The Golden Age of Zen: The Classic Work on the Foundation of Zen Philosophy

John C. H. Wu's classic work has long been the primary source for understanding the development of this hugely influential branch of Buddhism by students and teachers alike, and now, for the first time, it is available from an American publisher. The Golden Age of Zen explores the important period of religious history that followed the meeting of Buddhism with Chinese philosophies, most particularly Taoism. Wu looks first at the basic foundations of the school of Zen laid down in the sixth century by Bodhidharma and in the seventh century by Hui-neng, and then examines the magnificent flowering of the whole movement in the hands of successive generations of Chinese sages.

This is the the first U.S. edition of this 1967 work, a significant study of the Zen masters of T'ang dynasty China, by Wu, a respected scholar and jurist. Many of the often-difficult-to-understand stories related here will be familiar to students of Zen, but Wu offers his own interesting interpretations of them. His thorough knowledge of Chinese religious traditions such as Confucianism and Taoism allows him to place Zen-C'han in China-in a cultural and intellectual context that helps bring alive the human character of the masters. The interweaving of Taoism and Buddhism that shaped C'han is treated particularly well. Wu counted among his friends Thomas Merton, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and D.T. Suzuki, and each of them appears in the discussions in one way or another. Merton's introduction is a valuable discussion of Zen and Christianity, Holmes's wisdom has a startling freshness in this context, and the influence of Suzuki's scholarly approach to Zen is pervasive. Recommended for any collection with an interest in Zen or comparative religion.
Mark Woodhouse, Elmira Coll. Lib., N.Y.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.