Zen Flesh, Zen Bones-A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings (original 1957; edition 1976)

by Paul Reps (Editor)

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AikiBib's review

Here, in one voluume, are four original sources for Zen, four books of what would abe Zen scripture if Zen had such things as scriptures. The first book, 101 Zen Stories, shadows the experiences of scores of Zen masters and students during the past seven-hundred years. It records the outward occasion of numerous 'enlightenments'-the achievement of satori-and it tells too, of many who failed to achieve it. The second book, The Gateless Gate, is the famous Mumonkan, a collection of fortyeight Zen koans, those ultimate riddles whose sincere contemplation may redeem the mind, open it, attain for it a second birth. Found in 10 Bulls is a commentary on the stages of awareness, the progressive steps leading toward the instant of enlightenment. The illustrations to 10 Bulls are by one of Japan's leading woodblock artists. The fourth book, Centering, is a transcription from the ancient Sanskrit of a four-thousand-year old teaching, still surviving in Kashmir, that may well be the roots of Zen. For the reader already familiar with Zen, this book shoudl serve as a desirable volume of source readings; for the reader not familiar with it, it should be an ideal introduction.

Contents

Foreword
101 Zen Stories Transcribed by Nyogen Senzaki and Paul Reps
1 A cup of tea
2 Finding a diamond on a muddy road
3 Is that so?
4 Obedience
5 If you live, love openly
6 No loving-kindness
7 Announcement
8 Great waves
9 The moon cannot be stolen
10 The last poem of Hoshin
11 The story of shunkai
12 Happy chinaman
13 A Bkuddha
14 Muddy road
15 Shoun and his mother
16 Not far from Buddhahood
17 Stingy in teaacing
18 A parable
19 the first principle
20 A mother's advice
21 The sound of one hand
22 My heart burns like fire
23 Eshun's departure
24 Reciting sutras
25 Three days more
26 Trading dialogue for lodging
27 The voice of happiness
28 Open your own trasure house
29 No water, no moon
30 Caling card
31 Everything is best
32 Inch time foot gem
33 Mokusen's hand
34 A smile in his lifetime
35 Every-minute Zen
36 Flwer shower
37 Publishing the sutras
38 Gisho's work
39 Sleeping in the daytime
40 In dreamland
41 Joshu's Zen
42 The dad man's answer
43 Zen n a beggar's life
44 The thief who became a disciple
45 Right and wrong
46 How grass and trees become enlightened
47 The sitng artist
48 Accurate proportion
49 Black-nosed buddha
50 Ryonen's clear realization
51 Sour miso
52 Your light may go out
53 The giver should be thankful
54 The last will and testament
55 The tea-master and teh assassin
56 The true path
57 The gates of paradise
58 Arresting the stone buddha
59 Soldiers of humanity
60 The tunnel
61 Gudo and the emperor
62 In the hands of destiny
63 Killing
64 Kasan sweat
65 The subjugation of a ghost
66 Children of his majesty
67 What are you doing! What are you saying!
68 One note of Zen
69 Eating the blame
70 The most valuable thng in the world
71 Learning to be silent
72 The blockhead lord
73 Ten successors
74 True reformation
75 Temper
76 The stone mind
77 No attachment to dust
78 Real prosperity
79 Incense burner
80 The real miracle
81 Just go to sleep
82 Nothing exists
83 No work, no food
84 True friends
85 Time to die
86 The living Buddya and the tubmaker
87 Three kinds of disciples
88 How to write a chinese poem
89 Zen dialogue
90 the last rap
91 The tast of Banzo's sword
92 Fire-poker Zen
93 Storyteller's Zen
94 Midnight excursion
95 A letter to a dying man
96 A drop of water
97 Teaching the ultimate
98 Non-attachment
99 Tosui's vinegar
100 The silent temple
101 Buddha's Zen
The Gateless Gate by Ekai, called Mu-mon Transcirbed by Nyogen Senzaki and Paul Reps
1 Joshu's dog
2 Hayakujo's fox
3 Gutei's finger
4 A beardless foreigner
5 Kyogen mounts the tree
6 Buddha twirls a flower
7 Joshu washes the bowl
8 Keichu's wheel
9 A Buddha before history
10 Seizei alone and poor
11 Josu examines a monk in meditation
12 Zuigan calls his onw master
13 Tokusan holds his bowl
14 Nansen cuts teh cat in two
15 Tozan's three blows
16 Bells and robes
17 Three calls of the emperor's teacher
18 Tozan's three pounds
19 Everyday life is the path
20 The enlightened man
21 Dried dung
22 Kashapa's preaaching sign
23 Do not think good, do not think not-good
24 Without words, wothout silence
25 Preaaching from the third seat
26 Two monks roll up the screen
27 It is not mind, it is not Buddha, it is not things
28 Blow out the candle
29 Not the wind, not the flag
30 This mind is Buddha
31 Joshuinvestigates
32 A philosopher asks Buddha
33 This mind is not buddha
34 Learning is not the path
35 Two souls
36 Meeting a Zen master on the road
37 A buffalo passes through the enlcsure
38 An oak tree in the garden
39 Ummon's sidetrack
40 Tipping over a water vase
41 Bodhidharma pacifies the mind
42 The girl comes out from meditation
43 Shuzan's short staff
44 Basho's staff
45 Who is he?
46 Proceed from the top of the pole
47 Three gates of Tosotsu
48 One road of Kembo
49 Amgan's addition
10 Bulls by Kakuan Transcribed by Nyogen Senzaki and Paul Reps, Illustrated by Tomikichiro Tokuriki
1 The search for te bull
2 Discovering the footprints
3 Percaeiving the bull
4 Catching the bull
5 Taming the bull
6 Riding the bull home
7 The bull transcended
8 Both bull and self transcended
9 Reaching the source
10 In the world
Centering Transcribed by Paul Reps
What is Zen?

