The Three Pillars of Zen: Teaching, Practice, and Enlightenment

アメリカでの数少ないフィリップ禅師が、04年5月6日に亡くなったそうです。仏門に入る前は、本国で裁判の書記を務めており、第二次世界大戦後に東京裁判で来日。その後、戦争そのものに疑問を感じた彼は、以後13年間に渡り日本で禅の修業に励みました。 この本では、禅ビギナーのためにその基本（呼吸、姿勢、集中）を中心に解説しています。曹洞宗と臨済宗の複合型の禅です。 特に禅に興味のある方、メンタル面やフィジカル面を高めたい方にとって読むに十分値する書です。

The editor, an American Zen Buddhist teacher, presents a collection of personal experiences, letters, and lecture transcriptions to show the reality of Zen practice. This is different from many other books on Zen, which instead focus on the philosophical side of Zen rather than its praxis. There are three main features of Zen practice -- zazen (meditation), teisho (formal commentary on Buddhist teachings) and dokusan (personal meeting with the master (roshi)). Zazen is at the heart of Zen practice though, as it is through meditation that one is expected to focus the mind and break through illusions. Zazen is often coupled with koans, in particular koans centering around the concept of "Mu" (nothingness). Through zazen and koan practice, the individual aims to eliminate the primary illusion -- the illusion of duality -- and come to realize the oneness of all beings and time. Interestingly for me, there is not one stage of enlightenment. Rather, enlightenment is a process, such that individuals can be "more" enlightened than others. I found the stories of individuals attaining enlightenment to be simultaneously an interesting and skepticism-inducing section of the book. Several of the stories come from Americans who seem interested, in addition to Zen, in various other forms of "woo": yoga, Jungian psychology, birth trauma, etc. This makes me skeptical of the veracity and depth of their "enlightenment", a skepticism that is only heightened by the backdoor conceit that individuals have different levels of enlightenment. The book is well-written and an interesting introduction to Zen Buddhist practice, especially how it was understood by Americans in the early-1960s.

Eines der besten Bücher über Buddhismus die ich je gelesen habe. Faszinierende Einblicke in die Praxis von Zen.

Come curioso e persona attratta dall'Oriente, questo è un libro che mi ha avvicinato molto al Buddismo Zen. Chiaro, con concetti ben spiegati, è una base per chiunque voglia avvicinarsi a questo modo di vivere e pensare.

I came to this book because Michael Singer said he read it during his initial spiritual awakening. This book has helped me gain a deep understanding of Zen Buddhism and how to practice Zazen. One major contribution to my spriritual pursuit was and is the need to improve my flexibility. The book provides some exercises to do in order to achieve this so that one can get into the half lotus and then eventually into the fill lotus. Once again, definitely a beneficial read for the spiritual aspirant, at the least will simply add to one’s knowledge of the different ways in which humans of old have achieved enlightenment.

Good