http://www.thezensite.com a site dedicated to a better understanding of Zen, its history, its teachings and its philosophy; new additions to the site are linked to this feed en http://www.thezensite.com/graphics/Daruma_Hakuin1.gif http://www.thezensite.com http://www.thezensite.com/ZenBookReviews/Realizing_Genjokoan.html thezensite: Zen Books Reviewed Okumura is not just an expert on Dogen, he is also an excellent teacher and both novices and seasoned practitioners would benefit by reading this book. While Genjokoan is, as the subtitle of this book notes, the key to Dogen’s Shobogenzo, Okumura provides us with a key to unlocking much of Dogen’s teaching. I heartily recommend this book. ]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenBookReviews/Shots_in_the_Dark.html thezensite: Zen Books Reviewed Shoji Yamada's book focuses on two cultural icons, Eugen Herrigel's book Zen in the Art of Archery and the sand garden of the Zen temple Ryōanji in Kyoto. Yamada's book intends to bust the myth of Herrigel's book Zen in the Art of Archery and deflate the mystery of the Zen garden of Ryōanji. ]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenBookReviews/World_of_Stories.html thezensite: Zen Books Reviewed David R Loy's book, The World is Made of Stores has been reviewed by Vladimir K ]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenBookReviews/Zen_Women.html thezensite:Zen Books Reviewed Grace Schireson's book, Zen Women: Beyond Tea Ladies, Iron Maidens, and Macho Masters has been reviewed by Vladimir K ]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/CriticalZen/Suzuki_and-Question_of-War.pdf thezensite: Critical Zen Brian Victoria's Zen at War created quite a stir in Western Zen circles when the book was released in 1997. Victoria criticised D. T. Suzuki for being a supporter of the Japanese military during WWII. While Satō acknowledges that Victoria's book is significant for the history of Zen, he has taken another look at Victoria's sources about Suzuki and comes to quite a different conclusion regarding Suzuki's position on Japanese militarism. This is an important rebuttle of Victoria's accusations about Suzuki. Well worth reading. from The Eastern Buddhist 39/1: 61–120 ]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/CriticalZen/Fumihiko_Chinese_Buddhist_and_War.pdf thezensite: Critical Zen While authors such as Brian Victoria have focussed on the actions of Japanese Zen leaders during the war, Fumihiko looks at two Chinese Buddhist leaders, Taixu and Leguan, to see how they viewed the Japanese imperialists and Japanese Buddhism. Taixu attempted to radically change Chinese Buddhism and establish a humanistic Buddhism. Leguan at first had a positive view of Japanese Buddhism and saw it as a possible model for modernizing Buddhism in China, but later became very critical of Japanese Buddhism and encouraged taking action against the Japanese invasion. Both struggled with the difficult problem of whether it was proper for a Buddhist to actively take up arms and fight in a war for their nation.]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/CriticalZen/Tomoe_Social_Ethics_of_New_Buddhists.pdf thezensite: Critical Zen Tomoe does a comparative study of Suzuki Daisetsu (D T Suzuki) and Inoue Shuten and looks at how these two prominent Buddhists responded to the rising nationalism and militarism in pre-WW1 Japan. Tomoe looks specifically at the journal Shin Bukkyo to examine how the two Buddhists presented Buddhism and how their international contacts influenced their religious ideals.]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenBookReviews/Zen_skin_Zen_marrow_VK.html thezensite: Zen Book Reviews Heine’s goal in this book is to find a middle path between the two extremes of the Traditional Zen Narrative, which sees Zen Buddhism as an idealized vision of non-duality standing beyond words and letters, a religious practice using heuristic devices to express the inexpressible leading to the ultimate truth of silence and the Historical and Cultural Criticism approach which argues that Zen deliberately cloaks itself “in a shield of opaqueness” to avoid historical scrutiny which would reveal Zen’s inconsistencies, flaws of character and “what is often the cynical obfuscation and hypocrisy inherent in traditional Zen”. Heine hopes to reveal a better, perhaps more accurate, understanding of “real Zen Buddhism”. He tackles the problem with wit and humour in the titles of the three main chapters of his book: Zen Writes, Zen Rites and Zen Rights. Word play is a characteristic of Zen kōans and Heine gleefully takes up the form to delve into the arguments of both sides. ]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenBookReviews/The_Practice_of_Perfection.html thezensite: Zen Book Reviews This is not a book about perfection so much as it is about practice, about clothing yourself and being at home. Robert Aitken Roshi weaves together the declarations of the Ten Paramitas with careful explanations, quotes, applications, questions and answers, all in a dialogue of learning rather than a lecture or a sermon from on high.]