Sitting with Koans

image description

“Required reading for those interested in how koans are used in Zen practice.”—Shambhala Sun

SITTING WITH KOANS

Essential Writings on Zen Koan Introspection

John Daido Loori Thomas Yuhō Kirchner

The Zen tradition has just two main meditative practices: shikantaza, or “just sitting”; and introspection guided by the powerful Zen teaching stories called koans. Following in the tradition of The Art of Just Sitting (endorsed as a “A book we have needed for a long, long time”), this new anthology from John Daido Loori illuminates the subtle practice of koan study from many different points of view.

Includes writings by:

  • Robert Aitken
  • William Bodiford
  • Robert Buswell
  • Roko Sherry Chayat
  • Francis Dojun Cook
  • Eihei Dogen
  • Heinrich Dumoulin
  • Hakuin Ekaku
  • Victor Sogen Hori
  • Keizan Jokin
  • Philip Kapleau
  • Chung-fen Ming-Pen
  • Taizan Maezumi
  • Dennis Genpo Merzel
  • Soen Nakagawa
  • Ruth Fuller Sasaki
  • Sokei-an Sasaki
  • Nyogen Senzaki
  • Zenkei Shibayama
  • Eido Shimano
  • Philip Yampolsky
  • Hakuun Yasutani
  • Wayne Yokoyama
  • Katsushiro Yoshizawa
book information
  • Paperback
  • 368 pages, 6.00 x 9.00 inches
  • $16.95
  • ISBN 9780861713691
  • ebook
  • 368 pages
  • $12.99
  • ISBN 9780861717644
about the author
Sitting with Koans

John Daido Loori was, until his death in 2009, the spiritual leader and abbot of Zen Mountain Monastery in Mt. Tremper, New York. Trained in koan Zen as well as in the subtle school of Master Dōgen’s Zen, he was the Dharma heir of Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi Roshi. Devoted to maintaining authentic Zen training, he developed a distinctive style, called the Eight Gates of Zen, based on the noble eightfold path. Drawing on his background as scientist, artist, naturalist, and Zen priest, Abbot Loori was an American master who spoke directly to students from the perspective of a common background. His books include Mountain Record of Zen Talks and The Heart of Being.

Other books by John Daido Loori:
The Art of Just Sitting

Sitting with Koans

Thomas Yuhō Kirchner was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1949. He went to Japan in 1969 to attend Waseda University in Tokyo for a year, after which he remained in Japan to study Buddhism. He spent three years training under Yamada Mumon as a lay monk at Shofuku-ji before receiving ordination in 1974. Following ordination he practiced under Minato Sodo Roshi at Kencho-ji in Kamakura and Kennin-ji in Kyoto. Following graduate studies in Buddhism at Otani University he worked at the Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture in Nagoya and subsequently at the Hanazono University International Research Institute for Zen Buddhism. He presently lives at Tenryu-ji in Arashiyama, Kyoto. Among his publications are the Record of Linji, Dialogues in a Dream, and Entangling Vines.

Other books by Thomas Yuhō Kirchner:
Entangling Vines (Paperback)
Entangling Vines
Dialogues in a Dream

There are no products in your cart.