Zen Buddhism: Selected Writings of D. T. Suzuki by D.T. Suzuki

Zen Buddhism: Selected Writings of D. T. Suzuki Reviews

• 
  B. P. Rinehart

  "Zen does not give us any intellectual assistance, nor does it waste time in arguing the point with us; but it merely suggests or indicates, not because it wants to be indefinite, but because that is really the only thing it can do for us. If it could, it would do anything to help us come to an understanding."
  
  
  I read this book, not really to learn about Zen, but to learn about the perspective of its author D.T. Suzuki. Suzuki was a Japanese monk that taught at Colombia University and spoke 6 languages fluently (including, obviously, English). He is responsible for being the main source bringing Zen to the United States. He was also a supporter of the fascist military junta during the Second Sino-Japanese War, so I was on my guard. I was curious of how he would explain it, and it is apparent he knew how to explain things to a Western audience. The fact that he wrote in English is very telling. I would say that the selection of works here were very well-picked by the editor
  William Barrett. From the way he explains it, Zen is the easiest concept to understand and the hardest. I was very surprised at how different Zen Buddhism is from Abrahamic monotheism, but how similar it was in places. Zen philosophy, for me, is very similar to Roman Stoic philosophy. Of course, Suzuki was interested in measuring Zen to the popular philosophy of the day: Existentialism. It seems the more one tries to think of Zen from the default intellectual analysis, the harder it is to understand it. Even now, I feel like I get it and don't get it; it takes a whole-sell re-ordering of the way one thinks, especially in the West, to start to understand it--but it's possible.
  
  I can't claim to be a convert to Zen, but it is always nice to learn about something different--to understand how other people in the world think of basic things.
• 
  Jenwhitson

  This book showed me that Zen is just as full of dogma and superstition and nonsense as any other religion. Thanks a lot. I think Zen has come a long way since ole Suzuki in making itself accessible to the West. It's maybe a little alarming to see how little Western Buddhism has in common with this articulation of its Eastern roots, but whatever is in this book is completely useless to me.
• 
  Micah

  This is a really excellent, if perhaps dated, view of Zen Buddhism written in a way that is accessible to university-educated Westerners. I thought the content of this book was exceptional, and would have given it five stars, except that I thought that the writing style was a bit too dense for most readers. A part of this is simply due to the nuanced nature of the subject matter, but I feel the author could have done better in making his ideas accessible. Overall, though, I would strongly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in learning more about Zen Buddhism and what it might have to teach us as Westerners.
• 
  Erik Graff

  I believe I read this while taking Harold Kasimow's Major Eastern Religions course while at Grinnell College. The writings of D.T. Suzuki (which this collection surveys) were of considerable influence in my understanding of Zen Buddhism and led to my belief that if I had to subscribe to a recognized "religion" it would be Zen.
• 
  j.marvin

  The most awesomest and wonderful zen book foreverandever.
  Esp. when he slams Oscar Wilde...or quotes that thing about the mountain.
  you know.
  the mountain.
• 
  Scott Stead

  Not the most approachable on the subject of Zen but purposefully brilliant in walking the reader through the reasons Zen cant be defined by the written word.
• 
  A. Raca

  Çok güzel bilgiler evet ama imla hataları göz kanatıyor, özür dilerim.
  
  "Özgür bir zihne sahip olmak için göreneklerin, geleneklerin, belirli çıkarların zihnimize yerleştirdiği önermelerin yargı ve değer ölçülerinin bağımlılığından zihnimizi kurtarmamız gerekli ama yeterli değil."
• 
  Moon Captain

  yooooo why the fuck can't I say I'm "currently reading" books anymore? because I'm in chapter two of this and it's good. very readable.
• 
  James

  First half good, second half too much gobblygoop
• 
  Kyle

  With the initial excitement of the very first essay, I had reconnected with one of the first lessons I can recall about Zen Buddhism, all the way back at the start of my undergraduate studies, and each successive essay felt like speed-reading through so many lessons and courses I took up to my doctoral defence. Very easy to get lost in a thought or not see the forest for the trees, as nearly every example from the long history of Zen felt like I had already seen somewhere else before. I was not just reading about consciousness or no-mind, I was experiencing all the paradoxes and mysteries that have befuddled many a monk and infuriated the master. By the end, I could grasp that I was not meant to make sense of their koans and catechisms but rather intuit what it might mean. Then, just like the frog leaping into the old pond, words start to makes sense of the insensible, and a mountain is a mountain, a book is a book after all.
• 
  Tyler

  To get the most out of this book, I decided to dedicate quiet time to myself while reading it aloud. To me, it is not a backpack book, not a bus ride book, it is not a breakfast book, nor is it a before bed book. It is at times a frustrating read because though it is immensely fruitful it is haphazardly strung together in true Zen form. At times I felt as though I were doing brain cartwheels. It takes quite a bit of concentration and open-mindedness, which I now understand are both opposites and one in the same, key ingredients to fully appreciating and understanding a new experience... There was an excerpt on page 261 where I wrote a note - "This should be page 1!"... There are also moments where the book contradicts itself. Regardless, it is full of wisdom. Certain sections do a thorough job of outlining the precepts and concepts of Zen such as Satori, Tathata, and Prajna; but, they take much reading to get to, very akin to climbing a mountain to reach the peak after much stumbling around in the forest. I've attached my favorite quotes below.
  
  Pg.49
  Monk asks master - "how can I escape the bondage of birth and death?"
  Zen master answers - "where are you?"
  
