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Zen and Japanese Culture: The Classic Study by Japans Foremost Authority on Zen Buddhism

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This enchanting book examines the deep influence of Zen Buddhism on the central aspects of Japanese culture and gracefully illustrates that the two are linked in profound ways. Suzuki has that mysterious ability as a writer to explain extremely abstract notions in elegant though simplistic language. Zen is a difficult subject to demonstrate because, by its very nature, it defies normative modes of rational thought.
Suzuki manages to gently clear our rationally conditioned patterns of thought like a gentle spring rain, and astonishingly we come to discover that Zen is simpler than anything else we've encountered before. One comes away from the reading with a soothing, calm and certain understanding of the nature of Zen. And one is certain that the man behind the words is a master.

He begins the narrative with insightful remarks on Japanese culture, touching on Zen's history and how the military classes, the Samurai, embraced the religion. The discussion moves onto Zen and its relation to Confucianism and the connection with the cultivation of a nationalistic spirit in Japan. The majority of the text is devoted to three central areas: Zen and Swordsmanship, Zen and Haiku, Zen and the Art of Tea, and lastly, the Japanese love of nature and its manifestations through art.

Suzuki's argument is that Zen and its teachings have had such an enormous influence on the Japanese, that the culture as we know it would not exist without it. One needs to truly understand this influence in order to have any comprehension of the culture. He proposes that one does not exist without the other:

"...without a full appreciation of it not a page of the history of Japanese poetry, Japanese arts, and Japanese handicrafts would have been written. Not only the history of the arts, but the history of the Japanese moral and spiritual life would lose its deeper significance, if detached from the Zen way of interpreting life and the world." (P.364)

This is an extraordinary book because it opens the way towards a fundamental understanding of Zen Buddhism and the foundations of Japanese culture, illustrating that the two are inextricably interlinked. The text is also beautifully enhanced with poetry, paintings, calligraphy and examples of architecture. If one is interested in either of these subjects, this book is a masterpiece and an important and enlightening experience.

A towering book of scholarship from the mind of a Japanese Zen master with an almost mystical mastery of English prose. One neednt be a student of Buddhism or particularly interested in the history of Zen and its historical impact to benefit mightily from this book. It's beautiful literature. The passages (in two generous chapters) on Zen and Swordsmanship boast standing with the best in English literature. Suzuki's perspective is broad and inclusive, if entirely his own, and includes the historic relationship of Zen to nature, art, haiku, and more narrowly to the Japanese Tea Ceremony. He remains more bountiful writer than succint personal teacher. It's a great book that can be read again and again. Suzuki's plane is infinite depth and light; he takes us in, for the book of a lifetime. Unconditional recommendation that amounts to urging you.

I was perhaps, more or less, curious when I picked this book up at a used book store a few years ago. As I read it - this curiosity was very deeply rewarded - and I fell in love with Suzuki's style of writing - and his presentation of Zen - which for me (a westerner) pieced together a rather loose understanding I had at the time and gained something of a background into the great mysteries of Asian (esp. Japanese) culture and ways of life. This book enlightened new ideas of embracing simplicity and poverty - not usually seen in the west (where we long for belongings). Another thing Suzuki stresses is dicipline - something lacking in many western interpretations of Zen.

For people looking for an introduction to the Zen influences on Japanese culture, one would be hard pressed to find a better, easier to handle book than this. I have just about no knowledge on Zen whatsoever, so this was a book that really introduced me to Zen from nothing. The style is easy to progress through, and Suzuki does not weigh you down with endless jargon that you need to learn.

Suzuki covers a wide range of topics, including Swordsmanship, (a detailed 2 chapters on that), Samurai, Confuscian Study, Tea Ceremony and more.

His references to sources, however, are far too few for my tastes. It would be nice to know where he is getting his information from, so that we might check up on and follow up his thinking. He does quote a lot of old poems, letters and works, and discusses them in detail. In one case, he offers a largely paraphrased offering, for which he explains he can't accurately translate the original words.

