Question on Zen & Japanese Culture Sources

[Tucker Peterson]

i read that Dr. Friday believes that D.T. Suzuki's books are not exactly good in the sense of being free from bias/error (I thought it was in _Legacies of the Sword_ but it appears it must have been elsewhere-a thread here perhaps). Having just read Suzuki's _Zen and Japanese Culture_, I'm wondering then, what are good beginner's sources for Zen and Japanese Culture? Any suggestions?

Thanks,

[Joseph Svinth]

They aren't on Japanese Zen, but some books on the philosophy that I found useful included:

Cleary, J.C. A Buddha from Korea: The Zen Teachings of T’aego (Boston: Shambhala, 1990)

-----. A Tune Beyond the Clouds: Zen Teachings from Old China (Berkeley, CA: Asian Humanities Press, 1990)

-----. Worldly Wisdom: Confucian Teachings of the Ming Dynasty (Boston: Shambhala, 1991)

-----. Zen Dawn: Early Zen Texts from Tun Huang (Boston: Shambhala, 1986)

[Karl Friday]

Originally posted by Tucker Peterson
i read that Dr. Friday believes that D.T. Suzuki's books are not exactly good in the sense of being free from bias/error (I thought it was in _Legacies of the Sword_ but it appears it must have been elsewhere-a thread here perhaps). Having just read Suzuki's _Zen and Japanese Culture_, I'm wondering then, what are good beginner's sources for Zen and Japanese Culture? Any suggestions?

For more on DT Suzuki and his reputation among scholars of Japanese religion, check out Will Bodiford's excellent post from 2/10/01 on the "Attn: Mr Svinth" thread of the koryu sword forum.

[Tucker Peterson]

I'll look up those books in our university library and look up the thread as well.

Thank-you Joseph for helping me with this and the Kondosensei info. Kim's e-mailed me with the info.

Thank-you Dr. Friday and I'm enjoying your _Legacies_ book. The footnotes are a real help to me!