Eastern Religion and Philosophy
HINDUISM, TAOISM, CONFUCIANISM
The Upanishads [ca.
8th-4th centuries BC]
These
ancient discourses, usually in the form of dialogues between spiritual
master and student, are among the earliest expositions of mystical experience.
All beings and all phenomena are considered to be mere passing manifestations of
the one true reality, Brahman, which is not a god but an indescribable reality
beyond any gods (what Eckhart calls the Godhead or the Ground of Being). The aim
of the dialogues is to foster the realization of one’s unity with that
ultimate universal Self. There is a good short selection translated by
Swami Prabhavananda and Frederick Manchester. For more detailed study I suggest
the annotated one-volume edition by Swami Nikhilananda (abridged from his
four-volume edition).
The Bhagavad Gita [ca.
3rd century BC]
This short dialogue, inserted into the epic poem The Mahabharata, has
been one of the world’s most influential documents. Despite its apparently
“pro-war” message (the hesitant warrior Arjuna is convinced by Krishna to
plunge into the battle with which he is confronted as long as he makes sure to
do the killing in a nonattached manner) it served as an inspiration to Gandhi,
because the same sort of nonattachment can be applied to nonviolent struggle.
Like many traditional commentators, he saw the epic’s plot as symbolic of an
internal spiritual battle. There are innumerable translations. Relatively literal annotated
versions include those by Franklin
Edgerton, R.C. Zaehner, and Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. Other good versions include
those by Ann Stanford, Barbara Stoler Miller, and Swami Prabhavananda/Christopher
Isherwood.
Isherwood, incidentally, also wrote an interesting account of the
nineteenth-century holy man, Ramakrishna and His Disciples, as well as a
very personal and sometimes rather amusing account of his own experiences in the
practice of Vedanta, My Guru and His Disciple.
[Rexroth essay on The Bhagavad Gita]
Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching
[ca. 5th century
BC]
Stressing the humble over the haughty, the discreet over the visible, the
feminine over the masculine, this deceptively simple little
work is as
inexhaustible as the Way it evokes. It is one of the most widely translated books in
the world. There have been well over two hundred different versions in English
alone. The great diversity of interpretations makes it essential to compare
several of them. Arthur Waley’s The Way and Its Power (1934)
is still one of the basic ones. Other notable early versions include the very
free poetic rendering by Witter Bynner (The Way of Life According to Laotzu,
1944) and Lin Yutang’s The Wisdom of Laotse (1948), which features
passages from Chuang Tzu by way of commentary. Ellen M. Chen's The Tao Te Ching: A New
Translation with Commentary (1989) includes
useful annotations. Robert Henricks has translated two recently discovered early
manuscript versions, which differ in important respects from the traditional
text (Lao-Tzu: Te-Tao Ching, 1989, and Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching,
2000). Victor H. Mair's Tao Te Ching: The Classic Book of Integrity and the
Way (1990) is another fine edition based on those newly discovered
manuscripts. Roger T. Ames and David L. Hall’s Dao De Jing: A Philosophical
Translation (2003) provides an illuminating Whitehead-influenced
interpretation. Red Pine’s translation (Lao-Tzu’s
Taoteching, 1996) is one of the most
poetically concise, and he follows each chapter with excerpts from 2000 years of
traditional Chinese commentaries. Jonathan Star’s Tao Te Ching: The
Definitive Edition (2001) is the most useful edition for close study of the
text because it lists the full range of possible meanings and translations of
each character. Ursula K. Le Guin’s version (Tao Te Ching: A Book About the
Way and the Power of the Way, 1998) is very free but often illuminating.
Sam Hamill’s Tao Te Ching: A New Translation (2005) belongs near the top
of the list, being both poetic and precise. There are
numerous other translations of widely varying styles and
merits, with new ones coming out virtually every year. Note that many of them are
very inaccurate, so
proceed with caution. You can get an idea of
the differences from the reproduction here of
175+ versions of the first
chapter.
Good general studies include Arthur Waley’s The Way and Its Power,
Holmes Welch’s Taoism: The Parting of the Way, Chang Chung-Yuan’s
Creativity and Taoism: A Study of Chinese Philosophy, Art, and Poetry and
Alan Watts’s Tao: The Watercourse Way. Less scholarly but delightfully
provocative is The Tao Is Silent by the magician and logician Raymond
Smullyan.
[Rexroth essay on the Tao Te Ching]
Chuang Tzu [ca.
