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Zen Traces: Exploring American Zen with Twain and Thoreau
Contributor(s): Kraft, Kenneth (Author)
ISBN: 1589881281     ISBN-13: 9781589881280
Publisher: Paul Dry Books
OUR PRICE:   $16.10  
Product Type: Paperback
Published: June 2018
Qty:
Temporarily out of stock - Will ship within 2 to 5 weeks
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- Religion | Buddhism - Zen (see Also Philosophy - Zen)
- Religion | Inspirational
- Religion | Meditations
Dewey: 294.392
LCCN: 2018940019
Physical Information: 0.4" H x 5.9" W x 8.8" (0.55 lbs) 175 pages
Themes:
- Religious Orientation - Buddhist
- Topical - New Age
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:

Kraft rubs together these pithy thoughts and phrases from traditional and present-day Zen with the sayings of Henry-David Thoreau and Mark Twain to come up with fresh portals of spiritual openness.--Spirituality & Practice

As Zen takes root in the west, new forms arise. For centuries Zen masters have tested their students with "koans" and "capping phrases." A koan is a spiritual paradox that must be solved intuitively. A capping phrase is a trenchant comment. Both are meditative practices that reveal deeper truths about the self and, ideally, lead to enlightenment.

In Zen Traces, Buddhist scholar Kenneth Kraft plays off these practices in a new idiom. He selects passages from four sources: traditional Zen, present-day Zen, Henry David Thoreau, and Mark Twain. When a koan-like story about a contemporary Zen teacher is paired with a pithy comment by Mark Twain, something fresh emerges.

Contributor Bio(s): Kraft, Kenneth: - Kenneth Kraft, professor emeritus of religious studies at Lehigh University, is a scholar of Japanese Zen and socially engaged Buddhism. He is the author and editor of several books on Buddhism including Dharma Rain: Sources of Buddhist Environmentalism, Zen: Tradition and Transition, and The Wheel of Engaged Buddhism. Kraft holds a Ph.D. in East Asian Studies from Princeton University, an M.A. in Asian Languages and Cultures from the University of Michigan, and a B.A. from Harvard University.