by Masao Abe (Author), William R. LaFleur (Editor)
This collection of sixteen essays represents the achievement of perhaps the best known philosophical interpreter of Zen in the West since D. T. Suzuki. Like Suzuki's presentation of Zen, Masao Abe's approach is ahistorical in its core, treating the Zen tradition as a rather monolithic body of texts that give expression to a timeless experience. Abe goes beyond Suzuki, however, in the sophistication of his philosophical analysis and the depth of his knowledge of Western philosophy and theology. Several essays point out the relevance of Zen, or of a Buddhist standpoint, to major contemporary problems: the place of religion in a scientific or nihilistic age, the prospect of mankind in an age beyond competitive and sovereign nation-states, and the mutual transformation of Christianity and Buddhism.
332 Pages, Paperback