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Night Boat
My childhood name was Iwajiro, and I was eight years old when I first entered at the gates of hell...
One night in eighteenth-century Japan, at the hour of the Ox, a young boy named Iwajiro sits in a state of pure concentration. At the foot of Mount Fuji, behind screen walls and amidst curls of incense smoke Iwajiro chants the Tenjin Sutra, an act of devotion learned from his beloved mother.
On the side of the same mountain, twenty years on, he will sit in perfect stillness as the summit erupts, spitting fire and molten rock onto the land around him. This is not the first time he has seen hell.
This man will become Hakuin, one of the greatest teachers in the history of Zen. His quest for truth will call on him to defy his father, to face death, to find love and to lose it. He will ask, what is the sound of one hand clapping? And he will master his greatest fear.
Night Boat is the story of his tremendous life.
One night in eighteenth-century Japan, at the hour of the Ox, a young boy named Iwajiro sits in a state of pure concentration. At the foot of Mount Fuji, behind screen walls and amidst curls of incense smoke Iwajiro chants the Tenjin Sutra, an act of devotion learned from his beloved mother.
On the side of the same mountain, twenty years on, he will sit in perfect stillness as the summit erupts, spitting fire and molten rock onto the land around him. This is not the first time he has seen hell.
This man will become Hakuin, one of the greatest teachers in the history of Zen. His quest for truth will call on him to defy his father, to face death, to find love and to lose it. He will ask, what is the sound of one hand clapping? And he will master his greatest fear.
Night Boat is the story of his tremendous life.
464 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 2013
24 people are currently reading
265 people want to read
About the author
Alan Spence
57 books33 followersAlan Spence (born 1947) is a Scottish writer and is Professor in Creative Writing at the University of Aberdeen, where he is also artistic director of the annual WORD Festival. He was born in Glasgow, and much of his work is set in the city.
Spence is an award-winning poet and playwright, novelist and short-story writer. His first work was the collection of short stories Its Colours They are Fine, first published in 1977. This was followed by two plays, Sailmaker in 1982 and Space Invaders in 1983. The novel The Magic Flute appeared in 1990 along with his first book of poetry, Glasgow Zen. In 1991, another of his plays, Changed Days, was published before a brief hiatus. He returned in 1996 with Stone Garden, another collection of short stories. In 2006, The Pure Land, a historical novel set in Japan, was published by Canongate Books, and is based on the life of Thomas Blake Glover who is immortalised in the story of Madame Butterfly.
Spence is an award-winning poet and playwright, novelist and short-story writer. His first work was the collection of short stories Its Colours They are Fine, first published in 1977. This was followed by two plays, Sailmaker in 1982 and Space Invaders in 1983. The novel The Magic Flute appeared in 1990 along with his first book of poetry, Glasgow Zen. In 1991, another of his plays, Changed Days, was published before a brief hiatus. He returned in 1996 with Stone Garden, another collection of short stories. In 2006, The Pure Land, a historical novel set in Japan, was published by Canongate Books, and is based on the life of Thomas Blake Glover who is immortalised in the story of Madame Butterfly.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
March 4, 2017
Düşünsel meditasyon dolu. naive bir kitap
Küçük bir çocuğun gözünden kendi kişisel aydınlanma süreci..
Eğer, zen budizmine ve japon kültürüne ilginiz varsa keyif alacaksınız.
10/7,5
Küçük bir çocuğun gözünden kendi kişisel aydınlanma süreci..
Eğer, zen budizmine ve japon kültürüne ilginiz varsa keyif alacaksınız.
10/7,5
November 27, 2013
There is a lot of meditation in this book. A lot. A lot of what most people, westerners certainly, would regard as doing nothing and thinking about nothing (mu) and that, I admit, on the surface of things does sound awfully boring and it would be if that was all Alan Spence’s new book was about. Thankfully, its subject, Hakuin Ekaku one of the most influential figures in Japanese Zen Buddhism, was not a big fan of "Do-nothing Zen" and from the very first page I found myself enchanted by the boy I encountered there. This happened, too, when I recently read The Last Banquet—I loved the child we met on page 1 eating beetles although wasn’t nearly as enamoured with the man as he grew up—but with Night Boat there was never a point where I went off the lad we’re first introduced to as Iwajiro who becomes the young monk Ekaku and ultimately the head priest Hakuin; although he gains experience and eventually attains enlightenment, he never loses that childish innocence. Perhaps if he had gone to a military academy instead of a Zen temple his story might have been very different.
What is particularly remarkable about this book is Spence’s evocation of 17th and 18th century Japan. Had this been handed to me with the author’s name redacted there’s no way I would’ve credited this book to a westerner. Well, there were a couple of expressions that might’ve made me wonder but I’d have probably laid them at the door of the translator.
This book won’t be for everyone but don’t prejudge it either. Good writing is good writing. It really doesn’t matter what the subject matter is.
Read my full review here.
What is particularly remarkable about this book is Spence’s evocation of 17th and 18th century Japan. Had this been handed to me with the author’s name redacted there’s no way I would’ve credited this book to a westerner. Well, there were a couple of expressions that might’ve made me wonder but I’d have probably laid them at the door of the translator.
