T'AI-SHANG KAN-YING P'IEN [PRESENTATION COPY INSCRIBED BY DAISETZ SUZUKI]

SUZUKI, DAISETZ TEITARO [D. T. Suzuki]

Published by The Open Court Publishing Co., Chicago, 1906

About this Item

Translated from the Chinese by Daisetz Suzuki with the assistance of Paul Carus. UNIQUE AND VERY RARE INSCRIBED AND SIGNED COPY BY DAISETZ SUZUKI on his first visit to America: "Yours Ida Evelyn Russell with more profound regards from her humble servant Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki Dec. 1906." This book is a rare and historically important association copy linking the very earliest transmission of Zen to the West. Also by far the earliest dated book inscription by Suzuki we are aware of. Ida Russell went to Japan in 1902 to become the first Western woman to live in a Buddhist monastery, she was the first American formally instructed in Zen, and made her San Francisco home the first place Zen Buddhism was taught in America. Suzuki stayed at the "House of Light" San Francisco home of Ida Russell where Zen was first introduced to the West. It was there that Ida Russell hosted Zen master Shaku Soen in 1905 for nine months where Soen established a small zendo in the home of Alexander and Ida Russell and gave regular zazen lessons. Shaku Soen became the first Zen Buddhist priest to teach in North America. Following Soen's departure Daisetz Suzuki was invited to live with the Russells during his stay in San Francisco. Ida Russel was the first Western woman to practice Zen meditation with koan introspection under the direction of a Japanese teacher. This book was inscribed by Suzuki in 1906, a full 21 years before his seminal "Essays on Zen" would be published in 1927. See "Zen Masters" p. 194. "How the Swans Came to the Lake - A Narrative History of Buddhism in America" and "The Third Step East - Zen Masters of America". For more information on Ida Russell see the just published book "House of Silent Light: The Dawning of Zen in Gilded Age of America.". Seller Inventory # 46419

Bibliographic Details

Title: T'AI-SHANG KAN-YING P'IEN [PRESENTATION COPY...

Publisher: The Open Court Publishing Co., Chicago

Publication Date: 1906

Binding: Hard Cover

Condition: Very Good

Signed: Signed

Edition: First Edition.