Rating: 
Summary: Great dharma, but look elsewhere for "how to sit"
Review: This is the core of Zen Master Seung Sahn's teaching in America. Will we ever understand why this wild Korean monk came to America to teach Americans the dharma, or how he made it to Providence and worked at a laundramat with great faith that students would find him? As he slowly (and imperfectly) learned English, he found a straightforward, unmystical, humorous but relentless teaching of Zen Buddhism for ordinary Americans. You may even find you do not apprehend his teaching so much as recognize it like something you used to know but forgot.This is an excellent book for someone new to Zen, on a cognitive level. There is no meditation instruction, so for nuts and bolts about sitting posture you will have to look elsewhere (or, better still, go to your nearest Zen Center and get some instruction).
Rating: 
Summary: Help All Beings
Review: Zen Master Seung Sahn is one of the greatest teachers of Zen to have come to the West to date. Many of his Western students are now Zen Masters teaching throughout the world. Kwan Um Zen is a Korean Chogye division of Buddhism, focusing on Kwan Yin (Avalokitesvara) the bodhisattva of compassion, as well as traditional Zen/kong-an practices. This book is unique in that it is a collection of letters through the years which students and non students have written him with questions and doubts. In it you find humorous and cutting wisdom on virtually any subject you can name. And he keeps coming back to the big question-what is your job? Primary point-what is mind? Sometimes he gets poetic, sometimes very funny, never a dull moment when reading this book! This book is for ANY Zen practioner. Anyone interested in Buddhism in general for that matter. if you want to come a few steps closer to understanding your true self, this book is for you. Here is a small example of what is in store for you in this book: "One day, Soen-sa (Seung Sahn) asked his students,"What is one plus two?" One student shouted "KATZ!!!(sound of zen stick)"Is this the truth?" "No" "Then what is the truth?" "One plus two equals three." Soen-sa said, "I thought you were a blind dog, but now I see you are a keen eyed lion."-It is tiny antecdotes like these, to long letters between students, and various dharma talks he has given that make this book a winner. Just order it- you will soon see!
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