This book won’t be for everyone but don’t prejudge it either. Good writing is good writing. It really doesn’t matter what the subject matter is.
Read my full review here.
September 11, 2013
Alan Spence’s latest novel, the ambitious Night Boat, shows great depth, knowledge and wisdom in its portrayal of Zen Buddhism, forcing the reader to pause and reflect on the meaning of his/her own existence.
Fundamentally, the book is a fictionalised account of the life of the 18th century Japanese Zen Master Hakuin Ekaku, probably best known in Western lore for his famous koan, the paradox that is ‘the sound of one hand’. Within Zen itself, Hakuin is credited with reforming Rinzai, one of the two major schools of Zen Buddhism in Japan, which has ‘meditation in action’ as central to its practice, and today boasts singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen among one of its better known acolytes. Hakuin was also celebrated for his vibrant inkbrush paintings and calligraphy, a declared source of inspiration to Spence himself.
Night Boat begins with eight year old Hakuin ( known then by his birthname of Iwajiro), being terrified out of his wits by an old monk’s sermon on the Eight Gates of Burning Hell, a step by step description of the descent into the deepest agonies and tortures of the underworld. Such is Iwajiro’s obsession to escape such terrors that by the age of fifteen he decides to become a Buddhist monk. Thus begins Iwajiro’s spiritual path to enlightenment told in parables, in various journeys to study under great teachers, and in the challenges of eking out meaning and understanding from the great koans, sutras and aphorisms of Zen Buddhism. It is also a voyage that passes through arrogance, self-doubt, frustration, disillusionment and finally illusion. Spence describes his work as ‘a Zen novel’. In Western terms this kind of series of adventures, spiritual or otherwise, without any real development of characters beyond Hakuin himself, told in a pure and simple style, is often defined as the ‘picaresque novel’.
For a writer, it is agonisingly difficult to describe the abstract and subjective state of the spiritual experience. As an occasional practitioner of Buddhist meditation myself over the years, this reviewer has tried on several occasions to fictionalise these profound experiences and failed miserably. Spence, who is a member of the (non-Zen) Sri Chinmoy meditation centre in Edinburgh, makes a decent stab at writing about different states of awakening on the road to enlightenment such as kensho (the perception of emptiness) or satori (looking into one’s true nature), but ultimately he must fail in trying to describe what is essentially indescribable, limiting that which is limitless by the very use of the language and thought he is utilising to capture these concepts.
That aside, this novel really comes into its own when it goes beyond the actual spiritual quest to arrive at where Hakuin has achieved his enlightenment, established his own temple and started his own teaching. This section is full of wit, wisdom and deprecating humour as Hakuin attaches no ego to that which he teaches.
‘With the publication of my Dharma Talks, my poison spread far and wide, as if carried on the wind. It polluted the rivers and streams, the very air, it entered minds and hearts everywhere.’
He refers to scholars of his Zen teachings as ‘flies buzzing around dog-shit’ or ‘I spit out my poison, they lap it up.’
Yet this very same egolessness raises the interesting paradox of Hakuin agreeing to have these poisonous teachings, collections of stories and drawings published for the world to see.
What also stands out in this novel are some of the wonderful poems and haiku. Not being a scholar of Hakuin myself and with no source references provided in the book, I do not know whether this poetry can be attributed to the great Zen Master or to Spence himself. Given that Spence is the author of a respected catalogue of published haiku collections such as Glasgow Zen, Clear Light and Morning Glory, one can only assume they are of his own making. One particular short poem stands out, written when Hakuin is approaching sixty years of age:
Last quarter, last third
of my life?
Either way, it’s autumn,
Shading, shading
into winter.
There are two references in the novel to the Night Boat of the title. One concerns a country bumpkin who boasts he has been to Kyoto when he has not. When asked for a description of the Skirakawa River, in reality only a small stream, he replies that he was unable to do so as it was night when his boat sailed on it, thereby revealing his boast as a lie. The second reference is to a night boat trip to a hidden cave in the Izu Peninsula where miraculous images of the Buddha are revealed, the intensity of the vision in direct proportion to the observer’s level of awareness. In the first, the night boat is seen as idle talk, in the second an illusion.
Perhaps another concept of the Night Boat can be seen reflected in another Japanese work, the novel Snow Country by the Nobel laureate Yasunari Kawabata. Its famous first line reads:
The train came out of the long tunnel into the snow country. The earth lay white under the night sky.
Here we have the idea of darkness into light, from confines into space, or perhaps in the terms of Spence’s novel from sorrow and suffering into enlightenment.
Fundamentally, the book is a fictionalised account of the life of the 18th century Japanese Zen Master Hakuin Ekaku, probably best known in Western lore for his famous koan, the paradox that is ‘the sound of one hand’. Within Zen itself, Hakuin is credited with reforming Rinzai, one of the two major schools of Zen Buddhism in Japan, which has ‘meditation in action’ as central to its practice, and today boasts singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen among one of its better known acolytes. Hakuin was also celebrated for his vibrant inkbrush paintings and calligraphy, a declared source of inspiration to Spence himself.
