Customer Reviews

The Tao of Zen

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The historical section of this book does a decent job examining how the marriage of Buddhism and Toaism may have taken place. It exposes some of the stories linking Chan to India as probably more legend than fact. However, the author makes no mention whatever of any influence Buddhism may have had on Taoism, or of any of the other quietist philosophies in China. It is very likely that there was interaction between all the traditions for centuries, making it impossible to extricate one from another.

For example, the Mahamadra teaching, Homage to the Coemergent Wisdom, of Vajrayana Buddhism is very similar to Taoism. Take this line: Space has neither color nor shape; it is changeless, it is not tinged by black or white. Likewise, the luminous essence of mind has neither color nor shape; it is not tinged by black or white, virtue or vice. Another line says: Remain in the state of nonmeditation. If you have attained nonattainment, then you have attained mahamudra. Also, the bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism is not trying to be good or kind, but is spontaneously compassionate. This is similar to the Toaist spontaneity.

The Heart Sutra which says emptiness is form is common to all Mahayana Buddhist traditions. How is this different from the undifferentiated Tao? The author seems to want to have nothing to do with Buddhism, to put Buddhism in one basket and Taoism in another. This emphasis on separtation doesn't seem very Taoist.

The author also has a negative tone when speaking of Buddhism. He says that the Chinese recognized Buddhism as a simplified form of Taoism. Then he says in another passage, "Simplicity is one of the foremost philosophical impulses that has moved through the long history of Toaism." Simplicity was supposed to be the hallmark of Taoism I thought, but he disparages it in Buddhism.

He also attacks zazen, formal meditation, as evolutionary baggage from the religious Indian Buddhism. (The word religion most likely comes from the Latin word ligare, meaning to bind, and re, meaning again. In Buddhism, the goal is to awaken to the reality of the emptiness of self, and in Taoism, to be one with the undifferentiated Tao, the original source of all things. There really is no difference in the religious aspects of Taoism and Buddhism.) Zazen is evidently not supposed to have been a part of proper Chan. But he quotes Shunryu Suzuki Roshi many times. Suzuki is an ardent supporter of zazen. His lectures in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind made sense to me only after long hours of zazen and effort. Suzuki says effort is required, but you forget yourself in your effort. Also, Taoism is not entirely devoid of effort. Only after your attainment is there less effort. The author emphasizes the effortlessness of Toaism but totally ignores the practice required. In the book Taoism, John Blofeld gives an account of Taoists using formal meditation in the mountains back in the 1930's.

The emphasis on nonduality is not necessarily a purely Taoist idea. John Blofeld also described Taoist alchemy, the purpose of which was to convert your bodily fluids of the world of dust into a purer form to achieve the ultimate attainment, union with the Tao. This is not a purely nondual appraoch to life. Buddhism is more nondual (LOL) than this.

I think the author short-changes the contribution of Buddhism to Zen. Zen is vigorous because of the blending of the two traditions. The Buddhist component is more introverted, focusing on the illusion of ego, while Taoism is more extroverted, focusing on finding harmony with nature, and ultimately, blending seemlessly with the Way of nature. The combination of the two traditions is what makes Zen unique, but not very different from many other spirtual traditions. This account of Zen is the work of an artist/scholar who does not practice Zen. I get the impression that the author is simply lazy and dislikes effort and guidelines, the Buddhist component as he sees it, preferring flow and ease, the Taoist component. For most, the ultimate attainment of Taoism and the awakening of Buddhism require effort and guidelines, both of which are found in Taoism and Buddhism.

The most definitive and readable work on Zen that I've ever read. In all my years as a student of Zen Buddhism (Soto), I've had a difficult time with the sutras and other Buddhist doctrine. Yet, I continued to enjoy the practice and the members at the Zendo where I studied. I often commented that I felt more a "Zennist" than a Buddhist, but was unable to describe or define the feeling..... Then I stumbled on Mr. Grigg's book. I'm re-reading it now, for the third time in one year. Mr. Grigg's history of Zen and the split with the sixth patriarch:Hui-Neng, was one of the best "enlightenments" I've experienced in my studies. I'd die to study with Mr. Grigg! I'm heading for a small island off B.C.!!

