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Title: Zen's Chinese Heritage -- The Masters & Their Teachings by Andrew Ferguson, Reb Anderson ISBN: 0-86171-163-7 Publisher: Wisdom Publications Pub. Date: 15 April, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95

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Average Customer Rating: 4.67 (3 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: Banquet
Comment: I took months to read this book and only ever reached the stage of being an open-mouthed, lightning-struck bystander. Such a treasure is not often found in one life. I congratulate the authors on feeding us such juicy and tangy fruit.

Rating: 4
Summary: The Sound of 'One Book'
Comment: Okay, if you really believe in all of that junk about "unbroken transmission" and "outside the scriptures", then this is the right book for your koan study. Even if you don't believe it, it's STILL 'the right book'!

I have most all of the easily available books on koans. This one is the best, because it gives the most and best clues about the CONTEXT of the many koans and sayings it delivers to the reader. Probably few koans are historically true, but the fabricated stories themselves are the 'essence' (let me NOT say 'essential') text of zen. Many so-called 'koans' are fairly obvious if you know (or can discern) the circumstances. A koan is little good to you as an object of practice unless you can make it 'come alive' for YOU. Koans are not about 'factual' truth, but SUBJECTIVE truth.

The 'lineage map' is really beautifully produced, the best I have seen, a separate sheet in a pocket of the cover. I like to look at it just for laughs.

The whole subject of certifying 'correct' (hawhawhaw) responses to koans is usually disasterously entangled with folklore about certification of lineage, not to mention certification/ endorsement of 'enlightenment'.

The author fails miserably in his brief attempts at trying to protect these associations (in the introductory material). Obviously, I believe in the value of koan practice based on my own experience, but not the institutional monkey business that usually goes along with 'passing' them.

If you want one book on koans, this is the right one.

Rating: 5
Summary: Discovering Our Zen Heritage
Comment: Zen's Chinese Heritage - The masters and their teachings, by Andrew Ferguson, is a long awaited reference for those wishing to appreciate the origins of the Zen tradition. As a long time practioner of Zen, the many illustrious and noteworthy ancestors of my tradition, have often been nothing more than a confusing collection of names, difficult to pronounce and even more difficult to appreciate as once real and living men and women. Andrew Ferguson's painstaking efforts at bringing to life these practioners of old, and providing us with history and anecdotes from their allusive lives, has enlivened my practice and given new meaning to the many wonderful and amazing persons I encounter in my koan study. This book is a wonderful guide and reference, especially with its accompanying lineage chart, for anyone who is either a practioner of this wonderful tradition or is solely interested in furthering their appreciation for the history of Zen.

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