Night Boat begins with eight year old Hakuin ( known then by his birthname of Iwajiro), being terrified out of his wits by an old monk’s sermon on the Eight Gates of Burning Hell, a step by step description of the descent into the deepest agonies and tortures of the underworld. Such is Iwajiro’s obsession to escape such terrors that by the age of fifteen he decides to become a Buddhist monk. Thus begins Iwajiro’s spiritual path to enlightenment told in parables, in various journeys to study under great teachers, and in the challenges of eking out meaning and understanding from the great koans, sutras and aphorisms of Zen Buddhism. It is also a voyage that passes through arrogance, self-doubt, frustration, disillusionment and finally illusion. Spence describes his work as ‘a Zen novel’. In Western terms this kind of series of adventures, spiritual or otherwise, without any real development of characters beyond Hakuin himself, told in a pure and simple style, is often defined as the ‘picaresque novel’.
For a writer, it is agonisingly difficult to describe the abstract and subjective state of the spiritual experience. As an occasional practitioner of Buddhist meditation myself over the years, this reviewer has tried on several occasions to fictionalise these profound experiences and failed miserably. Spence, who is a member of the (non-Zen) Sri Chinmoy meditation centre in Edinburgh, makes a decent stab at writing about different states of awakening on the road to enlightenment such as kensho (the perception of emptiness) or satori (looking into one’s true nature), but ultimately he must fail in trying to describe what is essentially indescribable, limiting that which is limitless by the very use of the language and thought he is utilising to capture these concepts.
That aside, this novel really comes into its own when it goes beyond the actual spiritual quest to arrive at where Hakuin has achieved his enlightenment, established his own temple and started his own teaching. This section is full of wit, wisdom and deprecating humour as Hakuin attaches no ego to that which he teaches.
‘With the publication of my Dharma Talks, my poison spread far and wide, as if carried on the wind. It polluted the rivers and streams, the very air, it entered minds and hearts everywhere.’
He refers to scholars of his Zen teachings as ‘flies buzzing around dog-shit’ or ‘I spit out my poison, they lap it up.’
Yet this very same egolessness raises the interesting paradox of Hakuin agreeing to have these poisonous teachings, collections of stories and drawings published for the world to see.
What also stands out in this novel are some of the wonderful poems and haiku. Not being a scholar of Hakuin myself and with no source references provided in the book, I do not know whether this poetry can be attributed to the great Zen Master or to Spence himself. Given that Spence is the author of a respected catalogue of published haiku collections such as Glasgow Zen, Clear Light and Morning Glory, one can only assume they are of his own making. One particular short poem stands out, written when Hakuin is approaching sixty years of age:
Last quarter, last third
of my life?
Either way, it’s autumn,
Shading, shading
into winter.
There are two references in the novel to the Night Boat of the title. One concerns a country bumpkin who boasts he has been to Kyoto when he has not. When asked for a description of the Skirakawa River, in reality only a small stream, he replies that he was unable to do so as it was night when his boat sailed on it, thereby revealing his boast as a lie. The second reference is to a night boat trip to a hidden cave in the Izu Peninsula where miraculous images of the Buddha are revealed, the intensity of the vision in direct proportion to the observer’s level of awareness. In the first, the night boat is seen as idle talk, in the second an illusion.
Perhaps another concept of the Night Boat can be seen reflected in another Japanese work, the novel Snow Country by the Nobel laureate Yasunari Kawabata. Its famous first line reads:
The train came out of the long tunnel into the snow country. The earth lay white under the night sky.
Here we have the idea of darkness into light, from confines into space, or perhaps in the terms of Spence’s novel from sorrow and suffering into enlightenment.
July 17, 2019
Recently, due to my studies, I've taken to reading simple stories which are enormously entertaining, but easy to read. As my studies became more engrossing, my reading all but stopped. To get back into the practice surely a nice easy adventure would be the way to go, right?
Apparently not.
I picked up this book and it is FAR removed from what I thought I would be reading.
A solid and all encompassing tale of thought, life and wisdom. Wrapped in the dressings of historical Japanese culture, this book is both engrossing and thought provoking.
I enjoyed it immensely and, despite the wandering nature of the story, still found myself happily dragged along the path it led me down.
Apparently not.
I picked up this book and it is FAR removed from what I thought I would be reading.
A solid and all encompassing tale of thought, life and wisdom. Wrapped in the dressings of historical Japanese culture, this book is both engrossing and thought provoking.
I enjoyed it immensely and, despite the wandering nature of the story, still found myself happily dragged along the path it led me down.