3rd century BC]
The other classic Taoist text is a collection of parables and anecdotes by or
about the sage Chuang Tzu (Zhuangzi). It’s a thoroughly delightful work,
including satires of Confucius and other historical figures and whimsical
philosophical dialogues between characters such as North Sea Jo, Big Goose
Dummy, Mad Mouther and Do-nothing Say-nothing. Its influence was undoubtedly one
of the key factors in transforming the prolix philosophical forms of Indian
Buddhism into the dramatically concentrated and down-to-earth style
of Zen. Sam Hamill and J.P. Seaton’s The Essential Chuang Tzu is
appropriately lively and colloquial, in addition to being more complete than
most other editions. I’d say it’s the best choice if you’re only going to get
one version, but there are other good ones by Burton Watson, A.C. Graham,
Thomas Merton and others, including an English version of Martin
Buber’s German edition (I and Tao: Martin Buber’s Encounter with Chuang Tzu).
I have reproduced six versions of one of the stories
here.
Confucius, The Analects
[551-479 BC]
With its emphasis on social order and morality, Confucianism may not seem so
appealing as its perennial rival, Taoism, but ultimately the two
perspectives are
probably more complementary than antagonistic. The great Chinese
writers and artists have usually seen them as such, combining a respectable Confucian
orthodoxy in their public careers with Taoist (and/or Buddhist) attitudes in
their private lives. In any case, Confucius is one of the most influential
figures in history, so it’s a good idea to have some
idea of what he was
about. The best edition of The Analects that I have seen is the recent
translation by Simon Leys. For general background you might try Arthur Waley’s Three
Ways of Thought in Ancient China, which compares Taoism (represented by
Chuang Tzu), Confucianism (represented by Mencius), and “Realism” or
“Legalism” (the more or less Machiavellian philosophy represented by Han Fei
Tzu).
BUDDHISM
Walpola Rahula, What the Buddha Taught
[1974]
A good
exposition of the
original teachings of the historical Buddha (ca. 563-483 BC).
[Rexroth
essay on Buddhism]
Lucien Stryk (ed.), World of the Buddha
[1968]
A good anthology of the wide range of Buddhist writings,
from the earliest Pali sutras to the Mahayana texts of Tibet, China and Japan.
Garma Chang (trans.), The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa
[12th century]
Milarepa (1052-1135) was the greatest and most popular figure in the
history of Tibetan Buddhism. This story of his life presents him as constantly
bursting into mystical songs in his encounters with gurus, disciples, and
ordinary people. I think you will be won over by his verve and good humor even
if you are dubious about the miraculous legends about him and know nothing about
the complexities and obscurities of Tibetan Buddhism. There is a complete two-volume edition and a one-volume abridgment. See also
W.Y. Evans-Wentz’s Tibet’s Great Yogi, Milarepa.
The Diamond Sutra [ca. 4th century]
This short Mahayana text, with its frequent statements of the form “A
is neither A nor not A; thus it is called A,” is a
striking example of using language to point beyond the limits of language (the
same thing that is done more briefly and dramatically in Zen koans). There are numerous translations. The new one by Red Pine, which includes
extensive excerpts from traditional Chinese commentaries, is probably the best one for
serious study.
(Note: This and the following book are unlikely to be very interesting, or
even comprehensible, to those who have not already undertaken some exploration
of Buddhism.)
Garma Chang, The Buddhist Teaching of Totality
[1977]
An examination of the form of Buddhism centered on the Avatamsaka Sutra
(translated into English by Thomas Cleary as The Flower Ornament Scripture).
Like many Mahayana texts, the Avatamsaka Sutra is so
immense and so
repetitive that few people are ever likely to read it in its entirety (I myself
have only dipped into it). Chang’s book at least gives us a little taste of some
of the basic features of this inconceivably grandiose perspective, which
envisions countless trillions of universes, each reflected in each other and in
each constituent of itself, each reflection reflected in turn in each other
reflection. . . . Whereas the Diamond Sutra uses a primarily negative
tack — pulling the rug out from under our habitual preconceptions by
systematically denying every possible fixed viewpoint — the Avatamsaka Sutra
accomplishes somewhat the same thing by overwhelming us with continually vaster
positive visions ad infinitum.
