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The Training of the Zen Buddhist Monk
Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki's "The Training of the Zen Buddhist Monk" invites you to step inside the mysterious world of the Zendo, where monks live their lives in simplicity. Suzuki, best known as the man who brought Zen classics to the West, sheds light on all phases of a monk's experience, from being refused admittance at the door to finally understanding the meaning of one's "koan". Suzuki explains the initiation ceremony, the act of begging, and the life of prayers, meditation, and service.
180 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1934
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About the author
D.T. Suzuki
325 books454 followersDaisetsu Teitaro Suzuki (鈴木 大拙 貞太郎 Suzuki Daisetsu Teitarō; rendered "Daisetz" after 1893) was Professor of Buddhist philosophies at Ōtani University. As a translator and writer on Buddhism and Eastern philosophy, he greatly helped to popularize Japanese Zen in the West.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
June 10, 2019
This was assigned reading for my training as a Zen Buddhist priest. There are wonderful passages by Suzuki Roshi that are timeless and insightful for guiding others on the path. For this reason anyone interested in the care of spiritual direction in Zen would be interested. A great deal of the book deals with monastic life rules and this is great for historical context or reference. There is also a glossary of Zen titles and bells which could be helpful including many illustrations of monastery life.
November 8, 2025
Dry account of Rinzai training scattered with Zen dialogue.
According to online sources, D. T. Suzuki entered Kamakura's Engaku-ji monastery at age 21, studying first with Kosen Roshi and, after his passing, with his successor Soyen Shaku. Reportedly, he had an enlightenment experience after four years. While Rinzai training avoids "book learning", Suzuki's monastic experience must have been highly atypical as he was studying, in parallel, in Tokyo University's Faculty of Philosophy.
While The Training of the Zen Buddhist Monk presumably reflects Suzuki's own experience at Engaku-Ji, it is an impersonal overview of the life of the typical trainee monk. While this is a valuable resource, it would have been more intriguing still to hear of Suzuki's own exceptional background as Zen student.
The slim volume, published in 1934 when Suzuki was in his 60s, covers six broad aspects of monastic life: first the initiation into training and then the life of a Zen student as defined by humility, labor, service, prayer and gratitude, and meditation. These chapters combine factual accounting of monastic life with related short Zen dialogues. For example, Suzuki explains that one form of "service" is to care for fellow monks during periods of illness.
This brief statement is followed by a series of Zen dialogues related to sickness, including the following:
"Hsin, of Huang-lung, one day noticed his head-monk laid up with a cold. He sent his attendant to his sick-chamber with this question: "Has your cold come from within, or from without? If it has entered from without, you have no pain inside; if it has come out of yourself, you are not hurt anywhere outwardly. Where does it come from anyway?" The sick monk's reply was: "The monk finds his night-lodging at the monastery; the robber does not break into the poor man's house." Hsin, however, refused to approve of it [that is, the quality of the monk's Zen response], and gave his own answer: "See how the nose flows!" Or, "The head aches and the eyes are watery."
This is an odd approach to writing the book. The Zen dialogue adds nothing to our understanding of how monks care for their sick colleagues and most readers will learn little from the dialogue about the mindset of Zen master Hsin.
Where Suzuki does more clearly express his own views is in regretting the decline of spiritual life in Japan and the West:
"Modern life seems to recede further and further away from nature, and closely connected with this fact we seem to be losing the feeling of reverence towards nature. It is probably inevitable when science and machinery, capitalism and materialism go hand in hand -- so far in a most remarkably successful manner. Mysticism, which is the life of religion in whatever sense we understand it, has come to be relegated altogether to the background. Without a certain amount of mysticism there is no appreciation for the feeling of reverence, and, along with it, for the significance of humility. Science and scientific technique have done a great deal for humanity; but as far as our really spiritual welfare is concerned, we have not made any advance over that obtained by our forefathers. In fact we are suffering at present the worst kind of unrest all over the world. The question is thus how to get us back to the appreciation of the Incomprehensible. This is no doubt the gravest and most fundamental of all the problems that are harassing people of modern times."
A handy little reference book, but mostly for those already familiar with Zen.
