Customer Reviews

AWAKENING TO ZEN: The Teachings of Roshi Philip Kapleau

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I was prepared to not like "Awakening to Zen" when it was given to me by one of my students. I was happily suprised to find the best book I had ever read on Zen Buddhism. Kapleau-Roshi addressed the concerns of the Western Zen Sangha, while stil maintaining a traditional Zen outlook. On a scale of 1-5, this could only be rated a ten!! Extremely Highly Recommended.

Once again, Kapleau Roshi has out done himself."Three Pillars of Zen" has always been the Zen Bible. "Awakening to Zen"is a perfect companion. Easy to understand, The Roshi writes for everyone, so everyone can be touched by the beauty of a Zen life. Thank you Sir!

A while back, I reviewed Three Pillars of Zen, and I praised the book for its accessibility. Kapleau's desire to "open up" Zen to Western-influenced minds, readers who are often dazzled and perplexed by the whole system, is something valuable and necessary. I found so much to mull over in my multiple readings of Three Pillars that I decided to check out some of his other books.

Awakening to Zen accomplishes exactly what Three Pillars does so well, but is even more accessible to the novice reader. Kapleau's writings here have been culled from speeches, presentations, and short articles, so the language and critical discussion is simplified. He also presents many issues related to the practice and study of Zen and how this relates to "real world" situations. I found these particularly stimulating, especially those chapters dealing with how living Zen relates to other animals, the environment, work, etc.

I would actually direct novices to this book first, or at the very least, to be read alongside Three Pillars. Kapleau's work has done wonders for the study and practice of Zen in the West. In sum, he is all about presenting complexity in simple, easy to digest language that reaches beyond barriers to all eyes and ears willing to pay attention.

It's hard to really write a review of this book, so let me say this: Their are very few books that exist that actually have the potential to change your life. This book is one of them. That's a difficult statement to qualify, but I think it's completely true. I first discovered this book at the public library when I was 16, ten years ago, and looking for info on Zen. This book was my introduction, and it answers every question you may have ever had about the religion, the practice, you name it. Sure there are more thorough, historical approaches to Zen and Buddhism in general, but they don't distill what the religion/philosophy is in exactly the way this book does. If your looking for an explanation of the life of Siddhartha Gautama, this is not it. This is not written in a scholastic manner. Because Buddhism, in it's extraordinary, beautiful simplicity is not about thinking about something, but experiencing something, embodying that something as a means to understand it. That's why most books fail to introduce the subject properly, and fail more often than not in converting people interested in learning. It also doesn't describe the practice of Zazen, or Zen meditation. For that your going to want to pick up Suzuki's famous book. What this book does is allow you to EXPERIENCE what zen is all about by showing you what it is all about, instead of telling you. A monumental difference that shouldn't be taken lightly.

There exists in our culture, so many self help books and cure all philosophies that another one seems almost like flogging a dead horse at this point. But this book is different for one very specific reason: It's not trying to tell you what to do, or what you don't have that you need to acquire, it's trying to tell you what NOT to do, and beyond that, to convince you that everything you have with you right now, is all you ever have and ever will need. That's really the essence of Zen.

The real reason to get this book is because of the times we find ourselves in, and the fact that Zen is a fabulous antidote to those times. The obsession with technology, the narcissism and greed of the modern era. The thoughtlessness of it. The over analyzing, over thinking, overly self aware culture that we live in...zen is an alternative.

I could write a whole book in response to this book, but I will spare you. I'll just say that, this book, taken seriously, can change the fabric of your perception of reality and transform your awareness of the universe as it exists. If that's not worth ten bucks, then I don't know what else to say.