Genre: Nonfiction
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Great Fool : Zen master Ryokan : poems, letters, and other writings
Ryokan Taigu (1758-1831) remains one of the most popular figures in Japanese Buddhist history. Despite his religious and artistic sophistication (he excelled in scriptural studies, in calligraphy, and in poetry), Ryokan referred to himself as “Great Fool,” refusing to place himself within any established religious institution. In contrast to Zen masters of his time who…
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A primer of Soto Zen
The Shobogenzo Zuimonki consists largely of brief talks, hortatory remarks, and instructional and cautionary comments by the Soto Zen Master Dogen.
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Moon in a dewdrop
Twenty essays from Dogen’s Treasury of the True Dharma Eye (Shobogenzo) constitute the main portion of this book. Four important texts originally written as independent works are also included, along with a selection of Dogen’s poetry.
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Silence to light : Japan and the shadows of war
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Underground
Covers the 1995 Tokyo Gas Attack, during which agents of a Japanese cult released a gas deadlier than cyanide into the subway system, as documented in interviews with its survivors, perpetrators, and victim family members. In March 1995, agents of a Japanese religious cult attacked the Tokyo subway system with sarin, a gas twenty six…
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The way of the samurai : Yukio Mishima on Hagakure in modern life
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In praise of shadows
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On a Small Bridge in Iraq