On the other hand, he does offer a lot of extra information and explanation in footnotes. I have found these to be absolutely beneficial to the main text. They offer a little bit extra to help add to some interesting points, and they are generally fascinating and useful.

I admit, in connection with Zen, I am a complete ignoramus. Now, I am a little less of an ignoramus. This book is excellent and informative. Some of the criticisms in other reviews did not register with me as I read the book. I just enjoyed it, to be honest. Suzuki is certainly not a dry writer, and captures you well in this book.

If you like me have turned corners with Zen as sign posts and have come away with less than satisfactory comprehension as to what "it is," you also may find this book helpful. In college years I read "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle, etc." as well as "Zen and the Art of Archery." Both had me wanting to know more about Zen.

That said, I do not know what Zen is. I have now read Suzuki's book and I cannot explain it to my friend who asked me what "it is." It is a concept very different from the Western Philosophical dialectic tradition. I cannot tell you, the reader, what it is.

Suzuki does an exceptional job in presenting the idea framed in terms of Japanese culture. As we learn by comparison, this helps significantly. His scholarship is first rate. He addresses questions such as how Buddhism, a belief that embraces life, can be consistent with kendo, the art of swordsmanship, which obviously must deal with violent death and somehow connect with Zen and the Art of the Tea Ceremony. Moreover, he presents common allegorical tales from eastern texts to illustrate ideas about Zen. This helped me since I had read several of the same or similar tales in various books. (In fact, I suspect some of them may be the same tales, corrupted by time and telling.) One tale, about a Samurai posing as a monk to defeat a kidnapper, appears in one of the first scenes of the movie, "The Seven Samurai." I include this to answer one of the other reviewers who questioned the connection between Zen and Japanese Culture.

How pervasive Zen is in the culture, I have no idea. I am not sophisticated enough in the matter to definitively respond, but I did find, in my limited experience, a connection of significance. Moreover, I do sense that I know more now after having read Suzuki's book than before.

Finally, for those who want to know what Zen is, I would recommend they include this book in their travels. I believe--think is not the appropriate word--that understanding it is a long process. One learns techniques of thinking that inhibit knowing but are necessary. One distances oneself from the techniques for them to become natural. One appreciates the distance and the techniques and becomes entangled in pride. Finally, I believe, one loses all of oneself and is. Now that is what I do not know it is.

Be sure to read the tale of "The Swordman and the Cat" beginning on page 429.

As a fully equipped trip into spirituality, this book is a beautiful portrayal of Zen and the Japanese culture, written as a scholastic treatise on Zen Buddhism and it's greatest teachers. The author has an in-depth understanding of Western culture and this book is one of a few bridges between Eastern and Western experience that are built to traverse with a joy. From stories of swordless Samurais you will learn the secret of swordmanship art as well as interpretation of haiku poetry while tasting tranquillity of tea ceremonies, quietly accompanied by lovely nature images. Battle between intuition versus intellect in art of swordmanship demonstrates effortless power of the Unconscious while a blossomed cherry tree in haiku leaves you with an image of the truth. After 'experiencing' this book you won't escape the feeling that Zen is even if it is not.

OK, enough effusion from other reviewers. This book is good, but it's not that good. It contains a lot of information about Zen, and I'm glad I read it. Zen was and still is an important aspect of Japanese culture, and Suzuki knew a lot about it. He's a good writer, and his command of English, though nonnative, is still quite good. I learned a lot from this book, as can anyone who's interested in Zen, Japan, or both. However, I'd recommend a few grains of salt with the book, as follows:

First of all, Suzuki is a good writer, but he's not writing in his native language and it shows. The prose is informative but often meanders, having trouble staying focused on whatever particular topics the chapter seems to be addressing. Maybe this is "mystical." Still, Suzuki writes clearly and is easy to understand, even if his digressions often detract from the point he's trying to make.

