For over thirty years, Opening the Hand of Thought has offered an introduction to Zen Buddhism and meditation unmatched in clarity and power. This is the revised edition of Kosho Uchiyama's singularly incisive classic.This new edition contains even more useful material: new prefaces, an index, and extended endnotes, in addition to a revised glossary. As Jisho Warner writes in her preface, Opening the Hand of Thought "goes directly to the heart of Zen practice... s...

For over thirty years, Opening the Hand of Thought has offered an introduction to Zen Buddhism and meditation unmatched in clarity and power. This is the revised edition of Kosho Uchiyama's singularly incisive classic.This new edition contains even more useful material: new prefaces, an index, and extended endnotes, in addition to a revised glossary. As Jisho Warner writes in her preface, Opening the Hand of Thought "goes directly to the heart of Zen practice . . ...

The human mind is inherently free. It neither affirms nor denies. It is not constrained by the conflict of the opposites, like right and wrong or self and others. An awakened mind knows that the dynamic unity between self and others forms part of an integrated whole. Having direct knowledge of this mind brings profound peace. The teachings of the Buddha point the way to acquire this knowledge through direct personal experience.In this intriguing and enlightening collection of stori...

Because words can no more hold the truth than a net can hold water, we use koans. Koans are sayings, or doings, of Zen masters, the patriarchs and Buddha. Take for example the koan: The Sound of One Hand clapping. In its entirety it reads: "You know the sound of two hands clapping. What is the sound of one hand clapping?" The obvious, intellectual answer is, No sound at all! But then what is this No sound? In other words, is it just silence?If one is to work on this koan, indeed on ...

Shikantaza--or "just sitting"--is one of the simplest, most subtle forms of meditation, and one of the most easily misunderstood. This peerless volume brings together a wealth of writings, from the Buddha himself to Bodhidharma and Dogen and many of modern Zen Buddhism's most influential masters, all pointing directly to the heart of this powerful practice. Edited by one of America's pre-eminent Zen teachers, this book is a rich resource for wisdom seekers and scholars alike.

Dogen, the thirteenth-century Zen master who founded the Japanese Soto school of Zen, is renowned as one the world's most remarkable religious geniuses. His works are both richly poetic and deeply insightful and philosophical, pointing to the endless depths of Zen exploration. And almost precisely because of these facts, Dogen is often difficult for readers to understand and fully appreciate.Realizing Genjokoan is a comprehensive introduction to the teachings and approach ...

Eihei Dogen, the thirteenth-century Zen master who founded the Japanese Soto School of Zen, is renowned as one of the world's most remarkable religious thinkers. As Shakespeare does with English, Dogen utterly transforms the language of Zen, using it in novel and extraordinarily beautiful ways to point to everything important in the religious life.He is known for two major works. The first work, the massive Shobogenzo (Treasury of the True Dharma Eye), represents his early...

A Japanese master offers a Zen perspective on the nature of time and being, further exploring the concepts of impermanence, living in the present moment, and moreIt’s easy to regard time as a commodity—we even speak of “saving” or “spending” it. We often regard it as an enemy, when we feel it slipping away before we’re ready for time to be up. The Zen view of time is radically different than that: time is not something separate from our life; rather, our life i...

What happens when I die? is the question every human being asks, usually in private, sometimes in the middle of the night, and almost always without receiving a satisfying answer. In this compact and startlingly direct book, David Tuffley PhD turns to one of the oldest and most sophisticated accounts of dying ever compiled, the Bardo Thodol, better known in the West as the Tibetan Book of the Dead, and distils its wisdom into a guide a modern reader can actually use.Rather than tre...

The basic message of all the Mahayana Buddhist sutras is awakening - what the Zen teacher Bassui called "seeing the wordless sutra." Zen and the Sutras is an accessible study of the major Mahayana sutras as manuals for the practice of Zen. Low's insights and conclusions about spirituality and humanity will both illuminate and inspire, in the way of Zen, in the search for spiritual awakening.

Hakuin Zenji is one of Japan's most celebrated Zen masters. Tradition tells us that he single-handedly revived Rinzai Zen in Japan. He was an artist, calligrapher and writer, as well as being a Zen master. He said that writing is verbal prajna and his writings are vigorous, courageous, and always to the point. The Chant in Praise of Zazen, Zazen Wasan, is justifiably one of his best-known works.

Albert Low, teacher and director at the Montreal Zen Center and dharma heir of Roshi Philip Kapleau, provides an engaging collection of talks, stories and commentaries on Zen. Though the entries range from dharma talks on koans to discussions on Buddhism and Christianity, they all address concrete concerns of our lives and reveal the author's profound insights.