Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
3rd out of 86 books
—
36 voters
An Introduction to Zen Buddhism
by
D.T. Suzuki,
C.G. Jung
One of the world’s leading authorities on Zen Buddhism, D. T. Suzuki was the author of more than a hundred works on the subject in both Japanese and English, and was most instrumental in bringing the teachings of Zen Buddhism to the attention of the Western world. Written in a lively, accessible, and straightforward manner, An Introduction to Zen Buddhism is illuminating f...more
Paperback, 102 pages
Published
January 13th 1994
by Grove Press
(first published 1934)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
2,043)
"The truth is, Zen is extremely elusive as far as its outward aspects are concerned; when you think you have caught a glimpse of it, it is no more there; from afar it looks so approachable, but as soon as you come near it you see it even further away from you than before." - D. T. Suzuki
"Personal experinece, therefore, is everything in Zen." - D. T. Suzuki
"Zen is provokingly evasive." - D. T. Suzuki
"This quietude and silence, however, does not point to mere idleness or inactivity." - D. T. Suzuk...more
"Personal experinece, therefore, is everything in Zen." - D. T. Suzuki
"Zen is provokingly evasive." - D. T. Suzuki
"This quietude and silence, however, does not point to mere idleness or inactivity." - D. T. Suzuk...more
This book is -amazing-. Suzuki puts an absolutely abstract concept into logical form in such a way that the reader or student can easily understand it (inasmuch as zen can be understood without having been experienced). My first inclination was to give this book a five star rating, but that would have been entirely biased. Based on my love of the book I could rate it a six if that were an option, but it gets a four for a couple of reasons. 1.) There are some misspellings/typos throughout that ar...more
I`m still in Japan now,and I just bought this book from a local bookstore called Junku-do in Ikebukuro. It`s funny that the more I read Heidegger`s Being and Time, the more I think that postmodern theology is close to the doctrine and practise of Japanese Zen Buddhism. For example Zen teaches that life must be freed from any purpose or meaning, it teaches not any notion about personal God nor sacred community. Daily life is spiritual.
For me all of this resembles Heidegger`s idea of ontical dimen...more
For me all of this resembles Heidegger`s idea of ontical dimen...more
"An ethical man performs acts of service which are praiseworthy, but he is all the time conscious of them, and, moreover, he may often be thinking of some future reward. Hence we should say that his mind is tainted and not at all pure, however objectively or socially good his deeds are. Zen abhors this. Life is an art, and like perfect art it should be self-forgetting; there ought not to be any trace of effort or painful feeling. Life, according to Zen, ought to be lived as a bird flies through...more
2 likes · like · see review
This book has been invaluable to me for a long time now. It was what I was reading when I first started to deepen my Zen practice about 10 or so years ago and it is what I pick up still, today, when I want to refresh my understanding of the fundamentals of this thing called Zen. Although the true flavors of Zen come through experience, and not from books, good books like this one serve their purpose well, in setting one up for what is a very difficult practice. It's important to arm oneself with...more
Everyone understands Zen and no one understands Zen. There’s really no way to explain the absence of antithesis, a concept that is crucial to Zen, without resorting to antithesis. Which is the principal difficulty in trying to explain it at all. Suzuki, however, does his best in the medium available to him, by relying primarily on examples to illustrate the absence of the either/or “dualism”. That his examples may appear nonsensical to many readers exemplifies the hold dualism has on human under...more
Fascinating book masterfully detailing the concepts of Zen. The first section of the book is the most interesting, as Suzuki attempts to reveal the meaning of zen without much explanation, but somehow by the end you have an idea of not just what he's talking of, but why he chose a seemingly illogical method of teaching, and what all of that means. The last half of the book slows down and, in my opinion, retreats from zen slightly as it goes into the daily life of a Zen Buddhist monk. But then, i...more
"An ethical man performs acts of service which are praiseworthy, but he is all the time conscious of them, and, moreover, he may often be thinking of some future reward. Hence we should say that his mind is tainted and not at all pure, however objectively or socially good his deeds are. Zen abhors this. Life is an art, and like perfect art it should be self-forgetting; there ought not to be any trace of effort or painful feeling. Life, according to Zen, ought to be lived as a bird flies through...more
The first thing that I like about this book and made me buy it when I first saw it in a bookshop beside seeing that it was written by D.T. Suzuki, was that it was *very* thin! hee hee hee At 102 pages, this little Zen primer is a good idea for a gift, or even for yourself if you are curious about Zen. Well, but it's not that easy to read, if you don't have interested in the field at all. Because this is not about compiling fun Zen stories or Koans, but this is a real scholar writing and Suzuki w...more
There is just something about the way D.T. Suzuki tells it that is amazingly clear for western minds...and that is no small task when the topic one is trying to convey is Zen. One of my favorite quotes "Zen has no God to worship, no ceremonial rites to obeserve, no furture abode to which the dead are destined, and last of all, Zen has no soul whose welfare is to be looked after by somebody else and whose immortality is a matter of intense concern with some people."
