Customer Reviews

The Book of Serenity: One Hundred Zen Dialogues

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I bought this book long ago and Amazon's systems keep pestering me to review it, although I haven't read it properly. I had previously bought the "Blue Cliff Record", and unless you can devote your whole day to koan study, that by itself will see you out of this world. Buying this as well was like the man who wins a lifetime's supply of free beer and is so excited he goes out and buys a second lifetime's supply.

But who can resist endless computer nagging? Besides, the reviewer below, who seemed to like the book in so far as you can tell, yet only gave it one star, has skewed the ratings. (He gets "wandering in samara" confused with "Appointment in Samsara", so maybe he was just ignoring the Precept about Not Using Intoxicants.)

These hundred "cases" were collected by Master Hung-chih; the prose commentaries were added by Master Wan-sung Hsing-hsiu, playing the role that Master Yüan-wu did in the "Blue Cliff Record". Thomas Cleary's Introduction is a useful brief history of Zen. "Serenity" isn't quite the word: "The Book of Equanimity" says it exactly. Equanimity is a deep perception of Oneness, or of the Indescribable beyond even Oneness: if you realise it with heart, soul and body, you know that water can't drown you, that fire can't burn you.

So what is a Koan? An IQ puzzle? A logical enigma that enables you to see the limits of rational thought? A mysterious aphorism that you should just Be With, not try to solve? Heck no! A Koan Is A Plain, Clear Statement About Something You Are Quite Capable Of Understanding. Laughter is the usual response when you see into a koan ("solve" is misleading.) I'm not entirely sure what's so funny. Partly it's that it was all so obvious: something insanely wonderful was right there in front of you all the time.
Koan-study is easy. All you have to do is give up all interest in everything else, abandon all plans for the future and throw away your body and life itself. No-one can help you: you have to see for yourself. Pick a koan from the "Mumonkan", the "beginners" koan collection, pick one that intrigues and puzzles you.

Do you feel utterly, hopelessly baffled? You can't figure out even how to begin thinking about it? You can't see how anyone could solve it, how there could possibly be a solution? When you try to think about it, you feel as if your head has been wrapped in several layers of cling-film? Great! You're on the right track already. Pretend that somebody inside you understands perfectly. If you try to think it out for yourself, he or she will fold his or her arms and say, "Fine, you can do without me." But if you feel thoroughly baffled, so lost in bafflement that you can hardly recognise your own name or words like "soap-dish" or "pillow-case", he or she will say, "Oh, you need my help. Sure. Watch this."

This book contains profound wisdom, but it is still fun to read..Read it if you are at all interested in classic zen tales. The accompanying commentary makes it very accessible. The guy who gave this one star probably made a mistake or has a weird sense of humor.

It is said that Roshi Philip Kapleau, author of the seminal "Three Pillars" book of Zen, quit his formal training and established his Rochester Zen center before completing the 100 koans in "Book of Serenity," though passage of these koans is considered essential to becoming fully rounded in the Zen sense. It is debatable whether you need a book like "Serenity" in order to finish your training. The purists would say not: As long as you are sitting regularly and deeply, life will supply all of the hard knocks necessary to forge your character in the shape of a true Zen master. But it's more fun to have "Serenity" on your bedside table as a sort of a guidebook to all of the changes you will undergo. You can't very well read ahead to your crossing of the Mississippi and arrival in Las Vegas; what's written in this book won't make much sense at all until you have truly arrived in each place described. And having this book on your shelf at too early a stage in your Zen practice wouldn't do much good either. What value is a coded description of the other side of the Himalayas when you still have to walk through China and climb the top of Everest? Still, once these koans start making real sense to you, it is a very big moment indeed: You are off the mountain and beginning to sense the true ground. "Serenity" is aptly named, as it marks, step by step, the decline of your inner turmoil and growing reliance on and belief in connectivity and a regular meditative practice. It also reveals to you the tools needed to manage in this new world of mind. Maura Soshin O'Halloran was said to have completed the entire Zen canon in 1,000 days, including, presumably, "Serenity." But I think there is far too much to learn from this period of training for one to wolf it all down in so short a time. It is a period of one's life that belongs in the wine cellar, gathering a bit of dust. Buy the book when you're ready for it, and not a moment before. And you'll know when.

The monkey said to the mantis... "you have a nose, therefore you must be a buddha!"

the mantis replied "i do not have a nose, but i am a buddha!"

the monkey replied..."were you to have a nose you would still be a buddha!"

"rightly said replied the mantis, rightly said"




the peach blossom monk said to the pear blossom monk... "you are a human and therefore you must be a buddha"

"yes, thats true said the pear blossom monk... all humans are buddhas but not all humans know this! not knowing this, they are not buddhas. is it not so?"

"just so, just so?"



master tortoise said to master hare...

"Are you a buddha?"

master hare replied: "i am not a buddha"

master tortoise said: "are you not awake?"

master hare replied: "of course i am awake!"

master tortoise retorted wisely: "why then thou who professes to be master, do you think you are asleep?"

hare quickly replied "nonsense!, nonsense!"

(they both laughed together, but one longer than the other).



the divine joke! is it not?

ps. the six thieves will seek to stop you from realizing the truth about your true nature and your original face. it must be said that unless you are ready for these words you will not have the faith to activate the transmission. simple. but perhaps later on in the path you will rememeber them and they will help in enforcing your transmission.tc.

This exceptional book is like running water for an enthusiast with a parched throat stumbling in samara; for a lover of the truth it is nothing less than the truth. Cleary's translation skills of are the utmost order. The scent of the Chan original is surely here. It serves the imperial and provincial! This collection repays reading and is a treasure-house of many Zen-masters. It is a Golden Gate....now will you step through or not.