Reading this book when it was first published in 1994, I was naturally surprised to see it re-published in 1999 as a hardback edition that cost far less than my paperback. I am glad to see it resurface and am in the process of re-reading it now. I think that this is a particularly good time for it's re-emmergence in light of all the work coming forth now concerning Tibetan Buddhism and Tantric Buddhism. In the intervening years I have delved into the study of those forms as well and will continue to do so. The Tao of Zen has always had a prominent on my bookshelf, and in fact is one of the few books that I bought extra copies of to give away. The first reading helped me to understand the worlds of distance between the practiced forms. The second reading is a reminder of why, in spite of my love for Buddhism and Hinduism, which I will surely study for the rest of my life, and in spite of my dislike of titles for myself, I picked up the banner of Daoism as that which rang truest in my heart. Whoever you are, whatever you believe, if you are not locked into the nutshell of who you believe yourself to be, try it ..... you'll like it.

Very readable analysis of Zen trying to squeeze its Taoist feet into Buddhist shoes. I can buy the premise that Zen owes more of its character to Chinese Taoism than to Indian Buddhism.

However, I think the author is pushing his premise beyond the available evidence when he asserts that meditation (zazen) is irrelevant to Zen just because the technique is of Indian origin. While the culmination of practice is to re-enter the market place and live an ordinary life, getting to that point is difficult without sitting zazen.

I give historical analysis and insight 5 stars and conclusion about how zen should be practiced 3 stars.

I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in Zen, balance, or just plain old philosophy. This book clears up common myths and misperceptions about zen and buddhism, and seperates the two. Not an entirely difficult read, and very few (if any) boring parts.

This book fell into my hands at the store. I was weeding through the patch of offerings on subjects like Tao and Zen when, literally, this book fell into my hands. I peeked. I had the sense the the author knew how to organize his subject and so I took it home and began to read immediately.

I have a Ph.D. in History, so the first part of the book, the history part, was relatively easy to get through, even though there were a lot of unfamiliar names in unfamiliar languages. The author keeps the number of names one needs to remember to a minimum.

The second half of the book is about the doctrines. It is a gem beyond compare!! It is succinct, there is no mystification added by the author to skip over things he does not himself understand, and it is to the point. These three are rare in the field.

This could be a text, but I think it is better thought of as a "home companion." Beyond a doubt, Grieg has mastered the unmasterable and spoken the ineffable.

My reading has included various Buddhist doctrines, even some Tibetan, but the earliest Zen and original Tao have rung truest for me while Buddhism feels too much like the idle promises of organized religion. As soon as I began this book I knew Ray Grigg had done the work of "proving" a hypothesis that Alan Watts and Thomas Cleary often suggest.

Zen is not the pure, unadulterated form of Buddhism that most Western practitioners think it is. (Indeed, no tradition is "pure," or divorced from its time or its culture.) In an easy-to-read style, Grigg brings to light the Taoist component of Zen. A weakness in Grigg's work is that all his citations are from secondary sources. Nevertheless, we can readily forgive Grigg for this shortcoming because his book is a good start for those who are questioning literal and dogmatic claims of unbroken lineages that supposedly go back to Shakyamuni Buddha himself, and who are ready to explore the social, cultural and gender contexts in which those claims have been made.

Zen in its essence always seemed to me to be more connected to Chinese Tao than to Buddhism, although it is joined by name to the more formal religion. Now at last I found a well documented study that not only proves my inclinations to be well founded, but clears up many of Zen's mysteries or at least helps me in that direction.

A wonderful compilation to say the least. Valuable for the 101 and 501 student alike. Seperated into two halves which could be two seperate books of their own. Probably the best explanation of Tao and Zen I have ever read, despite the obvious paradox of that statement.

My only complaint regarding the core subject matter is regarding Zen being a direct descendant of Tao when the abundance of Quiteist philosphies throughout China should more likely be credited.

A definite purchase for anyone interested in the subject.