- Email: [email protected]
The Zen way
SHORT REVIEWS AND BOOK NOTES
Geoffrey Parrinder, The Wisdom of the Early Buddhists . Sheldon Press, 1977 . S6pp . £1 .50 . Irmgard Schloegel, The Zen Way . viii + 117pp . £2 .95 .
London,
London, Sheldon Press, 1977 .
Here are two short paperbacks dealing with very different expressions of Buddhism from very different approaches . Professor Parrinder's Wisdom of the Early Buddhists is one of a series published by Sheldon Press exploring the sayings and writings of such groups as the Sufis, the Spanish Mystics and the Desert Fathers . Each volume in the series has an introductory essay followed by a number of short representative extracts . In the case of the book under review none is identified until the end of the book when a list of sources is provided, including page references to the translations of the Pali Text Society . Commenting upon these translations (p .19) the author commends their graceful English and continues 'it is to open these beautiful and absorbing dialogues to the Western public in abbreviated and direct form that this version of the Wisdom of the Early Buddhists has been made ' But who will comprise the Western public? The book is not intended as a primer on Buddhism, nor are the extracts of sufficient length to serve as reference resources for study in any depth . Irmgard Schloegel's book is very different . Its intention is strictly practical - a description of the Zen Way, and how it 240
Short reviews and book notes
241
may be walked today . The central core of the book is the chapter 'Training in a Japanese Zen monastery' . This together with the chapter headed 'Application' takes up half the book . It is an interesting and detailed account based upon the author's twelve-year sojourn in Japan . In the chapter headed 'Application' Dr Schloegel attempts to answer the question, 'What can we do here and now with no temples and training monasteries?' (p .85) . Her solution lies along the twofold way of Acceptance in daily life, and Zazen, sitting meditation . The two go together and are inseparable . 'Practice in daily life is like one leg to walk the Zen Way . The other leg, without which there is no walking, is Zazen . Hence it is a fallacy to believe or to hope that Zazen without the daily life practice is fruitful or will change one' (p .lO5) . To anyone familiar with de Caussade and the associated school of spiritual direction there is nothing new in Life Acceptance, whilst the Zazen outlined by Dr Schloegel is but a variation in the growing library of books on meditative and contemplative techniques . The author does, however, make it clear that what she is advocating is only a beginning . In her chapter 'Conclusions' (p .115) she writes 'as a Way of training it (Zen) has always been in the hands of the professionals who have run places for this training - if the Zen Way is to come to the west such training places will be needed and will emerge .' Time will tell . Ian Calvert The Institute of Religion and Theology
Raimundo Panikkar, The Vedic Experience : Mantramanjari : An Anthology of the Vedas for Modern Man and Contemporary Celebration . Edited and translated with introductions and notes, with the collaboration of N . Shanta, M .A .R . Rogers, B . Baumer and M . Bidoli . xxxviii + 937 pp . London, Darton, Longman and Todd, 1977 . £20 .00 . A work of this size must be reviewed like a dictionary, looking at its general arrangement and then examining samples . It is more than an anthology, since half of it consists of introductory and interpretative material . It is not confined to the Vedas, but includes the Kalpa-sutras, Manu and the Bhagavadgita . The translated passages are arranged in a thematic scheme based on the human life cycle, and are interspersed with introductions which often include illuminating paraphrases of the passages to be translated, and link them to others . While recognizing the differences in outlook between them, Panikkar thus brings together texts from different stages of Vedic literature - a useful corrective to the impression still
Geoffrey Parrinder, The Wisdom of the Early Buddhists . Sheldon Press, 1977 . S6pp . £1 .50 . Irmgard Schloegel, The Zen Way . viii + 117pp . £2 .95 .
London,
London, Sheldon Press, 1977 .
Here are two short paperbacks dealing with very different expressions of Buddhism from very different approaches . Professor Parrinder's Wisdom of the Early Buddhists is one of a series published by Sheldon Press exploring the sayings and writings of such groups as the Sufis, the Spanish Mystics and the Desert Fathers . Each volume in the series has an introductory essay followed by a number of short representative extracts . In the case of the book under review none is identified until the end of the book when a list of sources is provided, including page references to the translations of the Pali Text Society . Commenting upon these translations (p .19) the author commends their graceful English and continues 'it is to open these beautiful and absorbing dialogues to the Western public in abbreviated and direct form that this version of the Wisdom of the Early Buddhists has been made ' But who will comprise the Western public? The book is not intended as a primer on Buddhism, nor are the extracts of sufficient length to serve as reference resources for study in any depth . Irmgard Schloegel's book is very different . Its intention is strictly practical - a description of the Zen Way, and how it 240
Short reviews and book notes
241
may be walked today . The central core of the book is the chapter 'Training in a Japanese Zen monastery' . This together with the chapter headed 'Application' takes up half the book . It is an interesting and detailed account based upon the author's twelve-year sojourn in Japan . In the chapter headed 'Application' Dr Schloegel attempts to answer the question, 'What can we do here and now with no temples and training monasteries?' (p .85) . Her solution lies along the twofold way of Acceptance in daily life, and Zazen, sitting meditation . The two go together and are inseparable . 'Practice in daily life is like one leg to walk the Zen Way . The other leg, without which there is no walking, is Zazen . Hence it is a fallacy to believe or to hope that Zazen without the daily life practice is fruitful or will change one' (p .lO5) . To anyone familiar with de Caussade and the associated school of spiritual direction there is nothing new in Life Acceptance, whilst the Zazen outlined by Dr Schloegel is but a variation in the growing library of books on meditative and contemplative techniques . The author does, however, make it clear that what she is advocating is only a beginning . In her chapter 'Conclusions' (p .115) she writes 'as a Way of training it (Zen) has always been in the hands of the professionals who have run places for this training - if the Zen Way is to come to the west such training places will be needed and will emerge .' Time will tell . Ian Calvert The Institute of Religion and Theology
Raimundo Panikkar, The Vedic Experience : Mantramanjari : An Anthology of the Vedas for Modern Man and Contemporary Celebration . Edited and translated with introductions and notes, with the collaboration of N . Shanta, M .A .R . Rogers, B . Baumer and M . Bidoli . xxxviii + 937 pp . London, Darton, Longman and Todd, 1977 . £20 .00 . A work of this size must be reviewed like a dictionary, looking at its general arrangement and then examining samples . It is more than an anthology, since half of it consists of introductory and interpretative material . It is not confined to the Vedas, but includes the Kalpa-sutras, Manu and the Bhagavadgita . The translated passages are arranged in a thematic scheme based on the human life cycle, and are interspersed with introductions which often include illuminating paraphrases of the passages to be translated, and link them to others . While recognizing the differences in outlook between them, Panikkar thus brings together texts from different stages of Vedic literature - a useful corrective to the impression still