Customer Reviews

Zen: The Path of Paradox

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

 

 

I'm ashamed to admit that my bookshelves are groaning with books about Zen, some good, some not so good. Yet this is that book I come back to for a 'refresher'. Osho always succeeds in attempting the impossible - trying to explain the inexplicable - in simple, beautiful, often poetic, often uncompromising but compassionate language, whether in the Insights For Living series, or here speaking about Zen (all Osho's books are transcribed from talks). I come away from reading Osho feeling as if I've just had a good mental hose down, getting rid of all the accumulated, caked on dross of living in an insane world.

"Don't seek, don't search, don't ask, don't knock, don't demand - relax. If you relax, it comes. If you relax, it is there. If you relax, you start vibrating with it" p 37.

Despite some bad press, Osho was a truly great teacher, and this is one of only a handful of indispensible books on Zen. If I had to choose just one, this would be it.

[Kudos too to St Martins Press. All the books by Osho (St Martins Griffin) are a joy to read - just the right size, stay open on the page and are beautifully produced.]

It is a good book and it is about Osho's favourite concept, Zen. In fact he talks about the same subject in all the books I have read until now (five in total)so I think he does it a lot better in "Joy" or in "Awareness" for instance. What puts me off though is how being ignorant of so many things he speaks with such an authority about EVERYTHING. One example, he says the Japanese has a word "kokoro" that means nothingness. And it is nothing about that, "kokoro" means heart (the feelings) or even mind. He says, probably not in this book but in one of the above mentioned, that during zazen, someone hits you "on the head" if you doze. No, man, it is not on the head, it is between the shoulders.

He gets the meaning of Zen right, so probably it is not such a bit deal, but he says a lot of silly things too.
Perfectly Zen, maybe.

In my humble opinion every book of Osho is a treasure and give you very important arguments for your personal growing.

Tiziano

Yet another outstanding book from Osho! Zen is a very abstract and complex topic. Most contemporary books on this topic have a steep learning curve that make Zen feel like an elusive concept that seems near, but far at the same time (rightfully dubbed as the Paradox). This small book explains Zen in very simple words. It will make you wonder if something as abstract as Zen can be explained so easily. This book will not teach you how to get there, but it will explain what to expect when you get there and why is it so important to get there.

The lucidity of the prose is striking and is interspersed with little stories and anecdotes that add a touch a humor (so very missing in other books on this complex and paradoxical topic). All in all this is a terrific read, that'll launch you into Zen with a real hope of touching and experiencing the paradox.

This is a great book...a book you read...make notes...underline..re-read....buy for loved ones...hopefully they read...make notes..underline..re-read and they buy for loved ones..and so on.....thanks OSHO