A Zen Life

Starring: D. T. Suzuki, Gary Snyder, Huston Smith

Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki (1870~1966) was one of the 20th century's most important writers and thinkers. During his long and extraordinarily fruitful life Suzuki became the first voice of Japanese... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: DVD
• Language: English
• Release Date: March 2002
• Publisher: Marty Gross Film Productions, Inc.
• Director: Michael Goldberg
• Starring: D. T. Suzuki, Gary Snyder, Huston Smith
• Number of Disks: 1
• Other Video Info: NTSC
• Weight: 0.28 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Know thy self

You can only pack so much into a documentary, and if it's packable, it's in here. Parts of the documentary are in soundbite format, where you see the interviewer for just a fraction of a second, making half a sentence statement. For the most part, this is an excellent combination of rare archival footage intertwined with interviews from noted scholars, artists, philosophers, and the like; some of the interviewers may have been obscured by time but most of them you should recognize and be surprised. The thrust of this biographical presentation is to show how D.T. Suzuki introduced Zen Buddhism to the West. Also, how does this experience change a life? Even though I have one of his books I must confess I have not read it yet. Not knowing anything of his background this documentary was an eye-opener. Now I need to read his book(s) and re-watch this documentary. Regardless if D.T. Suzuki is an old friend or someone you've never heard of this is a good place to begin.