The Training of the Zen Buddhist Monk – DT Suzuki

S$59.00

The Training of the Zen Buddhist Monk – DT Suzuki

S$59.00

Title: The Training of the Zen Buddhist Monk

Author: Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki, Zenchu Sato (illus)

Publisher:  University Books, 1965. Re-print of the very rare 1934 original.

Condition: Hardcover, cloth. Ex-library, with all the usual stamps and marks. In very good condition otherwise.

SKU: zen-training-suzuki Categories: , , ,

One of the most important books to introduce the West to Zen Buddhism, by the great scholar and practitioner of Zen, DT Suzuki.

About the book:

While studying at Tokyo University, DT Suzuki took up Zen practice at Engaku-ji in Kamakura studying initially with Kosen Roshi. After Kosen’s passing, Suzuki continued with Kosen’s successor at Engaku-ji, Soyen Shaku.

Under Soyen Shaku, Suzuki’s studies were essentially internal and non-verbal, including long periods of sitting meditation (zazen). The task involved what Suzuki described as four years of mental, physical, moral, and intellectual struggle. During training periods at Engaku-ji, Suzuki lived a monk’s life. He described this life and his own experience at Kamakura in his book The Training of the Zen Buddhist Monk. Suzuki characterized the facets of the training as: a life of humility; a life of labor; a life of service; a life of prayer and gratitude; and a life of meditation.

Suzuki was invited by Soyen Shaku to visit the United States in the 1890s, and Suzuki acted as English-language translator for a book written by him (1906). Though Suzuki had by this point translated some ancient Asian texts into English (e.g. Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana), his role in translating and ghost-writing aspects of Soyen Shaku’s book was more the beginning of Suzuki’s career as a writer in English.

(from wikipedia)