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24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Simple and eloquent, 14 Sep 2003
This is a short (Suzuki's part of the book is almost exactly 100 pages) collection of essays which first appeared during the First World War. The age of the collection may put some people off - more hip and contemporary writers are, of course, far more attractive to us modern readers, despite the fact that what Suzuki is writing about extends back hundreds of years. To disregard this book on those grounds would be a mistake. Suzuki's style is excellent, he writes clearly, simply and eloquently and there is plenty of freshness in what he has to say.The essays themselves are all fascinating and certain to interest any serious student of Zen, as well as being a good introduction to many Zen principles for the less dedicated reader. Suzuki addresses familiar questions - "What is Zen?" and "Is Zen Nihilistic?", for example - and also expounds on practical Zen and the essential aim of Zen ("to acquire a new viewpoint"), among other things. His longest essay is devoted to an excellent discussion of the koan and there is a short but fascinating article on the traditional Zen meditation hall and the life of a monk. Suzuki's contribution to the book, then, is a beautiful one, and I would say an excellent and accessible introduction to his works. What makes the book that little bit different for me, however, is the foreword, a 20-page essay by Carl Jung. In this, Jung writes "Great as is the value of Zen Buddhism...its use among Western people is very improbable". I wonder what he would have to say if he could see the world today. So, in a nutshell - rather short, but worth a look.
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