Soto Zen: An Introduction to Zazen

by Shohaku Okumura

Genres: Zen, Buddhism

103 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Anne]

A well-meaning older Japanese man of my acquaintance gave me this book because he thought I should begin a practice of zazen. This brief (100ish pages) book is basically a how-to on practicing the art of sitting and thinking about not thinking. While a simple premise, and what the book assures me is the best path to enlightenment, it becomes heady stuff the more the book discusses it. Like all things involving Zen Buddhism, I like the idea of it until I study it more and then I get confused. Nonetheless, I feel I know how to begin a practice of zazen, have a brief history of Buddhism in Japan, and a primer on zen philosophy. While a bit flummoxed, I still intend to sit.

Just sit.

[Hamuel Sunter]

The central message, that sitting is the essential practice of zazen, seems like a good one. Some of the selections were interesting, but more weren't. And the footnotes broke up the text a little too much (saying this as a dfw fan).

[Matthew]

A good description of how to participate in zen buddhism but there is a lot here that unsells me on it. It feels very rigid at points, and the books calls non partitioners “stupid” twice. It just kind of left me with a bad taste in my mouth.