Customer Reviews

The Golden Age of Zen: Zen Masters of the T'ang Dynasty (Spiritual Masters)

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This book reminds me of my first encounters with Zen as a teenager. I used to read with amazement and wonder about the Zen masters of old with their strange speech, their erratic behavior, their sticks, their wisdom. This book presents ancient Chinese Zen in all its imaginative color. Mr. Wu's commentary is precise and penetrating: he clearly knows his Zen, and he explains it well without giving too much away. I would recommend this book for anyone, but especially for those new to Zen.

As for the review that says Mr. Wu is a Christian, this has no bearing or impact on his understanding. Zen is without colors, boundaries, or borders. Dr. Suzuki encountered this book toward the end of his life and commented favorably on it. I would ignore the prior reviewer and quickly snap up this gem of a book.

A complete overview of the Zen masters, wonderfully written, and definately worth it. Dr. Wu is very insightful and was friends with Lin Yutang. The preface may mention christianity but the meat of the book is an excellent overview, insightful. One of my favorite books in my large zen/dao collection.

I was disappointed to discover that the man who wrote this book is not a Zen Buddhist, but a Christian. Though he is a Chinese scholar of Zen, it seems his understanding is filtered through his relationship with Christianity, hence the long forward by the author's good friend Thomas Merton trying to show some similarities between Zen and Christianity. I suppose this would have been a great book to have when it was published 40 years ago or so, but really there are so many better books available now which show a greater understanding and realization of Zen practice than this one. I would spend your money elsewhere.