No Beginning, No End: The Intimate Heart of Zen [Hardcover]

Jakusho Kwong (Author), Peter Levitt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 11, 2003

In No Beginning, No End, Zen master Jakusho Kwong-roshi shows us how to treasure the ordinary activities of our daily lives through an understanding of simple Buddhist practices and ideas. The author’s spontaneous, poetic, and pragmatic teachings—so reminiscent of his spiritual predecessor Shunryu Suzuki (Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind)—transport us on an exciting journey into the very heart of Zen and its meaningful traditions. Because Kwong-roshi can transmit the most intimate thing in the most accessible way, we learn how to ignite our own vitality, wisdom, and compassion and awaken a feeling of intimacy with the world. It is like having a conversation with our deepest and wisest self.

Jakusho Kwong-roshi was originally inspired to study Zen because of zenga, the ancient art of Zen calligraphy. Throughout this book he combines examples of his unique style with less well-known stories from the Zen tradition, personal anecdotes—including moving and humorous stories of his training with Suzuki-roshi—and his own lucid and inspiring teachings to draw all readers into this intimate expression of the enlightening world of Zen: the world of who we are.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The "Big Mind" that Zen Buddhist master Shunryu Suzuki Roshi so poetically described in his classic Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind shines throughout this collection of talks by Kwong, a disciple and authorized successor of Suzuki's. Appropriately for someone erasing the usual dualistic lines that separate self and other, Kwong's voice is strikingly reminiscent of his teacher's, from the traditional stories and poems he cites to the same central figures of speech and simple diction he uses. The book is also organized like Zen Mind into three parts with quotes pulled out to head each chapter. It even includes 10 of Kwong's calligraphic illustrations, while Zen Mind opens with calligraphy facing its title page. Unlike his teacher, however, the California-born Kwong speaks the language of Zen with an American accent. He is intimately familiar with the American lexicon of words and values, which gives him direct experience-important in Zen-to bring to the cultural meeting of modern American and Japanese Zen minds. He uses "living words"-concrete nouns and simple examples from everyday observation or experience-rather than abstract concepts to make plain and understandable the teasing and logic-confounding contradictions found in Zen. Culled from a lifetime of teaching and studying, the book is persuasive. It is the fruit of a ripened mind, hardened by practice but also softened by the compassionate wisdom drawn from those same long years of experience.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

“California-born Kwong speaks the language of Zen with an American accent. . . . The book is persuasive. It is the fruit of a ripened mind, hardened by practice but also softened by the compassionate wisdom drawn from those same long years of experience.”—Publishers Weekly

“Following in the profound lineage of Suzuki-roshi, Jakusho Kwong offers an open-hearted Zen with an immediacy that is both illuminating and simple. These teachings give us confidence to return to our original mind.”—Jack Kornfield --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 255 pages
• Publisher: Harmony; 1 edition (March 11, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0609610805
• ISBN-13: 978-0609610800
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,021,812 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great-Hearted Intimate Zen Classic, April 26, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: No Beginning, No End: The Intimate Heart of Zen (Hardcover)

In the most intimate voice, this book offers the wisdom and compassion of a great-hearted American Zen master. The promise Shunryu Suzuki saw decades ago in his young student Jakusho Kwong has been lovingly cultivated into a lifetime of conscious compassion, wisdom and care. Chapter after chapter offers the benefits of such a life in a way that makes the book a real page turner, though I suggest you read it slowly. Let the teachings, the vision and the kindness seep in.

So many spiritual books based on their author's talks fall short of allowing the reader to feel included. They make you feel that you wish you had been at the actual event. This book is the opposite. Each chapter made me feel I was actually sitting with a true Zen master who was helping me to understand my life and parts of myself in ways I never had. It was like having a private interview with someone who really saw me for who I was and wanted to help me to become whole.

One last thing. I have read gazillions of Zen books. I look to them as a kind of spiritual companion or friend. Often the relationship is pretty good, but not quite the perfect fit. This book, however, like Suzuki's Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, is that friend. We go places together. I take it with me when I want to be with someone who understands me, and I find that it helps me to understand myself in new ways each time. Books that are called "classics" are books that "last a lifetime." For me, No Beginning, No End is one of these

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Connecting, May 17, 2003

By 

Alice Bolocan (New York, New York United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: No Beginning, No End: The Intimate Heart of Zen (Hardcover)

This is the first book I have read on the spirit of Zen that I could begin to relate to. I could not put it down, nor can I wait to dip into it again and again for its many messages. The book spoke to me in a way my sporadic attempts to learn about Zen through sittings at various Zen Centers have not. I have attempted sittings -- even overnight retreats -- at Centers with Asian Zen Masters, plus sittings at Zen Centers led by American Zen Masters. These sittings did not work for me. I could not connect and did not know why. After reading NO BEGINNING NO END,I have finally found my connection. The connection is because Roshi Jakusho Kwong was born and raised in America of Chinese ancestry and we speak the same language. Roshi's childhood, formative teenage and adulthood years were all here in California. He grew up in a small town with very few Asians, played football with his American classmates -- yet spoke Chinese before he spoke English.

Roshi is one of the early American pioneers instrumental in introducing Zen to America. Roshi communicates Zen to Americans in a manner that relates to their cultural context and milieux. Roshi's book and teachings are rare examples from a teacher who has bridged two cultural traditions. There are not many,if any,other American Zen Masters of Asian heritage who have transplanted the Zen that is practiced in Japan onto native American soil and has produced a new American home grown variety.

I highly recommend this classic not just for oneself, but as gifts for friends you feel can appreciate its uniqueness. I would have bought NO BEGINNING NO END just for its artful, powerful book jacket.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pithy and Wise, April 30, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: No Beginning, No End: The Intimate Heart of Zen (Hardcover)

This gem of a book truly offers us a glimpse into the heart of zen. Kwong Roshi's words are as down to earth and accessible as they are thought-provoking and profound. It is clear that his is the voice of experience and that his teachings are based on years of personal, devoted practice of Dharma. This book would be helpful for those wanting to learn more about the practice of meditation or for any seasoned student of zen. His teachings are pithy and can be applied to the obstacles and challenges we face every day in our lives. We are fortunate to have the teachings of this living master available to us. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested enriching their lives through the practice of meditation and the cultivation of wisdom. What a treasure!!!!