| A Zen Harvest: Japanese Folk Zen Sayings (Haiku, Dodoitsu, and Waka) Contributor(s): Shigematsu, Soiku (Translator), Shigematsu, Soiku (Compiled by), Aitken, Robert (Foreword by) |
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ISBN: 0865473285 ISBN-13: 9780865473287 Publisher: North Point Press OUR PRICE: $17.10 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: August 1988 Annotation: Shigematsu translates the Japanese Zenrin Segoshu, a collection including nearly 800n implications of the poems. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Poetry | Anthologies (multiple Authors) - Poetry | Subjects & Themes - Inspirational & Religious - Poetry | Asian - Japanese |
| Dewey: 895.610 |
| LCCN: 87082594 |
| Physical Information: 0.56" H x 6.03" W x 8.97" (0.64 lbs) 208 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - Asian - Cultural Region - Japanese - Ethnic Orientation - Japanese - Religious Orientation - Buddhist |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: One of the vital aspects of traditional Rinzai Zen koan study in Japan is jakugo, or capping-phrase exercises. When Zen students have attained sufficient mastery of meditation or concentration, they are given a koan (such as the familiar "What is the sound of one hand clapping?") to study. When the student provides a satisfactory response to the koan, he advances to the jakugo exercise-he must select a "capping phrase," usually a passage from a poem among the thousands in a special anthology, the only book allowed in the monastery. One such anthology, written entirely in Chinese, was translated by noted Zen priest and scholar Soiku Shigematsu as A Zen Forest: Sayings of the Masters. Equally important is a Japanese collection, the Zenrin Segoshu, which Mr. Shigematsu now translates from the Japanese, including nearly eight hundred poems in sparkling English versions that retain the Zen implications of the verse. |
Contributor Bio(s): Aitken, Robert: - Robert Aitken (1917-2010) was Roshi of the Diamond Sangha in Honolulu and the author of Taking the Path of Zen and The Mind of Clover. His introduction to Zen came in a Japanese prison camp during World War II, after he was captured as a civilian in Guam. R. H. Blyth, author of Zen in English Literature, was imprisoned in the same camp, and in this unlikely setting Aitken began the first of several important apprenticeships. After the war Aitken returned often to Japan to study. He became friends with D. T. Suzuki, and studied with Nagakawa Soen Roshi and Yasutani Hakuun Roshi. In 1959 Robert Aitken and his wife, Anne, established a Zen organization, the Diamond Sangha. Aitken was given the title "Roshi" and authorized to teach by Yamada Koun Roshi in 1974. |