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The Spirit of ...
The Spirit of Zen
An engaging introduction to Zen Buddhism, featuring a new English translation of one of the earliest Zen texts
Leading Buddhist scholar Sam van Schaik explores the history and essence of Zen, based on a new translation of one of the earliest surviving collections of teachings by Zen masters. These teachings, titled The Masters and Students of the Lanka , were discovered in a sealed cave on the old Silk Road, in modern Gansu, China, in the early twentieth century. All more than a thousand years old, the manuscripts have sometimes been called the Buddhist Dead Sea Scrolls, and their translation has opened a new window onto the history of Buddhism.
Both accessible and illuminating, this book explores the continuities between the ways in which Zen was practiced in ancient times, and how it is practiced today in East Asian countries such as Japan, China, Korea, and Vietnam, as well as in the emerging Western Zen tradition.
Leading Buddhist scholar Sam van Schaik explores the history and essence of Zen, based on a new translation of one of the earliest surviving collections of teachings by Zen masters. These teachings, titled The Masters and Students of the Lanka , were discovered in a sealed cave on the old Silk Road, in modern Gansu, China, in the early twentieth century. All more than a thousand years old, the manuscripts have sometimes been called the Buddhist Dead Sea Scrolls, and their translation has opened a new window onto the history of Buddhism.
Both accessible and illuminating, this book explores the continuities between the ways in which Zen was practiced in ancient times, and how it is practiced today in East Asian countries such as Japan, China, Korea, and Vietnam, as well as in the emerging Western Zen tradition.
272 pages, Paperback
Published December 11, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
March 23, 2020
Sam Van Schaik approaches the topic of Zen from a historic perspective in "The Spirit of Zen", and maybe I am nerd, but I found it to be a very interesting read.
I really appreciate that he makes clear distinctions between the various uses of the word "enlightenment", because it is a confusing word, that people use to describe a wide variety of experiences and one must be very careful using it because it's a lot more nuanced than one might think.
The chapter on the Westernization of Zen is also full of good food for thought: especially about the removing of zazen from the religious aspect of Zen Buddhism and the arguing about whether or not Zen is in fact a religion.
The section on the history of Buddhism and how it migrated all over Asia, and eventually the world, is very informative. I appreciate that he brings up the fact that like any other religion, the veracity of Buddhist scripture might not be historically accurate, and would have been used for political purposes at the time they were written - but that ultimately, their historical veracity doesn't matter as much as what they mean to practitioners. His argument for a balance of historical basis and greater symbolic importance is an important point that should, in my humble opinion, be applicable to all religions.
The truly unique part of this book is the section dedicated to the so-called "lost" Zen texts that we discovered in the early 20th century, after having been sealed i a cave for several centuries. Now the very idea of a Zen archaeological mystery gets my brain all tingly, and the various theories concerning the cave, its content and the reasons it was sealed up are discussed in details. He then presents new translations of some of these documents.
The style is both scholarly and accessible: if you've never read a book about Zen before, this one won't confuse you. I think this book will appeal more to people who already study and practice Zen, or to people looking for in-depth and clear information about it. This is really more a scholarly work, and not a manual for practice. But I think that anyone serious about Zen will find it very educational, clear and well-written. Highly recommended.
I got my copy at one of my favorite indie bookstores, Talking Leaves, In Buffalo, NY: https://www.tleavesbooks.com/ If you are ever in Elmwood Village, go say hello, they are amazing!
I really appreciate that he makes clear distinctions between the various uses of the word "enlightenment", because it is a confusing word, that people use to describe a wide variety of experiences and one must be very careful using it because it's a lot more nuanced than one might think.
The chapter on the Westernization of Zen is also full of good food for thought: especially about the removing of zazen from the religious aspect of Zen Buddhism and the arguing about whether or not Zen is in fact a religion.
The section on the history of Buddhism and how it migrated all over Asia, and eventually the world, is very informative. I appreciate that he brings up the fact that like any other religion, the veracity of Buddhist scripture might not be historically accurate, and would have been used for political purposes at the time they were written - but that ultimately, their historical veracity doesn't matter as much as what they mean to practitioners. His argument for a balance of historical basis and greater symbolic importance is an important point that should, in my humble opinion, be applicable to all religions.
