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Title: Crooked Cucumber: The Life and Zen Teaching of Shunryu Suzuki by David Chadwick ISBN: 0-7679-0105-3 Publisher: Broadway Books Pub. Date: 08 February, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.77 (22 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Crooked Reviewers
Comment: It seems that most of the other reviewers knew what they thought about Suzuki before they read this book, and found their self-confirmations therein. So I will confine myself to the book itself, rather than the subject.
The standard of research is as careful (and caring) as you will ever find among biographers. However, Chadwick's writing style is very light and breezy, without being flippant. Suzuki's life is portrayed in a way that skillfully demonstates both what has been RIGHT and what has been WRONG with Zen in America, althought the author never stoops to lecture the reader on these points.
Rating: 5
Summary: Funny, absorbing biography of a visionary
Comment: I'm not a Zen practitioner; I read this book because I'm interested in Japanese culture and in contemplative forms of spirituality. Having already read the author's account of his own adventures in Japanese Zen temples, "Thank You and OK!", I was prepared for a bit of a romp.
But this account of the life of S. Suzuki, founder of the San Francisco Zen Center and spiritual father to two generations of American meditators, is more than a series of amusing incidents as Japanese culture confronted America in the 1960s. It contains a very convincing portrayal of Japanese culture during the first 60 years of this century as well as an exhaustively researched, nuanced portrait of the father of American Zen. The book manages to keep a light tone without seeming silly, and it doesn't shy away from the pain and the stumbling blocks in Suzuki's life.
The most pleasant surprise was the depiction of 1960s San Francisco as alternative culture made the transition from the Beats to the hippies.
This is one of the most engaging books I've read in a long time. I found myself itching to get back to it, and I was sorry to see it end.
Rating: 4
Summary: Labour of Love
Comment: At times, authors would have the highest regards of their subjects that by the time the books are completed, the biographies of the subjects would differ completly from the real thing. Despite that David Chatwick was a student of Shunryu Suzuki, and despite that the reverence is there, David interviewed hundreds of people, researched through piles of materials in order to convey to us the person that Shunryu Suzuki was. Here, he was portrayed as a human being with his own flaws. As we traced Shunryu's life from his childhood in Japan and subsequently, to America, we would learn of his deep sufferings that moulded him to become the person that he would become later on. In Japan, he never gotten the recognition that he deserved & right from day one, he was called Crooked Cucumber by his own teacher for his absent-mindedness. Yet, we are talking about the same Crooked Cucumber that brought Zen into the mainstream, setting up Zen centres in the West, initiated the exchange program between America & Japan, and along the way, captivating people's hearts & souls. Shunryu always believed in the middle-road & in all people. He left people to their own discretion to find meanings in their lives & he's only there to guide them when his assistance was needed. The later part of the book was very heart-moving to read as he was struggling with his own terminal illness & yet, he projected a quiet dignity & strength that a teacher possessed & guided his students till the change-over phase. In his dead bed, he was still thinking about his students instead about himself. One can't help but feeling emotional about this book. A times, it's funny, it's sad, it's scary (especially when he had his short temper burst), it's wonderful but isn't that what life is all about? By reading this book, perhaps, we get a bit of insight about this great teacher but along the way, we get to learn more about ourselves. A captivating read and highly recommended
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Title: Not Always So : Practicing the True Spirit of Zen by Shunryu Suzuki, Edward Espe Brown ISBN: 0060957549 Publisher: Quill Pub. Date: 27 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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Title: Branching Streams Flow in the Darkness: Zen Talks on the Sandokai by Shunryu Suzuki, Mel Weitsman, Michael Wenger, Shunryu Suzuki ISBN: 0520232127 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: 01 October, 2001 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind by Shunryu Suzuki ISBN: 0834800799 Publisher: Weatherhill Inc. Pub. Date: 01 April, 1972 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: To Shine One Corner of the World: Moments With Shunryu Suzuki by David Chadwick ISBN: 0767906519 Publisher: Broadway Books Pub. Date: 06 March, 2001 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Wind Bell: Teachings from the San Francisco Zen Center - 1968-2001 by Michael Wenger ISBN: 1556433816 Publisher: North Atlantic Books Pub. Date: 10 October, 2001 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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