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bittersweet_symphony's review against another edition
4.0
Zen Buddhism is more a lifestyle, a way of liberation, than it is a religion or a belief system: "it is anything but a philosophy in the western sense of the word." As such, it continues to be one of the most difficult subjects I've tried to understand and live. Yet, it somehow feels so natural.
Knowing that Suzuki had a huge influence on Alan Watts, and having read several of "the spiritual entertainer's" books, I knew I needed to dig deeper, to get closer to the source. While less humorous and witty than Watts, Suzuki still offers a fairly accessible introduction to Zen. He writes with a blend of humility and authority.
I welcomed the foreword from Carl Jung, another person who has influenced my perspectives. In attempting to bridge the gap between the East and the West, Jung writes "I have no doubt that the satori experience does occur also in the West, for we too have men who scent ultimate ends and will spare themselves no pains to draw near to them. But they will keep silence, not only out of shyness but because they know that any attempt to convey their experiences to others would be hopeless." As a plug for his own field of work, as justifiably so, he points out that "the only movement within our culture which partly has, and partly should have, some understanding of these aspirations is psychotherapy." (for more, read Psychotherapy, East and West by Alan Watts)
Everything is Zen. Zen is radically concrete and anti-abstraction: "personal experience, therefore, is everything in Zen. No ideas are intelligible to those who have no backing of experience." Truth is delivered through lived sermons, paradoxical statements known as koans. "Zen is the spirit of a man. Zen believes in his inner purity and goodness. Zen, therefore, is emphatically against all religious conventionalism...Zen is a wafting cloud in the sky. No screw fastens it, no string holds it; it moves as it lists. No amount of meditation will keep Zen in one place. Meditation is not zen."
Suzuki blasts rationalism for its limitations: "Zen in inflexible and would protest that the so-called common-sense way of looking at things is final, and that the reason why we cannot attain to a thoroughgoing comprehension of the truth is due to our unreasonable adherence to a 'logical' interpretation of things. If we really want to get to the bottom of life, we must abandon our cherished syllogisms, we must acquire a new way of observation whereby we can escape the tyranny of logic and the one-sidedness of our everyday phraseology." He challenges intellectualization even further: "in Zen it means not to get entangled in intellectual subtleties, not to be carried away by philosophical reasoning that is so often ingenuous and full of sophistry...In this sense, Zen is pre-eminently practical. It has nothing to do with abstractions or with subtleties of dialectics..the reason why Zen is so vehement in its attack on logic...is that logic has so pervasively entered into life as to make most of us conclude that logic is life and without it life has no significance."
Zen is not some set of abstractions to be learned and repeated. It is a living truth. "Copying is slavery. The letter must never be followed, only the spirit is to be grasped. Higher affirmations live in the spirit."
Perhaps the insight most helpful for me in understanding Zen: "a finger is needed to point at the moon, but what a calamity it would be if one took the finger for the moon!"
Honestly, it is a near-impossible task to instruct people in the ways of Zen using text, but when most of us don't have the opportunity to live face to face with a Zen master, Suzuki offers some encouraging insights. His collection of short essays nudge one's state of mind in the direction of zen. It appears that satori can require many years to achieve or one incredible moment of enlightenment.
I still prefer the work of Alan Watts, but I think most of us westerners will better understand Watts after having read D.T. Suzuki.
Knowing that Suzuki had a huge influence on Alan Watts, and having read several of "the spiritual entertainer's" books, I knew I needed to dig deeper, to get closer to the source. While less humorous and witty than Watts, Suzuki still offers a fairly accessible introduction to Zen. He writes with a blend of humility and authority.
I welcomed the foreword from Carl Jung, another person who has influenced my perspectives. In attempting to bridge the gap between the East and the West, Jung writes "I have no doubt that the satori experience does occur also in the West, for we too have men who scent ultimate ends and will spare themselves no pains to draw near to them. But they will keep silence, not only out of shyness but because they know that any attempt to convey their experiences to others would be hopeless." As a plug for his own field of work, as justifiably so, he points out that "the only movement within our culture which partly has, and partly should have, some understanding of these aspirations is psychotherapy." (for more, read Psychotherapy, East and West by Alan Watts)
Everything is Zen. Zen is radically concrete and anti-abstraction: "personal experience, therefore, is everything in Zen. No ideas are intelligible to those who have no backing of experience." Truth is delivered through lived sermons, paradoxical statements known as koans. "Zen is the spirit of a man. Zen believes in his inner purity and goodness. Zen, therefore, is emphatically against all religious conventionalism...Zen is a wafting cloud in the sky. No screw fastens it, no string holds it; it moves as it lists. No amount of meditation will keep Zen in one place. Meditation is not zen."
