thezensite: Zen book reviewed

American Buddhism:
edited by D.R. Williams and C.S.Queen
reviewed by Martin Baumann

Answer Your Love Letters
by Adam Genkaku Fisher
reviewed by Reverend Fa Dao Shakya

The Art of Just Sitting
by John Daido Loori (ed)
reviewed by Vladimir K.

Awakening of the West: The Encounter of Buddhism and Western Culture
by Stephen Batchelor
reviewed by Adriano Lanza

Big Sky Mind: Buddhism and the Beat Generation. Edited by Carole Tonkinson, with Introduction by Stephen Prothero
reviewed by Richard Hughes Seager

The Book of Enlightened Masters: Western Teachers in Eastern Traditions
By Andrew Rawlinson
reviewed by David Kinsley

The Buddhists in Australia
by Enid Adam & Philip J Hughes
Buddhism in Western Australia
by Enid Adam
reviewed by Helen Waterhouse
from: Journal of Buddhist Ethics Vol.3 1996

Buddhism in a Foreign Land
by Robert Mann
reviewed by Amadeo Solé-Leris
This book is a collection of Dharma talks by the Theravadin teacher Robert Mann of The House of Inner Tranquility in Wiltshire, England. from Journal of Buddhist Ethics, Vol.3 1996

Buddhism Without Beliefs: a contempory guide to awakening
by Stephen Batchelor
reviewed by Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi
“…an intelligent and eloquent attempt to articulate the premises of the emerging secular Buddhism and define the parameters of a dharma practice appropriate to the new situation.”

reviewed by Urgyen Sangharakshita
"Though there is much in Batchelor's book that I find unacceptable and which I deplore, fortunately there is also much that is acceptable to me and in which I can rejoice."
Buddhist Phenomenology: A Philosophical Investigation of Yogacara Buddhism and the Ch'eng Wei-shih Lun by Dan Lusthaus
reviewed by Charles Muller

Buddhist Sutras: Origin, Development, Transmission by Kogen Mizuno
reviewed by Vladimir K.

Cave Of Tigers: Modern Zen Encounters
by John Daido Loori
reviewed by Vladimir K.

A Critique of “Buddhism Without Beliefs”
A critical look at Steve Batchelor's book by Punnadhammo Bhikkhu

Crooked Cucumber: The Life and Teachings of Shunryu Suzuki
by David Chadwick
This link will take you to a site dedicated to Suzuki. Includes reviews, interviews, biography and a whole lot of other stuff. Too bad the site is so ugly. There's a review of this book by Eddy Street here.

Cultural Intersections in Later Chinese Buddhism Marsha Weidner, ed.
reviewed by John R McRae
source: H-Buddhism, H-Net Reviews, March, 2003

Dipa Ma-The Life and Legacy of a Buddhist Master by Amy Schmidt
reviewed by Lindsay K.

Dogen's Manuals of Zen Meditation
by Carl Bielefeldt
reviewed by Ryuichi Abe

The Eminent Monk: Buddhist Ideals in Medieval Chinese Hagiography
by John Kieschnick
A brief review by Eric Reinders, Journal of Buddhist Ethics, Volume 5 1998
reviewed by Robert Ford Campany

Emptiness Appraised: a critical study of Nagarjuna's philosophy
by David F. Burton
reviewed by William Edelglass

The Emptiness of Emptiness: An introduction to Early Indian Madhyamika
by C. W. Huntington, Jr
reviewed by Frederivk J. Streng

Entangling Vines: Zen Koans of the Shūmon Kattōshū
by Thomas Yūhō Kirchner
reviewed by Taigen Dan Leighton, Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 33/1 (2006)

The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way:
Nagarjuna's Mulamadhyamakakarika
by Jay L. Garfield
reviewed by Mark Siderits

The Golden Age of Zen by John C. Wu,
with an Introduction by Thomas Merton
reviewed by Frank J Hoffman

Happiness: a physician/biologist looks at life by Joseph N Abraham M.D.
reviewed by Vladimir K.

