Synopses & Reviews
Zen Flesh, Zen Bones is the best-selling collection of the most popular enlightenment stories, anecdotes, and koans of Zen literature, which introduced a generation of Americans to Zen. Included here are four Zen and pre-Zen classics:
- 101 Zen Stories anecdotes and enlightenment stories of the great masters
- The Gateless Gate forty-eight Zen koans to awaken the enlightened mind
- The 10 Bulls, or "Ox-Herding Pictures," depicting the ten stages of awareness
- Centeringa four-thousand-year-old Sanskrit text that may well be one of the roots of Zen thought
Review
"Wraps up Zen as neatly as is possible." Japan Times
Review
"Clear and entertaining...paradoxical or mixed up in that still clear Zen way." Chicago Reviews
About the Author
Paul Reps, the compiler, was an American who lived in many countries, including India, Norway, and Japan, and studied many of man's efforts to find and realize his true spiritual stature. He was the author of several books of poems and prose. He once said that he felt "the equal of each grass blade and pebble and believe that it is possible to be happy though human and grown up."
Nyogen Senzaki, a Buddhist scholar of international character to whom Reps acknowledged a deep debt of gratitude, was born in Japan. Early in life he became a "homeless monk," wandering the land and studying from Buddhist monastery to monastery. His wanderings eventually took him to America, where for over 50 years he lived in California, with no connection with any sect, denomination, or cathedral, radiating the free and creative spirit of Zen upon all who cared to share his study, meditation, wisdom, and loving kindness.