Customer Reviews

Zen's Chinese Heritage -- The Masters & Their Teachings

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Zen's Chinese Heritage - The masters and their teachings, by Andrew Ferguson, is a long awaited reference for those wishing to appreciate the origins of the Zen tradition. As a long time practioner of Zen, the many illustrious and noteworthy ancestors of my tradition, have often been nothing more than a confusing collection of names, difficult to pronounce and even more difficult to appreciate as once real and living men and women. Andrew Ferguson's painstaking efforts at bringing to life these practioners of old, and providing us with history and anecdotes from their allusive lives, has enlivened my practice and given new meaning to the many wonderful and amazing persons I encounter in my koan study. This book is a wonderful guide and reference, especially with its accompanying lineage chart, for anyone who is either a practioner of this wonderful tradition or is solely interested in furthering their appreciation for the history of Zen.

I read this book back when I was living in a monastery. I found it to be extraordinary, the other monk that I was living with at the time was also amazed that such a book had been written and he was the one that order one for the monks and one for the nuns.

The book goes through the very beginnings of Chan (Chinese word for Zen) up through the "Golden Age" and beyond. I found very intriguing particularly to see that at one point in the Chan history that there was this point when so many enlightened masters had arose at once. Probably something we may never see again. You will find all Five Schools in here plus other schools that were not so prominent but had an impact as well.

Definitely a book worthy of your dollar.

I took months to read this book and only ever reached the stage of being an open-mouthed, lightning-struck bystander. Such a treasure is not often found in one life. I congratulate the authors on feeding us such juicy and tangy fruit.

I purchased and received an electronic copy of this book from Amazon. It arrived magically within moments. I'm reading it on my iPad using the free Kindle application. It's great, as the application and iPad allow me to highlight selected text, make notes, add bookmarks, lookup definitions and search the internet for related topics and then it allows me to return to the page from which I started. It is amazing technology. The book itself is a fantastic resource: organized, clearly written and well researched. I appreciate that the authors cite their sources and delineate between legend and historic probability--Bravo!

I think my review title sums this up perfect. Never could I image finding such a thorough book that outlines the lineage of zen. It is a great collection of information and something that I will frequently refer to. I enjoy reading and absorbing the brief stories about each one of these zen masters. Though it is a very lengthy text, I found it easy to read. Even taking a few minutes each day to read one section about one zen master is very rewarding. The information about these individual's lives are amazing and I enjoyed hearing about their given names after they had died. I actually spent some time with this author in China and found him to be very knowledgeable. Unfortunately it took me almost ten years after that trip before I actually bought this amazing book. I regret not buying it sooner but realize I am so blessed for having it now. I would highly recommended anyone interested in zen purchasing this book.