An extraordinary Zen teacher and artist, Hakuin (1686-1769) is credited with almost single-handedly reforming and revitalizing Japanese Zen from a state of extreme spiritual decline.
What made Hakuin even more remarkable was that he was not only a religious teacher but also a prolific artist. Using calligraphy and painting to create visual Dharma, he rendered his teachings on paper in portraits and sketches, visually expressing the nature of enlightenment as he imparted it to his students.
The Religious Art of Zen Master Hakuin is a stunning volume containing many of Hakuin's finest calligraphies and paintings, along with commentary by Katsuhiro Yoshizawa, the leading Japanese expert on Hakuin and his work. Yoshizawa shares the story of Hakuin's life and learning, revealing the profound religious meaning embedded in each illustration. At times he closely examines each stroke of a portrait--which include depictions of peddlers, panhandlers, and beggars--and provides a richly detailed documentary of the life and lessons of one of Zen's most respected teachers.

In 1929, when author Dwight Goddard wrote The Buddha's Golden Path, he was breaking ground. No American before him had lived the lifestyle of a Zen Buddhist monk, and then set out to share the secrets he had learned with his countrymen. Released in the midst of the Great Depression, this title offered answers to the questions that millions of people were beginning to ask--questions about what was really important in their lives. Questions we still ask ourselves today. A true classic, The Buddha's Golden Path has touched countless lives, and has opened the door for future generations in this country to study and embrace the principles of Zen.

Zen is not a religion of God, nor a religion of faith. It is a religion of emptiness, a religion of absolute nothingness. However it is not nothingness but dynamically positive, for Zen is based on self-awakening, awakening to the self. In this book, a sequel to Zen and Western Thought, the author tries to clarify the true meaning of Buddhist emptiness in comparison with Aristotelian notion of substance and Whiteheadron notion of process. He also emphasises that Buddhism completely defies and overcomes dualism, but it is not monistic, but rather nondualistic. What is Nondualism? This is one of the important themes of this book.

D.T. Suzuki (1870-1966) reached global fame for his writings on Zen Buddhism. In this introduction to his theories of self, knowledge, and the world, Suzuki is presented as a Buddhist philosopher in his own right. Beginning with a biography of his life providing the historical context to his thought and discussing Suzuki's influences, chapters cover the Zen notion of the non-self and Suzuki's Zen view of consciousness, language, and religious truths. His ideas about philosophy and radical views on rationality and faith come to life in two new complete translations of The Place of Peace in our Heart (1894) and Religion and Science (1949), which helps us to understand why Suzuki's description of Zen attracted the attention of many leading intellectuals and helped it become a household name in the English-speaking world. Offering the first complete overview of Suzuki's approach, reputation, and legacy as a philosopher, this is for anyone interested in the philosophical relevance and development of Mahayana Buddhism today.

This book tells about the "History of Zen" in China and Japan. It has altogether 16 chapters. The first eight chapters are about Zen in China and the later eight chapters about Zen in Japan. It is mainly concerned with a detailed account of inheriting lineage and sermons of different Zen schools and sects in China and Japan as well as the specific facts of Chinese monks crossing over to Japan for preaching and Japanese monks coming to China for studying. Chan (Zen) Buddhism first arose in China some fifteen hundred years ago, with Bodhidarma or Daruma being the First Patriarch. It would go on to become the dominant form of Buddhism in China in the late Tang Dynasty, absorbing China's local culture to form a kind of Zen Buddhism with Chinese characteristics. Zen Buddhism has not only exerted considerable influence on Chinese society and culture throughout its history, but has also found its way into Japan and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The lineage charts at the end of the book, collected by the author from different corners of the world, represent an invaluable resource. Further, the works and views on Zen of Western scholars introduced in this book are of great reference value for the Zen world.

