Unsui: A Diary of Zen Monastic Life

By Eshin Nishimura

Book Overview

Although the lines of the palm of the hand are barely visible in the early light, the monks of the Tofukuji monastery have been about their familiar rounds of daily tasks for several hours. Their routine is simple but faithfully practiced. Within its repetition lies the key to the self and the Buddha who resides within.

The daily life of the monastery is portrayed here in ninety-seven watercolor sketches. Drawn during his last years by the Zen monk Giei Sato, these sketches recollect his days as an unsui, an apprentice monk. With humor and steadfast warmth Sato depicts the day of leaving home and the day of returning; the rainy season and the snowy season; the chores, the celebrations, the days of cleaning, and the days of begging. Each of the charming drawings is enhanced by a brief description of the event portrayed, a touch of Zen teaching, or a note on monastic life.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0824802721
• ISBN13: 9780824802721
• Release Date: January 1983
• Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 0.91 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.9" x 10.1"

Customer Reviews

Awesome!!

I saw this book many years ago while working in the library at VA Tech. When I saw it here, I immediately brought it. Excellent book with funny drawing and info. presented in an easy to learn format. I highly recommend this book.

Life in a Japanese monastery

This book is an illustrated description of daily life at a Japanese Zen Buddist monastery. The book is based on a series of watercolors illustrating the daily life in a monastery that were painted by a dying monk in the 1940s. Nishimura has organized these paintings so that they tell the coherent story of new recruit, who decides to join a monastery, and his first year living as a monk. They take us through the two-day ordeal of the applicant, as he demonstrates his determination and submission at the gate of the monastery, the daily chores of the monks, the meditation schedule, the begging rounds through the city, and the yearly holidays. The pictures are very expressive, and they constitute the character of the book. The accompanying text is quite informative, and opens a window into the mysterious customs of a traditional Japanese monastery.

A real look at details of life inside a monastary

I was given this book as reading for a course in Japanese religion taught by a former zen monk who had become a professor of Japanese religion after marrying the daughter of the abbott of the monastary he trained at. (Japanese monks are not required to be celibate.) He thought it was the best description of actual life in a monastary he had seen. Don't expect this book to give you deep flashes in insight into the nature of things- instead it is a light-hearted look at how traditional monks actually lived the monastic life, and should balance out any of the heavier reading one might encounter while exploring zen.