The truly unique part of this book is the section dedicated to the so-called "lost" Zen texts that we discovered in the early 20th century, after having been sealed i a cave for several centuries. Now the very idea of a Zen archaeological mystery gets my brain all tingly, and the various theories concerning the cave, its content and the reasons it was sealed up are discussed in details. He then presents new translations of some of these documents.
The style is both scholarly and accessible: if you've never read a book about Zen before, this one won't confuse you. I think this book will appeal more to people who already study and practice Zen, or to people looking for in-depth and clear information about it. This is really more a scholarly work, and not a manual for practice. But I think that anyone serious about Zen will find it very educational, clear and well-written. Highly recommended.
I got my copy at one of my favorite indie bookstores, Talking Leaves, In Buffalo, NY: https://www.tleavesbooks.com/ If you are ever in Elmwood Village, go say hello, they are amazing!
September 26, 2020
Still reading it, but so far it seems like a good book. The part I read is about history of Zen and it has a somewhat critical approach to it, which is always a plus. There are things mentioned related to the history of Zen that I didn't know before, thought I could say that I read a fair amount of books related to that particular part of history. It's a book about scriptures found in Dunhuang cave in China sometime in the 19th century. Knowing how much damage Islamic invasions had done to Buddhism, the cave was sealed to protect the scriptures form the imminent danger of incoming Islamic troops. Later the cave was most likely forgotten, and then accidently discovered by a Taoist monk who sold some of the scriptures to Western researchers. The scriptures paint a different picture of the early Zen practises. It's detailed but not too much. Will update the review later after reading more.
It's definitely worth reading. It gives some important insight in the tradition of Chan though it's not beginner-friendly. If you wanna learn about the basics skip this one but do come back to it once the right time comes.
It's definitely worth reading. It gives some important insight in the tradition of Chan though it's not beginner-friendly. If you wanna learn about the basics skip this one but do come back to it once the right time comes.
December 30, 2018
I really enjoyed Sam Van Schaik's Spirit of Zen.
It's grounded in sound and recent scholarship, and by way of introducing the fascinating texts in The Masters and Students of Lanka, recovered from the Dunhuang caves on the Silk Road, provides probably the best introduction to Zen Buddhism I have read in the English language. Strictly speaking, the texts are really foundational to Chan, but sadly, that's a battle that has been lost in Western discourse. Van Schaik, however, resists the urge to polemicise against the sorts of orientalist mystification of Zen far too common in the West, and in fact his writing in and of itself forms an act of dāna (generosity).
I can't speak to the quality of the translation of the texts from Classical Chinese, but in English their clarity and luminosity is admirable, as is the elegance and straightforward nature of Van Schaik's writing.
It's a refreshingly non-sectarian take on Zen/Chan, and in passing, makes it clearer to me why Thai Ajahns like Luang Por Buddhadāsa and Luang Por Chah found resonances in Chan, particularly in insights about Buddha nature. I also felt that I better understood the tradition in which Thích Nhất Hạnh writes.
If you are looking for a primer on Chan/Zen that is both easy to read and scholarly, this is the book for you. And as a bonus, it can also be read as a Dhamma Book with great benefit!
It's grounded in sound and recent scholarship, and by way of introducing the fascinating texts in The Masters and Students of Lanka, recovered from the Dunhuang caves on the Silk Road, provides probably the best introduction to Zen Buddhism I have read in the English language. Strictly speaking, the texts are really foundational to Chan, but sadly, that's a battle that has been lost in Western discourse. Van Schaik, however, resists the urge to polemicise against the sorts of orientalist mystification of Zen far too common in the West, and in fact his writing in and of itself forms an act of dāna (generosity).
I can't speak to the quality of the translation of the texts from Classical Chinese, but in English their clarity and luminosity is admirable, as is the elegance and straightforward nature of Van Schaik's writing.
It's a refreshingly non-sectarian take on Zen/Chan, and in passing, makes it clearer to me why Thai Ajahns like Luang Por Buddhadāsa and Luang Por Chah found resonances in Chan, particularly in insights about Buddha nature. I also felt that I better understood the tradition in which Thích Nhất Hạnh writes.
If you are looking for a primer on Chan/Zen that is both easy to read and scholarly, this is the book for you. And as a bonus, it can also be read as a Dhamma Book with great benefit!
