Zen Antics [Paperback]

Thomas Cleary (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 23, 1993

Throughout Zen history, stories and anecdotes of Zen masters and their students have been used as teaching devices to exemplify the enlightened spirit. Unlike many of the baffling dialogues between Zen masters preserved in the koan literature, the stories retold here are penetratingly simple but with a richness and subtlety that make them worth reading again and again. This collection includes more than one hundred such stories—many appearing here in English for the first time—drawn from a wide variety of sources and involving some of the best-known Zen masters, such as Hakuin, Bankei, and Shosan. Also presented are stories and anecdotes involving famous Zen artists and poets, such as Sengai and Basho.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Japanese

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Shambhala; 1st edition (November 23, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0877739447
• ISBN-13: 978-0877739449
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.2 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,630,059 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Thomas Cleary is the preeminent translator of classic Eastern texts, including The Essential Tao, The Essential Confucius, The Secret of the Golden Flower, and the bestselling The Art of War.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Found In Translation! At a Bargain!, July 18, 2010

By 

C. D. White "Just Looking" (Salem, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Zen Antics (Paperback)

I am a Zen student engaged in koan study. "Zen Antics" is a collection of stories that offer enjoyment and a some insight into ancient Zen culture. It is excellent for that purpose. Buy it and enjoy it.

However, the better deal is to buy "Classics of Buddhism and Zen, Volume 4: The Collected Translations of Thomas Cleary." It contains "Zen Antics" and ALL of the following classics for a lower price than this copy of Zen Antics alone.

Transmission of Light: The first complete modern translation of the classic Denkoroku.
Unlocking the Zen Koan, a translation of the koan classic Wumenguan.
Original Face: An Anthology of Rinzai Zen
Timeless Spring: A Soto Zen Anthology
Zen Antics: 100 Stories of Enlightenment
Record of Things Heard: From the Treasury of the Eye of the True Teaching
Sleepless Nights: Verses for the Wakeful

Don't be dissuaded by the negative reviews. Cleary is an excellent translator, whose books are on the shelves of virtually all Zen students and teachers. Both Cleary's have made outstanding contributions to western students of Zen. Buy all their works!

(And yes, despite the doubts of one negative reviewer, Japanese men and the fearless women of Zen often made what might sound like ridiculing remarks our ears. But, let the stories tell themselves while you suspend the judgment that arises from our western culture. Sometimes what might sound to us like ridicule was actually the subtle recognition of one master by another.)

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Zen Antics takes scholarly claptrap out of Buddhism, March 10, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Zen Antics (Paperback)

Zen Antics are 100 short stories about famous Zen Masters such as Hakuin, Bankei, and Shosan and the tricks and pranks they use to point directly at their students minds so that they might realize enlightenment. Also includes stories of wandering monks and the adventures they encountered on their journeys.
With stories like "The Drunken Buudha" and "Wiping a Buddha's Ass", these stories are anything but orthodox. Highly recommended.

5.0 out of 5 stars Cleary again reveals the archetypal Zen message, August 3, 2008

By 

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

This review is from: Zen Antics (Paperback)

Zen Antics, Thomas Cleary

Zen Antics, by drawing on a wide range of sources to serve up the truth of reality, is itself a manifestation of the archetypal Zen message. "Seeing your nature is Zen." Say the great Zen masters, and here, Thomas Cleary offers all of us an opportunity to do just that by gazing into the mirror of the Zen wisdom illustrated in these wonderful stories.

Cleary has collected and translated dozens of many important stories attributed to the great characters of Zen history.

All Zen students would do well to familiarize themselves with these most time-tested, stories illustrating the authentic teachings of Zen. These stories highlight the truth of Zen, sometimes shaking up the entire Buddhist establishment, always shaking up our own personal biases.