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Motorcycle Book Store > Motorcycle books beginning with L
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Living And Dying In Zazen: Five Zen Masters Of Modern Japan |
Author: Arthur Braverman
Published: 2003-03-01 |
List price: $16.95
Our price: $15.25
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As of: December 03rd, 2008 03:44:58 PM
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Customer comments on this selection.
 Magnificent!
This is one of the 3 essential books for a practitioner's library:
1. Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind.
2. Zen and the Art of Archery.
3. Living and Dying in ZaZen.
The rest are dust collectors.
Great Book
I absolutely love this book. There is not much to say. The book combines travel-log, history, discussion on Zen, and many more things, and is a joy to read, especially Sodo Yokoyama's part. Although some more photos would have been nice.
contemporary zen masters
braverman has a thorough grasp of his material and presents it in a most interesting way............I strongly recommend this book
 interesting travelog
This book is indeed a memoir of the author in which he recollects his time in Japan and the Zen masters he has met. It provides some interesting cultural background about the Zen as practiced in Japan in the early 70ies and the challenges Westerners faced when trying to practice there.
However, it's not a buddhist book, not a book about Zen as such. So it's not exactly what it promises to be. And the writing is not particularly sharp, I struggled to finish it.
A Gem of Enlightnenment
Arthur Braverman has skillfully and honestly woven together portraits of 5 modern Zen masters with his own experiences in Japan into a beautiful tapestry. If you have read Mud and Water, on Master Bassui (highly recommended) you'll know that Braverman writes prose with the lucid acuity of a poet. Don't miss this opportunity to gain the acquaintance of these masters!
For many western readers, Living and Dying in Zazen may represent a first acquaintance of the lives and teachings of masters such as Motoko, Sawaki, Yokoyama, and Kato. If you acquire the book only for its descriptions of Uchiyama, that alone is more than worth the price. The narrative flows smoothly and effortlessly. Moreover, the book is pure pleasure to read on a number of different levels.
This is a book about human beings in the context of their place and time, and how the meanings of their lives transcend both and can touch yours. It's unique. Honest self-reflection is not self-indulgence. Zazen is either where you are or its nowhere.
Anyone looking for a hagiography, a holy biography of superhuman heroes of long ago and far away, there are many shelves of that type of book a few aisles over. That's a different path.
However, anyone looking for an honest account of the eloquent living, not just the words, of modern Japanese Zen masters as real human beings, it's right here.
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