The Zen of Farting

by Reepah Gud Wan

In 1993, a Taiwanese fisherman opened a chest that had been in his family for centuries. Inside, he found a manuscript which may be as significant as the Dead Sea scrolls—a manuscript which will revolutionize our thinking about the origins of Zen. Written on a rice paper scroll, the manuscript records the teachings of the founder of Zen, the Master Reepah Gud Wan. It makes it quite clear that Reepah, a legitimate teacher of Buddhism, was frustrated by the inability of his students to grasp the abstract concepts of the Buddha. In desperation, he decided to play a joke on them. He invented the Zen of Farting, confident that even the densest pupil would realize that he was making a joke and laugh at his excessive seriousness—not to mention his farts.

The joke went over like a stale air biscuit. Soon, the Master had thousands of students eager to learn this brave new spiritual teaching, the Zen of Farting. Thus was Zen born, not of heaven, but of the 'ethereal child of earth.'

Genres: Humor

104 pages, Paperback

First published September 11, 2003

Reviews

[Les Gehman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sorry Reepah Gud Wan I'm gonna have to Reppah Yu A Nu Wan for this travesty. I've read that the average person farts 10 to 20 times a day. By that metric, I'm way, way above average, and I think my experience applies to reviewing this book. I bought this book thinking either that it was going to be really funny, or really insightful. Unfortunately, it failed at both. There was not a chuckle, chortle, or even a cheesy grin, and certainly no laughing out loud, to be had while reading this book. It was just plain dull, with an overly long introduction that could act as a cure for insomnia. As far as usefulness, I had hoped for a book that could teach me to throw my farts like a ventriloquist (there's only so many times you can blame the dog before the wife becomes suspicious), or to at least creatively own up to my flatulence with pride. Alas, no such knowledge was imparted by this book. The best that I can say about this book is that it's a short, quick read. Also, Benjamin Franklin covered this subject much better 200 years ago. Go buy Fart Proudly: Writings of Benjamin Franklin You Never Read in School for a better fart book.

[Jade Lauron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant.