Zen: The Perfect Companion

Not surprisingly, this book is little known to most students of Zen who through the years have come to love the Korean Zen master Seung Sahn. This is possibly due to having been published in April of 2003, or the lack of acknowledgement of Seung Sahn in the write-ups you find of the book. The face of the author is not truly important, however. This book is essentially a book filled with Zen kong-ans (koans) that Zen master Seung Sahn has often used throughout the years he taught. There are 235 koans in this work, to be exact. Following each koan, Zen master Seung Sahn asks the reader a few questions, then provides a somewhat brief commentary. This book is NOT for entertainment, if you expect something along the lines of The Compass of Zen or Only Don't Know by the same author, you may be disappointed. What this book does contain is "mind meals"- questions and koans you could hold for many years. Your answering each koan right off is quite slim, seeing as how they are not intended to be "entered" via the intellect. That would be understanding Zen, not attainment. Attainment is expressed quite differently. I hope you enjoy this book!

Pick it up and put it all down.

I picked the book up in San Fransisco and looked through it a bunch to find out if it was the real thing, or if it was just a watered down version of Zen Buddhism and found it was very in depth and extremely complicated. As I've ben reading through it I've found it very helpful, but a little confusing. The writing is very choppy and the author expects the reader to understand certain principles of Buddhism before reading. It is not an introductory book, but a challenging one. I would suggest it to anyone who practices zen meditation already and wishes to enhance their practice. This book it a guide to be used along with a journal and should not be the only part of your zen practice. It is a very truthful, straightforward, and helpful guide, but is not for everyone.