Zen and Zen Classics: Selections from R.H. Blyth [Paperback]

Frederick Franck (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 290 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; 1st edition (May 12, 1978)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394724895
• ISBN-13: 978-0394724898
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #812,690 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AN ANTHOLOGY OF SOME CLASSIC WRITINGS, August 19, 2006

By 

William Bagley (Ashland, Oregon) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Zen & Zen Classics (Paperback)

The other volumes of Blyth are very hard to get. The collection of writings and extracts does a good job of condensing the essence of those volumes. The flavor of the writings is what I would call "Zen existentialism". I read the book from cover to cover with rapt attention about 25 years ago. What I got from the writings was about accepting myself and life as it is, meeting it directly, and cutting through every kind of theory to be with what really is. The gift of Zen is that, while emerging from the very heart of what Buddha taught, cuts through even the words of the Buddha to what he saw and even more important than what he saw is what we actually see, right here and right now.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Frederick Franck, editor of R. H.Blyth's Great Works, March 25, 2000

By 

MICHAEL BAUDRIER (Surrey, British Columbia Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Zen & Zen Classics (Paperback)

Franck's "Zen and Zen Classics" is his editing of the writings of R. H. Blyth on Ch'an/Zen, which are otherwise out of print. It is a great book, specially since it contains the only in-print works of Blyth, who, Franck says, is the indispensible interpreter of Zen for the western mind, and that Blyth is the ever-open eye. This is a great book, and can lead to even greater ones by Blyth---if onlt they would print more.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant introduction to the history of Zen Buddhism., July 30, 2007

By 

hupo "nereus" (Taiwan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Zen and Zen Classics Volume One : General Introduction, From the Upanishads to Huineng (Hardcover)

This slim volume (123 pages) is the first of the five masterly volumes that R.H. Blyth wrote on the zen classics. It was published in 1960 by Hokuseidu Press in Japan. Blyth first asks, What is Zen? Then proceeds with a discussion of zen history from 1000BC to 750AD. He follows this with discourses on The Hsinhsinming (Shinjinmei), The Chengtaoke and the Platform Sutra. Throughout the book Blyth approaches zen with a clear, uncluttered mind,his clarity and sense of humour shine throughout this lucidly written book. I would urge all of you who are interested in Oriental literature to write to Hokusiedo and ask them to republish this splendid series of books.
"The blind one found the jewel;
The one without fingers picked it up;
The one with no neck put it on;
And the one with no voice praised it."