May 25, 2021
The journey of a lifetime for a curious young man on his quest toward Zen enlightenment. Iwajiro's early days are fraught with the questions and anxieties of most young minds - trying to understand his Father, finding his place in the wider world and responding to romantic impulses. A culmination of these curiosities and a steadfast desire to join the temple and become a Buddhist monk drive our cheeky protagonist through a magical and perilous adventure of self-learning and reflection. Amongst demons, detractors and a proximity to death he exudes calm and wit. His comprehensions shared with the reader - as if we are one of master Hakuin's own disciples. It is in the final part of this pilgrimage, when Iwajiro who became Ekaku (Wise Crane) and is now the wise master Hakuin Ekaku, that I felt most absorbed by Spence's sapient tale. A realisation of the passing of time and how we can creatively feed our curiosity and learnings before the inevitable lights go out.
May 9, 2015
well this mammoth was indeed worth it. as someone with a limited understanding of Buddhism it certainly quashed a few myths and delivered a wonderful read. Hakuin Ekaku is a wonderful narrator and very likeable. Spence's first person account of a lauded buddhist monk in I think, 17th century japan is entertaining, enlightening and just very, very good. I found myself thinking about this book a lot when going about my daily business.
this will not be for everyone but so what, why should it. I love the realism and the description of discomfort, the demons of the mind and the tolerance of others. in short it is a fucking belter of a book.
this will not be for everyone but so what, why should it. I love the realism and the description of discomfort, the demons of the mind and the tolerance of others. in short it is a fucking belter of a book.
May 6, 2014
I always wanted to read more about Zen Buddhism and this book based on a real historical figure gives me many answers. This life of a monk, the sage and the great scholar was full of sacrifice, struggle and enlightenment. His story is relevant to any generation as the questions asked in a book are always important and difficult to answer. The Zen approach is based on a paradox, the understanding of impossible on koans, on moving beyond the thought process.
August 6, 2020
This was an excellent read, and it'll stay with me for a while.
English: https://elifthereader.com/books/night...
Türkçe: http://kitaplikkedisi.com/kitaplar/ge...
English: https://elifthereader.com/books/night...
Türkçe: http://kitaplikkedisi.com/kitaplar/ge...
December 29, 2013
On the surface not a lot happens, but still gripping. A beautiful book full of 'mu' and also everything. Really makes you think.
September 11, 2023
Spence’s previous novel
The Pure Land
in retrospect represents a pivot in his writing. Its novelisation of the life of Thomas Blake Glover, who helped the industrialisation of Japan in the nineteenth century, signalled his fascination with that country and a departure from writing prose using Scottish settings. A poet as well as a novelist, his interest in and composition of haiku are well suited to this present endeavour, an exploration of the life of the Zen Buddhist master who invented the koan “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” That monk was Hakuin Ekaku, who was born Nagasawa Iwajiro but was given – or took – the names Ekaku (Wise Crane) and Hakuin (Hidden-in-Whiteness) later in life. Spence’s latest novel
Mister Timeless Blyth
also deals with someone deeply involved with Japanese culture.
Night Boat is necessarily steeped in the Zen Buddhism practice of seeking enlightenment. We learn that Hakuin was initially inspired by his mother’s religious devotion but also that he was not immune to the attractions of the temporal world, only chose to ignore them. To that end he travelled through Japan seeking the most insightful teachers.
The ascetic lifestyle of a Zen Buddhist monk is a constant theme. Their frugality and distaste for waste even leads them to rinse their bowls and drink the liquid. That it also requires a form of begging, or at least reliance on charity, means it is actually a kind of parasitism. (Mind you, the same could be said of all religions and the ways they sustain themselves.)
Hakuin’s composure is illustrated by the incident when a young pregnant woman claimed he was the father of her child. Despite the loss to his reputation this represents he merely responded by saying “Is that so?” and took the child into his care. (The woman later relented and named the real father whereupon Hakuin relinquished the child and said he was glad the child now had a father.)
At a gathering of monks Hakuin relates the story of a country bumpkin who boasted about his visit to Kyoto before someone asked him about the Shirakawa River (which is nothing but a small stream) and he said it was night time when his boat sailed on it and he couldn’t really see it. In other words, his visit was a fabrication, a tale he’d made up. In that sense, all novels are night boats and it highlights the question of how much of this Night Boat is based on known facts about Hakuin and how much due to Spence’s novelistic imagination. This, of course, can be asked of any biographical novel but it is perhaps unwise of an author to draw attention to it as it tends to undermine the artifice, subvert the suspension of disbelief.
The text is sprinkled with haiku. As someone with no knowledge of the life and works of Hakuin, (he was also an artist, several references are made to his paintings, especially of Mount Fuji,) I have to assume that these haiku are translations of originals written by Hakuin rather than invented by Spence. Most of these depend for their effect on sparseness or else embody enigmas.
We also have the posing of several koans of which perhaps the most resonant is “What now?”
Spence’s writing here is always well more than adequate to the task and his research has obviously been formidable but there is something almost pointless about Hakuin’s search for meaning, something akin to considering the number of angels capable of dancing on the head of a pin. Beyond informing about his life and thought those of us who had little prior knowledge regarding Hakuin what utility does it have? Granted, it does illustrate a small part of the human condition but I doubt there are many larger lessons to be drawn from it.
The cover illustration’s a cracker though. (Fuji from the Ford at Kanaya, by Hokusai, Katsushika.)
