The Wisdom of the Zen Masters

By Irmgard Schloegl

Book Overview

"If in every mind burns a flame of the Buddha's Enlightenment," Christmas Humphreys writes in his foreword to The Wisdom of the Zen Masters, "there is nothing to seek and nothing to acquire. We are enlightened, and all the words in the world will not give us what we already have. The man of Zen, therefore, is concerned with one thing only, to become aware of what he already is..." The task of the Japanese Zen master has been to guide his pupils in their awakening. The means used vary--from severe physical discipline to the proposition of enigmatic riddles, or koans--but always to the same end, Enlightenment: experiencing the Great Death of the worldly "I."

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0811206106
• ISBN13: 9780811206105
• Release Date: January 1976
• Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation
• Length: 80 Pages
• Weight: 0.27 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.5" x 7.8"
• Grade Range: Grade 7 to Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

Flapping

I teach religion at a community college and have used this book in my World Religions course for almost 20 years now. The introduction to Buddhism and Zen is not particularly illuminating, but the translations of the stories capture the spirit of Zen better than any other anthology I know. Paul Reps "Zen Flesh Zen Bones" has probably been its most serious competitor. Back in the late 1980's, when shopping around for a book on Zen to use in my course, I narrowed the field to Schloegl and Reps. I found a story both had included about two monks arguing over a flag fluttering in the breeze. One insisted that the flag moved and the other that the wind moved the flag. Then their master intervened. Reps has him say something to the effect that neither the wind nor the flag moves. Mind moves. Very majestic. Schloegl translates the same sentence thus: "It is neither the mind nor the wind, but the hearts of the two brothers that are flapping." Enough said. P.S. Disclosure: I have a vested interest in people buying this book. When it goes out of print, I have to get special permission from the publisher to have it printed at my school as a course pack for sale at cost to my students. I'd rather not have to go to the trouble.

An excellent introduction to Zen philosphy for the beginner

This book is an excellent introduction to Zen thinking for the traditional Western mind. Through an easy to understand introduction and explanation, followed by examples of Zen wisdom the reader is started on the path to an understanding of Zen philosophy.