http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillip_Kapleau

He passed away last year, at the ripe ole age of 91.
Imagine being the court reporter for the Nuremburg trials. Wow! No wonder he sought relief.
Sure, I've heard of him, but I am only now reading his classic Three Pillars of Zen.

http://www.rzc.org/html/abc/roshi_kapleau.shtml

Masao Abe seems like a good place to begin, since he
has long engaged in dialogue with Christian theologians Karl Rahner, Hans Kung and Wolfhart Pannenberg. He is helping Christians seek peace through understanding the dharma.

http://www.natcath.com/NCR_Onl...b/060499/060299r.htm

It's a good way to unwrap from a mindtrap...

mindtrap.org

If the Dalai Lama is the Pepsi of Buddhism, this man
is the Coca-Cola! So far, I have read ten of the twelve books listed in wikipedia, but he has written over one-hundred. He's a poet and activist
as was his freind, Thomas Merton.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thich_Nhat_Hanh

Just finishing the Anger book, which is a good read and very practical guide for everyday use. Like the Dalai Lama, he seems to be writing simply and directly in order to reach a wide audience. I'm loaning my copy to someone who has never read a Zen book.

All good guys, MM. One of my favorite Zen guys is the Bankei. His book, The Unborn, describes the zen enlightenment experience in a way that anyone can relate to -- as the consciousness we possess before we "do" anything with it. His story is also quite remarkable, and is described in depth in that book. There are some good links to his life and work on google.

I know somebody who was one of Thich Nhat Hanh's monks at Plum Village for about ten years, and while she repects her old teacher, it's pretty clear to her he was fairly inept in dealing with the emotional crises arising from prolonged meditation. All of this inspite of Thich Nhat Hanh's various tapes on dealing with emotions. And so the cultural biases seem impossible to filter out of the guru-disciple relationship. In fact, they seem to get magnified.

I guess that Naropa doesn't even get into Bankei until week 13. Thanks Phil, I didn't know about Bankei.

http://www.zenriver.nl/literature.htm

A list of Zen books above and a new Bankei book:

http://www.enotalone.com/books/0802131840.html

How do we credit these Amazon books to shalomplace? I know you already told us, but I am slow.

w.c.,

I'm sorry your freind had a less than satisfactory
experience at Plum Village. It is prudent to warn spiritual seekers about dangers and difficulties.

---------------------------------------------------

Here's a freind of Thomas Merton's :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daisetz_Teitaro_Suzuki

Susuki's Zen Manual online:

http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/mzb/

The famous oxherding pictures.

http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/mzb/oxherd.htm

Afraid I'm not that far along, maybe up to the fourth or fifth picture, which is why I am great-full for your help. Most people probably never get that far anyway.

peace,

mm <*)))))><

Ok, maybe the fifth or sixth level. 800 year olde spiral dynamics.

The greatest Japanese religious mind of all time, the Nipponese Apostle Paul?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogen

His magnum opus:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shobogenzo

I'm still looking forward to those last five ox herding pictures, but by then I will have to be a 007 mystic so they won't kill me.

Another reason I like the ox herding pictures is being born in the year of the ox. Mu!

Much of Zen literature is hard to make heads or tails of, unless someone already has considerable background in it. In addition to the materials mentioned above, though, there are the contemporary writings of Shunryu Suzuki, the founder of San Francisco Zen Center. His best known is:

Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind

Published more recently is a little book called:

To Shine One Corner of the World

There's also a very readable biography, that includes a fair number of Suzuki Roshi's sayings:

Crooked Cucumber , by David Chadwick.

I have a large amount of material from the classic Zen texts copied out in Word documents, arranged by topic and by teacher. Should anyone be interested, feel free to contact me.

~ Dave

I am currently reading Zen Mind, Beginners Mind and
The Zen Doctrine of no Mind by D.T. Suzuki.

I will have to read them more than once.

I'd like to find out if Zen and the Art of Archery
is still in print. That was my first exposure, about 12 years ago. Very challenging. How do they do that?

Zen is still popular. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is currently the number 4 nonfiction book in Colorado, after over 30 years in print. More of a gateway book, some people say
he doesn't know anything about Zen or bikes. He is a genius, but I have never been able to finish it.

Very pleased to meet you, Dave! <*)))))>< mm