Customer Reviews

No Beginning, No End: The Intimate Heart of Zen

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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

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.

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!!!!

As someone who hasn't been studying Zen for very long, I sometimes find Zen writings to be a bit elusive. Kwong's book, however, is a welcome change. His prose exudes wisdom, simplicity, sincerity, sensitivity, and warmth. Kwong's chapters gracefully navigate through various topics and bring the reader full circle, gently reminding him of the lesson he is bringing to the table. No Beginning, No End is written with incredible clarity; it is unadorned and highly accessible. Kwong has a lot to say, and he brings his collected thoughts to readers with an impressive degree of compassion and love. Quite simply, this is a beautiful, beautiful book.

This book is very moving and very gentle. Kwong has an energy that is serious but very lively and engaging at the same time - it clearly comes across. The stories he tells are subtle but extremely insightful. The drawings in the book are rather beautiful and different than most Zen drawings because there is something American about them. This is a perfect companion to Suzuki's "Zen Mind, Beginner' Mind".

I have probably read too many books on Zen. Every time I pick up a great book by Dogen, Suzuki-roshi or Thich Nhat Hanh I get an anxious feeling that I'm going to read about something I'd be much better off demonstrating. Having said that, I'll say that Soto Zen Master Kwong-roshi's book No Beginning, No End is a rare and precious demonstration with words. This book is an intimate conversation that has no beginning, no end. Roshi himself is a living demontration. I have read his book and have the good fortune to be a student of the author. After years of meditating on the idea of meditation, Zen, in fact life itself has come alive in the presence of Kwong-roshi. He's light as a feather and heavy as a mountain; thoroughly modern, yet thoroughly grounded in the authentic lineage of Master Dogen and Suzuki-roshi. I invite you on your journey to stop at this book for a while and to come to the Sonoma Mountain Zen Center to sit and demonstrate your unborn orginal Buddha nature. I invite you to step into the living stream of buddhadharma.

Aside from being Dharma heir to the late Shunryu Suzuki-roshi, Jakusho Kwong-roshi is also one of only 9 Western Zen teachers to have been given the title of Dendo Kyoshi (Zen teacher) by the Soto sect in Japan. It is not often one finds themself coming across a book so thoroughly complete with the good teachings.

The style is simplistic and exhaustive thoroughout, I rank Jakusho Kwong-roshi among the very best of contemporary Zen masters. His style is certainly reminiscent of his former teacher Suzuki, while we also see glimpses of similarity with Zen master Seung Sahn and Taizan Maezumi-roshi. No Beginning, No End is a very important contribution to modern Zen literature, in striking contrast to some of the hot air you often find on the bookshelves. The work comes from a person truly knowledgable of the Dharma, filled with both humor and monstrous wisdom.

So out of all the Zen literatures out there to date, this book has become one of a select few I hold dear. I am grateful to have found this rare Dharma treasure, which rekindled my belief that I would again find a true teacher among us teaching and writing. I am halfway tempted to leave my current lineage and take off towards the Sonoma Mountain Zen Center in Santa Rosa, California where he currently teaches. Enjoy this book, it's really extraordinary.

I've searched for the last 10 years, for a book, movie, music that would help me with my search for spiritual/emotional contentment. This book is it. If I have any questions at all about whatever I am doing, and I'm feeling stuck, finding myself without perspective, I can open to any chapter in the book and instantly feel free from my overworked mind. This book speaks clearly and passionately about life, sitting, and the variable scale of emotions we so fondly exercise. I tend to live my life a little recklessly, and generally without focus, and this book helps me to find that stillness inate in all of us. I'm able to calm down and shift my attention to the bigger picture, the picture I so rarely glimpse. If you are looking for a book that will speak, as the title suggests, intimately with you...this is the book. Take some time with these words and thoughts. It will guide and assist as you begin living your full potential.

I decided to buy this book after looking at the reviews and feeling I would be missing out on a classic if I didnt. I was right. The great things said about this book are more than well justified.

Jakusho Kwong is a student of Shunryu Suzuki roshi. I dont know wether I'm more impressed that Kwong had such a great teacher, or that Suzuki had such a great student. Jakusho Kwong is a teacher who embodies the ancient and modern in one blooming lotus. He doesnt stray from the ancient teachings and again and again reiterates the importance of beholding the mind. He reminds us time and again that nothing is outside the mind. Theres a theme throughout this book in wich he tells us, we cannot see or feel anything that is not already part of ourselves. Be it strength, compassion, wisdom, love or serentiy we can only know of it, cause we are it. Although this has been said before, he gives a fresh take on it that is easy to understand/digest.

He talks of age old teachings like renunciation, precepts and vow with a modern yet authentic voice. The often overlooked similarities of soto and rinzai, like the fact they are different ways of doing the same thing. One Samadhi. There are good amount of Suzuki roshi's teachings and sayings all throughout the book in wich master Kwong sheds more light on. A lot of good stories from other teachers as well as some outstanding metaphors. My only complaint is that some of the stories he tells I wish he would have talked about longer. Nothing another book couldnt solve...? Ok I'm getting greedy. This book manages to cover so much in a very useful way, and do it so smoothly I cant imagine anyone not regarding it as a classic.

Jakusho Kwong is an important Zen teacher in my mind. There are only a handful of modern masters (who write books and are therefore accessible to people without teachers) who dont stray from the true heart of the Zen teaching. He speaks with a clear and open voice from the sourceless source, about the sourceless source.

Thank you Master Kwong for writing this book.

I am a student of Soto Zen who is studying to become a Zen priest. My teacher gave me a copy of this excellent book. The book consists of insightful and often humorous talks given Jakusho Kwong-roshi to his students at his Sonoma Mountain Zen Monastery. Kwong-roshi was born in the United States and came to Buddhism through Shunryu Suzuki-roshi at the San Francisco Zen Center, and then spent many years studying Zen in Japan. His official qualifications as a Zen teacher are impeccable. Yet he wears his erudition and spiritual status lightly, without any pretension or ponderousness. If you know what to look for (especially in the casual mention he makes near the end of the book of certain experiences he has had) it becomes very clear that his achievement is extraordinary. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!