Buddhaliography: 10 New Zen Buddhist Book Releases

Encouraging readers to be intelligent and skillful in their practice, this new collection by Thich Nhat Hanh outlines the essential steps by which we can all obtain real and lasting happiness. Each day, we perform the tasks of everyday life without thought or awareness - walking, sitting, working, eating, driving, and much more. But Hanh points out that if we remain truly aware of our actions, no matter the task we're performing, we can stay engaged in our lives and better our outlook through mindfulness. This key practice is the foundation for this accessible, easy-to-understand volume, and an invaluable tool for change for both seasoned Buddhist practitioners and lay readers interested in bettering their lives through full awareness.

The Shinji Shobogenzo is a marvelous collection of 301 Zen koan stories in three volumes that the Japanese Buddhist master Dogen collected during his four-year stay in China. The stories were written in Chinese, and are records of conversations between Buddhist masters and their students. Dogen used many of these stories as the basis for his formal lectures in his major work, the Shobogenzo. The Shinji Shobogenzo is an essential collection that encompasses many of the well-known koan stories, with many interesting and less familiar ones, together with the comments of a contemporary Buddhist master renowned for his clear and no-nonsense approach. Gudo Nishijima Roshi has published a complete translation and commentary on the stories in Japanese, and he first dictated an English translation to three of his students in the early 1980`s, together with a commentary on each story, which was produced in three volumes. Only the first of the three volumes was published, but it is now long out of print. This new and completely revised version comprises all three volumes in one edition, together with Nishijima`s refreshingly down-to-earth explanations of the stories.

Wei Wu Wei goes right for the root. He takes away everything, and leaves nothing. Then he takes that away. -- Joan Tollifson, author of Bare-Bones Meditation

Between the years 1958 and 1974, a series of books appeared that were attributed to the mysterious Wei Wu Wei, who joined Paul Reps, Alan Watts, and Philip Kapleau as one of the earliest and most profound interpreters of Buddhism. This new edition of the first of those books, Fingers Pointing Towards the Moon, draws on Zen Buddhism, Taoism, and the teachings of Ramana Maharshi, to point to the "moon" of understanding. "Nine-tenths of the ideas which occupy our thoughts," says Wei Wu Wei, "have no existence in Reality."

"This creative work, presented from the perspective of a Western Zen teacher, adds a significant contribution in helping to make Zen more global in its application as a spiritual path."-Shohaku Okumura, Dharma Successor of Kosho Uchiyama Roshi and founder of Sanshin Zen Community in Bloomington, Indiana

"We are fortunate to receive this important new translation by Kaz Tanahashi and Daido Loori of Zen Master Dogen's early selection of three hundred koans that formed a basis for his many later koan commentaries. Daido Loori's introduction discussing Dogen's approach counteracts prevalent stereotypes that base all koan practice on later eighteenth-century training systems. Daido Loori's brief remarks and verse comments after each case suggest helpful perspectives for practitioners."-Taigen Dan Leighton, cotranslator and editor, Dogen's Extensive Record and Dogen's Pure Standards for the Zen Community

"What Daido Roshi now does in a remarkable way is to breathe new life into the text by innovatively creating prose and verse comments. The Mana Shobogenzo lives again, and for the lucky readers so does the thought of Dogen Zenji transmitted to the twenty-first century."-Steven Heine, co-editor of Dogen's Extensive Record

"In this astonishing resource, John Daido Loori Roshi has provided commentary and verses on each koan. These koans yank us away from our preconceptions and fixed ideas, forcing us to see what is real. They perplex us and exhaust reason."-Spirituality & Health

"Loori Roshi offers to modern students new entry into this profound and ancient practice."-Tricycle

Buddhist masters of the past have explained the relationship between Buddhist theory and the Truth by way of a simple metaphor. The Truth, they say, is like the distant moon. Ideas, theories, and explanations are merely fingers pointing at that far-away goal. They are not, and can never be, the moon itself. So this book is one such finger, a finger pointing at the moon, but the moon itself can be touched by you alone... The Buddhism which emerges from To Meet the Real Dragon is Buddhism for real people: ordinary human beings with ordinary human problems. It is humanistic Zen--Zen for human beings. Here are a few of the topics covered by this very readable book: What is Religion, Meeting a True Master, Master Dogen, Science and Buddhism, Idealism and Materialism, Gautama Buddha, The Four Noble Truths, The Transmission of the Truth, Cause and Effect, Not Doing Wrong, Action: The Center of Buddhism, Zazen, The Four Philosophies.

This book is required reading for any student of Zen Buddhism or Japanese religion and will remain a standard reference for years to come.
(David E. Riggs Monumenta Nipponica )

[This book] presents so much new information in such an insightful and accessible manner. By doing so, The Other Side of Zen helps us to begin to realize just how much we do not know and do not understand. Williams shows us several previously unexplored landscapes and gives us a tour of a few of their notable features. One can only hope that the terra incognito he reveals will attract future scholars to map in more detail its ways and byways.
(William M. Bodiford Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies )

Review
The Other Side of Zen brings to light the vital but little studied social dimension of early modern Japanese Zen. Drawing on a wealth of hitherto untapped sources, Williams offers insightful analyses of how Soto Zen temples won and maintained broad lay support by providing rites for healing and protection in this world and salvation in the next. This fascinating study will be essential reading for students and scholars of Buddhism and Japanese religion and has much to offer anyone interested in the social roles of religion.
(Jacqueline Stone, Princeton University )