This is one of the first books where the awkwardness of the language actually makes it better. One gets a sense of the teachers persona and personal voice. From a teaching point of view, it also reminds us how the unpolished quality of a thing can make it even more beautiful.

Lastly, perhaps this may seem trivial, its nice compact size makes it an excellent companion for any wandering traveller looking for pocketsize inspiration. Sometimes it is difficult to bring along the 400 page Heikiganroku on a long trip. This however, offers an endless wealth of wisdom which can fit in most any pocket.

Many thanks to the publisher, and to Amazon for allowing an obcure but important work like this to be offered. Maezumi's teaching resounds.

Often misunderstood, the practice of shikantaza is authoritatively presented and carefully examined in two dozen essays by Chinese, Japanese, and American masters, along with an appendix of six seminal classic texts.

This volume, spanning the centuries since Shakymuni Buddha to the present day, will prove indispensable to meditators and scholars alike.

John Daido Loori has given us a rare treasure.

Each chapter centers on a pivotal exchange between a Zen ancestor and his successor. These exchanges, preserved and used as koans, represent the living transmission of awakened mind, presented by Keizan Zenji, co-founder with Dogen Zenji, of the Japanese Soto school.

Master Keizan's lucid commentaries and verses on each case render the succession accessible to the determined practitioner. This masterful collection, parallelling in importance the Shobogenzo of Dogen Zenji, remains a seminal text for all serious students of Zen.

The translation by Francis Dojun Cook is at once meticulous and vivid, embodying careful scholarship as well as the essence of the realization of these fifty three Zen ancestors.

Time spent with this book will richly reward the reader.

fyi, check out some critiques and affirmations of American Zen at:

The purpose of the koan is to free the student's mind from its "normal" way of thinking.

Since enlightenment is neither in the koan, nor in the answer, how can there be a book of answers?

Only a westerner with no understanding could have written this.

Buy his book and he will take both your money and your enlightenment!

Better to break his begging bowl so that you can both attend the banquet.