Customer Reviews

The Iron Cow of Zen (Quest Book)

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

 

 

Upon reading negative reviews of this book I have little more to say than this....
It is a common principal in zen teachings that students too often look at the words used in zen literature and zen teachings as enlightenment, rather than a way to enlightenment. It is commonly compared to one using ones finger to show you the way, and instead of seeing the finger as a guide to the way, they see the finger as the way. This book makes it very easy to make that same mistake. It's words and phrases seem somewhat confusing but in reality they make perfect sense when you don't lose sight of what they are trying to show you. I strongly recommend this book to anyone in need of an intellectual and precise approach to the teachings of zen.

I must defend this book against previous comments. Of course a book in itself cannot teach you the secrets of meditation. However, like any other art-form, books can open your mind in a wonderful way if they are well-written and thoughtfully crafted. This book certainly fits that description. I read this several years ago, and reread it several times because of the depth of insight it offers. Anybody interested in links between Eastern and Western philosophy will find some real gems here, and anybody practising meditation will recognise the central themes. Personally it helped me particularly to see how the koan form of meditation operates, something I find difficult as I follow a non-verbal kind of practice. It shows how the initial paradoxical concept leads deep into the conflicts in the human psyche and ultimately beyond the egocentric viewpoint. "Arouse the mind without resting it upon anything".

For centuries, Zen has been concerned only with Absolute Mind. If you read this book, you will realize that everyday mind is just the way. A koan is the springboard to a deeper pool of understanding in every chapter, pushing the reader towards further experiential inquiry. The author avoids to handle the koan intelectually, placing the reader in the crux of a paradox that must be broken to go ahead surviving each chapter. The are many other books where the focus is the content of the mind. However this book is concerned with mind itself. The purpose is to learn how to stop thinking to go beyond thinking. This is the right way to arouse the mind without resting it upon anything. The illusion of unity and diversity, of a correct question and answer, of an insider and an outsider, of the viewpoint of an actor and an audience, of Me and I, of where is the center are analysed in detail. The author is the director of the Montreal Zen Center. He is a layman who has devoted 30 years to practice and to assist others in their way to awareness and awakening. He received the full trasmission as a teacher of Zen from Roshi Phillip Kapleau. There is a French version of this book. This is a book for advanced Zen students looking for a tool to startle the consciousness into enlightenment.

For centuries, Zen has been concerned only with Absolute Mind. If you read this book, you will realize that everyday mind is just the way. A koan is the springboard to a deeper pool of understanding in every chapter, pushing the reader towards further experiential inquiry. The author avoids to handle the koan intelectually, placing the reader in the crux of a paradox that must be broken to go ahead surviving each chapter. The are many other books where the focus is the content of the mind. However this book is concerned with mind itself. The purpose is to learn how to stop thinking to go beyond thinking. This is the right way to arouse the mind without resting it upon anything. The illusion of unity and diversity, of a correct question and answer, of an insider and an outsider, of the viewpoint of an actor and an audience, of Me and I, of where is the center are analysed in detail. The author is the director of the Montreal Zen Center. He is a layman who has devoted 30 years to practice and to assist others in their way to awareness and awakening. He received the full trasmission as a teacher of Zen from Roshi Phillip Kapleau. `qThis is a book for advanced Zen students looking for a tool to startle the consciousness into enlightenment.

For those interested in Zen and the Mind of Zen, this is an excellent introduction. Low studied with and received transmission from Roshi Philip Kapleau ("Three Pillars of Zen", "Zen Dawn in the West"). This makes Low a second generation western Zen teacher, and he is sensitive to western intellectual bias. He frequently makes useful references to mainstream western works and quotes them wisely, thus providing the western reader a gentle stepping stone onto the Zen path. Low has delivered a book that works the subject well but also the reader. Just because this book was wrtten in English and is not a translation of a work difficult in its original language, does not make it easy, but it is still much easier and more meaningful than diving right into a translation of Dogen. Reading this and other of Low's books has brought valuable insights, and provided the incentive to read the primary sources of Buddhism he references.

This book annoyed me. I went on to read other books in the same vein, though, and found it to be better than most; hence the extra star. I have a fundamental problem with the idea of teaching readers about no-mind and other truths that cannot be understood through words . . . through the vehicle of writing. If you want to learn about Zen, then by all means, talk to a Roshi or another person who has grasped something of its nature. Meditate. Look at sumie paintings, build a rock garden, learn the Tea Ceremony. Don't expect this book--or any book--to show you what you need to know about Zen.