The Essence of Zen: Dharma Talks Given in Europe and America [Hardcover]

Sekkei Harada (Author), Daigaku Rumme (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1998

As a religion and a spiritual practice, Zen has always been shrouded to some extent in mystery, the source, in fact, of a great deal of its charm and appeal. Mysteriousness, however, can also give the impression of impenetrability. It is precisely this danger that led Sekkei Harada, one of the foremost masters of the Soto sect in Japan, to give the lectures that comprise this book. In them, he clarifies points that seem to appear as obstacles to many non-Japanese aspirants, removes barriers to the understanding of Zen theory, and puts into perspective the Buddhist thought that underlies Zen practice.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Sekkei Harada is the present abbot of Hosshin-ji, a Zen temple in Fukui prefecture, near the Japan Sea coast of central Japan. He was born in 1926 in Okazaki, near Nagoya, and was ordained at Hosshin-ji in 1951. In 1953 he went to Hamamatsu to practice under Zen Master Gien Inoue, and achieved his inkashomei (certification of realization) in 1957. In 1974 he was installed as head priest and abbot of Hosshin-ji and was formally recognized by the Soto Zen sect as a Teaching Master (shike) in 1976. Since 1982 Harada has traveled abroad frequently, teaching in such countries as Germany, the United States, and India. Since June 2002 Harada has served as the General Director of the Soto Zen headquarters in Europe. He is based in Milan. He is the author of Za Zen, of which this is a translation, Sandokai fusetsu (A Commentary on the Sandokai; 1996), and Jiga no honshitsu (The Essence of the True Self; 1997).

Daigaku Rumme was born in 1950 in Mason City, Iowa, U.S.A. In 1976, he entered Hosshin-ji as a layman and was ordained by Harada Roshi in 1978. Since then, he has been living and practicing at Hosshin-ji. On several occasions he has accompanied Harada on his visits to Europe, India, and the United States, acting as his interpreter.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 184 pages
• Publisher: Kodansha International (JPN); First edition (July 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 4770021992
• ISBN-13: 978-4770021991
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #856,689 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Discovering the Real Self. A no-nonsense approach to Zen., August 13, 1999

By 

(Stewart Wyndham) [e-mail] (Tokyo, Japan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Essence of Zen: Dharma Talks Given in Europe and America (Hardcover)

For those beginners in Zen and any other spiritual practice for that matter this book will encourage you to give up the "Zen sickness" of talking about Zen and thinking it to be something special. Harada Roshi skilfully, yet effortlessly in the true spirit of wu wei (non-doing which is utterly devoid of any personal aggranzizement)compassionately grinds away our illusions about Zen or any spiritual path. He illustates this with some traditional Zen anecdotes that seem to jump out of the esoteric frame we may have held them in and stare us in the face with their simplicity and obviousness. Sekkei Harada is indeed a master who time and again will remind us that our Buddha nature ( our salvation in Christian terms)is always apparent, was never born and thus cannot die. I visited Hosshin-ji myself this year and I can only verify that what had begun to dawn upon me about the simplicity of "My True Self" was` made even clearer in the course of the week I spent there. Both an excellent introduction and, for those believing they may be "advanced" an excellent exploration into the awareness that "the first step is the last step." The translator, Daigaku Rumme (Daigaku means mountain since he is like a mountain) did a first class job of translation.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice Work, December 22, 2004

By 

Swing King (Cincinnati, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Essence of Zen: Dharma Talks Given in Europe and America (Hardcover)

Japanese Zen masters located in Japan rarely become familiar to the Western tongue. At the same time, few if any of them make that a plan of action anyhow. The point of teaching Zen is, in a word, the practice of servitude to all beings. Sekkei Harada is easy to relate to for people who have come to love the works of folks like Seung Sahn, Maezumi, and so on. This Zen master believes Zen is the eradication of the self that is narcissistic while searching for one's true self. You know, the themes here aren't really new or exciting, but similarly they aren't inaccurate or boring. For example, Sekkei Harada urges practitioners to cut through oppositional thinking in order to attain a more balanced and clearly defined life. So that's what I mean when I say it's not new or revolutionary. This work is like adding a slightly different perspective to something like a diamond; sure, we saw this diamond before we held it from this particular perspective, but now the understanding of it has become just that much more clear. We will never have inspected it in it's sum whole, for it's the inspections themselves that make up that entirety anyway. So while I'll admit maybe I'm becoming Suzuki's forlorn "expert" on Zen, this book isn't really very unique and probably won't stand out in your mind as one of those truly life changing works. Even still, it will certainly provide us all with a more ripened vision of our procured little diamond.

If you are a newcomer to Zen and find this book in your hands, it will be like that diamond dropping right into your hand for the first time. It will offer much more than it did to this Zen scrooge who could use a lesson or two from you...