Samurai Zen: The Warrior Koans

by Trevor Leggett

Samurai Zen brings together 100 of the rare riddles which represent the core spiritual discipline of Japan's ancient Samurai tradition. Dating from thirteenth-century records of Japan's Kamakura temples, and traditionally guarded with a reverent secrecy, they reflect the earliest manifestation of pure Zen in Japan. Created by Zen Masters for their warrior pupils, the Japanese Koans use incidents from everyday life - a broken tea-cup, a water-jar, a cloth - to bring the warrior pupils of the Samurai to the Zen realization. Their aim is to enable a widening of consciouness beyond the illusions of the limited self, and a joyful inspiration in life - a state that has been compared to being free under a blue sky after imprisonment.

Genres: Zen, Japan, Buddhism, Philosophy, Religion

218 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1988

Reviews

[Jacob Lehman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating to ponder, but without a master/deep background in Zen, hard to get much out of.

I read this book as a part of my project to read one book from every aisle in Olin Library. You can read more about the project, find reactions to other books, and (eventually) a fuller reaction to this one here: https://jacobklehman.com/library-read

[Kåge Klang · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book and the koans.
This is from the Shonankattoroku collection, the record of Kamakura koans.

[valixt · Rating 2 out of 5]

48 pages of introductions and acknowledgments