Zen Wisdom

Rating:
Summary: A great book to absorb one chapter at a time
Review: Having read a variety of books in the Buddhist tradition I can honestly say this is one of my favorites. Composed of various conversations that originally appeared as a series of articles he covers a wide range of subjects. Probably not the book I would recommend as a first book on Buddhism, that being "Buddhism Plain and Simple" by Steve Hagen, it would appeal more to those with more familiarity with Buddhist philosophy. The Q&A format is wonderful in that Sheng-Yen's answers shed light on many fine points of Buddhist practice. His command of English appears to be very good and I really gained an appreciation for his achievement as a scholar and practitioner. It was also very interesting to learn more about the unique aspects of Chan which is the Chinese tradition from which Zen developed. All in all, a wonderful read and I look forward to reading more of this great teachers work.

Rating:
Summary: A great book to absorb one chapter at a time
Review: Having read a variety of books in the Buddhist tradition I can honestly say this is one of my favorites. Composed of various conversations that originally appeared as a series of articles he covers a wide range of subjects. Probably not the book I would recommend as a first book on Buddhism, that being "Buddhism Plain and Simple" by Steve Hagen, it would appeal more to those with more familiarity with Buddhist philosophy. The Q&A format is wonderful in that Sheng-Yen's answers shed light on many fine points of Buddhist practice. His command of English appears to be very good and I really gained an appreciation for his achievement as a scholar and practitioner. It was also very interesting to learn more about the unique aspects of Chan which is the Chinese tradition from which Zen developed. All in all, a wonderful read and I look forward to reading more of this great teachers work.