Night Boat is necessarily steeped in the Zen Buddhism practice of seeking enlightenment. We learn that Hakuin was initially inspired by his mother’s religious devotion but also that he was not immune to the attractions of the temporal world, only chose to ignore them. To that end he travelled through Japan seeking the most insightful teachers.
The ascetic lifestyle of a Zen Buddhist monk is a constant theme. Their frugality and distaste for waste even leads them to rinse their bowls and drink the liquid. That it also requires a form of begging, or at least reliance on charity, means it is actually a kind of parasitism. (Mind you, the same could be said of all religions and the ways they sustain themselves.)
Hakuin’s composure is illustrated by the incident when a young pregnant woman claimed he was the father of her child. Despite the loss to his reputation this represents he merely responded by saying “Is that so?” and took the child into his care. (The woman later relented and named the real father whereupon Hakuin relinquished the child and said he was glad the child now had a father.)
At a gathering of monks Hakuin relates the story of a country bumpkin who boasted about his visit to Kyoto before someone asked him about the Shirakawa River (which is nothing but a small stream) and he said it was night time when his boat sailed on it and he couldn’t really see it. In other words, his visit was a fabrication, a tale he’d made up. In that sense, all novels are night boats and it highlights the question of how much of this Night Boat is based on known facts about Hakuin and how much due to Spence’s novelistic imagination. This, of course, can be asked of any biographical novel but it is perhaps unwise of an author to draw attention to it as it tends to undermine the artifice, subvert the suspension of disbelief.
The text is sprinkled with haiku. As someone with no knowledge of the life and works of Hakuin, (he was also an artist, several references are made to his paintings, especially of Mount Fuji,) I have to assume that these haiku are translations of originals written by Hakuin rather than invented by Spence. Most of these depend for their effect on sparseness or else embody enigmas.
We also have the posing of several koans of which perhaps the most resonant is “What now?”
Spence’s writing here is always well more than adequate to the task and his research has obviously been formidable but there is something almost pointless about Hakuin’s search for meaning, something akin to considering the number of angels capable of dancing on the head of a pin. Beyond informing about his life and thought those of us who had little prior knowledge regarding Hakuin what utility does it have? Granted, it does illustrate a small part of the human condition but I doubt there are many larger lessons to be drawn from it.
The cover illustration’s a cracker though. (Fuji from the Ford at Kanaya, by Hokusai, Katsushika.)
July 19, 2023
Outstanding!
Sometimes it can be difficult to convey an experience in words. Part of me wishes to surrender and say, “Mu.” This is a beautiful book and I felt as if I was on a journey with Iwajiro/Ekaku/Hakuin. I gained valuable wisdom and insights through aphorisms, insoluble koans, haiku’s, parables and other sources of wisdom.
The book follows Iwajiro/Ekaku/Hakuin on his spiritual journey of introspection, truth realisation, non-contemplation and awakening. As a child he attended a sermon given by an old monk about the brutal tortures and agonies of the ‘Eight Burning Hells’. The monk filled Iwajiro’s head with hellfire, temptation and damnation and Iwajiro became consumed with fear. His mother offered him protection in the form of incense and chanting, which gave him some peace. He threw himself into the spiritual life.
His devotion is tested by illusions of the world including the temptations of beautiful girls, demons, fear, abject poverty and cruel teachers/masters. He tries desperately hard to avoid distractions and stay in the ‘Buddha-mind’ by concentrating on his mantras, intensive zazen meditation and devotional life. His existence is ordered and strict, dominated by long hours of study, chanting and meditation, squalor, poverty, chastity, pain and struggle, sadness and disappointment, sickness, torment and misery - almost beyond endurance - in which he is barely able to survive. However, gratitude, humility, peace and the strength and beauty of the human spirit prevail.
Iwajiro often feels that he is stuck between two worlds but belongs to neither, estranged from both. He meets different teachers on his journey and keeps walking further (physically, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually) no matter what he is confronted with, and goes beyond the veil of illusions - across the barrier and into the vast emptiness. He learns to transcend attachment.
Night Boat is beautifully written and is atmospheric writing at its best. I can almost smell the exquisite aromas of incense and jasmine and visualise the vivid colours of silk kimonos and the theatre. In contrast, the imagery of suffering, sickness, poverty and the ‘Eight Burning Hells’ can be disturbing and dark. Balance.
Sometimes it can be difficult to convey an experience in words. Part of me wishes to surrender and say, “Mu.” This is a beautiful book and I felt as if I was on a journey with Iwajiro/Ekaku/Hakuin. I gained valuable wisdom and insights through aphorisms, insoluble koans, haiku’s, parables and other sources of wisdom.
The book follows Iwajiro/Ekaku/Hakuin on his spiritual journey of introspection, truth realisation, non-contemplation and awakening. As a child he attended a sermon given by an old monk about the brutal tortures and agonies of the ‘Eight Burning Hells’. The monk filled Iwajiro’s head with hellfire, temptation and damnation and Iwajiro became consumed with fear. His mother offered him protection in the form of incense and chanting, which gave him some peace. He threw himself into the spiritual life.