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenBookReviews/Zen_skin_Zen_marrow_Forte.html thezensite: Zen Book Reviews The latest work from Steven Heine, Zen Skin, Zen Marrow: Will the Real Zen Buddhism Please Stand Up? resulted from a recent combative encounter he witnessed while presiding on an East Asian ethics panel at a national academic conference. The confrontation took place between certain panelists who had presented the possibilities of traditional Zen as a viable response to ethical challenges of the contemporary world and audience members who declared the moral failings of Zen based on evidence taken from critical studies of its institutional history.]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenBookReviews/Zen_skin_Zen_marrow.html thezensite: Zen Book Reviews Zen Skin, Zen Marrow represents a departure from Steven Heine's usual style of Zen scholarship. Its first four substantive chapters offer up Heine's usual brand of carefully crafted and evenhanded scholarship on the Zen tradition. Here, the author focuses his attention as much on the field of Zen studies as on the religious and philosophical tradition of Zen, seeking a middle ground between apologetics and excessive criticism. Recommended]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/Philosophical/Approaching_the_language_of_zen.html thezensite: Philosophical Through a number of koans, Sevilla explores the notion of Zen articulation as 'unsaying,' and poetic speech, and through the Martin Heidegger theory of language and the notions of logos and aletheia, Sevilla attempts to clarify and expound on the meaning of unsaying and poetic speech.]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenBookReviews/Buddha_recognizes_buddha.html thezensite: Zen Book Reviews Daishin Morgan is the abbot of Throssel Hole Buddhist Abbey. This book is based on the Soto teachings of Dogen Zenji. Recommended]]> http://www.thezensite.com/MainPages/Updates.html thezensite: Zen Centers page and a link to the teachings of Kankan Roshi to the commentaries and teisho page.]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/Philosophical/Never_Tell_Too_Plainly.html thezensite: Philosophy page This is a philosophical investigation of the linguistic strategy of Chinese Chan Buddhism. It examines the underlying structure of Chan communication, which determines the Chan pragmatics of never tell too plainly revealing what the Chan special transmission means. This essay also investigates the different types of the Chan strategies of indirect communication, such as the use of paradoxical, tautological and poetic language, which best demonstrate the principle of never tell too plainly. ]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/Philosophical/Koan_Zen_and_Wittgenstein.html thezensite: Philosophy page Koan Zen is a philosophical practice that bears a strong family resemblance to Wittgenstein’s approach to philosophy.Both koan Zen and Wittgenstein’s method set limits to the reach of philosophical discourse. Each rules metaphysical speculation out of bounds. Neither, however, represents a rejection of the metaphysical. Where Wittgenstein enjoins silence in the face of the unsayable, a silence that allows the metaphysical to show itself, koan Zen calls for concrete demonstrations of that which cannot be captured in rational discourse. ]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/Philosophical/Horse.html thezensite: Philosophy page Thompson looks at the paradox that a white horse is not a horse (pai-ma fei ma) and the Treatise on the White Horse (Pai-ma lun) attributed to Master Kung-sun Lung (fl. 284-259 B.C.) [which] have alternatively astonished and perplexed readers for over two millennia. ]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/Philosophical/Liberating_Language.html thezensite: Philosophy page The aim of this paper is to explicate some unexpected and striking similarities and equally important differences between Wittgenstein methodology and the approach of Chinese Chan or Japanese Zen Buddhism. The Zen approach to life most definitely sheds some light on what Ludwig Wittgenstein was pointing at or trying to show through his kōanic or koan-like use of philosophical problems. Wittgenstein s analysis provides a way for understanding what the Zen master is doing. ]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenTeachings/Teishos/Harada_Tangen_Teisho.htm thezensite: Commentaries and Teishos Teachings page Harada Tangen is the abbot of the Japanese Zen temple, Bukkokuji, and is a dharma heir of Daiun Sogaku Harada, who some consider the grandfather of the Sanbo Kyodan which was founded by another Sogaku heir, Haku'un Yasutani. This teisho by Harada Tangen urges Zen students to realize their own Buddha-nature and never give up their practice. A typical teisho from this much-loved master. ]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/CriticalZen/Dharma_Transmission_Institutions.html thezensite: Critical Zen page Although Zen transmission sometimes brings its own problems, Ford argues that it is essential to know where your teacher came from and who authorized that person to teach. Ford also gives suggestions on what to look for when chosing a teacher. The essay attempts to address some of the issues concerning our emerging western Zen sangha, in particular the relationship between awakening, Dharma transmission and the institutions of Zen. It is Ford's thesis that each of these things, our individual awakening, the confirmation of our experience by our teachers and the institutions that support this work are wound up together as tightly as a well woven cord.]