Zen and Zen Classics (Volume One)

This work is a fascinating introduction to Zen and to the self-enlightenment and inner reason that has been a driving force in the history of Japan. In the volumes comprising Zen and Zen Classics, Reginald Horace Blyth (1898-1964) devotes himself to conveying the true character and attitude of Zen, leading the reader to a heightened sense of inner self and to an awakening of awareness of the surrounding universe and one's relationship to it.

In Volume One, after discussing "what is Zen?" (and what isn't), Blyth sketches a history of Zen from 1000 B.C. to A.D. 715, the year of the death of the Sixth patriarch, Huineng. With a historical background thus established, he next provides translations and commentary on some of the most important and basic Zen literature. For the Zen initiate, then, this book provides an excellent place to begin. For the practitioner, further meaningful revelations await.

R.H. Blyth was born in London in 1898 and studied English literature at London University. He traveled extensively in the East before moving first to Korea and then Japan and teaching English at several universities. Blyth eventually became the English tutor to the Crown Prince of Japan. He also studied Zen Buddhism under Kayama Taigi Roshi. Blyth was interned during the war years, and it was during this time that he wrote his first book, Zen in English Literature. He went on to write numerous other books on Zen, haiku, senryu, and humor. Blyth was a man whose sensibility took root in two disparate cultures and found a harmony that he beautifully and effectively communicated in his writing.