Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Nine-Headed Dragon River : Zen Journals 1969-1982 by Peter Matthiessen ISBN: 1-57062-367-8 Publisher: Shambhala Pub. Date: 28 April, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (5 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Simply the Best Book on Zen Buddhism
Comment: I believe this work by Matthiessen is simply the best written, most accessible and enlightening work on Zen Buddhism out there. For those who disagree, please post your own recommendation. It's a huge challenge (if not a Mission Impossible) to write a powerful, poetic and insightful autobiography on Zen Buddhism. We are very fortunate to have someone of Matthiessen's genius to introduce Zen to the Western world in a such powerful way. I am very grateful to the author for this treasure of a book.
Rating: 5
Summary: Clear and compelling - a must buy
Comment: Matthiessen's prose is clear and his story compelling. His Zen journals, from 1969 to 1982, tell the story of his Zen journey, without any of what the author might describe as, the breathless prose of the sincere seeker, but with great humility, depth, simplicity and beauty. Whether you like biograpy, travel books, or are interested in Zen or Buddhism, do yourself a favour and buy this book.
Rating: 5
Summary: Spiritual autobiography and document of American Zen
Comment: This is core reading. It may even be the equivalent, for American Zen Buddhism, of Thomas Merton's SEVEN STORY MOUNTAIN - although there are no signs Matthiessen will later distance himself from his autobiography, as Merton did.
As a spiritual autobiography, it is magnificently compelling. It is some of Matthiessen's finest prose, and he writes with complete openness about the cruel death of his wife, Deborah Love (who became a Zen student while he looked on skeptically, only later trying zazen for himself), his own demons, and his practice without imposing on the reader. It is a fine model of autobiographical writing.
It is also a valuable document of the planting of the Zen seed in America. Matthiessen begins as a student of Eido Shimano Roshi in New York, and provides a truthful and valuable portrait of that sangha as they built the Dai Bosatsu monastery and established one of the major places of Zen training in the United States. Later, Matthiessen becomes a student of Bernard Glassman and the portrait of their friendship as well as the beginning of their student/teacher rapport is such a gift.
Finally, this provides maybe the best portrait in print of what it was to sit retreat with Soen Roshi, the Japanese roshi and renowned haiku artist who defies brief descriptions. (Other accounts do exist: to some extent in ENDLESS VOW, a collection of Soen's haiku; and in the New York Zen Studies Society's SOEN ROKU.)
This is highly suited for people already practicing, but Matthiessen provides plenty of background material on Zen Buddhism as well as his own introduction to the practice, such that any general reader can appreciate and enjoy this marvelous work.
 |
Title: The Snow Leopard (Penguin Nature Classics) by Peter Matthiessen, Edward Hoagland ISBN: 0140255087 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: June, 1996 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
 |
Title: Zen and the Writing Life by Peter Matthiessen ISBN: 1564556638 Publisher: Sounds True Pub. Date: June, 1999 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
 |
Title: Far Tortuga : A Novel by Peter Matthiessen ISBN: 0394756673 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 12 January, 1988 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
 |
Title: The Cloud Forest: A Chronicle of the South American Wilderness (Penguin Nature Classics) by Peter Matthiessen ISBN: 0140255079 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: October, 1996 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
 |
Title: The Birds of Heaven: Travels with Cranes by Peter Matthiessen, Robert Bateman, George Archibald ISBN: 0865476578 Publisher: North Point Press Pub. Date: April, 2003 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
