Mysticism - Christian and Buddhist - The Eastern and Western Way

by Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki

Paperback, 1971

Status

Available

Collection

Publication

Harper & Row, Publishers (1971), 240 pages

Description

If the Western world knows anything about Zen Buddhism, it is down to the efforts of one remarkable man, D.T. Suzuki. The twenty-seven year-old Japanese scholar first visited the West in 1897, and over the course of the next seventy years became the world's leading authority on Zen. His radical and penetrating insights earned him many disciples, from Carl Jung to Allen Ginsberg, from Thomas Merton to John Cage. In Mysticism: Christian and Buddhist Suzuki compares the teachings of the great Christian mystic Meister Eckhart with the spiritual wisdom of Shin and Zen Buddhism. By juxtaposing cultures that seem to be radically opposed, Suzuki raises one of the fundamental questions of human experience: at the limits of our understanding is there an experience that is universal to all humanity? Mysticism: Christian and Buddhist is a book that challenges and inspires; it will benefit readers of all religions who seek to understand something of the nature of spiritual life.… (more)

Language

ISBN

0060802189 / 9780060802189

Similar in this library

Library's review

In the first four essays in this collection, D. T. Suzuki reads Meister Eckhart with the eye of a master, pointing out where his understanding deeply coincides with that of Zen Buddhism. Next, he takes on a subject Christians often find difficult, the question of transmigration or reincarnation.
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Suzuki then compares the dimensionality of the crucifixion with that of enlightenment. In the later essays, Suzuki moves on to the Pure Land tradition of Buddhism, and in particular to the works of Rennyo (1415-1499) and the poetry of Asahara Saichi (1850-1932), for which he provides a rare translation
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Rating

(9 ratings; 3.2)

Pages

240
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