'Suzuki's works on Zen Buddhism are among the best contributions to the knowledge of living Buddhism' Carl Jung Essays in Zen Buddhism was the first book to fully introduce Zen in the West. In it, Dr D.T. Suzuki outlines the origins of Zen as a unique Chinese interpretation of the Doctrine of Enlightenment with the aim of attaining Satori ('Sudden Enlightenment'). He describes how Satori can be achieved and the methods that can bring it about - but always stresses that Zen has to be a way of life that can cope with the demands and frustrations of everyday life. Exploring the history of Buddhism, the daily life of a Zen monk and the path to enlightenment, Essays in Zen Buddhism offers an understanding of Zen not as a religion but as a way of perceiving, acting and being. It is both a classic introduction to Zen and a foundation for living a fulfilled life. After reaching enlightenment at the age of 27, Dr Suzuki spent the next 65 years writing about Buddhism and teaching in universities in Europe and the US. Widely regarded as the twentieth century's leading authority on Buddhism, he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1963.

An essential guide to what it's like to spend a week inside
a Zen Buddhist monastery.

The notion of spending days at a time in silence and meditation amid the serene beauty of a Zen monastery may be appealing but how do you do it, and what can you really expect from the experience?

"Waking Up" provides the answers for everyone who's just curious, as well as for all those who have dreamed of actually giving it a try and now want to know where to begin.

Jack Maguire take us inside the monastery walls to present details of what it's like: the physical work, common meals, conversations with the monks and other residents, meditation, and other activities that fill an ordinary week. We learn: What kind of person resides in a Zen monastery? Why do people stay there/ And for how long? Must you be a Buddhist to spend time there? What do the people there do? What is a typical day like? How does the experience affect people's spiritual life once they're back home? How can I try it out?

A detailed "Guide to Zen and Buddhist Places" and a glossary of terms make "Waking Up" not only a handbook for the curious seeker, but an excellent resource for anyone wanting to know more about the Buddhist way.

The first and only full-length biography of one ofthe most charismatic spiritual innovators of the twentieth century.

Through his widely popular books and lectures, Alan Watts (1915-1973) did more to introduce Eastern philosophy and religion to Western minds than any figure before or since. Watts touched the lives of many. He was a renegade Zen teacher, an Anglican priest, a lecturer, an academic, an entertainer, a leader of the San Francisco renaissance, and the author of more than thirty books, including The Way of Zen, Psychotherapy East and West and The Spirit of Zen.

Monica Furlong followed Watts's travels from his birthplace in England to the San Francisco Bay Area where he ultimately settled, conducting in-depth interviews with his family, colleagues, and intimate friends, to provide an analysis of the intellectual, cultural, and deeply personal influences behind this truly extraordinary life.

What motivated Sodo-san to spend the last twenty years of his life in a "temple under the sky"- a corner of a public park where he taught passersby what it means to be forever young through the funky tunes he played on his grass flute? In The Grass Flute Zen Master: Sodo Yokoyama, we are seeking not only a truer understanding of this well-loved monk, but of zazen, Zen meditation, itself. In his search for insights into Sodo Yokoyama's life, Arthur Braverman skillfully weaves a tapestry from seemingly disparate threads-the brief taisho period into which Sodo-san was born and where individualism shone; his teachers, both ancient and contemporary practitioners of Zen Bhuddism; the monk's love of baseball; and the similarities Braverman finds between Sodo-san and Walt Whitman, who both found the universal in nature.Through conversations with Joko Shibata, Yokoyama's sole disciple, and careful study of his teacher's poetry, an intriguing tension between the personal and the universal is revealed. The Grass Flute Zen Master is a meditative examination not of just one life, but of many. The lineage of teacher and protege is traced back through generations, contemporaries are drawn up from unexpected places, and Braverman examines his own long journey in Zen Buddhism; confronting his own expectations and surprising disappointments (the monk lived in a boarding house and later took a cab to his park when he could no longer walk the whole way) and the understanding and acceptance that followed. "When you play the leaf," Sodo-san once wrote, "you'll usually be a little out of tune. That's where its very charm lies..."