Healing Deconstruction: Postmodern Thought in Buddhism and Christianity
edited by David Loy
reviewed by Mark D. Wood

How the Swans Came to the Lake
by Rick Fields
reviewed by Vladimir K.

In Defense of Dharma:Just-War Ideology in Buddhist Sri Lanka
by Tessa J. Bartholomeusz
reviewed by Eric Sean Nelson

Instructions to the Cook
by Bernard Glassman & Rick Fields
reviewed by Duncan R. Williams

Inquiry into the Origin of Humanity: An Annotated Translation of Tsung-mi's Yuan-jen lun with a Modern Commentary
by Peter N. Gregory
reviewed by Albert Welter
from: Philosophy East & West V. 48 No. 1 January 1998

Is Zen Buddhism?
David R. Loy. Although not strictly a book review, rather an essay, Loy discusses Winston L. King's “Zen and the Way of the Sword: Arming the Samurai Psyche” and other writings about Japanese Zen and the bushido spirit, war and killing---some of the areas covered in Zen at War. The Eastern Buddhist, Vol. 28, No. 2, Autumn, 1995

Journey into Emptiness: Dogen, Merton, Jung and the Quest for Transformation
By Robert Jingen Gunn
reviewed by Harold Coward
from: Buddhist-Christian Studies 23, 2003

Koans: Texts and Contexts In Zen Buddhism
edited by Steven Heine and Dale S. Wright
reviewed by Eric Sean Nelson

Land of No Buddha: reflections of a sceptical buddhist by Richard P Hayes
reviewed by Vladimir K.
reviewed by Martin Baumann

Letting Go: The Story of Zen Master Tosui
by Peter Haskel; reviewed by David E Riggs
originally published in Philosophy East and West, Honolulu: Jan 2005, Vol. 55, Iss. 1

Dogen and the Koan Tradition: A Tale of Two Shõbõgenzõ Texts by Steven Heine
reviewed by Joseph S. O'Leary
Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 21/1

Philsophers of Nothingness: an essay on the Kyoto School
by James W. Heisig
reviewed by Joseph S. O’Leary
Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 29/1–2

Living with the Devil: a Meditation on Good and Evil
by Stephen Batchelor
reviewed by Vladimir K.

Madhyamika Thought in China by Ming-Wood Liu
reviewed by Whalen Lai
Philosophy East & West

Master Dogen's Shinji Shobogenzo:301 Koan Stories by Gudo Nishijima; reviewed by Vladimir K.

Mindfullness in the Marketplace: Compassionate Response to Consumerism by Allen Badiner (ed)
reviewed by Eric Sean Nelson

The New Buddhism: The Western Transformation of an Ancient Tradition by James William Coleman
reviewed by Vladimir K.

Nagarjuna's Seventy Stanzas: A Buddhist Psychology of Emptiness
by David Ross Komito; reviewed by Karen Lang
Philosophy East & West Vol. 40 No.2, 1990.Apr

Nargarjuna’s Twelve Gate Treatise: translated, with Introductory Essays, Comments, and Notes by Hsueh-Li Cheng
reviewed by Alan Fox

Not Always So: practicing the true spirit of Zen
by Shunryo Suzuki; reviewed by Vladimir K.

Of Heretics and Martyrs in Meiji Japan: Buddhism and Its Persecution by James Edward Ketelaar
reviewed by Jacqueline Stone, Princeton University
Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, Vol. 53, No. 2. (Dec., 1993), pp. 582-598
A lengthy, interesting review. If you are interested in this topic, I recommend reading
Robert H. Sharf: The Zen of Japanese Nationalism

The Old Tea Seller: Baisao; Life and Zen Poetry in 18th Century Kyoto
by Norman Waddell
reviewed by Vladimir K.

