Rating: 
Summary: East and West
Review: "When the student is ready the Master appears." (proverb)"The Little Zen Companion" is a book of quotes and general proverbs. In it, you have diversity: Einstein, Buddha, Shakespeare, Christ. The lesser known mystics, like St. John of the Cross, or Meister Eckart, crop up here and there. Novelists and poets and philosophers are given too: Wilde, Goethe and Heidegger for instance. The point of the book, very simply, is to draw on the East and the West. Some of the scientists of the west reveal things that look like Zen. On the other hand, you will find statements from the east that look very much like western physics. Topics as death, consciousness, being-in-the world, and God are littered throughout. The quotes themselves are wonderfully insightful. Some of them have a kind of depth in spite of their being simply said. Many of your own thoughts, I wager, will be on these pages: but in better form. You will wish, as I did, that you had said them first! Enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: Zen?!
Review: "Everything and nothing zen". Thats it.
Rating: 
Summary: Wit and wisom, abbreviated
Review: First, it's not ABOUT Zen. It's a collection of quotations and anecdotes that -sometimes - illustrate a few Zen concepts. It's like looking at a flower through a multi-faceted crystal. Every viewpoint changes the perspective and gives you something else to see. Meanwhile, the flower remains the same.
Some of it is wise, some of it is deep, some of it is funny, some just clever. Sorry - it's not the can-opener to enlightenment. Some people get upset when they don't get that instant gratification. This isn't a step-by-step instructuon manual.
Just read it and enjoy it without preconception. Meditate on it if you find something particularly worthwhile. Or don't. But just don't make it into something bigger than what it intends to be; take it as it is: a small collection of interesting and often pertinent pieces, with a little humour thrown in.
Read it one page at a time, and it'll last a long time. I find a different view of the flower each time I read - or re-read - a page.
Rating:
Summary: Just a real handy check-up
Review: From the inimitable Walker Percy ("not to be onto something is to be in despair") to the counterpoint of cosmic interrelationships between zen and nuclear physics, this book can be anything from a 'thought for a day' to a thematic bible for speakers.
I hand it to first-year law clerks who ask "why" too often, as much as recommend it to people who try to answer Les McCann's question "real compared to what?"
This is not a zen book as such. It is a wonderful quote-by-quote reminder that simplicity of thought and action is closer to truth than noise and clutter. It's zen lite maybe, while it is also accessible and thought provoking. A traipse through it's pages will always raise a smile and some recognition of having seen something clearly. Pick it up. If you don't like it, you know someone who will.
Rating:
Summary: Here is why it has western quotes:
Review: It is because it is a book of zen mind-set, not philosophy! Not all the great thinkers and philosophies are from Asia (just read "The Tao of Pooh" for example)and while Zen may have been formalized in Japan, there have been some pretty enlightened people in the rest of the world too. In short: zen is where you find it, and it is everywhere. As for the format; it is supposed to be an easy read. One can pick it up, flip to any page and have a little reminder of what this crazy life is all about. It is a simple (and I dare say, elegant) collection of quotes. I have never seen it sold otherwise. The reviews say it is a quote book and I saw it was a quote book when I flipped though it at a book store. You are right in that there are books out there with more detail and are better at recalling zen history, however this book is not, and was never meant to be, one of them. p.s. I remember reading of a zen master hearing a reading of the Bible's "The Surmon on the Mount". He commented that whoever wrote it must have been a Budda!
Rating:
Summary: Here is why it has western quotes:
Review: It is because it is a book of zen mind-set, not philosophy! Not all the great thinkers and philosophies are from Asia (just read "The Tao of Pooh" for example)and while Zen may have been formalized in Japan, there have been some pretty enlightened people in the rest of the world too. In short: zen is where you find it, and it is everywhere. As for the format; it is supposed to be an easy read. One can pick it up, flip to any page and have a little reminder of what this crazy life is all about. It is a simple (and I dare say, elegant) collection of quotes. I have never seen it sold otherwise. The reviews say it is a quote book and I saw it was a quote book when I flipped though it at a book store. You are right in that there are books out there with more detail and are better at recalling zen history, however this book is not, and was never meant to be, one of them. p.s. I remember reading of a zen master hearing a reading of the Bible's "The Surmon on the Mount". He commented that whoever wrote it must have been a Budda!
Rating: 
Summary: Okay but not great
Review: This book is okay, but not great. I like some of the entries in it, but if you are looking for a source of Buddhist wisdom, be aware that many of the quotations in this little book are not from Eastern sources. I prefer a book of Buddhist wisdom titled "Open Your Mind, Open Your Life" by Taro Gold.
Rating:
Summary: FOR ANYONE who doesn't mind thinking...
Review: This book is wonderful, even if you are not into zen. It has all the best quotes and sayings, eastern AND western, funny, profound, or familiar. It is a good book for a break at work. Keep it handy on your desk or in your bag for a quick time-out!
Rating:
Summary: a must have for anyone who thinks
Review: This book was a complete disappointment for me. When you first see how thick it is, you think you're going to get a rich treasury of Zen wisdom and history. But what you get instead is a collection of Zen AND Western quotes! Although the Western quotes are Zen sounding, including them in here sort of defeats the purpose of the book, don't you think? I mean, if it's called the Little Zen companion, then why have quotes from Bertrand Russell? There's even a quote from Lenny Bruce here-- "Every day people are leaving the church and going back to God." It's a great quote, but it has NOTHING TO DO WITH ZEN PHILOSOPHY! So why is it in here? This leads me to believe that David Schiller really has no idea what Zen is-- either that or he was trying to pad out an already skimpy book with clever quotes from the West's poets, writers and thinkers. I also think the book was a little lazily put together. When you come down to it, all it is is a compilation of quotes (one on each page, I might add) with only a dozen or so two-paged anecdotes about the history of Zen and its masters. That's not much, if you think about it. My advice is that if you're hoping to get into Zen, you're better off looking into DT Suzuki's or Alan Watts' introductions to Zen, but not this book. It's a waste of time.
Rating:
Summary: A fun little book!
Review: This is not a book to read cover to cover in one sitting. It is a book to flip through when you need a moment of escape or reflection. I kept it in my college dorm and found it a nice diversion. It is a good introduction to Zen and how to apply Zen to your daily life. This book encourages the reader to look for Zen in the world around him/her by showing that Zen can be found just about anyplace. Some of the quotes are of course better thna others, but overall this is a worthwhile little book to have around!
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