His devotion is tested by illusions of the world including the temptations of beautiful girls, demons, fear, abject poverty and cruel teachers/masters. He tries desperately hard to avoid distractions and stay in the ‘Buddha-mind’ by concentrating on his mantras, intensive zazen meditation and devotional life. His existence is ordered and strict, dominated by long hours of study, chanting and meditation, squalor, poverty, chastity, pain and struggle, sadness and disappointment, sickness, torment and misery - almost beyond endurance - in which he is barely able to survive. However, gratitude, humility, peace and the strength and beauty of the human spirit prevail.
Iwajiro often feels that he is stuck between two worlds but belongs to neither, estranged from both. He meets different teachers on his journey and keeps walking further (physically, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually) no matter what he is confronted with, and goes beyond the veil of illusions - across the barrier and into the vast emptiness. He learns to transcend attachment.
Night Boat is beautifully written and is atmospheric writing at its best. I can almost smell the exquisite aromas of incense and jasmine and visualise the vivid colours of silk kimonos and the theatre. In contrast, the imagery of suffering, sickness, poverty and the ‘Eight Burning Hells’ can be disturbing and dark. Balance.
December 7, 2025
There is no doubt this is a beautifully written book. The writing, expression and prose is full of beauty and I was not surprised about this in fact it is expected since I was first familiar with Alan Spence as a poet. I will describe a few things that I greatly enjoyed about the Night Boat:
1. Syntax and sentence architecture is playful and creative, Spence experiments with sentence lengths and is very skilful at this. He also uses word repetition effectively.
2. A gentle prose, atmospheric and peaceful. Spence set the scene of medititative essence, of introversion and self-discovery maintaining the ambience from start to finish.
3. Capturing the essence of falling into love. Whoa! Spence's description of young Ekaku's encounter with Hana for the first few times, gave me goosebumps. I read those sequences a number of times, so poetic and lyrical. No over explaining, no thinking, just an emotive response, as it should be! Some of the most beautiful lines were from these segments.
'I imagined making a calligraphy of her name, the brush strokes flowing into a simple drawing of a flower'.
4. Unique voice. Spence doesn't utilise run of the mill expressions, phrases and descriptions, the Night Boat is written in a refreshing voice.
A few things that I could not shift while reading the novel are highlighted below:
1. Similarity to The Glass Bead Game. There were some overlaps with TGBG which were too obvious to be entirely coincidental. It doesn't take away from the beauty of Ekaku's story but was background noise I couldn't ignore.
2. To be quite well versed in Zen Buddhism would help connect with the novel better. Unfortunately I am not, so I struggled to make the most of Spence's impressive in-depth knowledge on the subject.
3. Slow burner but long book. It needs a lot of time and patience to be enjoyed in it's fullest sense. I don't think I was able to give it that since I am rather a restless and fast reader. So I recognise my short-coming in not engaging with the novel the way Spence intended for his readers to do so.
Overall, this novel should be read for Spence's skilful way with words and beautiful prose, but some good understanding of Zen Buddhism would guarantee connection with the story more effectively.
1. Syntax and sentence architecture is playful and creative, Spence experiments with sentence lengths and is very skilful at this. He also uses word repetition effectively.
2. A gentle prose, atmospheric and peaceful. Spence set the scene of medititative essence, of introversion and self-discovery maintaining the ambience from start to finish.
3. Capturing the essence of falling into love. Whoa! Spence's description of young Ekaku's encounter with Hana for the first few times, gave me goosebumps. I read those sequences a number of times, so poetic and lyrical. No over explaining, no thinking, just an emotive response, as it should be! Some of the most beautiful lines were from these segments.
'I imagined making a calligraphy of her name, the brush strokes flowing into a simple drawing of a flower'.
4. Unique voice. Spence doesn't utilise run of the mill expressions, phrases and descriptions, the Night Boat is written in a refreshing voice.
A few things that I could not shift while reading the novel are highlighted below:
1. Similarity to The Glass Bead Game. There were some overlaps with TGBG which were too obvious to be entirely coincidental. It doesn't take away from the beauty of Ekaku's story but was background noise I couldn't ignore.
2. To be quite well versed in Zen Buddhism would help connect with the novel better. Unfortunately I am not, so I struggled to make the most of Spence's impressive in-depth knowledge on the subject.
3. Slow burner but long book. It needs a lot of time and patience to be enjoyed in it's fullest sense. I don't think I was able to give it that since I am rather a restless and fast reader. So I recognise my short-coming in not engaging with the novel the way Spence intended for his readers to do so.
Overall, this novel should be read for Spence's skilful way with words and beautiful prose, but some good understanding of Zen Buddhism would guarantee connection with the story more effectively.
June 3, 2025
I really enjoyed this. It is a slow-burning, meditative and poetic first-person account of the wandering life of one of Japan's great Zen figures, the 18th-century monk Hakuin Ekaku. (Known indirectly to Western audiences as the creator of the now-stereotypical koan, 'What is the sound of one hand clapping?')