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/Nagarjuna/Emptiness_Institutional_Suicide.html thezensite: Nagarjuna page Donner argues that the Mahayana philosophy of emptiness, or sunyata, led to the inevitable decline and destruction of Mahayana Buddhism in China. After all, if, as the Mahayana claimed, all teachings and doctrines were empty, without substance, and all objects of faith are phantasms, then what room is there for Buddhism itself? This is an interesting argument, well worth reading. ]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/HistoricalZen/Keeping_It_Real.html thezensite: Historical Zen page Gidin looks at how Tang and Song Dynasty Chan strove for "authenticity", moving away from any intellectualization and Confucian and Buddhist sicknesses, side effects of its own success. ]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/CriticalZen/Aitken_Shimano_Letters.html thezensite: Critical Zen page Based on letters spanning some 20 years from the Robert Aitken Archive held at the University of Hawaii, this is an extraordinary story of how a Zen master, Eido Shimano Roshi, can be accused of sexual impropriety with female sangha members and still maintain the position of abbot and teacher at the first Rinzai monastery outside of Japan. ]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/HistoricalZen/Yasutani_Roshi.html thezensite: History page This is an excerpt of a MA theis in Asian Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara, June, 1979. It offers a brief outline of Yasutani Roshi, founder of the Sambokyodan group, first teacher of Robert Aitken, teacher also of Phillip Kapleau and Maezumi Taizan Roshi of Los Angeles. An important figure in Western Zen.]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenTeachings/Miscellaneous/Aitken_on_Responsibility.pdf thezensite: Miscellaneous Teachings page This is a talk given to Buddhist Peace Fellowship Membership Gathering on June 23, 2006, when Aitken Roshi, founder of the Diamond Sangha, was 89 years old. He ranges over a number of contemporary issues: politics, scandals, Buddhist activism and lay practice.]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/HistoricalZen/FaHien.html thezensite: Historical Zen Essays page Fa Hien (also known as Faxian; Fa-Hsien) was one of the earliest Chinese Buddhists to make the perilous journey to India to bring the Dharma back to China. This is a translation was first published in 1886.]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/CriticalZen/Zen_Master_in_America.html thezensite: Critical Zen Essays page Lachs continues to delve into the underbelly of American Zen and questions whether the traditional image of the perfect Zen master is even possible let alone a reality. Lachs' essays are always interesting reads.]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/Miscellaneous/Zen_in_Europe.html thezensite: Miscellaneous Essays page Kone gives an overview of the development of Zen in Europe going from the earliest times to the present. He also discusses issues such as sustainability, legitimacy and authority in European Zen centers.]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/HistoricalZen/ZenOriginsSignificance.pdf thezensite: Historical Zen Wu looks at the similarities between Taoism and Chan.]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenBookReviews/Zen_Enlightenment.html thezensite: Zen Book Reviews Dumoulin's book is a basic introduction to Zen history rather than enlightenment but it has some flaws making it suitable only for beginners.]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/HistoricalZen/HoriIntroduction.pdf thezensite: Historical Zen Hori is a little more gentle towards Dumoulin than McRae is. The two different Introductions are well work reading.]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/HistoricalZen/McRaeIntroduction.pdf thezensite: Historical Zen This interesting essay by McRae discusses Dumoulin's approach to Zen Buddhist studies and although McRae doesn't necessarily agree with much of Dumoulin, he does acknowledge Dumoulin's contribution to Zen studies.]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenTeachings/Translations/Overview_Research_LotusSutra.pdf thezensite: Translations and Sutras page This 1994 overview of commentaries on the Lotus Sutra may be of interest to anyone studying this sutra.]