Zen and Western Thought

Zen and Western Thought #1

by Masao Abe, William R. LaFleur (Editor)

Book by Abe, Masao

Genres: Philosophy, Zen, Buddhism, Nonfiction, Japan, Religion

336 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1985

About the author

Masao Abe (Japanese: 阿部 正雄 Abe Masao) was a leading exponent of Zen Buddhism in the West after the death of his mentor D.T. Suzuki.

Reviews

[Vincent Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Abe tends to repeat himself a lot—I feel like this book could be 50% of its length. But nevertheless, there are interesting things here and there; especially in the essay about Nietzsche and Whitehead.

[Brett]

I'm finding it a bit mystifying how a system of thought (Zen) that seeks to undermine conceptualization at its root can possibly communicate anything meant to be absorbed (and hence useful) to the human mind.

Our minds utterly rely on the very use of concepts/logic to make sense of anything and everything in the world and to deny that is to USE such mental devices in the process of denying them, which makes the need/existence of such mental tools self-evident.

That being said this is the most succinct and comparatively rich (regarding zen ---> western thought) book I've ever read on Zen thought, and I'm enjoying it thus far...

I can appreciate some of the precepts that Zen espouses (patience, unconditional compassion, introspection, focus/awareness, an emphasis on the importance of the PRESENT moment, etc...) even if I've failed so far to integrate some of these values to a very high degree into my own overall worldview.

[Chant · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don't be fooled Abe's scholarship in Zen and western , there is much to be learned from this book when comparing Zen Buddhist thought and western philosophical/religious thought.

I however think this book is best suited for religious studies students/graduate students than philosophy students as much of the book focuses on the religious aspects of Zen Buddhism and the comparisons to fairly modern philosophers of religion (Tillich, Whitehead, etc).

Good book.

[Ineke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this has helped a lot. Magnificent