Cover of Essential Zen

Essential Zen

by · 1994

+ Want to read

The best collection of Zen wisdom and wit since "Zen Flesh, Zen Bones": koans, sayings, poems, and stories by Eastern and American Zen teachers and students capture the delightful, challenging, mystifying, mind-stopping, outrageous, and scandalous heart of Zen.

Subject
philosophy
Themes
Buddhismreligionspirituality
Audience
adult
Length
short · 196 pages

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Liked Essential Zen? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked Essential Zen. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. Essays in Zen Buddhism, First Series D.T. Suzuki · 1925 Shares zen, Buddhism, philosophy
  2. Zen Training: Methods and Philosophy Katsuki Sekida · 1975 Shares zen, Buddhism, philosophy
  3. Nine-Headed Dragon River: Zen Journals, 1969-1982 Peter Matthiessen · 1986 Shares zen, Buddhism, religion
  4. Branching Streams Flow in the Darkness: Zen Talks on the Sandokai Shunryu Suzuki · 1999 Shares zen, Buddhism, buddhist
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“People who read Essential Zen tend to reach for these next.”

  1. Essential Tibetan Buddhism Robert A.F. Thurman · 1995
  2. Zen Speaks: Shouts of Nothingness Tsai Chih Chung · 1990
  3. The Little Zen Companion David Schiller · 1994
  4. Taking the Path of Zen Robert Aitken · 1982

“If you want more of the same (philosophy about buddhism), start with these.”

  1. The Essence of the Heart Sutra: The Dalai Lama's Heart of Wisdom Teachings Dalai Lama XIV · 2002
  2. A Simple Path: Basic Buddhist Teachings by His Holiness the Dalai Lama Dalai Lama XIV · 2000
  3. Basic Teachings of the Buddha Anonymous, Glenn Wallis · 2007
  4. What the Buddha Taught: Revised and Expanded Edition with Texts from Suttas and Dhammapada Walpola Rahula · 1959

“If it was the zen that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. Zen Philosophy, Zen Practice Thich Thien-An · 1975
  2. Zen Seeds: Reflections of a Female Priest Shundo Aoyama · 1991
  3. Zen Keys: A Guide to Zen Practice Thich Nhat Hanh · 1974
  4. The Method of Zen Eugen Herrigel · 1960

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. Zen Flesh, Zen Bones: A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings · 1957
  2. The Gateless Barrier: The Wu-Men Kuan · 1990
  3. Bring Me the Rhinoceros: And Other Zen Koans to Bring You Joy John Tarrant · 2004
  4. The Blue Cliff Record Setcho · 1125

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