Philosophy 

Front flap notes: "The study of Zen today is helping an ever-increasing number of Westerners bewildered by the tensions, travail, and convulsions ravaging the world, to find a truer understanding of humanity and a higher level of spiritual and ethical development. The abbot of the Nanzenji Monastery in Kyoto, Japan, the Reverend Zenkei Shibayama, who has lectured in the United States and is cognizant of Western ways, has prepared these introductory essays particularly for the English-speaking peoples of the West. He describes the basic characteristics of Zen, the training it calls for, and the Zen personality. he then presents three typical Zen writings along with copious explanatory notes. The book is illustrated with six drawings, eight photographs of Zen-inspired flower arrangements, and twelve paintings by Zen Master Hakuin. Instead of expounding any one particular school of Zen, the author is solely concerned with the basic core of all Buddhist teachings: the Truth, the Absolute, the fountainhead which is the basis for the happiness of all mankind. This is a religion only to the extent that it aims at human realization and self-awakening, an inner conversion carried out by oneself by searching inwardly, not relying on anything outside." - from Amzon