The writing style initially left me sceptical, but I ultimately greatly enjoyed its quality of reflection and spaciousness. The book contains many beautiful passages, both in its prose and in its concepts, and I don't doubt I shall read it again. I also greatly appreciated how historically rooted it felt: it gives a believable window into a different age, philosophical culture, and mindset.
At the same time, it takes a little while to start, and lingers too long. Given how much I enjoyed it, and how unique a book it felt, I feel it would be harsh to take a star off; but perhaps a tighter edit could have better liberated the gem.
For those who enjoyed it, I recommend The Ten Thousand Things (a somewhat similar book set in 14th-century China) or Baudolino (a somewhat similar book set in 13th-century Europe)- both meditative, grounded in their historical contexts, and following someone as they wander.
The writing style initially left me sceptical, but I ultimately greatly enjoyed its quality of reflection and spaciousness. The book contains many beautiful passages, both in its prose and in its concepts, and I don't doubt I shall read it again. I also greatly appreciated how historically rooted it felt: it gives a believable window into a different age, philosophical culture, and mindset.
At the same time, it takes a little while to start, and lingers too long. Given how much I enjoyed it, and how unique a book it felt, I feel it would be harsh to take a star off; but perhaps a tighter edit could have better liberated the gem.
For those who enjoyed it, I recommend The Ten Thousand Things (a somewhat similar book set in 14th-century China) or Baudolino (a somewhat similar book set in 13th-century Europe)- both meditative, grounded in their historical contexts, and following someone as they wander.
January 13, 2018
Kitabı satın aldığıma da okuduğuma da memnun olmadığımı söyleyebilirim. İçi dolu bir metin olmadığı gibi maalesef akıcı, tat vererek ilerleyen bir metin de değil. Kitabın zen, budizm gibi meseleleri olmakla birlikte okuyucuyu onlara karşı da bir soğukluğa, hatta küçümsemeye itebileceğini düşünüyorum. Daha iyi tanıdığım, Batı ve İslam felsefesinin gelişmiş inceliğinde daha felsefe101 ders kitabının ilk sayfasında çürütülecek büyük ama kof düşünceleri şiirsellikle tekrarlamak da doğrusu istenen etkiyi yaratmıyor. Acı güzel bir şeydir, acı da tatlı da birdir, iyi de kötü de birdir, insan ebedidir, doğayla, evrenle birdir... Çok güzel... Peki bu teselli cümlelerinin altındaki hayatımızı yaşamakta, kurgulamakta bize yardımcı olacak hakikat? Neyse, yine fazla ağır giriştim galiba. Kitabın iyi yanları da var; örneğin olgun bir dili olduğunu, yaş ve zeka bakımından çok da aşağılara seslenme derdi olmadığını düşünüyorum. Bu tür kitaplardan hoşlananlara (mesela ben aslında hiç hoşlanmam) daha iyi bir örnek olarak Jonathan Bach'ın kitaplarını öneriyorum.
November 28, 2017
This novel is a fictionalized account of the life of Zen master Hakuin Ekaku, who lived in 18th century Japan. It was mostly the setting that interested me in the book, though to my chagrin there was very little of the historical and political background palpable and instead a lot of endless meanderings on meditation, poetry, the search for enlightenment and other spiritual concepts. I'm sure for some all this wisdom and mindfulness is terribly fascinating and deeply meaningful, but I admittedly just do not have the patience for any of it. Between that and the fact that this turned out to be one of those novels where the author for reasons I will never understand chose to omit the use of quotation marks in dialogue (something that always drives me nuts), I'm afraid I found myself skimming rather a lot.
May 1, 2018
A very readable historical fictional account of Zen master Hakuin.
There are a number of Zen centers in the United States and most of which
are derived from various Japanese schools. Hakuin is considered who most
influence the revising of the influence of the Rinzai school.
In any case, this is a terrific telling of the life of Hakuin and his struggles
to find his way in the world of Buddhism and Zen in particular.
I enjoyed the vision of Japan and the people and situations portrayed in this
book. Highly recommended.
There are a number of Zen centers in the United States and most of which
are derived from various Japanese schools. Hakuin is considered who most
influence the revising of the influence of the Rinzai school.
In any case, this is a terrific telling of the life of Hakuin and his struggles
to find his way in the world of Buddhism and Zen in particular.
I enjoyed the vision of Japan and the people and situations portrayed in this
book. Highly recommended.
May 29, 2023
A great book about the life of a monk from start to finish.
Key takeaways:
The Koan of Mu - nothingness
The 4 noble truths:
- existence is suffering
- it’s cause is desire
- desire can be conquered, there is a way
- the way is to follow the Buddha- path
The answer to a lot of Koans was to be present in the moment, to not over complicate life, to act in accordance with direct incentives not indirect ones
Key takeaways:
The Koan of Mu - nothingness
The 4 noble truths:
- existence is suffering
- it’s cause is desire
- desire can be conquered, there is a way
- the way is to follow the Buddha- path
The answer to a lot of Koans was to be present in the moment, to not over complicate life, to act in accordance with direct incentives not indirect ones
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 24, 2017
Kitaptaki yabancı kelimelerin açıklaması yok. Koan , sutra gibi kelimeler var ama ne olduklarını bilmeden okudum. Ayrıca konuşmalar düz yazı halinde yazılmış kimin ne söylediği belli değil. Çevirmeyi beğenmedim. Kitap da akıcı değildi. Ancak Zen tarihine ilgi duyan birinin hoşuna giden bir kitap olabilir.