Suzuki blasts rationalism for its limitations: "Zen in inflexible and would protest that the so-called common-sense way of looking at things is final, and that the reason why we cannot attain to a thoroughgoing comprehension of the truth is due to our unreasonable adherence to a 'logical' interpretation of things. If we really want to get to the bottom of life, we must abandon our cherished syllogisms, we must acquire a new way of observation whereby we can escape the tyranny of logic and the one-sidedness of our everyday phraseology." He challenges intellectualization even further: "in Zen it means not to get entangled in intellectual subtleties, not to be carried away by philosophical reasoning that is so often ingenuous and full of sophistry...In this sense, Zen is pre-eminently practical. It has nothing to do with abstractions or with subtleties of dialectics..the reason why Zen is so vehement in its attack on logic...is that logic has so pervasively entered into life as to make most of us conclude that logic is life and without it life has no significance."
Zen is not some set of abstractions to be learned and repeated. It is a living truth. "Copying is slavery. The letter must never be followed, only the spirit is to be grasped. Higher affirmations live in the spirit."
Perhaps the insight most helpful for me in understanding Zen: "a finger is needed to point at the moon, but what a calamity it would be if one took the finger for the moon!"
Honestly, it is a near-impossible task to instruct people in the ways of Zen using text, but when most of us don't have the opportunity to live face to face with a Zen master, Suzuki offers some encouraging insights. His collection of short essays nudge one's state of mind in the direction of zen. It appears that satori can require many years to achieve or one incredible moment of enlightenment.
I still prefer the work of Alan Watts, but I think most of us westerners will better understand Watts after having read D.T. Suzuki.
staypositive's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
4.0
justsimplehonestjuice's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Physical abuse
vagrantshark's review against another edition
For the first time in nearly a decade, I've been unable to actually finish a book. Despite being only 100+ pages, Suzuki crams a 20+ page forward by Carl Jung which wasn't really necessary. I'm no stranger to various Eastern thought, such as Taoism, Buddhism, etc; but this is an obtuse, dense, and, to be perfectly honest, angrily written collection. I conceptually understand what is being said and unsaid here, I do. I just couldn't get past the vilifying responses to critics early in the reading. Which made exceedingly little sense to bother responding to at all. Just move on.
fallingletters's review against another edition
4.0
Zen wants us to acquire an entirely new point of view whereby to look into the mysteries of life and the secrets of nature. This is because Zen has come to the definite conclusion that the ordinary logical process of reasoning is powerless to give final satisfaction to our deepest spiritual needs. (pg. 29)
Shortly before the libraries closed, I checked out a stack of books that you might call English-language classics on Zen Buddhism. This is the first one I've finished. I could only read it a few pages at a time. Lots to digest! While this book has 'introduction' in its title, I'm glad I didn't read it earlier. I think, as an introduction for someone with zero familiarity with Buddhism or even Zen, it would prove a difficult and discouraging read. It remains a 'difficult' read because of the nature of Zen. But this book, first published in 1934 and based on articles the author wrote in 1914, is definitely worth a read if you are keen to dig in to Zen Buddhism. It helped me understand Zen better than anything I've read before (though the foundation of other readings helped me with this book).
I should note that I did not read the 21 page introduction from Jung.
trisweb's review against another edition
4.0
Fascinating book masterfully detailing the concepts of Zen. The first section of the book is the most interesting, as Suzuki attempts to reveal the meaning of zen without much explanation, but somehow by the end you have an idea of not just what he's talking of, but why he chose a seemingly illogical method of teaching, and what all of that means. The last half of the book slows down and, in my opinion, retreats from zen slightly as it goes into the daily life of a Zen Buddhist monk. But then, it is all Zen, after all. A wonderful quick and enlightening read.