This Victor H. Mair translation is very readable and true to the original Chinese. So my bilingual Chinese friends tell me. The humor of names and actThis Victor H. Mair translation is very readable and true to the original Chinese. So my bilingual Chinese friends tell me. The humor of names and actions is more understandable. I can read these stories dozens of times and get something different from them each time. A classic...more
Miraculous adventures with China's Mad Monk. He has super powers and knows all. He's a dirty old man with a mind that can't be beat. He helps the poorMiraculous adventures with China's Mad Monk. He has super powers and knows all. He's a dirty old man with a mind that can't be beat. He helps the poor and persecuted while corrected assaults from the rich and privileged. He's the basis of all contemporary Chinese movies and TV series. A fun read for historical reasons as well as advancing an understanding of Chinese culture. I want a Ji Gong Mad Monk watching over me. After reading this book you will too....more
This was my first introduction to Zen koans when in my teens. The idea that there are unanswerable riddles except for the reader's own answer was a miThis was my first introduction to Zen koans when in my teens. The idea that there are unanswerable riddles except for the reader's own answer was a mind blowing concept. This was about the same time I discovered Beatnik poetry. Pretty much ruined my relationship to traditional Western religious learning. Some of the koans are used today for teaching 'out of the box' commercial thinking. If you want a good place to start studying Zen mind games this is it. It's a delight to know that even today these riddles are assigned by Zen masters to novices seeking enlightenment in Zen monasteries. I've read several more versions of these and other Zen koans. A must is "The Gateless Gate" which I've reviewed here. I go back to these koans regularly just to keep my mind's pencil sharpened. I've used these concepts in my own book, "Mad Monk Improper Parables." A day doesn't go by when I don't think of the sound of one hand clapping. Or as happened to Mad Monk in the Enlightenment Bar... slapping....more
Ikkyu was the Mad Monk of medieval Japan's Rinzai sect. He was a poet, artist, drinker and womanizer. With all that he was one of the most devoutly chIkkyu was the Mad Monk of medieval Japan's Rinzai sect. He was a poet, artist, drinker and womanizer. With all that he was one of the most devoutly charitable monks in the sect. He fought against hypocrisy and crony enlightenment documents. His poetry is unique and deeply personal. He offers us his sexuality and advanced age on a bed of passionately human lust dragging us into his desires and appreciations of Nature and women. I wish there were more translations as well written as Stephen Berg's versions. For me Berg made Ikkyu a living man returned to the 21st century through his literary art. I too seek to love women as much as Nature but the unspoken war breaks out in romantic places....more
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