May 19, 2018
The story of Ekaku, a Japanese Zen Buddhist monk who becomes a great spiritual leader. Set in the shadow of Mount Fuji , his childhood home and the site of the Temple he took over and renovated, Shoin-ji, the story follows his spiritual journey and his interaction with the world around him. Although I am interested in the subject matter, I didn't love it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 23, 2019
Beautifully written
You need the patience of Hakuin. “Words, words, words, I said. All of it. All of it. Idle talk on the night boat.”
You need the patience of Hakuin. “Words, words, words, I said. All of it. All of it. Idle talk on the night boat.”
May 23, 2020
Zen poison.
April 22, 2021
Read it lightly. There is enjoyment in it and humour and perhaps a personal history of Hakuin, a Zen teacher. It also gives us an insight into the life of monks and nuns in eighteenth-century Japan.
January 9, 2025
Cehennemden korkan bir çocuğun baş keşiş olmaya kadar giden ve koan, zazen, haiku serpiştirilerek anlatılan hayat hikayesi. Ben içinde insanı saran bir "Zen" lezzeti bulamadım.
January 21, 2017
...' I had joked about my bones being found by the roadside. Notify the four winds. Up here i might never be found. Keen-eyed vultures would pick the bones clean. Wind and rain would bleach them and in time they'd dissolve into the earth.
I looked up, and a gust of wind swirled the mist, and i saw that glint of gold, so close now, just up ahead. one last effort, to haul and drag myself up over ragged rocks, and at last I stood, breath rasping, limbs shaking, my body one long ache, covered in grime and thick greasy sweat, in front of Hakuyu's cave. The patch of colour I'd seen was a simple bamboo blind, yellowed with age, and painted on it was the outline of a dragon, and the dragon's eye was a dot of gold. That was what had led me all this way.'
I looked up, and a gust of wind swirled the mist, and i saw that glint of gold, so close now, just up ahead. one last effort, to haul and drag myself up over ragged rocks, and at last I stood, breath rasping, limbs shaking, my body one long ache, covered in grime and thick greasy sweat, in front of Hakuyu's cave. The patch of colour I'd seen was a simple bamboo blind, yellowed with age, and painted on it was the outline of a dragon, and the dragon's eye was a dot of gold. That was what had led me all this way.'
September 15, 2013
So, roughly a third of the way through, and enjoying this book as much as anything I've enjoyed recently. It's one of those books that makes you think while you're reading it. Night Boat has been putting a smile on my face every day for the last week. I simultaneously want to rush through it because it so good, and savor it for the same reason. DEFINITELY a book I will reread more than a few times.
Finished tonight. A beautiful book. It's going to be interesting reading Hakuin for real, starting with his autobiography. Thank you Mr Spence
Finished tonight. A beautiful book. It's going to be interesting reading Hakuin for real, starting with his autobiography. Thank you Mr Spence
March 3, 2015
It's very rarely that you will read a book that wears its wisdom and style quite so comfortably and lightly - and perhaps appropriately given the subject of the novel. Spence's story of one man's grapple with Zen is a delight, and handles a sophisticated subject with a flair for language that shows itself in its simplicity. (Yes, I appreciate that I'm erring down the florid route in this review.)
Heartily recommended, and yet more great publishing from the Canongate stable.
Heartily recommended, and yet more great publishing from the Canongate stable.
September 16, 2013
Beautifully done, I thought. You forget you are reading a modern novel and settle into old Japan, the folk tales and a version of Zen that is stripped of it's modern slightly affected trappings - much as Hakuin worked all his life to recover the simple, earthy, heroic effort of early Zen teaching. Worth re-reading. Worth seeking out more of Alan Spence's books.
October 22, 2014
I started reading this book, then stopped after I'd read about 15%. The character kept haunting me, though, so after a few weeks I picked it up again. Once I read a little further, I was totally hooked. I loved the story (didn't know it was about a real person until the end), and was mesmerized by the author's writing style. Thank you Alan, for this treasure.
October 15, 2013
Often mesmerizing and frustrating. What is the sound of one hand clapping?
Nevertheless...
Nevertheless an intriguing tale about the life of a Zen-master that at some moments gives you a hint of what satori might feel.
Nevertheless...
Nevertheless an intriguing tale about the life of a Zen-master that at some moments gives you a hint of what satori might feel.
January 2, 2015
'Night Boat' is a meditative read on the wisdom, or otherwise, of the practice of Buddhism in the life of a Buddhist monk. It verges on the allegorical in style. Nothing startlingly enlightening, just a gentle tale.
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