AikiBib | May 31, 2022 |

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When Zen Flesh, Zen Bones was published in 1957 it became an instant sensation with an entire generation of readers who were just beginning to experiment with Zen. Over the years it has inspired leading American Zen teachers, students, and practitioners. Its popularity is as high today as ever.

Zen Flesh, Zen Bones is a book that offers a collection of accessible, primary Zen sources so that readers can struggle over the meaning of Zen for themselves. It includes 101 Zen Stories, a collection of tales that recount actual experiences of Chinese and Japanese Zen teachers over a period of more than five centuries; The Gateless Gate, the famous thirteenth-century collection of Zen koans; Ten Bulls, a twelfth century commentary on the stages of awareness leading to enlightenment; and Centering, a 4,000 year-old teaching from India that some consider to be the roots of Zen.

PSZC | Mar 24, 2023 |

A hodge-podge of gems, each one worth reading slowly, mulling over. (

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mykl-s | Feb 24, 2023 |

AikiBib | May 31, 2022 |

I remember being quite inspired by this book, but details are sketchy. I'll have to give it a re-read, at some point. (

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James_Patrick_Joyce | Oct 24, 2020 |

"'You live, move, and have your being in the sea. The sea is within you and without you, and you are made of sea, and you will end in sea." (

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dbsovereign | Jan 26, 2016 |

Inspiring, comforting, thought-provoking, amusing, succinct. One of the best books I ever read. (

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valdanylchuk | Aug 26, 2015 |

Very stimulating collection of Zen stories which may mock
anything including other Zen traditions Some tales are interesting as stories as well as for their religious content. (

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antiquary | Jan 4, 2008 |

Charming and as deep as you want it to be.

Black_samvara | Oct 17, 2007 |

Three Zen Buddhists call into a bar....no, not those kinds of stories, but these are tales of wisdom and sometimes stupidity, but only the wisest of stupidities.

Perhaps if you wanted to "Learn" zen this is the best way...you can only do it by these stories, not by theory. (

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Arctic-Stranger | Mar 12, 2007 |

p. 18, #14

Muddy Road

This is an interesting tale about monks and females and how to treat them; it is one of my favorite tales and one I remember to relate as the occasion arises.