Not Always So : Practicing the True Spirit of Zen

Rating:
Summary: "Not Always So" is great!
Review: "Not Always So" is exactly as great as "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind." Edward Espe Brown has lovingly edited these talks by Shunryu Suzuki, Roshi. The talks are at the same time completely simple, and amazingly complex. Now we just need Peter Coyote to narrate the book on tape.

Rating:
Summary: "Not Always So" is great!
Review: "Not Always So" is exactly as great as "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind." Edward Espe Brown has lovingly edited these talks by Shunryu Suzuki, Roshi. The talks are at the same time completely simple, and amazingly complex. Now we just need Peter Coyote to narrate the book on tape.

Rating:
Summary: Prequel better than Sequel
Review: Although I could not fail to enjoy anything collected from the speeches and writings of Suzuki, this book was not as meaningful to me as the first book for which it is the sequel, Zen Mind, Beautiful Mind. It repeats itself more, but there is still much to be learned from it. It seems to contain more of Suzuki's humor than the first book, and has a casual feel as it is taken from his in-person lectures.

Rating:
Summary: Suzuki to Brown to you
Review: Edward Espe Brown as done graceful justice to these powerful teachings of Suzuki roshi. Mr. Brown himself is a wise teacher and gifted editor here. His presentation of these pearls to us is a gift and this book belongs on the bookshelf of many practitioners and seekers. I cannot recommend it strongly enough. If you have an opportunity to spend time with Mr. Brown, please thank him for me.

Rating:
Summary: Suzuki and Kapleau??
Review: I just want to clarify something written in a previous review, that seems to suggest some sort of consistency between Suzuki roshi's teaching and Kapleau's. I personally think it is pretty important to bear in mind the vast ... in teaching style and in stated purpose between these two schools. When, a few years ago, I read Kapleau's book I was startled and disturbed by it. As a practitioner in a lineage similar to Suzuki's I felt Three Pillars of Zen was antithetical to what I had experienced in my zen practice. Just a word of warning for those who might think Kapleau's book is a complementary text to Suzuki's.

Rating:
Summary: Suzuki and Kapleau??
Review: I just want to clarify something written in a previous review, that seems to suggest some sort of consistency between Suzuki roshi's teaching and Kapleau's. I personally think it is pretty important to bear in mind the vast ... in teaching style and in stated purpose between these two schools. When, a few years ago, I read Kapleau's book I was startled and disturbed by it. As a practitioner in a lineage similar to Suzuki's I felt Three Pillars of Zen was antithetical to what I had experienced in my zen practice. Just a word of warning for those who might think Kapleau's book is a complementary text to Suzuki's.

Rating:
Summary: Direct and concise. His fluid teachings resist definition.
Review: One of the most insightful books I've ever read. Even so, I didn't understand some of it. His teachings seem multidimensional, fluid, and sometimes difficult to pin down. His emphasis on the present everday life is also unique among the Zen books I've read. Example: "When you observe the precepts without trying to observe the precepts, that is true observation of the precepts." Others devote many pages to what Suzuki expresses so succinctly.

Rating:
Summary: Direct and concise. His fluid teachings resist definition.
Review: One of the most insightful books I've ever read. Even so, I didn't understand some of it. His teachings seem multidimensional, fluid, and sometimes difficult to pin down. His emphasis on the present everday life is also unique among the Zen books I've read. Example: "When you observe the precepts without trying to observe the precepts, that is true observation of the precepts." Others devote many pages to what Suzuki expresses so succinctly.

Rating:
Summary: Correction
Review: The prequel to this book is Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. I mentioned it improperly in my previous review.

Rating:
Summary: Read it
Review: This is a wonderful collection of beautiful, pithy, unpretentious and very brief Zen talks. It's not just for a beginner; it's for any Zen student of any Zen lineage (and I'm writing as a Zen student from a different tradition than Suzuki-Roshi's). You know how a lot of Zen books don't seem to have "it"? This one's got it. Without a single extra word.