And the points he's trying to make are, well, not always backed up very well. He goes out of his way to show how Zen is intimately tied to bushido and study of confucian classics in Japan, for example. Frankly, though, pure land buddhism was also a powerful force among the warrior classes, and Confucian thinking and study was well established in Japan before the arrival of Zen. That's not to say he's completely wrong: Zen does become identified with these and other aspects of Japense culture. It was a powerful force in Japanese society, but Suzuki apparently wants it to be the only force (and in Chinese culture, too, when he claims original Chinese philosophy began only under the aegis of Cha'an; previously it had been either Indian in origin or the "unphilosophical" thought of people like Confucius or Lao-Tzu).

Above all, just don't take everything he says at face value. He's often correct, but he also exaggerates or makes up a lot of the things he says. He wrote the book during the 1930s, when Japan was experiencing a huge surge of nationalism, and it shows. Japan and Zen in this book are apparently responsible for anything of cultural significance that ever happened in East Asia, either originating it or preserving it when its originators (often the Chinese) were too dumb or disorganized to do it themselves. Suzuki was knowledgable, but he wasn't unbiased, and I have grave doubts about his supremely enlightened Zen master status, too.

So if you're really interested in Japan and Zen, this is a good book to read, but it shouldn't be the only book. It's filled with too many errors and fabrications for it to really be useful by itself.

This is the best book I have ever read on any subject. This is a beautiful book, Suzuki's clear explanation is unique and fluid. Every facet of this book is intriguing. I especiialy appreciate Suzuki's chapters on The Art of Tea. A book everyone should study!.

While some over-intellectualized reviewers are asking for the moon with this book, it delivers a tidy escapade through Japanese thought as seen through the lens of Zen Buddhism. True, there were other types of Buddhism in Japan but it can be easily argued that Japanese culture had a majority of contributions from Zen. In short, because the Samurai class dominated the history of this nation. If the book was titled just Japanese Culture, then I would expect to hear more of Shinto and its role, but its about Zen.
I study Iaido and Buddhism in Japan, and this book has been the most helpful in understanding how Japanese think and learn martial arts, especially hard to come to terms with items like Seppuku, ritualized suicide. The chapters on Haiku are excellent also, and should not be missed (even though some martial artists just read the parts on swordsmanship).
If you want to understand Zen, then come to Japan and learn Japanese, otherwise this book will provide a glimpse into a vast field of writing, legend, and thought on a contributor to Japanese thought. If you are a Buddhist then be grateful for this gift that the author has given to the world and do not be so hasty to find faults!

I respect D.T. Suzuki enough, to have visited the Suzuki family graveyard in Kita Kamakura, upon my first arrival in Japan. I say this as a prelude, because I am going to say some critical things about the Ist edition of this book - which contained - in places, unspeakable nonsense for a man who would otherwise have to be regarded as one of the best inter-cultural bridge builders of the 20th c.

To get to the point, the first edition of this book was an exercise in Nihon-shugi or 'Japanism' - tinged with blatantly
nationalistic feelings, as against the spiritual riches of a study like Suzuki's 'Nihon Teki Rei-sei.' I love the best of Japanese culture, have a Japanese wife - and am blessed with Japanese friends, dear to my heart. The sort of thing found in the Ist edition of this book, would make most of them choke on their rice, because it is dreadful caricature.

Like many other people, I owe Suzuki a lot. His other writings are far more meaningful and I regret that he wrote this book at all - if adjudged by the Ist ed. For a while, he was caught up in the Japanese megalomania of the 30's. The glorification of massed Bushido in this book was stupid (nothing to do with the Samurai, anyway). This stuff doesn't scream at you from every page - that's the rub of it. It lurks here and there, among otherwise delightful observations and anecdotes. But you can't help objecting to observations about how the Chinese 'lost' the beautiful culture they had once inspired in Japan, by dint of contact with Zen. In the Ist ed of this book, the mere fact of being 'Japanese' is enough to make culture and enlightenment ooze out of every crack and pore of life. Its a little more sophisticated than that - and, like some Italians, say, who live amid artistic splendours without the least feeling for it, not all Japanese value what is beautiful and good about their country and culture.

I regret having to say unkind things about dear old Daisetzu, who has otherwise brought me much inspiration.