Zen Philosophy

Shunryu Suzuki’s extraordinary gift for presenting traditional Zen teachings using ordinary language is well known to the countless readers of Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind. In Zen Is Right Here, his teachings are brought to life through stories told by his students. These living encounters with Zen are poignant, direct, humorous, paradoxical, and enlightening - and their setting in real-life contexts makes them wonderfully accessible.

La Sagesse intemporelle des samouraïs ! Lorsque vous comprendrez l’art de la stratégie, vous deviendrez invincible ! Publié pour la première fois en 1645, ce livre reste d’actualité pour les nouvelles générations. Le traité des cinq roues est considéré comme l'un des textes les plus perspicaces sur les arts subtils de l'affrontement et de la victoire à avoir vu le jour. Composé en XVII siècle par le célèbre duelliste et samouraï invaincu, Miyamoto Musashi, ce livre analyse le processus de lutte et de maîtrise des conflits qui sous-tend tous les niveaux d'interaction humaine.

This thought-provoking, wide-ranging collection brings together essays by 15 leading philosophers reflecting on what it means to live according to a philosophy of life. From Eastern philosophies (Daoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism) and classical Western philosophies (such as Aristotelianism and Stoicism), to the four major religions, as well as contemporary philosophies (such as existentialism and effective altruism), each contributor offers a lively, personal account of how they find meaning in the practice of their chosen philosophical tradition.

More of a transformative guide than a specific list of exercises devoted to any particular physical approach, Zen Body-Being explains how to create a state of mental control, enhanced feeling-awareness, correct structural alignment, increased spatial acuity, and even a greater interactive presence. Exercises are simple, often involving feeling-imagery and meditative awareness, which have a profound and sometimes instant effect. Where similar guides teach readers what to do, this book teaches readers how to be.

Asian spiritual practices, from yoga and tai chi to qigong and mindfulness meditations, permeate our culture. But these practices are often casually used in the West, and sometimes little understood. As informative as it is inviting, A Lamp unto Yourself introduces “spiritual explorers” of all experience levels to embodied Eastern spiritual practices.

In ten concise chapters, you'll learn powerful ways to meet life's challenges with wisdom, resilience, and ease.

Find yourself and tune in: such is the message of Zen. Instant Zen presents the teachings of Foyan, a twelfth-century Chinese Zen master recognized as one of the greatest masters of the Song dynasty Zen renaissance in China. These simple exercises by Foyan lead you to the awakening of insight into the real nature of self and emphasize independence and autonomy, two qualities vital to seeing and acting clearly. Newcomers will find this a useful and sophisticated introduction to authentic inner Zen practices without cultural exoticism or religious cultism.

A fascinating compendium of literary and spiritual puzzles, Treasury of the Eye of True Teaching will challenge and inspire listeners to work with great doubt themselves and to discover their inborn potential for enlightenment. Masterfully translated by one of America's foremost translators of Chinese classics into English, it is a captivating window into the literary world of Chinese Zen and essential for students of all Zen schools today.

Ancient philosophy provides us with timeless wisdom while bringing a new light on the way modern thought has been shaped by building on the ancient masters. This audiobook is a careful compilation of essential quotes summarizing each one of the great masters' fundamental ideas. Learn Stoicism from the teachings of both Marcus Aurelius, the emperor, and Epictetus the slave, each one intent on his own quest for the best possible life; discover the essence of ideas, logic and philosophy with Aristotle and his pupil Plato.

The night Brad Warner learns that his childhood friend Marky has died, Warner is about to speak to a group of Zen students in Hamburg, Germany. It’s the last thing he feels like doing. What he wants to do instead is tell his friend everything he never said, to explain Zen and what he does for a living and why he spends his time “Sitting. Sitting. Sitting. Meditating my life away as it all passes by. Lighting candles and incense. Bowing to nothing.” So, as he continues his teaching tour through Europe, he writes to his friend all the things he wishes he had said.

Here, we come to the very heart of Mahayana Buddhism and of Zen--the doctrine of prajna, particularly as it appears in Hui-Neng and his followers. The Void, which is the topic of this book, this emptiness or nothingness that stands so magnificently alone, is certainly no mere void, no common emptiness, no negligible nothingness, for it is conscious of itself as void and empty and nothing. This very statement is sufficient evidence of the fact!

The question-and-answer format makes this introduction to Zen especially easy to understand - and also to use as a reference, as you can easily look up just the question you had in mind. The esteemed Zen teacher Norman Fischer and his old friend and teaching colleague Susan Moon (both of them in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki, author of Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind) give this collaborative effort a playful tone: Susan asks a question on our behalf, Norman answers it, and then Sue challenges him.

These three sutras are the most important texts for the Chan (Chinese) and Zen (Japanese) Buddhist traditions, though they are very different in character and provenance. The Diamond Sutra (Vajracheddikā Prajña Pārāmitā Sutra in Sanskrit) has the distinction of being 'the earliest complete survival of a dated (11 May 868) printed book’. It was found in the Dunhuang Caves in China in 1900. The title, Diamond Cutter, outlines its purpose, which is to cut through ignorance to attain to perfect wisdom or ultimate reality.

In this clarifying new commentary, esteemed Zen teacher Shinshu Roberts takes listeners on a journey to understand Japan’s great Buddhist philosopher. Roberts applies her deep familiarity with Dōgen’s work to illuminate the text as a unified story in which Dōgen reveals the nondual nature of reality.

Do you want to learn the fundamentals of Buddhism? Do you want to learn it in a practical manner that actually improves your day-to-day life? Do you want to learn it in an easy-to-understand manner? Buddhism now is more popular than it has been in decades; the Buddha’s incredible teachings are starting to get the recognition they deserve. What has happened recently is a wave of books that only go over the theory of Buddhism and don’t cover the most important aspect - how Buddhism can transform your daily life and revolutionize you as a person.

Several schools of Zen developed in China in the 9th century. The Rinzai (Chinese, Lin-chi) sect of Zen was introduced to Japan by the Chinese priest Ensai in 1191. Rinzai Buddhism emphasizes the use of koans, paradoxical puzzles or questions that help the practitioner to overcome the normal boundaries of logic. Whatever the method of reaching enlightenment, once reached we realize the state of enlightenment we sought was there within us all along. The method is the gate, but there need not be any gate, since the gate is always open.

A listener-friendly guide to Zen Buddhist ethics for modern times. In the West, Zen Buddhism has a reputation for paradoxes that defy logic. In particular, the Buddhist concept of nonduality—the realization that everything in the Universe forms a single, integrated whole—is especially difficult to grasp. In The Other Side of Nothing, Zen teacher Brad Warner untangles the mystery and explains nonduality in plain English.

This new book from Zen teacher, psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and critical favorite, Barry Magid, inspires us to outgrow the impossible pursuit of happiness, and instead make peace with the perfection of the way things are. Including ourselves! Using wryly gentle prose, Magid invites readers to consider the notion that our certainty that we are broken may be turning our pursuit of happiness into a source of more suffering.

The teachings of Shunryu Suzuki have served for innumerable people as the gateway to Zen practice and meditation. In Zen Is Right Now, devoted student and biographer David Chadwick sheds new light on Suzuki’s presence and teachings through selected quotes from his lectures and a variety of stories told by his students.

National icon Willie Nelson has evolved over the years from country music outlaw swimming against a whiskey river to a Zen-like figure of wisdom and contentment. In this autobiographical collection of life advice, The Tao of Willie, one of America's truest hearts reveals the spiritual and practical lessons learned from decades of hard knocks and good bounces.