Zen and Western Thought

Library Journal

Three quarters of this collection of articles by an outstanding philosopher of the Kyoto school is devoted to elucidating Zen for the West. The level of treatment presupposes some experience in Zen meditation as well as a solid background in philosophy and religion. Readers possessing these will find Abe's expositions of Mu , nirvana, purity, Emptiness, Buddha-Nature in Dogen as well as comparisons with Nietzsche, Whitehead, Tillich, Christianity, and science very valuable. The final section, which urges the necessity of transcending nationalism in order to realize a true world community bound together in egoless compassion, is especially timely as well as accessible to educated nonspecialists. Highly recommended. Astrid M. O'Brien, Humanities Div., Fordham Univ., Coll. at Lincoln Ctr., New York