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenTeachings/Translations/Overview_Research_LotusSutra.pdf http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/Miscellaneous/Belated_Response.html thezensite: Miscellaneous Essays page This is over half a century old and I add it thezensite just for historical purposes. As the contribution made by D. T. Suzuki is re-evaluated today, it is worth looking back to see what was going on when Suzuki was beginning his mission.]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/Miscellaneous/Belated_Response.html http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/Philosophical/Emptiness_of_Christ.html thezensite: Philosophy page Keenan argues that by applying Mahayana concepts of emptiness and dependent co-arising, the conflicting duality between Jesus the man and Jesus the divine can be overcome. An interesting essay that Christian Zennists may enjoy.]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/Philosophical/Emptiness_of_Christ.html http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/Miscellaneous/ManualOfZenBuddhism.pdf thezensite: Miscellaneous Essays page There are better books available but I've put this up for historical purposes only.]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenBookReviews/Shoes_Outside_the_Door.html http://www.thezensite.com/ZenTeachings/Dogen_Teachings/Shobogenzo_Vol2_Nishijima_Cross.pdf thezensite: Dogen Teachings page Volume 1 is also available at the same location.]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenBookReviews/Shoes_Outside_the_Door.html http://www.thezensite.com/ZenBookReviews/Shoes_Outside_the_Door.html thezensite: Zen books reviewed page This is the story of Richard Baker-roshi, the development of the San Francisco Zen Center and how and why Baker-roshi was forced to resign as abbot of the first Zen Buddhist monastery outside of Asia.]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenBookReviews/Shoes_Outside_the_Door.html http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/Philosophical/Modern_Significance_Lotus_Sutra.html thezensite: Zen Philosophy page]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/Philosophical/Modern_Significance_Lotus_Sutra.html http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/HistoricalZen/The_problem_with_orthodoxy_in_Zen.html thezensite: Zen History page]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/HistoricalZen/The_problem_with_orthodoxy_in_Zen.html http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/HistoricalZen/DiscoveryofBuddhasBirthplace.html thezensite Historical Zen page.]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/HistoricalZen/DiscoveryofBuddhasBirthplace.html http://www.thezensite.com/MainPages/ZenBooksReadingList.html http://www.thezensite.com/MainPages/ZenBooksReadingList.html http://www.thezensite.com/ZenBookReviews/Dream_Conversations.html thezensite: Zen Books Review page]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenBookReviews/Dream_Conversations.html http://www.thezensite.com/ZenTeachings/Translations/PlatformSutra_McRaeTranslation.pdf thezensite: Translations_and_Sutras page This translation of the Platform Sutra is by John R McRae and includes notes, bibliography, glossary and index. 172 pages pdf]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenTeachings/Translations/PlatformSutra_McRaeTranslation.pdf http://www.thezensite.com/ZenTeachings/Translations/Baizhang_Monastic_Regulations.pdf thezensite: Translations_and_Sutras page This translation includes a Glossary of Sanskrit Terms, a Bibliography and an Index. Warning: this document is 426 pages long]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenTeachings/Translations/Baizhang_Monastic_Regulations.pdf http://www.thezensite.com/ZenTeachings/Dogen_Teachings/Shobogenzo_Vol1_NishijimaCross.pdf thezensite: Dogen Teachings page This translation includes 6 Appendix sections as well as a Glossary of Sanskrit Terms and a Bibliography. Warning: this document is 514 pages of pdf]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenTeachings/Dogen_Teachings/Shobogenzo_Vol1_NishijimaCross.pdf http://www.thezensite.com/ZenTeachings/nonEnglish/HungarianHsinHsinMing.pdf thezensite: Translations and Sutras page]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenTeachings/nonEnglish/HungarianHsinHsinMing.pdf http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/Philosophical/Dereification_in_Zen_Buddhism.html thezensite: Zen Essays: Philosophical page]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/Philosophical/Dereification_in_Zen_Buddhism.html http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/HistoricalZen/Kasay_Robe.html thezensite: Historical Zen page]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/HistoricalZen/Kasay_Robe.html http://home.pon.net/wildrose/gateless.htm thezensite: Koan Studies page]]> http://home.pon.net/wildrose/gateless.htm http://www.thezensite.com/ZenMasters/Zen_Ancestors_in_China.pdf thezensite: Historical Zen page The author of Zen's Chinese Heritage: The Masters and Their Teachings includes this lineage chart of the 5 Houses of Chinese Zen in his book.]]> http://www.thezensite.com/ZenMasters/Zen_Ancestors_in_China.pdf