Opening a Mountain: Koans of the Zen Masters
by Steven Heine
reviewed by Eric Sean Nelson
reviewed by Dale S Wright;from Philosophy East and West. Honolulu: Jan 2006. Vol. 56, Iss. 1

Original Dwelling Place:Zen Essays
by Robert Aitken; reviewed by Robert E Goss
Buddhist-Christian Studies 19.1 (1999) 212-215

The Origins of Buddhist Monastic Codes in China: An Annotated Translation and Study of the Chanyuan qinggui by Yifa; reviewed by Jiang Wu
from: The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol 2, Issue 3, Aug. 2003

Philosophical Meditations on Zen Buddhism by Dale S. Wright reviewed by Whalen Lai originally published in Philosophy East & West Vol. 50 No. 4 Oct. 2000 As "philosophical meditations" on the Zen of Huang Po, ... is an impressive work... for it shows how far Zen studies in America have moved ahead since the days of D. T. Suzuki and Alan Watts." See also Steven Heine's review of this book. Heine states “One of the last great books [on Zen Buddhism] of the century is Dale Wright's critical philosophical meditations on Huang Po's texts and on Blofeld's inspiring yet problematic translation/interpretation.”
also reviewed by Joseph S. O'Leary

Re-inventing the Wheel: A Buddhist Response to the Information Age by Peter D. Hershock
reviewed by Michael G. Barnhart

The Rhetoric of Immediacy: A Cultural Critique of Chan/Zen Buddhism
by Bernard Faure
reviewed by Stephen F Teiser
from: The Journal of Religion, Vol. 74, No. 1. (Jan., 1994)

Secrets of the Blue Cliff Record: Zen Comments by Hakuin and Tenkei by Thomas Cleary
reviewed by Vladimir K.

Seeing Through Zen by John R. McRae
reviewed by Vladimir K.
reviewed by George A Keyworth;
Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Vol 4, Issue 1, March, 2006
reviewed by Albert Welter
Philosophy East and West 56.2 (April 2006): p355 (4)

Tsung Mi and the Sinification of Buddhism
by Peter N. Gregory
reviewed by T Griffith Foulk
originally published in The Journal of the American Oriental Society Vol.114 No.3July-Sep 1994 pp.487-4891

Three New Buddhist Reference Works: The Soka Gakkai Dictionary of Buddhism; A Concise Encyclopedia of Buddhism; A Dictionary of Buddhism
reviewed by Charles Muller

Westward Dharma: Buddhism Beyond Asia
edited by Charles S. Prebish, and Martin Baumann
reviewed by Kay Koppedrayer
from Journal of Global Buddhism Vol 4, 2003

The White Buddhist: The Asian Odyssey of Henry Steel Olcott by Stephen Prothero
reviewed by Matthew Mulligan Goldstein
reviewed by Gananath Obeyesekere

The Whole Heart of Zen: The Complete Teachings from the Oral Tradition of Ta-Mo
by Sifu John Bright-Fey
reviewed by Ned Mudd

The Will to Orthodoxy: A Critical Genealogy of Northern Chan Buddhism by Bernard Faure
reviewed by Jeffrey Dippmann
reviewed by Franz Aubrey Metcalf
reviewed by Joseph McKeon

Zen and the Art of Postmodern Philosophy: Two Paths of Liberation from the Representational Mode of Thinking by Carl Olson
Reviewed by Robert Magliola
from: Buddhist-Christian Studies 24, 2004

Zen Buddhism: A History by Heinrich Dumoulin
reviewed by John Jorgensen
a lengthy, in-depth review of Dumoulin's opus from Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 1991 18/4

Zen Koans: recent works on the Zen koan:
Opening A Mountain: Kōans> Of The Zen Masters by Steven Heine
Kōan: Texts And Contexts In Zen Buddhism edited by Steven Heine and Dale S. Wright
reviewed by Eric Sean Nelson
from: Buddhist-Christian Studies 24.1 (2004)

Zen at War by Brian Daizen A. Victoria
reviewed by Vladimir K.
reviewed by Fabio Rambelli
another review byJosh Baran
another review by David Loy
A debate about this book by some of Deshimaru's sangha and Brian Victoria is here. (This debate has been removed from the Deshimaru site and is no longer available.)
Jiun Kubota, who calls himself The 3rd Patriarch of the Religious Foundation Sanbo-kyodan offers an apology for Haku'un Yasutani Roshi's support of WWII and his anti-semitism.
Zen War Stories by Brian (Daizen) A. Victoria reviewed by David Loy. This is a follow-up to Victoria's Zen at War (reviewed above).
see also Victoria's article Engaged Buddhism: a Skeleton in the Closet?
see also review by Professor Eric Sean Nelson
see also NYTimes article by Allan M. Jalon

Zen Buddhism and Environmental Ethics by Simon P James; reviewed by Eric Sean Nelson

The Zen Canon: Understanding the Classic Texts
edited by Steven Heine & Dale S. Wright
reviewed by Vladimir K.