  Pg.129
  "When I raise my hand thus, there is Zen. But when I assert that I have raised the hand, Zen is no more there"
  
  Pg. 162
  "The whole system of Zen discipline may thus be said to be nothing but a series of attempts to set us absolutely free from all forms of bondage"
  
  Pg.174
  "The object of Zen discipline is to recognize it, and to be released from error, which are passions"
  
  Pg.177
  Huai-jang - "No amount of polishing makes a mirror out of brick... Sitting cross-legged in meditation, this is murdering the Buddha".
  
  Pg.253
  Seppo - "You are all like those who, while immersed in the ocean, extend their hands crying for water!"
  
  Pg.285
  Basho - "for life is after all a traveling from one unknown to another unknown".
• 
  Tavi

  "Some part of our being knows this is where we came from. We long to return. And we can. Because the cosmos is also within us. We're made of star-stuff. We are a way for the cosmos to know itself." Carl Sagan
• 
  michael

  Read the first chapter. Do it now!
• 
  David Bradley

  Overly academic for my interests. Overtly making sentences and words complicated.
• 
  Vivek Bhandari

  And I always wondered what Zen was about
  
  great........... pizzas are here
• 
  Melike

  Zen diyor ki, akıl kendisinin yanıt bulamayacağı sorular ortaya atıyor, bu nedenle bu sorulara yanıt bulabilecek akıldan daha üstün daha aydınlatıcı bir yeteneğin ortaya çıkabilmesi için aklı bir yana itmekten başka seçenek yok. Çünkü aklın gönül esenliğini bozan, huzur kaçıran bir özelliği var.
  
  *****
  
  İşte gerçek önümüzde durup duruyor onu öylesine doğrudan çıplak ellerimizle yakalamalıyız ki ellerimizin arasından kayıp kaçmasın. Zen’in önerisi bu. Nasıl doğa hava boşluğunu sevmezse Zen de gerçekle aramıza giren hiç bir şeyden hoşlanmaz.
  
  *****
  
  Çoğu kez Zen’in su içmeye benzediğini söylerler; çünkü suyun sıcak mı, soğuk mu olduğunu içen bilir. Zen duyarlığıyla algılama bu yaşantının en son aşamasıdır, böyle bir yaşantıdan geçmemiş, konuya yabancı olan kimselerce yadsınamaz, yokumsanamaz.
  
  *****
  
  Çekişme, didişme, boş, anlamsız şeylerle, boş heveslerle dolu olan bu dünyada göreceliğin sınırlarını aşıp, şöyle bir göz ucuyla da olsa sonsuzluğa bakabilecek gösterişsiz basit bir köşe bulabilmek gene de önemli bir şey sayılmaz mı?
• 
  Eduardo

  I began losing interest in this book about 2/3 of the way through. This is my first exposure to D.T. Suzuki so I don't know if the writings that Barrett, the editor, selected weren't as impactful on me as others that could have been selected would have been. I also don't know how much Suzuki's use of language affected me. I felt that there were many places where Suzuki's word choice felt either dated or pretentious. When I reached the selections from "The Zen Doctrine of No-Mind", the book really began to feel like an effort to relate Zen to western philosophers and readers of western thinkers, particularly James, Eckhart, Sartre, and the like. I'll be interested to read other Suzuki books to see how they compare to these.
• 
  Michelle Wruck

  I love reading Suzuki. I don’t always agree with him. In fact, I probably disagree with his major points more often than I agree with them but he’s so accessible and I love the questions he asks. Reading his books is like having a good conversation with someone very well versed in a topic (that I happen to love) but whose experience and perspective are quite different from your own. It’s engaging and thought-provoking. It has helped me clarify my own views on a number of issues within the Buddhist canon.
• 
  Kevin Gross

  Well written selection of essays from a number of his books. They vary in degree of difficulty, for my mind, to grasp. I read roughly four pages a day, slowly absorbing and (I hope) understanding.
• 
  Mel Bossa

  This book has changed my life.
• 
  Carolyn

  If our zin-zang symbol is pristine, in solitary blacks and whites, then Suzuki is all greyed over. This writing is a colloquial handshake: DT Suzuki welcoming the reader, then constructing the thatched roof of Zen Buddhism above your head as you pass through its pages. Suzuki's construct is a bit 'leaky', denying the colder corners of Zen Buddhist theory in favor of a kinder portrait of its ways. It's a lovely book for the novice, but it's not quite on-point.
• 
  tuuguide

  Kitap farklı bölmelerden oluşuyor. Ana bölmede anlatılanları ve üslubu çok sevmedim ama ilginç ve kayda değer bilgiler edinebilmek için de okumuş olmak iyiydi. Özellikle son bölümdeki Zen ve Japon kültürüyle ilgili kısım Sumiye resmi, Haiku nazımı, Kılıç kullanmanın felsefesi üzerine çizilenler çok daha keyifle okuduğum ve anlamlandırdığım kısımdı.
• 
  Sidhartha

  Suzuki is probably one of the best authors who rights on Zen Buddhism. Great analysis and explanation. He does a good job but it doesn't really help to understand Zen. Maybe because the only way to understand it is to experience it. Still the book is very useful.
• 
  Kevin

  learned quite a bit about the "un-logic" and "no-mind" of Zen, but parts of it were a chore. example - the theological hairsplitting of whether the idea of emptiness is empty itself, and things like that.
• 
  Mitch Allen

  History, practice and thought from the master, but a difficult book to get through. Repetitive, convoluted and confusing—it can be worked out with effort, and in doing so, yields the reward of a comprehensive survey.