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Title: The Zen Teachings of Jesus by Kenneth S. Leong ISBN: 0-8245-1883-7 Publisher: Crossroad 8th Avenue Pub. Date: 01 January, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.16 (19 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: One of the finest "Christian Zen" books
Comment: Kenneth Leong's interpretation of Jesus's teachings along Zen lines is among the very best of its kind. I don't mean to imply my full agreement with his approach in general or with his interpretations in particular -- but on the other hand I think he's done a wonderful job overall.
Oh, there are one or two minor problems. For example, Leong consistently identifies "rationality" with abstract, "left-brain" activity and insists that (in this sense) truth and reality are mysteries to the "rational" mind. But that this is not the whole story is indicated even by his own writing, in which he tries carefully to follows Jesus's "logic" and employs inference freely. I'd really enjoy seeing one of these Zen books take a crack at improving our _understanding_ of rationality rather than just dismissing "reason" as inadequate.
Then, too, Leong occasionally makes references to the "Pharisees" that have little foundation in the actual history of the Perushim. In fact there is a good case to be made that, historically, Jesus was closely aligned with the Pharisees himself (and indeed most of his teachings can be paralleled from within the Jewish tradition of his time).
But as far as the teachings themselves are concerned, on the whole Leong does a nice job of presenting and explicating them. There is a good deal of truth in his presentation and I highly recommend it.
I especially recommend it to readers of Stephen Mitchell's _The Gospel According to Jesus_, which I've just recently reviewed. Mitchell, while acknowledging that his translation may have omitted passages whose light he hasn't been able to see, nevertheless proceeds to leave out ninety percent of the material in the synoptic gospels (to say nothing of John). And Mitchell expressly takes Thomas Jefferson as his example in hacking the gospels to pieces.
By contrast, Leong writes as follows [p. 195]: "Before writing this book, I agreed with Thomas Jefferson that parts of the New Testament 'have proceeded from an extraordinary man; and other parts are of the fabric of very inferior minds.' For a long time, I have shared with many scholars and intellectuals the opinion that the words of Jesus have been tampered with and his central teachings distorted to serve the purpose of the religious establishment. But . . . it seems that the suspicion of foul play has to be reconsidered."
In consequence, Leong leaves in nearly everything Mitchell leaves out, and thus provides a much more rounded presentation of Jesus's words and deeds. Mitchell tosses out what he does not understand; Leong has the intellectual and spiritual humility to recognize that there may be more to a passage than he has understood, and therefore keeps digging until he _does_ reach some understanding of it.
Another result is that there is nothing in this volume that expressly interferes with or contradicts more mainstream views of Jesus (or so it seems to me; I am not a Christian myself, so please treat my opinion accordingly). Theoretically, it appears, a theologically conservative Christian could retain all of his or her present views about the nature of Jesus and simply use Leong's book as a guide to understanding his teachings. This, too, is a nice contrast to Mitchell's book, which -- while explicitly dedicating itself to both "believers and unbelievers" -- rather smugly bases itself almost entirely on views that professing Christians can only regard as unbelief.
At any rate, Leong's presentation succeeds quite well on its own terms. His topics range from the nature of Zen to Jesus's use of humor and the dangers of "scapegoating," and he is always both clear and interesting. He closes with a salutary warning not to regard his own conclusions as final and with the hope that he has helped to provide something of a new "paradigm" for reading scripture.
His work should thus appeal to a broad audience in general, and in particular it should be of great interest to readers of the rest of the "Christian Zen" literature (e.g. William Johnston, Dom Aelred Graham, Robert Kennedy).
Rating: 5
Summary: A "must-read" for the serious seeker....
Comment: Every once in a while I come across a work that I want to give to everyone I know with the admonition "You have to read this book." _The Zen Teachings of Jesus_ is such a book.
Using parables from the Gospels, Mr. Leong finds and follows the common threads woven through Zen and Christianity, explaining them in a way that is at once illuminating, profound, and very accessible. As an example, I have had many problems over the years with the notions of sin and good and evil. It always seemed to me that the Christians were onto something but did not have it quite right, and that the Buddhists would not talk about it at all. Mr. Leong approaches these topics with the deftness of an Aikido master, and, in two or three chapters (with a little help from C. S. Lewis), sets everything in order. His chapter entitled "The Usual Hell," where he talks about the "fire, worms, monsters, and secrets of hell" (there are nine secrets) from a Zen perspective! is worth the purchase of the book all by itself.
There are a few books in my spiritual library that I go back to again and again, like old friends. This will be one of them. I bought it three weeks ago, and I am already on my third reading. I recommend it heartily to anyone searching for a fresh perspective on Zen or Christianity, or for the common avenues that run through both paths. It is a unifying experience.
You have to read this book.
Rating: 1
Summary: A Disappointing Attempt
Comment: The impression that the book presents on its cover is that it will examine the teachings of Jesus and how they resemble Zen ideas. Mr. Leong makes a 232-page attempt to do that. In the introduction, he exhorts the reader to be opened-minded, not restricted to the reader's past religious lessons, and look at the teachings of Jesus as if for the first time. After asking the reader to do so, Mr. Leong does just the opposite. He reads the scriptures with such a background of Zen thinking that he oftentimes misses their very obvious meanings. Anyone reading the Gospels for the first time would scarcely come to the same conclusions as Mr. Leong. He quotes several authors to try to add validity to his points. One of the more often quoted is C. S. Lewis. I have read all of Lewis's quoted works, and found Mr. Leong to even have misinterpreted these at times. Mr. Leong appears to have tried too hard to force Zen upon Jesus. I found myself frustrated at his lack of seeing the obvious meanings while trying to interpret the teachings of Jesus in a Zen paradigm.
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Title: Zen for Christians: A Beginner's Guide by Kim Boykin, Gerald G. May ISBN: 0787963763 Publisher: Jossey-Bass Pub. Date: 15 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: Jesus and Lao Tzu: The Parallel Sayings by Martin Aronson ISBN: 1569752249 Publisher: Ulysses Press Pub. Date: 30 October, 2000 List Price(USD): $19.00 |
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Title: Zen Spirit, Christian Spirit: The Place of Zen in Christian Life by Robert E. Kennedy ISBN: 0826409199 Publisher: Continuum Pub Group Pub. Date: March, 1996 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: The Lost Sutras of Jesus: Unlocking the Ancient Wisdom of the Zian Monks by Ray Riegert, Thomas Moore, Jon Babcock ISBN: 1569753601 Publisher: Ulysses Press Pub. Date: April, 2003 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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Title: Christ the Eternal Tao by Lou Shibai, You Shan Tang, Hieromonk Damascene, Paul Deichman ISBN: 0938635859 Publisher: Saint Herman of Alaska Brotherhood Pub. Date: May, 2000 List Price(USD): $19.00 |
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