The Little Zen Companion
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Book Overview
While it seeks neither to define Zen nor answer its most famous koan (a riddle unanswerable by conventional thinking, in this case the sound of one hand clapping), this bestselling little book with 437,000 copies in print possesses a maverick Zen spirit that points to a different way of looking at the world. With each page featuring a quote, phrase, story, koan, haiku, or poem, Zen Companion combines the feeling and format of a meditation book with 2,500 years of wisdom-from Lao-tzu and Groucho Marx, William Carlos Williams and The Little Prince, D. T. Suzuki and Walker Percy, the Buddha and the Bible, Einstein and Gertrude Stein. It's a celebration of intuition: If a man wishes to be sure of the road he treads on, he must close his eyes and walk in the dark-St. John the Cross. Individuality: Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the men of old; seek what they sought.-Basho. Uncomplicated nature: Among twenty snowy mountains/The only moving thing/Was the eye of the blackbird.-Wallace Stevens. Childlike spontaneity: Goodnight stars. Goodnight air.-Margaret Wise Brown. Irreverent paradox: Wakuan complained when he saw a picture of bearded Bodhidharma: 'Why hasn't that fellow a beard?' And above all, the simple pleasure of life lived in the moment. Chop wood, carry water.
Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:1563054671
ISBN13:9781563054679
Release Date:January 1994
Publisher:Workman Publishing
Length:389 Pages
Weight:0.46 lbs.
Dimensions:1.1" x 4.3" x 4.3"
Customer Reviews
5 ratings
The Little Zen Companion that is
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 18 years ago
I have bought six of these books and given them to friends and relatives, keeping one for myself. I find myself reading it continually. Every day I read a few pages and that helps set the tone for the day. The book has brought together some of the most poetic and profound Zenlike sayings and thoughts. I gave a copy to a friend who asked what Zen is. This is not a Zen textbook and yet it is. Zen is not linear or analytic. It is intuitive, poetic. And that's the way this book feels. I recommend you buy it, read a few pages per day until there is no one reading and nothing to read.
Woderful little book
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 23 years ago
You will learn little about ZEN in any worth while sense with this book, but if you are just beginning to wonder what ZEN is this is a great book. It gives you quotes from many traditions and personalities and it is very easy find things to inspire further thought and experience. If you're more familiar with ZEN it's still a great book because of the diversity of its source material and for the ocassional quick whack up-side the head. If you want SERIOUS zen books check out Meditation in Action (or Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism) -- by Chogyam Trungpa
Here is why it has western quotes:
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 24 years ago
It is because it is a book of zen mind-set, not philosophy! Not all the great thinkers and philosophies are from Asia (just read "The Tao of Pooh" for example)and while Zen may have been formalized in Japan, there have been some pretty enlightened people in the rest of the world too. In short: zen is where you find it, and it is everywhere. As for the format; it is supposed to be an easy read. One can pick it up, flip to any page and have a little reminder of what this crazy life is all about. It is a simple (and I dare say, elegant) collection of quotes. I have never seen it sold otherwise. The reviews say it is a quote book and I saw it was a quote book when I flipped though it at a book store. You are right in that there are books out there with more detail and are better at recalling zen history, however this book is not, and was never meant to be, one of them. p.s. I remember reading of a zen master hearing a reading of the Bible's "The Surmon on the Mount". He commented that whoever wrote it must have been a Budda!
FOR ANYONE who doesn't mind thinking...
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 25 years ago
This book is wonderful, even if you are not into zen. It has all the best quotes and sayings, eastern AND western, funny, profound, or familiar. It is a good book for a break at work. Keep it handy on your desk or in your bag for a quick time-out!
A travelling companion
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 25 years ago
This is a wonderful little book of insights, I take it everywhere with me and dip into it for inspiration.
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