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Rating: 
Summary: Wisdom in Abundance!
Review: Each time I pick up this book and read it, Sokei-An's wisdom opens a new perspective of reality. I can feel the presence of his words, truth and clarity. These conversations bring strength and comfort to the mind, body and spirit. I now know how to empty the mind and the benifit if mindfulness.
Rating:
Summary: Wisdom in Abundance!
Review: Each time I pick up this book and read it, Sokei-An's wisdom opens a new perspective of reality. I can feel the presence of his words, truth and clarity. These conversations bring strength and comfort to the mind, body and spirit. I now know how to empty the mind and the benifit if mindfulness.
Rating:
Summary: An Eye-Opening Book
Review: This book is like a totally new perspective, like an awakening of some other but truer nature of your self. I love it, I read it (and listened to it, because I recorded highlights for use on my walkman)many, many times and each time I find it inspiring and happiness-inducing so to say.This is the no.1 book in my library containing works of Plato, Nietzsche, a whole range of today achievement gurus like Tony Robbins, Steve Covey et consortes. I treasure it so much I bought two copies in Polish and then ordered one in English (to read the original Sokei-an words). Well, I must say the Polish translator this time made an excellent job, she transformed sometimes rough English of Sokei-an into beautifully flowing narration that proves her full understanding of Zen. Usually I get the opposite effect reading the same book in the two languages. Sokei-an undoubtfully belongs with the greatest leaders of this century.
Rating:
Summary: An inspiring, poetic book about spirituality by a master.
Review: This book is much more about wisdom than knowledge, more about spirituality in general than about Zen. For Sokei-an, Zen is merely the outward form of his inner state, just as his words are the outer form of his true meaning. I believe he had dissolved all the barriers between his mind and "that even mind, even and calm, which radiates in multifold directions at once" (and which, he says, is Buddha). I believe (to the extent that it's possible through words) Sokei-an's wisdom and clarity are transmitted in this book. He left us with a wonderful gift. Books about Zen can be cryptic and obscure. The meanings hidden within koans are beyond our grasp. This book discusses koans, but the main thrust is on seeing that we are not our thoughts, and we can liberate ourselves from the limitations of our "mind-stuff". I will conclude with Columbus Circle [in New York], from which eight different avenues diverge. If you do not attain this 'seed of wisdom,' you will spend your life going from branch to branch without ever finding the center of wisdom. You cannot be simple, therefore your mind cannot be plain. You think that you must be wise, that your brain must be like an encyclopedia, that your eyes must be shining, and that you must make all kinds of gestures. No, you only need to grasp the center of wisdom."
Rating:
Summary: An inspiring, poetic book about spirituality by a master.
Review: This book is much more about wisdom than knowledge, more about spirituality in general than about Zen. For Sokei-an, Zen is merely the outward form of his inner state, just as his words are the outer form of his true meaning. I believe he had dissolved all the barriers between his mind and "that even mind, even and calm, which radiates in multifold directions at once" (and which, he says, is Buddha). I believe (to the extent that it's possible through words) Sokei-an's wisdom and clarity are transmitted in this book. He left us with a wonderful gift. Books about Zen can be cryptic and obscure. The meanings hidden within koans are beyond our grasp. This book discusses koans, but the main thrust is on seeing that we are not our thoughts, and we can liberate ourselves from the limitations of our "mind-stuff". I will conclude with Columbus Circle [in New York], from which eight different avenues diverge. If you do not attain this 'seed of wisdom,' you will spend your life going from branch to branch without ever finding the center of wisdom. You cannot be simple, therefore your mind cannot be plain. You think that you must be wise, that your brain must be like an encyclopedia, that your eyes must be shining, and that you must make all kinds of gestures. No, you only need to grasp the center of wisdom."
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