I believe it is hard to write about this topic! This book certainly makes me want to read more. I felt like parts of the book were very clear while other parts were a bit muddy. I figure people who are drawn to this toopic will like this book no matter what. I thought some of the typos were trying to induce atori! And I did not care for the introduction by Jung. Very stuffy. So I am still curious and I will seek other works by Suzuki and others.
It is an interesting introductory text on Zen. Although a very introductory one: it rather sketches what Zen is and how it differs from other schools of buddhism. It could very well serve as a koan: destroying various preconceptions about what Zen is and what is it not, leaving your mind in a state of conclusion.
It should really be followed by more reading.
It should really be followed by more reading.
This essay introduces Zen's approach to logic, dualism, personal experience, and explores the concepts of the koan, satori, and zazen. Even a few paragraphs will put you on the brink of a different way of being.
It was very dry and read like a dissertation. It was also very dated. But it did have some profound passages and I learned a lot about the history of Zen. Not really what I was looking for, but it was interesting.
Aside from The Way of Chuang Tzu, the only book on spirituality I've read that didn't make me want to laugh or hurl. Zen is like one hand clapping, only louder. What else can I say? It's Zen, bitches.
This is the first zen book that I read. Not so easy to understand, and I haven't finish it yet till now. But after I read many other books about zen, I'm quite sure that this book is very good.
Zen is something I've always wanted to learn more about. Halfway through reading this book, I knew less than I did before. By the end of the book I knew nothing about Zen. I highly recommend it.
This book literally changed my life forever. I still carry it everywhere I go and often open it up just to read a page or two.
The spine is now mostly made of of layers of tape. :P
The spine is now mostly made of of layers of tape. :P
Short but very dense. I'm not sure if it's because this was written many years ago, or because DT Suzuki just has a very formal writing style, but I found it really hard to read. Eventually I resorted to reading just a few pages at a time, as a kind of daily dose of zen. For that it was pretty good-- he packs in a lot of good anecdotes, koans, and stories into each chapter. And one more thing-- skip Jung's introduction-- it's even more difficult to read than Suzuki's prose at its worst.
Really interesting. It debunked a lot of my ideas about what Buddhism is. I still have some doubts about the teaching methods of the masters. They seemed remarkably similar to the methods employed by drill sergeants.
И тази си струва много! Поне за мен.
It's like the wind. It's like nothing.
0 stars, because it was brilliant, and Zen is illogical.
the original.
Awesome.
A tough read: This book has a lot of good information on Zen, and seems like more of an overview than anything else. Although labeled as an 'Introduction', any person not well versed in Zen will find it a bit hard to follow. The chapter on Koan was very insightful, and is a great read for people interested in the background, use, and reasons the Koan was / is used.
I started this book to participate in "Read a book day" :).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vv-od3...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vv-od3...
I've read this book on my faculty library on rare/classic collections - it's thoughts on Zen Buddhism is awesome! Connecting to the martial arts principles - it can be apply as well as Japanese swordmanship and also other martial arts. All books from D.T. Suzuki is well known for best reference on Zen Buddhism.
To sum this book up: What is Zen Buddhism? You wouldn't understand.
Short and simple overview of Zen practice by one of the first japaneses to write about this tradition for the american public. The intro by Jung shows how Zen was an object of study by early psychoanalysis, and also how behind western science has fall on understanding it.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki was a Japanese author of books and essays on Buddhism, Zen and Shin that were instrumental in spreading interest in both Zen and Shin (and Far Eastern philosophy in general) to the West. Suzuki was also a prolific translator of Chinese, Japanese, and Sanskrit literature. Suzuki spent several lengthy stretches teaching or lecturing at Western universities, and devoted many y...more
More about D.T. Suzuki...
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
Apr 08, 2009 09:50pm