Customer Reviews

The Religion of the Samurai A Study of Zen Philosophy and Discipline in China and Japan

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This is a delightful book on the history of Zen in Japan. The author starts from the beginngs of zen philosophy in China and brings you right to the Kamakura period where zen became the fashion with the warrior class. I say fashion, but it was/is more than that. It is indeed a study of how a particular philosophy ( zen ) can take hold and flurish in a specific culture, in this case Japan. This was my first kindle book and I simply could not put in down ( rather turn it off!) If you are interested in Zen at all, you will enjoy this book! Highly recommended-and it's FREE to boot!!

My introduction to Buddhism came through the Eckhard Tolle books. I looked at this free book to better understand what Tolle talks about and I ended up submerged in an wealth of explanations (understandings) such as, where did the name Zen come from, what are the basic tenets, how is it different from others. The book reads as if written today except for the occasional dated grammar.

The book goes much beyond the roots of Zen. I spent the last hour reading the discussion on the nature of man. Is man fundamentally good, fundamentally bad? The book explores four options and then moves to explore the relationship of man to nature (the universe in my terminology). Wonderful and easy to read.

This FREE e-book from Kindle represents my first Kindle purchase . . . Essentially a dry run into the Kindle universe. On the technical side, I did not like the e-formatting of the book. Otherwise, this is a charming, though dated, brief history of Zen Buddhism in China and Japan, first published in 1913.

A previous reviewer says that the book was confusing. I can understand why. With its late Nineteenth Century prose style and constructions ("To-Day," "Shakya Muni"), it reads very unlike present day books on Zen. When this book was written, Zen was virtually unheard of in America and Europe. The first Zen teacher to come to America, Soyen Shaku, had arrived in Chicago for the World Congress of Religions in 1893, only two decades earlier, and his direct impact in transmitting the Dharma had been miniscule; but Soyen's disciple, D.T. Suzuki, was to have a major impact on Zen in America over many decades.

It's important to realize that, more than likely, a forgotten hard copy of this book sits dustily on the shelves of the Library of Congress, untouched since before World War I, except for this scanning. This is very literally THE introductory volume of Zen in the West. There are better, more modern ones that are far more accessible to the 21st Century student of Zen. Still, for a serious student of Zen, this is a must have book if only because it is so obscure.

The book ia actually a good history of Zen but has little to recommend it in relation to the Samuri. I expected a treatse that demonstrated the connection and shaping of the Samuri by religion and recieved little real information on that aspect. However, it does work as a book on the evolution of Zen and the differentaion from other streams of Buddhism. A worthwhile read but not for the title.

I have recently (periodically throughout the last year) begun researching Buddhism. I downloaded this book because it was free, and I was hoping to find clarification on some of what I've found through the internet.
I am very disappointed. The book was confusing to the point of un-readability. I may try again later (after a few more years of study), but for now I'm moving on to other (hopefully better) books on the subject.