December 31, 2020
This book was a bit disappointing. I didn’t get a lot out of it. I feel like the title is misleading as well as the back of it which advertises it as an “engaging introduction to Zen Buddhism.” Sure the start of it gives a good introduction of Zen Buddhism, however the bulk of the book is about the history of it and details about the lives of these Zen masters of Lanka from the specific text ‘Masters of Lanka.’ I was expecting a look at the heart of Zen, the core concepts and practices. Maybe it’s my bad for not doing enough research on what this book was about before I got it.
I didn’t care for the historical details, I was here for the philosophical ideas, principles and practice of Zen Buddhism. I would have preferred if I had just got the direct translation of the Master of Lanka without the sections of commentary because it ended up being really repetitive. The author summarises the sections on each of the Zen masters, then before actually giving us the translation of the text he includes a section going into and summarising the the text again (including quotes from it). So that when you finally read the translation it just feels like Déjà vu all the time and like I’m not actually covering new ground. That I found particularly disappointing.
It’s not that I didn’t get at least something out of it, the beginning was a good refresher on some of the ideas of Zen that I was already loosely familiar with and the teachings from the Masters of Lanka had some good insights on Zen thoughts on language, meditation, and emptiness. So overall an okay book.
I didn’t care for the historical details, I was here for the philosophical ideas, principles and practice of Zen Buddhism. I would have preferred if I had just got the direct translation of the Master of Lanka without the sections of commentary because it ended up being really repetitive. The author summarises the sections on each of the Zen masters, then before actually giving us the translation of the text he includes a section going into and summarising the the text again (including quotes from it). So that when you finally read the translation it just feels like Déjà vu all the time and like I’m not actually covering new ground. That I found particularly disappointing.
It’s not that I didn’t get at least something out of it, the beginning was a good refresher on some of the ideas of Zen that I was already loosely familiar with and the teachings from the Masters of Lanka had some good insights on Zen thoughts on language, meditation, and emptiness. So overall an okay book.
January 14, 2024
A somewhat odd book. "The Spirit of Chan" would be a more appropriate title for it focuses almost exclusively on Chinese Chan Buddhism, with virtually nothing on the titular Japanese Zen. The first half provides a very useful academic overview of the nature and history of the much misunderstood and mythologised Zen Buddhism. The second half is an anthology of Chinese Chan texts, which include some of the best and dullest expressions of Buddhism I've encountered. I would often read this after an evening shower and feel incredibly calm and contented, but towards the end the repetitive nature of the texts had me feeling frustrated and bored. I'm not sure I'd recommend this as an introduction to Zen Buddhism unless the reader has prior knowledge of Buddhism, especially Mahayana.
November 29, 2024
The book is nicely structured for an undergraduate level academic text. It begins with an introduction to the history of Zen Buddhist lineages and a contextualization of the antique compilation The Masters and Students of the Lanka. Each chapter then provides a reconstruction / translation of the section of text corresponding to the life and teachings of a single Zen master, with a short summary of key points. The book ends with a conclusion on how these teachings relate to later Zen Buddhist practice. I found the intro and conclusion interesting but the translations needed more discussion to clarify Zen philosophy for a non-specialist audience. It is also much too complicated for an audiobook format.
June 9, 2023
The Spirit of Zen is 1 part historical analysis of Chan/Zen and 1 part new translations of key early figures of Chan, primarily the Zen Patriarchs. Billed as an introductory text, I'd qualify that it may serve as an introduction for academically minded practitioner or scholar, I'd not recommend this to seekers new to Zen. Derived primarily from The Masters and Students of the Lanka as well as secondary sources (such as McRae and others), The Spirit of Zen is an engaging and interesting presentation of early Chan concepts and practices. Those interested in such things and who have some experience exploring the mysteries and contradictions of Chan will find a lot to consider here.
October 29, 2019
A solid historical grounding for Zen - though I do think it would have been more suitable to have the first half, that historical grounding as one book and the translation of the 'Masters of the Lanka' as a separate book.
June 10, 2019
Good historical review of Zen Buddhism. Quite dense and a bit dry.
February 19, 2020
Reading about the history of Zen dispelled a lot of misconceptions. It is rooted far in the past. The wisdom that comes with meditation is something we all need.
May 19, 2023
Sam Van Schaik shines light on the history of Zen Buddhism by studying historical sources, providing the reader with first-account sources and commentary, as well as academic insights.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews