Messenger of the Heart: The Book of Angelus Silesius, with observations by the ancient Zen masters (Spiritual Masters : East and West) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0941532704 ISBN 13: 9780941532709

Publisher: World Wisdom, 2005

Synopsis

The timeless wisdom embedded in these humble rhymes is beautifully echoed by the observations of the ancient Zen masters which punctuate the text, and in the haiku-like drawing by Frederick Franck.

About this title

About the Author

Born in the Netherlands in 1909, Frederick Franck began his career as an oral surgeon before moving more seriously to his artist pursuits in the 1930s. Between 1958-1961, he served as a doctor on the staff of renowned missionary and humanitarian Albert Schweitzer in Africa. In 1962 Franck was the only artist invited to draw all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council in Rome, and for his efforts he was awarded a medal by Pope John XXIII shortly before his death. Frederick Franck's sculpture and artwork are in the permanent collections of The Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum, the Tokyo National Museum, and other public and private collections. He is the author of over thirty books, including The Zen of Seeing (1973), and the award-winning Pacem in Terris: A Love Story (2000), as well as an editor of What Does it Mean to be Human (2001), recently translated into Spanish and Chinese. He was recently honored with the World Citizenship Award by the Nuclear ! Age Peace Foundation. Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands knighted him Officer of Orange-Nassau in 1994. Franck, now age 94, lives with his wife Claske at their estate, Pacem in Terris, located in Warwick, NY.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Chapter 1: Seen by the eye of faith the cherry blossoms are always about to fall. It is a rare privilege to be born as a human being, as we happen to be. If we do not achieve enlightenment in this life, when do we expect to achieve it? Echu There is that which precedes heaven and earth. It is formless, nameless. The eye cannot perceive it. To speak of it as mind or Buddha is inexact, then it becomes again something in our imagination. The Tao cannot be expressed in words. Dai-o-Kokushi There is no here, no there. Infi nity lies before our eyes. Sengtsan A man who has seen into his Self nature, sees it whenever questioned about it. Hui Neng Do not compute eternity as light-year after year. One step across that line called Time: Eternity is here. The rose that with my mortal eye I see flowers in God through all eternity. How fleeting is this world yet it survives. It is ourselves that fade from it and our ephemeral lives. Were I to lose myself in Him I d find again the Ground that held and nurtured me before this earthly round.

Edition details

• Publisher: World Wisdom
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0941532704
• ISBN 13: 9780941532709
• Binding: Paperback
• Illustrator: Franck Frederick
• Number of pages: 160