The Chan (Zen in Japanese) school began when, in seventh-century China, a small religious community gathered around a Buddhist monk named Hongren. Over the centuries, Chan Buddhism grew from an obscure movement to an officially recognized and eventually dominant form of Buddhism in China and throughout East Asia. It has reached international popularity, its teachings disseminated across cultures far and wide.
In Monks, Rulers, and Literati, Albert Welter presents, for the first time in a comprehensive fashion in a Western work, the story of the rise of Chan, a story which has been obscured by myths about Zen. Zen apologists in the twentieth century, Welter argues, sold the world on the story of Zen as a transcendental spiritualism untainted by political and institutional involvements. In fact, Welter shows that the opposite is true: relationships between Chan monks and political rulers were crucial to Chan's success. The book concentrates on an important but neglected period of Chan history, the 10th and 11th centuries, when monks and rulers created the so-called Chan "golden age" and the classic principles of Chan identity. Placing Chan's ascendancy into historical context, Welter analyzes the social and political factors that facilitated Chan's success as a movement. He then examines how this success was represented in the Chan narrative and the aims of those who shaped it.
Monks, Rulers, and Literati recovers a critical period of Zen's past, deepening our understanding of how the movement came to flourish. Welter's groundbreaking work is not only the most comprehensive history of the dominant strand of East Asian Buddhism, but also an important corrective to many of thestereotypes about Zen.

Ruminating on what it means to achieve Zen in a continent that has experienced fear, injustice, and inspirational political revolution, this meditation is a refreshingly enlightening account of practicing Buddhism in a volatile and ever-changing South Africa. Reminiscent of Lau Tsu combined with Oom Schalk Lourens, this luminescent and contemplative guide to inner sanctum draws on the experience and knowledge of an advocate of human rights and a former Zen monk. Lightly musing on the abstract concepts of humility, acceptance, reconciliation, and love and layered with swirling emotion and poetic insight on the nature of mankind--especially in the face of seemingly impossible adversity--this deeply spiritual and often humorous journey is as full of heart as it is of wisdom and serves as a necessary yet gentle reminder of what it is to be human.

This book analyses the transplantation, development and adaptation of the two largest Tibetan and Zen Buddhist organizations currently active on the British religious landscape: the New Kadampa Tradition (NKT) and the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives (OBC). The key contributions of recent scholarship are evaluated and organised thematically to provide a framework for analysis, and the history and current landscape of contemporary Tibetan and Zen Buddhist practice in Britain are also mapped out. A number of patterns and processes identified elsewhere are exemplified, although certain assumptions made about the nature of 'British Buddhism' are subjected to critical scrutiny and challenged.

In Reimagining Zen in a Secular Age Andre van der Braak offers an account of the exciting but also problematic encounter between enchanted Japanese Zen Buddhism and secular Western modernity over the past century, using Charles Taylor's magnum opus A Secular Age as an interpretative lens. As the tenuous compromises of various forms of "Zen modernism" are breaking down today, new imaginings of Zen are urgently needed that go beyond both a Romantic mystical Zen and a secular "mindfulness" Zen. As a Zen scholar-practitioner, Andre van der Braak shows that the Zen philosophy of the 13th century Zen master Dogen offers much resources for new hermeneutical, embodied, non-instrumental and communal approaches to contemporary Zen theory and practice in the West.

Samurai Zen: The Warrior Koans brings together 100 of the rare riddles which represent the core spiritual discipline of Japan's ancient Samurai tradition. Dating from thirteenth-century records of Japan's Kamakura temples, and traditionally guarded with a reverent secrecy, they reflect the earliest manifestation of pure Zen in Japan. Created by Zen Masters for their warrior pupils, the Japanese Koans use incidents from everyday life - a broken tea-cup, a water-jar, a cloth - to bring the warrior pupils of the Samurai to the Zen realization. Their aim is to enable a widening of concsiouness beyond the illusions of the limited self, and a joyful inspiration in life - a state that has been compared to being free under a blue sky after imprisonment.