Mysticism: Christian and Buddhist [Hardcover]

Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1976 | ISBN-10: 0837185165 | ISBN-13: 978-0837185163

If the Western world knows anything about Zen Buddhism, it is down to the efforts of one remarkable man, D.T. Suzuki. The twenty-seven year-old Japanese scholar first visited the West in 1897, and over the course of the next seventy years became the world's leading authority on Zen. His radical and penetrating insights earned him many disciples, from Carl Jung to Allen Ginsberg, from Thomas Merton to John Cage. In Mysticism: Christian and Buddhist Suzuki compares the teachings of the great Christian mystic Meister Eckhart with the spiritual wisdom of Shin and Zen Buddhism. By juxtaposing cultures that seem to be radically opposed, Suzuki raises one of the fundamental questions of human experience: at the limits of our understanding is there an experience that is universal to all humanity? Mysticism: Christian and Buddhist is a book that challenges and inspires; it will benefit readers of all religions who seek to understand something of the nature of spiritual life.

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Read the books of D.T. Suzuki.' - Jack Kerouac --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki (1870-1966). The most influential Zen teacher of modern times, credited with bringing Zen to millions outside the Far East. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 214 pages
• Publisher: Greenwood Pub Group (February 1976)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0837185165
• ISBN-13: 978-0837185163
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,006,861 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nonduality, East and West, August 24, 2005

By 

Andrew Beaulac (Whidbey Island, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mysticism: Christian and Buddhist (Routledge Classics) (Paperback)

The great scholar of Zen Buddhism does the kind of careful and insightful work he is known for, here comparing the Christian mysticism of Meister Eckhart, (a 13th and 14th century Christian mystic) with core Buddhist teachings. The insights of a Christian mystic and a Buddhist differ in words, but reflect the same underlying experience of union with the Ineffable Suchness that is God or Tathata. I value this book deeply for its subject matter. Be advised, this is not light reading or "beach reading" as Eckhart can be somewhat impenetrable at times. But Suzuki is very adept at interpreting him and gets to the essentials, making it a book to be ingested slowly, meditatively.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A long shot at interfaith dialogue, June 7, 2006

By 

Greg (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mysticism: Christian and Buddhist (Routledge Classics) (Hardcover)

D.T. Suzuki was in his time a well known scholar on Buddhism, especially the Japanese Zen variety, and was later appointed a Professor of Buddhist Philosophy.

In 1948 Suzuki studied some sermons of Meister Eckhart and wrote this little book, pointing out what he felt were the close connections between the Meister's ideas and those of Zen Buddhism.

Having studied both Christian and Buddhist spiritual traditions myself quite closely, I think Suzuki has tried but failed to find common ground between these two great world religions.

Nowhere in Eckhart's sermons or tracts for example, does Eckhart conceive of God as Buddhist 'emptiness' or 'shunyata.' While it is true Eckhart felt God was One, and this One was above being itself, Eckhart also believed this One was a Trinity and contained a super-richness or overflowing of being, rather than a void which mysteriously and transcendently is the source of all other things. The Buddhist ideas which Suzuki refers to have far more in common with those of Oriental mysticism, such as the Tao of Lao Tzu or the Brahman of the Upanishads. Eckhart's idea is closer to Gregory of Nyssa or Dionysius, who saw God as infinite, perfectly One, incomprehensible but also a Trinity.

However many of Eckhart's ideas do have paralells in Buddhism, especially those on 'detachment', imageless contemplation (something shared with Evagrius Ponticus, a 4th century Eastern Christian monk) and the ground of the soul, which may be compared with the Buddhist notion of the inherent 'Buddha nature' shared by all beings. Yet, I think Eckhart is best considered what he really was, a Catholic mystic who saw himself as an Orthodox Christian through and through, rather than a Zen master in disguise.

13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars limited comparative approach, December 14, 2002

By 

Tron Honto - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mysticism: Christian and Buddhist (Routledge Classics) (Paperback)

Suzuki basically has written this book, which primarily about Buddhism rather than Christianity, as a way of drawing connections between the different mysticisms present in Christian tradition and how some of these mysticisms share common traits and insights with Buddhism. Not surprisingly, the mystic whom he chooses to do this with is almost exclusively Meister Eckhart. This is, thus, no comparative history but a Buddhist slant on Eckchart's thought and spirituality. It is a slant that might make some Christians uncomfortable but it is interesting nonetheless. This serves a window through which he continues to discussion Buddhist mysticism at large in the rest of the book.