The Zen Teachings of Master Lin-Chi (Shambhala Dragon Editions) [Paperback]

Shambhala (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 31, 1993

An important classic of Zen literature, written by one of the great Zen masters of ancient China. The book, compiled by Lin-chi's disciples, describes the life and teaching of this eminent Zen master and includes a number of his sermons, noted for their brisk and colorful language.S.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Lin-Chi Ihs?an (810-866) was one of the great masters of Chinese Ch'an Buddhism. Many schools of Ch'an Buddhism have died out, and Lin-Chi's school is only one of two schools that was introduced into Japan in the 13th century. In Japan, Ch'an Buddhism became Zen Buddhism. Watson's translation of the Recorded Sayings of Ch'an Master Lin-Chi, or the Lin-chi lu, is the first ever English translation of this important teacher's works. Regarded as the "king" of the recorded sayings literary form, Lin-Chi's work is divided into four parts. The first section, "Ascending the Hall," contains short narrative descriptions of Lin-Chi's coming into the seat of honor and answering questions from monks and laypeople. The second section, "Instructing the Group," offers Lin-Chi's Dharma sermons to the students he is instructing in the Ch'an way. A third section, "Testing and Rating," records encounters between master and students; in each brief parabolic meditation, the Master rates the student's understanding of the lesson being taught. A final section, "Record of Activities," describes many of Lin-Chi's travels and the conversations he had with other Ch'an masters in these travels. Watson provides a splendid historical and biographical overview as a preface to his lyrical translation.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Review

"This splendid text is made up of fragments salvaged on the fly from an ancient life of subtle and rowdy Buddhist practice. The Teacher Lin-chi is always present: relentlessly pushing his students to keep moving. And they push back in the spirit of humorous defiance and hardy admiration...Burton Watson's five decades of Japanese and Chinese studies, and his own Ch'an (Zen) work, has eminently prepared him for giving us this premier translation of the world's most astringent (but tasty!) religious classic."

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Shambhala; 1st edition (August 31, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0877738912
• ISBN-13: 978-0877738916
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,435,365 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sometimes a Shout is Like a Golden-Haired Lion, December 5, 2008

By 

Lawrence (Christchurch NZ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Zen Teachings of Master Lin-Chi (Paperback)

This is one of the earliest and greatest Zen classics devoted to the teaching of an individual Master, a genre invented within Zen. In earlier Buddhism what was taught was what the Buddha had taught, what the Sutras recorded. Zen emphasised the uniqueness of the moment and the need for newly improvised teachings, because of the way the mind forms a "skin" over what it has learnt.

So Masters taught directly from their own realisation and not from the Sutras. Devoted disciples would then note down and record their words. But there's a paradox here - a permanent record of a unique moment - and some Masters disapproved and actively tried to destroy such records of their teachings.

Lin-chi was a formidable character even by the standards of Zen Masters. He was famous for the ferocious, unnerving shout which he would unleash when least expected, in the same way other Masters used blows: to stop the busy minds of his followers for a moment. But all of his teachings ultimately had no other purpose: and he can be scary, crude, confrontational.

He uses all means to teach one simple but elusive lesson: what is to be sought is what does the seeking: Mind itself, and not any limited image, concept or insight that Mind can come up with. Thus he also uses those double-edged words that have caused so much trouble and confusion ever since: "There is nothing to be done, nothing to achieve, nothing to be attained".

At times, surprisingly, he could also come out with passages of mysterious poetic imagery, in which he codifies some of the basic thought-structures of Zen, which have been argued over and commented upon ever since. He also coined the phrase "the real person with no position".
Burton Watson's translation aims at capturing the original's raw colloquial vigour, and as usual when academics do colloquial the results are sometimes awkward ("If you want to be a first rate fellow...") But this is a tiny flaw in a fluent translation of an essential and inexhaustible Zen classic.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply a Classic of World Religious Literature, March 25, 2009

By 

J. Storey (COLORADO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Zen Teachings of Master Lin-Chi (Paperback)

Nishida Kitaro, famous modern Japanese philosopher, founder of the influential Kyoto School, and expert on Mahayana Buddhism, once made the remark that if he were stranded on some remote island (Gilligan's Island? Where's the Skipper?) with only a couple books in his possession, one of them would be the Rinzai Roku (Chinese: Linji Lu).

