Customer Reviews

Zen Antics

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

 

 

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.)

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.

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.

Zen Antics contains Zen stories without any profundity. It was a simple translation that does a diservice to people who love beautiful stories. It does not express the simplicity, irony, and beauty of Zen. I would not recommend buying this book.

I agree with the other reviewer in seeing this book as a very poor translation of Zen stories. I doubt that any Zen story's opening line should be translated as "Once upon a time there was a...". I also very much doubt that a Japanese woman would insult an old man like this, "What do you know, baldy?". However, it does not seem as though this is just an attempt to make the stories understandable to a Western sensibility. Thomas Cleary does not seem to have any feel for the deeper meanings in these Zen stories and many of his translations are simply dull and flatly state the obviousness.