Rick Fields, How the Swans Came to the Lake: A Narrative History of
Buddhism in America [1981]
A good account of one of the most significant cultural encounters in
history, beginning with the first Oriental influences on Emerson and Thoreau,
continuing through the amusing adventures of eccentric occultist Westerners such as Madame
Blavatsky and the isolated pioneering work of D.T. Suzuki, Nyogen Senzaki,
Sokei-an Sasaki, and a
few others, and culminating in the solid implantation of Buddhist practices (Zen
above all, but also Tibetan and Vipassana) in the decades following World War
II.
Thich Nhat Hanh, The Miracle of Mindfulness
[1977]
The Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh was one of the pioneers of “socially
engaged Buddhism.” In The Miracle of Mindfulness
he presents the Vipassana
practice of constant mindfulness in whatever you are doing. Another of his books
I particularly like is The Sun My Heart, which goes into the
interconnectedness of all things — a sort of easy-to-understand exposition of
some of the basic Avatamsaka insights. He has written dozens of other
excellent books on Buddhism, nonviolence, and
related themes. However, as I have tried to show in the texts linked below,
while I feel that the emergence
of engaged Buddhism has been a healthy development, I believe that the political
perspectives of Nhat Hanh and most other engaged Buddhists have remained extremely naïve.
[My
critique of Thich Nhat Hanh and socially engaged Buddhism]
[A
followup of the above critique]
ZEN
There are hundreds of books on Zen Buddhism. Some are superficial, but quite
a large number are excellent. I have limited myself here to mentioning a few
that I have found most useful in my own practice in the Soto style of Zen
brought to America by Shunryu Suzuki. It should go without saying that if you
really want to explore Zen you should start practicing it, if possible with a
group and a competent teacher. Only in that context can books about Zen be of
much use.
The Platform Sutra [8th century]
This seminal text (a.k.a. The Sutra of Hui-neng or The Sutra of the
Sixth Patriarch) sets forth the life and teachings of Hui-neng (638-713),
one of the founding figures of Chinese Zen. I recommend the new edition translated and edited
by Red Pine.
The Mumonkan [ca. 1228]
The Wumenguan, better known under its Japanese title Mumonkan,
is the most widely used collection of Zen koans, the enigmatic anecdotes that
serve as focuses of meditation, particularly in Rinzai Zen but also to some
extent in Soto. There are several different editions. I cannot speak with any authority in
this area, koan study not having been a significant part of my practice, but
those in the know generally agree that Robert Aitken’s The Gateless Barrier:
The Wu-men Kuan and Zenkei Shibayama’s The Gateless Barrier: Zen Comments
on the Mumonkan are among the most reliable. Their commentaries do not
pretend to “solve” the koans — it’s up to
practitioners to struggle with that
for themselves — but they at least help clear away some of the more superficial
obscurities and red herrings.
Dôgen,
Moon in a Dewdrop [1200-1253]
After long neglect even in Japan, the Soto Zen master Dôgen
is beginning to be recognized as one of the world’s most profound
and original religious thinkers. There are numerous translations of his works. Moon in a Dewdrop,
translated by Kazuaki Tanahashi in collaboration with several American Zen
teachers, is probably the best single collection, but Dôgen’s
writings are so pithy and so full of obscurities and apparent contradictions
(almost like koans) that the serious student will want to compare other
translations of the most important texts.
Paul Reps and Nyogen Senzaki (ed.), Zen Flesh, Zen Bones
[1959]
101 Zen stories plus other
texts. Not as rigorous as many later collections, but a little classic nonetheless.
Nelson Foster and Jack Shoemaker (ed.),
The Roaring Stream [1996]
Perhaps the best general Zen anthology. An excellent selection of writings
and talks by the greatest Chinese and Japanese Zen masters, some newly
translated, others drawn from the best editions of recent decades, with useful
introductory remarks by Nelson Foster (a “dharma heir” of Robert Aitken and
cofounder with him of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship).
D.T. Suzuki [1870-1966]
D.T. Suzuki was the most important figure in the transmission of Zen to the
West. Someone compared the appearance of his first volume of Essays in Zen
Buddhism (1927) with the new translations of Plato that contributed to the
flowering of the Renaissance. His influence has been so extensive that it has tended to eclipse his own
work. Writing at a time when his readers had little opportunity to engage in any
form of Zen practice, he was forced to “explain” Zen to some extent in Western
religious and philosophical terms. Now that Buddhism has become implanted in the
West, readers expect more practice-oriented content and some of his writings
seem dated. Nevertheless, many of them are still well worth reading. For
example: Outlines of Mahayana Buddhism (written in 1907
(!), but still a
good introductory survey), The Training of the Zen
Buddhist Monk (good description of traditional Zen training in Japan), and
Zen and Japanese Culture (the classic study of Zen’s influence on martial
arts, ink painting, haiku poetry, tea ceremony, etc.).
