Samurai Zen: The Warrior Koans - Hardcover

Leggett, Trevor

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0415284643 ISBN 13: 9780415284646

Publisher: Routledge, 2003

Synopsis

Samurai Zen brings together 100 of the rare riddles which represent the core spiritual discipline of Japan's ancient Samurai tradition. Dating from thirteenth-century records of Japan's Kamakura temples, and traditionally guarded with a reverent secrecy, they reflect the earliest manifestation of pure Zen in Japan. Created by Zen Masters for their warrior pupils, the Japanese Koans use incidents from everyday life - a broken tea-cup, a water-jar, a cloth - to bring the warrior pupils of the Samurai to the Zen realization. Their aim is to enable a widening of consciouness beyond the illusions of the limited self, and a joyful inspiration in life - a state that has been compared to being free under a blue sky after imprisonment.

About this title

Synopsis:

This text gathers together 100 of the rare mystical riddles representing the core spiritual discipline of Japan's ancient Samurai tradition. Dating from the 13th-century records of Japan's Kamakura temples, they reflect the earliest manifestation of pure Zen in Japan, as created and posed by the top Zen Masters to their warrior pupils. Traditionally guarded with a reverent secrecy, the stories, puzzles and dialogues of the Koans contrast poetry with carnivalesque humour, delicacy with occasionally graphic violence, and transcendental insight with a compassionate awareness of flesh. As key preparatory tools for the Samurai, they seek to instil spiritual discernment and mental agility, with the ultimate goal of aiding independent reflection upon the universe and the achievement of self-disciplined wisdom.

About the Author:

Trevor Leggett was the former head of Japanese Service of the BBC in the UK

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0415284643
• ISBN 13: 9780415284646
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 218