Ma: The Japanese Secret to Contemplation and Calm: An Invitation to Awareness

by Ken Rodgers, John Einarsen

256 pages, Hardcover

Published November 18, 2025

Reviews

[Bernie Gourley · Rating 5 out of 5]

My introduction to the concept of ma came as a young martial arts student, where it was thought of as distancing, but not distancing in a static sense -- rather in a way that incorporated timing as well [so, more of an interval in space-time.] I would later hear the term applied to domains such as joke telling in which perfection of pause could be as critical to a laugh as the words that comprised the joke. This book expanded my understanding to numerous realms I'd never much considered before such as architecture, photography, and gardening. (Incidentally, this book does contain a chapter addressing the martial arts aspect of ma, though not the comedic ramifications of the concept.)

I haven't seen any other books that focus entirely on this concept. Ma is often mentioned in books on Japanese philosophy and aesthetics but rarely with such depth and singular attention. If there are other books that drill down into the concept in this way, I doubt they are as readable as this one (that is, I suspect such a book would be intensely philosophic and scholarly.) So, this book seems to have a solid niche.

There were a couple chapters that took my thinking on the subject to entirely new places. One was on ma in the domain of virtual reality. This raised interesting metaphysical considerations. Another was about the Heart Sutra and how the translations used have led to longstanding misunderstandings of that work.

If you are interested in art and or philosophy, I'd highly recommend this book.

[Hayden Finkelshtain · Rating 5 out of 5]

I came to this text because I read a book on Zen Buddhism I really enjoyed, late last year. This collection is excellent. If you have a bit of interest in Japanese aesthetics and philosophy, Buddhism, meditation, gardens, mindfulness, or the fine arts, there will be something here for you to enjoy. Thoughtful, full of variation, and with many beautiful images, it really is a pleasure to hold and read.

[Azella P · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a smart book -- full of calm. Gifting it to all my friends this year!

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very thought-provoking book; I am still thinking about the contents after reading through it.

[TimG · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book has so many interesting concepts and because I was introduced to this a few years ago and have studied it since, it was quite easy to understand. For someone unfamiliar to Ma, it would be a difficult in some ways. I thought the writing was good, but I wanted more of it. For some chapters, there were only a few pages written by the author, followed by some photos which to someone unfamiliar with Ma would end up feeling confused. I was looking forward to reading what Pico Iyer wrote(The unspoken space we share), but was disappointed when it turned out to be only 2 1/2 pages. This was one of the reasons why I bought it. The chapter on Maai: The Deadly Dance of Distance was intriguing. I know this comes from martial arts but it have been explored more around other sports like baseball. There are some research articles on this very topic. Perhaps some ideas on how this concept can be applied to daily life might interesting as well. Maai is more than just a deadly dance.

The pictures, I really liked. They do reinforce the void of Ma and Yohaku no bi, the beauty of the whitespace. It did provide some calm, especially the print version of the book.

Overall, any of one of these authors could have written their own book. Their own style, their own knowledge of the topic could have made for an interesting book. When you have so many different writers, it becomes difficult to maintain some kind of consistent theme. I felt a more consistent theme with a clearer strategy on the sequence of the photos would have raised this book to a 5/5. If the intent was to provide that random element of Ma, then it worked well.

4.2/5