According to online sources, D. T. Suzuki entered Kamakura's Engaku-ji monastery at age 21, studying first with Kosen Roshi and, after his passing, with his successor Soyen Shaku. Reportedly, he had an enlightenment experience after four years. While Rinzai training avoids "book learning", Suzuki's monastic experience must have been highly atypical as he was studying, in parallel, in Tokyo University's Faculty of Philosophy.
While The Training of the Zen Buddhist Monk presumably reflects Suzuki's own experience at Engaku-Ji, it is an impersonal overview of the life of the typical trainee monk. While this is a valuable resource, it would have been more intriguing still to hear of Suzuki's own exceptional background as Zen student.
The slim volume, published in 1934 when Suzuki was in his 60s, covers six broad aspects of monastic life: first the initiation into training and then the life of a Zen student as defined by humility, labor, service, prayer and gratitude, and meditation. These chapters combine factual accounting of monastic life with related short Zen dialogues. For example, Suzuki explains that one form of "service" is to care for fellow monks during periods of illness.
This brief statement is followed by a series of Zen dialogues related to sickness, including the following:
"Hsin, of Huang-lung, one day noticed his head-monk laid up with a cold. He sent his attendant to his sick-chamber with this question: "Has your cold come from within, or from without? If it has entered from without, you have no pain inside; if it has come out of yourself, you are not hurt anywhere outwardly. Where does it come from anyway?" The sick monk's reply was: "The monk finds his night-lodging at the monastery; the robber does not break into the poor man's house." Hsin, however, refused to approve of it [that is, the quality of the monk's Zen response], and gave his own answer: "See how the nose flows!" Or, "The head aches and the eyes are watery."
This is an odd approach to writing the book. The Zen dialogue adds nothing to our understanding of how monks care for their sick colleagues and most readers will learn little from the dialogue about the mindset of Zen master Hsin.
Where Suzuki does more clearly express his own views is in regretting the decline of spiritual life in Japan and the West:
"Modern life seems to recede further and further away from nature, and closely connected with this fact we seem to be losing the feeling of reverence towards nature. It is probably inevitable when science and machinery, capitalism and materialism go hand in hand -- so far in a most remarkably successful manner. Mysticism, which is the life of religion in whatever sense we understand it, has come to be relegated altogether to the background. Without a certain amount of mysticism there is no appreciation for the feeling of reverence, and, along with it, for the significance of humility. Science and scientific technique have done a great deal for humanity; but as far as our really spiritual welfare is concerned, we have not made any advance over that obtained by our forefathers. In fact we are suffering at present the worst kind of unrest all over the world. The question is thus how to get us back to the appreciation of the Incomprehensible. This is no doubt the gravest and most fundamental of all the problems that are harassing people of modern times."
A handy little reference book, but mostly for those already familiar with Zen.
October 9, 2024
A descriptive account of Zen Buddhist life is provided in this book. The dialogues included are quite confusing (maybe lost in translation?) and I found it difficult to follow in places. There is very little of the author's personal take on it, it's just pure description.
July 18, 2017
Muy lindo. Simple y didáctico.
May 7, 2020
A great, classic book on Zen. This particular edition was beautifully designed. A welcome addiction to my bookshelf.
September 19, 2021
Clear and concise
I found this book clarifying on many aspects of the Zen Buddhist monks way of life inside the monasteries in Japan, recommended.
I found this book clarifying on many aspects of the Zen Buddhist monks way of life inside the monasteries in Japan, recommended.
September 4, 2023
Used as a reference only.
April 2, 2014
I loved this book, great introduction to the life of a Zen monk. This book covers the journey to start training at the Zendo and the life the monks lead in the monasteries. It covers the practices to create a life of labor, service, prayer, gratitude, meditation, and humility. If you are interested in Buddhism D.T. Suzuki has been a favorite of mine for a while. The version I read is old, an illustrated version that added to the overall quality in my opinion as they are great and directly relate to what Suzuki talks about. Highly recommended.
November 9, 2014
Some of this went over my head and I loved that because it forces me to re-read and reexamine the book. I think this is one of those books you can read at different times in your life and garner new information about the zen life & the zen buddhist monk's life when at the Zendo.
December 3, 2008
good account of the daily life of zen monks. lots of zen comments from the texts.
August 13, 2009
Excellent look at Zen monastic life and its practices in the late 19th and early 20th-centuries.
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July 30, 2010I have the first American edition, 1956, facsimile of the first Kyoto edition, 1934.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews