Zen Master Tales

<b>A lively collection of folk tales and&#160;Buddhist&#160;teaching stories from four noted premodern Japanese Zen masters:&#160;Taigu&#160;S&#244;chiku&#160;(1584&#150;1669)&#160;Sengai&#160;Gibon (1750-1831)&#160;Hakuin&#160;Ekaku&#160;(1686-1769) and&#160;Taigu&#160;Ry&#244;kan&#160;(1758-1831).</b> <br><br><i>Zen Master Tales</i> collects&#160;never before&#160;translated&#160;stories&#160;of four prominent Zen masters from the Edo period of Japanese history (1603-1868).&#160;Drawn from&#160;an era&#160;that saw&#160;the&#160;&#147;democratization&#148; of&#160;Japanese Zen these stories&#160;paint a picture of&#160;robust funny and poignant&#160;engagement&#160;between Zen luminaries and&#160;the emergent&#160;ch&#1086;nin&#160;or &#147;townsperson&#148; culture&#160;of early modern Japan. Here we find Zen monks engaging with samurai merchants housewives entertainers and farmers. These masters affirmed that the essentials of Zen practice&#151;zazen koan study even enlightenment&#151;could be conveyed to all members of Japanese society in ordinary speech including even comic verse and work songs. Against the backdrop of this rich tableau <i>Zen Master Tales </i>serves not only as a text for Zen students but also as a wide-ranging window onto the fascinating literary material and social history of Edo Japan.<br>&#160;&#160;<br>In his&#160;introduction translator Peter Haskel explains the history of Zen &#147;stories&#148; from the tradition&#146;s Golden Age in China through the compilation of the classic&#160;koan&#160;collections and on to&#160;the&#160;era&#160;from which the stories in <i>Zen Master Tales</i> are drawn. What was true of the Chinese tradition he writes&#151;&#147;its focus on the individual&#146;s ordinary activity as the function the manifestation of the absolute&#148;&#151;continued in the Japanese context. &#147;Most of these Japanese stories however unabashedly humorous and at times crude impart something of the character of the Zen masters involved whose attainment must be plainly manifest in even the most humble and unlikely of situations.&#148;