ZEN Book List Rev 9:16

Here are a few Books on Zen Buddhism and Buddhism. Zen Mind Beginner’s Mind. Shinryu Suzuki. A classsic by one of the most influential people regarding the introduction of Zen practice to the West, and in the introduction of Western practitioners, optimistic, wild, and willing,Americans, among them Women, to a stultified and discredited Zen culture in Japan. Also by Shinryu Suzuki: Not Always So. Compass of Zen. Seung Sahn. Big book on Buddhism and the last third specifically on Zen practice by the late Korean Zen Master. Another writer who understands how to present ideas to Americans. With deep knowledge and fantastic wit. Also by Seung Sahn: Dropping Ashes on the Buddha. The Roaring Stream. A New Zen Reader. Foster and Shoemaker, editors. A Chronological collection of the English translations of core Zen texts from the earliest Chinese C’han to 19th Century Zen. They’ are all here in one place. From Bodhidharma,to the 6th Patriarch, to the brilliant Dogen. Even the ancient stuff can sound amazingly relevant to the 21st century. Nine-Headed Dragon River. Zen Journals by Peter Matthiessen. American Naturalist- Explorer-Writer’s Asian Journals. Matthiessen returned home one day to find a bunch of Buddhist monks in his driveway. His wife was into Buddhism and had invited them. That’s kinda how it starts. Buddhism Without Beliefs. Stephan Batchelor. From England, Batchelor is grounded in both Tibetan and Zen traditions, yet he is known for his writing on secular Buddhism, as not a religion, but a way of seeing clearly, of being . After Buddhism Stephen Batchelor. This recent book is Batchelor’s masterpiece. He is addressing the contradictions found in “Buddhist” canon across all flavors of the Dharma, going back to Buddha the guy, his life and what he really said. Thorough careful translating of original texts and deep readings of new scholarship, we see the person and the Dharma as it was during the 80 years of Buddha’s life. This is not a stuffy book. We see Buddha’s struggles and maybe his compromises with the world around him. Buddha spoke carefully and with serious intent. Batchelor examines the things that Buddha didn’t say that appear in the canon through later attribution. Batchelor illuminates Buddha’s last years when the regional political system was falling apart and Buddha was on the run, and his staunchest acolyte abandoned him. Noting that even in these perilous moments , Buddha always had access to the warring princes and generals, Batchelor surmises that Shakyamuni, born a king’s son, knew them all from their days in military school. Buddha in military school? It’s that kind of book. Touching Enlightenment. Reggie Ray. Accomplished scholar of Tibetan Buddhism who became a student of Chögyam Trunga Rimpoche. I find Reggie to be someone who can explain complex ideas to Americans with great clarity. To some he has transgressed by explaining secret Tibetan teachings to Americans. It seems to me that Tibetan Buddhism developed in a feudal era when complex practices were kept among the educated elite, and the peasants were presented with the cartoon version of Buddhism, all Flaming Dragons and many armed, many eyed, goddesses, who were probably well known characters in Tibetan culture long before Buddhism arrived on the scene. As an American, Reggie understands, Americans come to Buddhism by choice, educated and expecting answers. His 3 short essays on the what, how, and why, of the radical Buddhist concept of the self ( spoiler. It does not exist. We create it.) explains perhaps the most remarkable difference between Buddhism and other spiritual practices, and between Buddhism and traditional Western thought. What he presents is more in tune with the findings of 21st century science. How the Swans Came to the Lake: Rick Fields A Narrative History of how Buddhism Came to America. Begins with the first European explorers and missionaries to the Exotic East. Before there was understanding there were misunderstandings that lingered into the 20th century, misinterpretations al la Madame Blavatsky, for one, that still served to intrigue serious people into digging deeper. Thoreau, Emerson, Whitman and others dipped into the dharma. I liked this book. Zen Flesh,Zen Bones. Paul Reps and Nyogen Senzaki From 1957 and still rockin’ Daddyo. “When Zen Flesh, Zen Bones was published in 1957 it became an instant sensation with an entire generation of readers who were just beginning to experiment with Zen. Over the years it has inspired leading American Zen teachers, students, and practitioners. Its popularity is as strong today as ever.Zen Flesh, Zen Bones is a book that offers a collection of accessible, primary Zen sources so that readers can struggle over the meaning of Zen for themselves. It includes 101 Zen Stories, a collection of tales that recount actual experiences of Chinese and Japanese Zen teachers over a period of more than five centuries; The Gateless Gate, the famous thirteenth century collection of Zen koans; Ten Bulls, a twelfth century commentary on the stages of awareness leading to enlightenment; and Centering, a 4,000 year-old teaching from India that some consider to be the roots of Zen.” -from Amazon Mark Mendel revised 9/16.

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