This book re-represents the Koans in modern language, accessible to all. It will not please the traditionalists, but it will make the wisdom contained therein accessible to a whole new generation of seeker. Each koan encapsulates a profound truth for reflection. Zen counsels the lessening of the ego, not the strengthening of it as consumer culture would urge. Instead of making a name for ourselves in society, we should listen to the voice of pines and cedars when no wind stirs, in other words become no-thing, entering instead the field of pure being that is behind the phenomenal world.

"while the poems in this volume certainly stand alone, experienced as a sequence, they transport you on a spirited, worthwhile journey: a journey in which, you will recognize yourself-encouraged, empowered, enlightened, and smiling inside and out, a journey where the greatest human mysteries just seem matter of fact-transparent. the thinking here is all so clear and true, it sounds simple. this is poetry so straightforward, prose lovers will enjoy it, and poetry lovers will discover craftsmanship so solid and steady that it feels effortless. one simply cannot imagine a better way to say what these words do. truth told in such an understandable and fresh voice, this is poetry that will be remembered." kathy hirshon, artist

In this book, Scott Shaw, a prolific proponent of modern Zen Buddhism, leads the reader through a series of discussions, detailing the various aspects of Zen in relation to human consciousness and developmental awareness. He guides the reader to a place where they may come to understand the true nature of the everyday trials and tribulations of life and make each of them a true learning experience. Ultimately, the reader may come away with a new sense of empowerment and personal understanding. From this they can transverse even the most treacherous of life circumstance with a new and enhanced knowledge of self-awareness.

Part memoir, part almanac, and part primer on meditation, Entering Zen is addressed to anyone who might wish to take up the practice of meditation, or deepen an existing practice, or explore the nuances and complexities of the Zen tradition. The seventy-five essays in this collection first appeared as columns in the Alfred Sun, the community newspaper of Alfred, New York. Ben Howard is Emeritus Professor of English at Alfred University and a longtime practitioner of Zen and Vipassana meditation. His previous books include Leaf, Sunlight, Asphalt and the verse novella Midcentury.

Dwight Goddard's collection of translations of a cross-section of Buddhist traditions was a fundamental part of the importation of Buddhism into the USA and then, through the work of the Beat Poets that the book influenced, throughout the West as a whole. Goddard had originally been an engineer but after his wife's death, when he was twenty-nine years old, he entered the Hartford Theological Seminary. He was ordained in 1894 and was sent to China as a Congregational missionary. He was interested in non-Christian religions and as a result of this curiosity began to study various denominations of Buddhism. In 1928, at the age of sixty-seven, Goddard encountered Japanese Zen Buddhism for the first time while in New York City. He was so impressed with it that he moved to Japan where he met D. T. Suzuki and studied for eight months with him at the Yamazaki Taiko Roshi of Shokoku Monastery in Kyoto. His time spent in China and Japan made him feel that lay religious practice was not enough and would lead to worldly distractions and he decided to establish a male-only monastic movement named, 'the Followers of Buddha'. It was situated on forty acres in southern California adjacent to the Santa Barbara National Forest and also on rural land in Thetford, Vermont. The religious 'followers' who participated in the fellowship commuted between the centers in a van, spending winters in California and summers in Vermont. The venture was short lived and closed due to lack of followers. His book, A Buddhist Bible, was published in 1932. Translated from writings Goddard found of worth in the traditions of Theravada, Mahayana, Zen, Tibetan and other Buddhists schools of thought, the book soon became popular and it contributed to the spread of Buddhism in the USA in the 1930's and 1940's. But it was in the 1950's that A Buddhist Bible was to make its most lasting impact. By the end of 1953 the famous writer Jack Kerouac had been living with fellow 'Beat Poets' Neal and Carolyn Cassady in a menage a trois situation and the relationship had become untenable for all of those concerned. It had become obvious that it was time for Jack to move on and Neal recommended that Jack read A Buddhist Bible as a way of finding some much-needed spiritual inspiration. Legend has it that Kerouac headed down to the San Jose library and stole a copy before heading back 'out on the road'! It was natural that Kerouac, who had always battled with his Catholic ideologies and his lifestyle of heavy drinking and womanizing, would find some peace through the principles of Buddhism and this came out in his seminal The Dharma Bums which detailed Kerouac and fellow Beat Gary Snyder's differing takes on the Buddhist way of life. Although at first dismissive of his fellow Beats new found outlook, Allen Ginsberg soon followed suit and A Buddhist Bible, together with the collective writings of the Beat Generation on Buddhism, had a big influence on the American generations that followed. Dwight Goddard was unaware of his new-found fame as he died on his seventy-eighth birthday in 1939.

"Examining one's life is arguably the central distinguishing characteristic of being human, and this wise and wonderful book is the perfect answer to Socrates's warning that the unexamined life is not worth living. Readers who merely read through the book's fascinating anecdotes will be entertained, but they will be seriously shortchanging themselves, for it is the guiding questions that provoke and inspire serious self-examination. As the calendar-like format of the book implies, these questions should be savored and pondered no faster than one page of questions per day. Levy and Parco continue to challenge our thinking as they did in their previous two Thinking Deeply About books. Echoes of Mind presents common topics in an uncommon way that encourages both reflection and introspection. Spending time with this book will be reassuring and yet challenging, even at times uncomfortable-but in all cases, rewarding."

Daryl J. Bem, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus of Psychology
Cornell University