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This book gives a fascinating survey of the early years of Chinese Zen (Chan) Buddhism, staying focused on the movement of Buddhism to the land where Taoism and Confucianism flourished. Wu’s survey, combined with interesting translations from these earliest Zen masters, reveals a time of spiritual vibrancy and powerful personalities that help explain the later developments of Zen with which western readers are more familiar.
About the Author(s)
John C. H. Wu
Wu Ching-hsiung, also known as John C. H. Wu, was an author, lawyer, juristic philosopher, educator, and prominent Catholic layman. He was president of the Special High Court at Shanghai, vice chairman of the Legislative Yuan's constitution drafting committee, founder of the T'ien Hsia Monthly, translator of the Psalms and the New Testament into Chinese, and served as Chinese minister to the Holy See (1947-48). Wu authored and translated numerous books and articles on many subjects including Religion, Philosophy and Law.World Wisdom is pleased to be able to offer readers a new edition of John C. H. Wu’s The Golden Age of Zen , which includes a wonderful introduction by Thomas Merton and a new foreword by Kenneth Kraft .
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Kenneth Kraft
Kenneth Kraft is Professor of Religion Studies at Lehigh University, specializing in Japanese Zen and the new field of engaged Buddhist studies. In 1984–85, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University’s Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies. At Lehigh, he has served as Chair of the Religion Studies department and as director of the College Seminar Program. Kraft has also taught at the University of Pennsylvania, Swarthmore College, and the Stanford University Japan Center in Kyoto.Prof. Kraft has written a new foreword to John C.H. Wu's classic work, The Golden Age of Zen: Zen Masters of the T'ang Dynasty .
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Thomas Merton
Thomas Merton ("Father Louis") was a Trappist monk, but was also known worldwide for his numerous and varied writings in many different genres, including poetry. He influenced many with his spiritual reflections as well as his works of social and political criticism. Many recognized Thomas Merton as one of the earliest and most moving contributors to meaningful inter-religious dialogue. He was both a committed Christian and one who appreciated the riches of other spiritual traditions. It seems that his prominence as contemplative monk and public thinker has only increased since his death.The writings of Thomas Merton can be found in the following World Wisdom books: UL REMOVED
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Reviews
- This book provides a captivating survey of the early years of Chinese Zen, focusing on the movement of Buddhism to the land where Taoism and Confucianism flourished. Wu’s survey, combined with illuminating translations from the earliest Zen/Chen masters of the T’ang period spanning the seventh to the tenth centuries … reveals a time of spiritual vibrancy and powerful personalities that helps explain the later developments of Zen/Chan with which Western readers are more familiar.…
[The Golden Age of Zen] … encapsulates the spirit of Zen/Chan Buddhism in a remarkable fashion and provides the seeker with illuminating insights and reflections on the pilgrimage that leads from the unreal to the Real as established by the earliest spiritual masters of this school. It provides an essential survey of these formative years that are less known to non-specialists or those that are not students of Zen/Chan Buddhism, but no less deserve to be widely read and absorbed.…from a review by Samuel Bendeck Sotillos in Parabola
- Recommended for any collection with an interest in Zen or comparative religion.
Library Journal
- Here is a book that will do much to clarify the still very confused western idea of Zen Buddhism. It is not an apologia, not a criticism, not a purely academic history, not a romantic exercise of imaginative concordism. It looks at the great Chinese Zen Masters of the 7th to the 10th centuries A.D., and portrays them in their ‘Five Houses’. It enables us to situate their teaching and to enjoy it in its context.… Though few Westerners will ever actually come to a real understanding of Zen, it is still worth their while to be exposed to its brisk and heady atmosphere. This book will be a good place to make the acquaintance of what can be called the very quintessence of Buddhist wisdom, in the Golden Age of Chinese Zen.
Thomas Merton (excerpt from the Introduction)
- A rich harvest of the sayings and training methods of the great Chinese Zen masters. Highly recommended.
Roshi Philip Kapleau, author of The Three Pillars of Zen
- Wu’s book has long been a primary source for understanding the development of the hugely influential philosophy of Zen Buddhism by students and teachers alike. The Golden Age of Zen explores the philosophy’s history, from its early connections with Taoism to the magnificent flowering forth of the whole movement in the hands of succeeding generations of Chinese sages.
Ingram
- While never losing sight of the fact that intuition and tuition differ markedly, Wu does not allow the reader to fall into a stereotype of Zen as an anti-intellectual simplifier.…[He] is not content to list anecdotes, but provides a wealth of background details to facilitate historical understanding.
Frank J. Hoffman, West Chester University
- Dr. Wu’s [The Golden Age of Zen:] Zen Masters of the T’ang Dynasty presents a thorough exposition of the watershed period in China from which developed everything we’ve come to know as Zen, both East and West. Students of Buddhism will find this book to be a rich source for understanding this significant period of Zen history.
John Daido Loori, Abbot of Zen Mountain Monastery
- This book is a rare treasure, proof of the possibility to clarify the profound understanding of Taoism and Zen in their essential relatedness in a warm, poetic, non-academic prose. It reached me on my 94th birthday, moved me by its gentle wisdom, comparable to Daisetz T. Suzuki’s Essence of Zen Buddhism and his quintessential essay ‘Self the Unattainable,’ which he wrote at the age of ninety. I will return to Dr. Wu’s The Golden Age of Zen many times in the months or years still allotted me.
Frederick Franck, artist and author of The Zen of Seeing and Messenger of the Heart: The Book of Angelus Silesius
- The Golden Age of Zen is a repository of Zen lore culled from the classic texts of Chinese Zen (Ch’an). When Westerners first encountered the strange Zen dialogues and antics that had been treasured in East Asia for a thousand years, there seemed to be more madness than method. Now we realize that the masters were communicating with exceptional directness and freedom in a language of awakening. Today, across vast spans of time and culture, they are still teaching us.
Kenneth Kraft, Lehigh University, and coeditor of Dharma Rain: Sources of Buddhist Environmentalism (with Stephanie Kaza), author of The Wheel of Engaged Buddhism: A New Map of the Path, and others
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Robert Ellwood, Bashford Professor of Oriental Studies Emeritus at the University of Southern California and vice President of the Theosophical Society in America. From a review in Quest Magazine Jan-Feb 2005