Alan Watts [1915-1973]
Alan Watts was a extremely important influence on people of my generation,
introducing us to Zen and other Oriental “ways of liberation” in a lively,
irreverent and very uncultish manner. Like other contemporary popularizers, he
tended to glide over the ethical aspects of Eastern religions, giving the
impression that they were just concerned with personal experiences. This tended
to confirm our focus on psychedelic experiences and other subjective “trips”
and sometimes encouraged a flippant dismissal of efforts to change the world.
But I still think that much of Watts’s “philosophy” is basically correct —
how the universe works (or as he would say, plays), the dialectical unity of
opposites, etc. Some of his more interesting books: Nature, Man and
Woman (one might say this was about the relation of sexuality to
spirituality, except that Watts always rightly objected to the usual tendency to
separate spirit from matter); Psychotherapy East and West (compares
traditional Oriental spiritual practices with modern psychological methods);
Joyous Cosmology (descriptions of his psychedelic experiences);
and In My Own Way (autobiography).
Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind
[1970]
The American “Zen boom” of the fifties and sixties was almost totally based
on the dramatic, goal-oriented Rinzai form of Zen expounded by D.T.
Suzuki, popularized by Alan Watts, and sensationalized by the publicity
surrounding the Beats. This was what people such as myself expected of Zen when
we discovered that an actual Japanese Zen master was teaching in San Francisco. That genial little teacher, Shunryu Suzuki, represented the
rather different Soto style of Zen. He
gently weaned us away from
impatient striving for spiritual highs, counseling us to settle down and pay
attention to what we were actually doing. His teaching was primarily by living
example, but insofar as it can be put into words you can find it in Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind.
This is the book I
give to friends who express interest in practicing Zen. There are two other excellent collections of his talks
— Not
Always So and Branching Streams Flow in the Darkness — and
an excellent biography by David Chadwick: Crooked Cucumber: The Life and Zen
Teaching of Shunryu Suzuki.
Sojun Mel Weitsman, Seeing One Thing Through [2023]
Memoirs and talks by my longtime Zen
teacher. Among other things, his memoirs recount his experiences as a
taxi driver and an abstract-expressionist painter in the San Francisco
Beat scene of the 1950s. Then he met Shunryu Suzuki and never turned
back. He founded Berkeley Zen
Center in 1967 and led it for more than fifty years until his recent
death at the age of 92. During all that time he was a solid, lowkey, and
unpretentious presence and example for his countless students, carrying
on the clarity and simplicity of his teacher Shunryu Suzuki. “Pay
attention.” “One thing at a time.” “Nothing special,” A very special
teaching indeed!
Florence Caplow & Susan Moon (ed.), The Hidden Lamp: Stories
from Twenty-Five Centuries of Awakened Women
[2013]
One of the most significant and welcome results of Buddhism’s spread to the West has been the
breakdown of traditional Asiatic barriers to the participation of women. Over
the last several decades a steadily increasing number of strong women teachers
have emerged, and there is also increasing awareness of earlier women teachers
who had previously been neglected in the standard histories. This collection
presents 100 brief stories and reflections by 100 of these ancient and modern teachers, mostly in the Zen tradition but also including a few
others (Tibetan, Vipassana, etc.).
David Chadwick, Thank You and OK! An
American Zen Failure in Japan [1994]
There have been many
first-hand accounts of Westerners’ Zen experiences, but to my mind they often tend to
take themselves a bit too seriously. Chadwick reveals the humorous as well as
the sublime aspects of Zen practice, and the anecdotes about his run-ins with
Japanese culture are often hilarious. (See, for example, his description of the
process of getting a Japanese driver’s license: pp. 285-292.)
Brian Victoria, Zen at War
[1997]
A salutary cautionary note for
those who may be inclined to idealize Zen and other Far Eastern religions. This book documents the
Japanese Zen establishment’s accommodation to Japanese
militarist policies before and during World War II (with rare exceptions
such as Uchiyama Gudô, an antiwar
socialist Zen monk who was executed in 1911).
Section from Gateway to the Vast Realms (Ken Knabb, 2004).
No copyright.