Zen and the Sutras (Tuttle Library of Enlightenment) by Albert Low

by Albert Low

The basic message of all the Mahayana Buddhist sutras is awakening - what the Zen teacher Bassui called "seeing the wordless sutra." Zen and the Sutras is an accessible study of the major Mahayana sutras as manuals for the practice of Zen. Low’s insights and conclusions about spirituality and humanity will both illuminate and inspire, in the way of Zen, in the search for spiritual awakening.

Genres: Buddhism, Philosophy

Paperback

First published February 15, 1999

About the author

Albert William Low was a western Zen master in the Philip Kapleau-lineage, an internationally published author, and a former human resources executive. He lived in England, South Africa, Canada, and the United States and resided in Montreal since 1979. He held a BA degree in Philosophy and Psychology, and was a trained counselor. In 2003, he was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws for scholastic attainment and community service by Queen's University, in Kingston, Ontario.

Reviews

[Tom Booker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Low relates five Mahayana sutras to Zen, specifically koan practice. The essence of the book is that awakening to our True Nature (Alaya) is enlightenment, and this can be done through koans that arouse the ‘thoughtless thought’. It’s a relatively advanced text without the jargon.

The sutras included are undoubtedly key ones in Zen, but I might have also expected chapters on, or at least more references to, the Lotus and Samdhinirmocana sutras.

The author consults various commentaries and critically assesses them. For example, he seemed to disagree with several of Suzuki’s translations and interpretations regarding the Lankavatara sutra. Low makes some innovative translations, such as Tathagata being ‘to come to’ (as in awaken after fainting) and dukkha as ‘twoness’ (in the sense of separation). He also makes some nonstandard translations that aren’t always helpful.

Like many other Western Zen masters, he loves Nisargadatta Maharaj and also quotes Jesus extensively, interpretting his teachings in a Zen way.

Some of his ideas are fascinating, such as about consciousness and memory, but before I get to his good quotes, I do have to note that he also said some strange things, such as “God does not know He is God.” This doesn’t make sense.

Good quotes:
- Our need for a sense of self has an intrinsic quality: the need to be unique.
- All aggressive activity has, as an essential element, the assertion of self at the expense of others.
- It is precisely the idea of being a relative thing, one among many, bound in space and time, that the Diamond Sutra, and all Zen training, is trying to rid us of.
- It is a great moment when we realise that we do not have to be something to know, or know something to be, and can lay down the burden of purpose, reason and goals.
- We need not be afraid of emptiness … we lose nothing in coming to awakening except our illusions … it is the death of death … everything stands out as perfect.
- We are enslaved by the world because we feel that, in order to be, we are dependent on the world and its values.
- Basically, in Zen practice, one is taught “Nothing needs to be done”. The problem is that people do not realize how radical this nothing is that needs to be done. Just as Vimalakirti says that emptiness itself is empty, this nothing that needs to be done is, itself, nothing that needs to be done.
- The culmination of Buddhist practice, according to the Zen tradition, is to awaken to the pure aspect of Alaya
- The content of awareness is simply the manifestation of the unborn awareness. It is this change of content that we call memory.
- Awareness is passing time.
- We are aware of all the memory of the beginningless past … preserved in a way beyond consciousness and ready for further evolution.
- One who works on a koan is an artist without an art. [referring to awareness without content]
- There is another meaning of subjective: not divided into inside and outside, without separation.

[Pine Cone Boy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciated the in-depth look at each sutra, and found the explanations of their underlying philosophy and relation to broader Zen Buddhism accessible even for a layman. I was also pleased to find that the author does not shy away from tackling complex metaphysical notions within Buddhism, rather than watering them down to truisms as I find some authors writing for a Western audience do.

I did find the glossary largely unhelpful, though, and question why the author thought to include in it biographical notes for various Christian mystics and definitions of largely irrelevant Hindu concepts or texts, but not explanations of multi-layered Sanskrit terms like "alayavijnana," to which the author makes frequent reference. I also continue to be irritated by how often Western Buddhist authors make hamfisted attempts to invoke Jesus or Christian concepts in relation to Buddhism, especially when they clearly don't have a good grasp of Christian theology themselves - similarities or differences are fine to point out (insofar as they're actually legitimate or serve to illustrate a point; I have yet to see any instances that do so), but if I wanted more than that, I wouldn't be reading a book on Buddhism.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those books you'll need to go back to over and over again--not just because it's well written and understandable, but because it will be so useful in continuing practice.
I don't know much about Buddhism or Zen, but Albert Low is able to explore the more obscure points in such a way that it was easy to follow. This kind of practice can be very challenging, but he makes it feel approachable.

Definitely a good read, and I'm looking forward to more of his work.

[Seanna]

His notes on the Vimlakurti sutra are very helpful