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Review
"The Three Pillars of Zen heralded the end of armchair Buddhism. With this practical guide to Zen meditation, Roshi Kapleau ushered in the first wave of American zazen practitioners. It was extraordinarily inspiring. It still is."--Helen Tworkov, founding editor of Tricycle: The Buddhist Review and author of Zen in America
"For over thirty years Roshi Kapleau's Three Pillars of Zen has been the wellspring of Zen teachings for practitioners in the West, remaining as vital and fresh today as it was when it was originally published. It truly ranks among the timeless classics of Zen Buddhism."--Roshi John Daido Loori, Abbot, Zen Mountain Monastery
"For anyone seriously interested in Zen--this book will be invaluable."--Times Literary Supplement (London)
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Book Description
Concordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Inspiring,
This review is from: The Three Pillars of Zen (Paperback)
I first ran across this book a while back, when I was involved in Buddhism in a sort of academic way. The Three Pillars of Zen was on the reading list for one of my classes, and I ended up reading it the way I read most academic texts - with an eyes towards extracting pithy quotes and supporting ideas for an eventual paper. At the time, it made little impression on me, although I think I may have footnoted it a couple times in assorted papers.Then, about two years ago, I began to rediscover Buddhism (and, in particular Zen) not as an field of intellectual study, but as a practice and a way of life. I began regularly sitting - first five minutes a day, then ten, then half an hour - and occasionally sitting zazen and attending dharma talks at one of our local Zen centers. But I still didn't really have a good grounding in some of the fundamentals. Yes, I knew the basic dharma, but I felt that I was missing something. Enter The Three Pillars of Zen. I don't know why I happened to grab it, but it proved to be exactly what I was looking for - a good introduction to the fundamentals of Zen, with a particular emphasis on practice. Reading this gave my sitting practice something to take root in, and has offered me continual inspiration. There's a lot here, and a lot to absorb, and I don't doubt that different parts of this book will speak to different people. For me, I found the depictions of assorted enlightenment experiences to be incredibly inspiring, but the real meat was in the collection of student-roshi interviews. I found every doubt, every question that I've had about my practice repeated, in some cases word-for-word, in this section - which was a nice thing to encounter, as a relative neophyte who is, admittedly, plagued with doubts as to virtually everything. I would neccessarily reccommend this to someone who knows nothing of Buddhism or of the dharma, but I would reccommend it as an excellent introduction to Zen and the practice of Zen. It's a book that I return to every day, and that I find a continual source of inspiration.
4.0 out of 5 stars
good stuff,
This review is from: The Three Pillars of Zen (Paperback)
a wise and wondrous accompaniment to the works of Alan Watts.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good Advice-Boring Read,
By
This review is from: The Three Pillars of Zen (Paperback)
I hate saying it, because Philip Kapleau is so full of the good teachings that helped Zen "take" here in the USA, but this book was very boring. I understand many of his students perhaps have written the reviews here and such, and that Roshi Kapleau is in fact, a very good teacher. As for being a good writer, he is not. That said, the words on each page are accurate and concise. It is the delivery that leaves much to be desired. Let us keep in mind that when this book was published, the West didn't really know much about Zen. It was considered, largely, to be a "philosophy" that is to be understood academically. Every author writes for his or her audience, that is, any writer that wants to write another book does. This work reminds you of, though not entirely, the flavor that Daisetz Suzuki wrote with. The scholarly, intellectual route. Which, like I said, was necessary to pave way for the many teachings we would find later in the USA as a result. Roshi Kapleau paved the way for Zen, but as for this book, it simply is not "attractive" enough for many students of Zen today. If you want an entertaining read that provides insight, this is not really your book. If you are looking for insight, and don't care much one way or the other about the "entertainment" aspect-then this book is for you. All this said, I recommend the book. The oddest recommendation I have given to date.
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