Zen Speaks: Shouts of Nothingness

by Tsai Chih Chung

Book Overview

Inspired by the earliest and core texts of Zen Buddhism,Zen Speaksdistills the philosophy and wisdom of Zen in a series of illustrated Chinese character cartoon panels that are irreverently humorous... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385472579
• ISBN13: 9780385472579
• Release Date: April 1994
• Publisher: Anchor Books
• Length: 159 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 8.1" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Delightful!

Hard to imagine that a cartoon could unfold the depths of Zen. Perhaps it is the fact the cartoons are brief yet encapsulate so much. Personally, I find it to be in the expressions of the characters in the drawings that tell the story. I really feel the smiles throughout the book and can almost see them winking along with that smile. Never straying from the seriousness of Zen, this little gem really reveals the joy that lies underneath. A great way to get started; a great little reminder for those already underway.

Shouts of Nothingness: profound, yet obvious

"Comics are just words and pictures. You can say anything with words and pictures." ---someone I don't recall.This comic book contains one hundred Zen Tales (koans), and I have heard some of them before. They seem to gain something when presented in this format. The author brings out something of the shock that is enlightenment that I hadn't really felt in the stroies before. The artwork is simple, yet effective. The writing is the same. The ideas conveyed are both profound and obvious. And, of course, it is a very enjoyable read.

A joy of a book

Truthfully, I don't know how well this book introduces Zen, but I do know that I really enjoyed it. All the Zen stories that I've heard over the years plus tons more are all presented here in cartoon form with short explanations by someone (a cartoon zen master I presume) who is explaining the story to a westerner.One point that I have to make is how much more of an impact this book had on me after I watched Joseph Campbell's video series "The Power of Myth" . I read this book both before and after I watched the videos and realized how much more they meant to me afterwards and how great this book really is.If you want to get even more out of this book, check out the Campbell videos, you won't be sorry that you did.

Wonderful, absolutely wonderful.

At first one might expect that cartoon is too informal a medium to convey the depth of a religion such as Zen. This book is beautiful in it's simplicity, the perfect starter for the religion. I recommend it as a gift to someone you love who is stressed out. Hopefully, Zen Speaks will help them to shine through adversity, as it has me. 6 stars.

awesome!

Interested in Zen? Put away those long wordy books by various masters and get this instead. This wonderful "comic book" may have fewer words in it compared to others, but it speaks volumes. The author has a great talent for taking a Zen saying and translating it into pictures that show the concept, making the experience immediate and not reliant upon language (which is very Zen in and of itself). This book would make a great gift, too, since it's beautifully illustrated and has the original Chinese text in the margins. If you're only going to buy one book on Zen, make it this one.