High praise indeed. And a sentiment shared by me, a lesser thinker than Nishida. There is simply something special in this book's extraordinary insight and power that comes shining through in these discourses (I grant here recent scholarship's insights into the formation of the Linji Lu legend during the Song Period, but undoubtably Linji was an important figure himself). Presenting such a powerful message, it is no wonder the Linji school became the leading Zen sect in Japan down through history. If you, dear reader, have no knowledge of Mahayana insights, just start here. Never mind the colorful anecdotes in the book where Linji is slapping or yelling at everybody, just concentrate on the sermons. The Linji Lu will literally turn you into a Mahayana powerhouse yourself if you ponder the discourses long enough. It can well serve as a "primer" on Mahayana doctrines...

Anyway, back to this translation. There have been several other translations into English, one by Irmgard Schloegl and another by Ruth Fuller Sasaki's team in Japan (both of which are hard to get nowdays in original form). And also a current one by Zen teacher Eido Shimano, and one by JC Cleary...there may be more. I've got all these versions, but I still like Burton Watson's translation the best. To me, Watson has done a masterful job rendering the Linji Lu into coherent English, no easy feat with this type of literature. He is simply a great translator.

As for the Linji Lu's place in world religious literature, I personally think it belongs up there near the top as far as a clear presentation of Mahayana doctrines. I realize mostly zen practitioners, scholars, and Buddhist fans will be the only ones interested in wading through these old Chinese works, but that is really a shame in a lot of ways. If scriptures like the Bible, Koran, and other familiar texts belong to classic world literature, and they do, so do powerful works less-familiar to the Western public, such as the Linji Lu, Dogen's Shobogenzo, the Hua-Yen Sutra, etc.

It is my feeling that anyone interested in expanding one's perceptual horizons needs to come to terms with the great Yu-Lu ("recorded sayings") literature from the T'ang/Song Periods in China, of which this book is representative. In particular, the Hong-Zhou line of Mazu, to which Linji belonged, became quite (in)famous for their emphasis on zen "functioning" in daily life. There is an old Chan saying which reminds us, "what comes in through the gates is not the family treasure...". In other words, your circumstances, and the constant bombardment of external stimuli from your environment, shouldn't be allowed to bind you (as they invariably do) from being a free human being. As Linji himself might have demanded, where is the "true human of no conditions"? Alas, we're all guilty these days, too bad Linji isn't around to slap us. Here- I'll do it for him (slaps lazy Amazon reader, who is nodding off reading this review...

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An essential text for all Zen students and practitioners, June 9, 2008

By 

Ted Biringer "Author of The Flatbed Sutra of ... (Anacortes, Washington United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Zen Teachings of Master Lin-Chi (Paperback)

A wonderful translation of an essential text for all Zen students and practitioners. The Zen teachings of Lin-chi (Rinzai) pack the force of a nuclear blast. The record of Lin-chi foregoes any pretense to gradual guidance and delivers its Zen message in raw, heavy bucket-fulls.

Burton Watson's translation of The Zen Teachings of Master Lin-Chi (Sung edition), like his other translations, is exceptional. Without sacrificing either the letter or the spirit, Mr. Watson makes the Record of the seminal Zen master Lin-chi (Rinzai) accessible to English readers with all the clarity and force of the original.

With his usual high standard in regard to scholarship, Burton Watson provides extensive notes to each section. He also includes translations of the two alternate versions of two sections of the Lin-chi lu in Ming editions of the Ku-tsun-su yu-lu, and a decent glossary.