Zen Keys by Thich Nhat Hanh
reviewed by Frank J Hoffman

Zen Pivots by Sokei-An
reviewed by Vladimir K.

The Zen Poetry of Dogen: verses from the mountain of eternal peace
by Steven Heine
reviewed by Taigen Dan Leighton
“…Heine's latest book provides a fine collection of translations of the poetry of the famed Japanese Zen monk Eihei Dogen. ” from Journal of Buddhist Ethics, Vol. 5, 1998

Zen Sand: The Book of Capping Phrases for Koan Practice
by Victor Sogen Hori
reviewed by Vladimir K.

Zen Teaching, Zen Practice: Philip Kapleau and The Three Pillars of Zen
edited by Kenneth Kraft
reviewed by Vladimir K.

Zen Teachings of Master Lin-Ji
by Burton Watson
reviewed by Urs App from Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 1994 (21/4)

Miscellaneous & Reading Lists

Steven Heine's A Critical Survey of Works on Zen since Yampolsky An excellent survey of significant writings on Zen Buddhist studies since 1967. Includes a very useful bibliography of articles, books, monographs and theses of significant works. Highly recommended as a starting point for Zen studies.

AMA Samy's Book recommendations: a reading list which includes Zen, meditation and psychology. Includes links to some book reviews. The list can be downloaded as a pdf document.

Chapel Hill Zen Center recommended reading list. This group is led by Pat Phelan and is associated with Suzuki's San Francisco Zen Center.

Clouds in Water Zen Center: has an extensive recommended reading list. Clouds in Water center in St Paul, Minnesota is in the Dainin Katagiri lineage.

Dr. Ron Epstein's reading list for his "philosophy 501" university course. An interesting list with a great variety of readings. Books academics would read but of interest to Zen students.

Kenyon College in Ohio has an extensive Zen bibliography here as part of their Religious Study programme.

The Kwan Um School of Zen recommended reading list. An extensive reading list which includes books by their master, Seung Sahn, books on Korean Zen, other Zen traditions, koan studies and sutras. Very comprehensive.

John Daido Loori has an extensive reading list here.

Liverpool Zen Group: an extensive (and eclectic) collection of recommended readings.

Steven Newton's collection of useful books. Steve is part of the Portland, Oregon Zen community and recommends Robert Aitken's books as well as others. Also, there's an interesting little collection of "primary texts".

Unstructured Buddhist Bibliography: this site has over 3,000 Buddhist books listed, many with links to Amazon. It's just in alphabetical order so I don't know how one is to use this list. But here it is and I have no idea why an insurance company would publish such a list.

Book Sources

Everyone knows about Amazon but here are some other sources that may not be as well known. I'll add more as I find them. Note: I make no claims about any of these sites and provide links as a service to my readers. I recieve no money from any of these sites. Use them at your own risk.

Bagchee.com: a Delhi based bookseller. Includes rare and collectibles as well as multimedia products.

Eastern Books Corporation: This link will take you to their Buddhist section of over 1,000 books. Many other books also available. Based in India, so prices are most reasonable.

HindiBooks: the link will take you to their Buddhist book section. Prices are in US$, Pound Sterling or Indian Rupees. This link will take you to their home page.

Saujanya Books: based in New Delhi, this bookseller specialises in Tibetan, Buddhist, Muslim texts as well as other topics. It lists about 1855 Buddhist books alone. It distributes books in English, Sanskrit and Tibetan. And the prices, which include airmail shipping, are considerably cheaper than Amazon. Worthy of a browse.

Vedams Books from India: this link will take you to their Buddhist section. A huge selection of books available. Here is their home page.