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Rating: 
Summary: As Always
Review: Another wonderful book about the Japanese Buddhist mind from a one of a kind scholar and teacher. Winston King is, as always, honest, accurate, informative, balanced, engaging, and right on target - as he was in class. If you can't learn from him, you can't learn.
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Summary: Nice, but stale read
Review: This is not a bad book, by any means. I do have to admit I lost interest a few times while trying to read it because the book reads much like a text book at times. As such, however, it does have quite an insight into samurai ideaology and history of the ancient Japanese military.
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Summary: A Good Book on Zen, Samurai, and Japan
Review: Though at times this book can be tough to read, it never stops being quite fascinating. The idea of getting into the mind of the Samurai was quite interesting. The book does a nice job explaining the ideas of Zen Buddhism and their influence on Japan. I really liked the chapters linking the Samurai mentality to WWII and the Japanese military. It can be a tough read, but worth it. Also, the illustrations are great.
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Summary: This ones for the scholar, not the seeker...
Review: While an incredibly intelligent work, Zen and the way of the sword is a book of primarily scholarly merit. In that regard it is a masterpiece. For the seeker, however, it's a rather dry read with only a thin smattering of real spiritual value.
Get this one if you want to understand the development of Japan's collective consciousness. -Look elsewhere for spiritual importance.
Rating:
Summary: This ones for the scholar, not the seeker...
Review: While an incredibly intelligent work, Zen and the way of the sword is a book of primarily scholarly merit. In that regard it is a masterpiece. For the seeker, however, it's a rather dry read with only a thin smattering of real spiritual value.
Get this one if you want to understand the development of Japan's collective consciousness. -Look elsewhere for spiritual importance.
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Summary: A revelation of Zen and Japanese culture!
Review: Winston King is a profound scholar and great teacher. His books, like his classroom presentations, have a lifelong resonance. This is the best book I have ever read on Zen and provides more insight into Japanese militarism than all the other books I have examined in preparing to teach seminars in Asian culture.
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Summary: The way of the sword
Review: Winston King, professor emeritus of Vanderbilt University, has long had an interest in the way that Buddhist doctrines and values play themselves out in everyday life. This book is, in a way, a follow-up to the one on Suzuki Shoosan, exploring the historical conditions that led to one of the oddest marriages in religious history: Buddhism, which espouses a basic attitude of nonviolence, and the samurai class of Japan, warriors who trained themselves to inflict death without forethought or hesitation, whose goal was summed up by Miyamoto Musashi thus: "Whenever you cross swords with an enemy you must not think of cutting him either strongly or weakly; just think of cutting and killing him. Be intent solely upon killing the enemy." (p. 120). The central problem and theme of this book, then, is: How did this come about? How is it that the samurai of medieval Japan found in Zen Buddhism an ideology and a method of training that fitted them for such an un-Buddhist occupation? In different sections, King tackles this question from a number of angles. He begins with historical considerations, outlining the early history of Zen in Japan as well as the conditions that led to the rise of the samurai as a self-conscious class. He then explores the culture of the samurai, centering his discussion around the image of the sword. It must be said at the outset that this is not really an academic book. The bibliography is pretty spare. As a publication of Oxford University Press under its "Oxford Paperbacks" imprimatur, it's apparently not intended as high-level scholarship, but rather as a popular introduction to the place of Zen in samurai life and culture. It's written in highly accessible language, with illustrations of swordmaking techniques, fighting styles, and core values. The illustrations bring the subject matter to life and perhaps correct some of the over-romanticizing of the warrior ideal and the aesthetic beauty of Japanese swords that Westerners are prone to. The illustrations remind us that, in the last analysis, the swords were very large, very sharp knives whose sole purpose was to maim and kill. When all is said and done, this is a book that should definitely be on the shelf of anyone interested in East Asian religion and culture.
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