Zen for Americans

In Zen for Americans, Zen Master Soyen Shaku's vivid explanations of Buddhist beliefs are published together with the Sutra of Forty-Two Chapters, the first collection of Buddha's sayings to be introduced from India into the Far East. Too long out of print, the first words from the Buddhist East to the West are perhaps the best words to introduce Zen, as Master Soyen Shaku calls to the agitated present day with wind-chime clarity. These lectures, plus essays written especially for Americans, draw Westerners into the Zen frame of mind. Reading Shaku's description of the Buddhist concept of God, of karma, or of reincarnation, is like resting in a Japanese garden: there are no excesses, and every feature blesses you with radiant tranquility.