A book, The Secret Of Zen

Back in the early 60s, if I went into a bookstore in Berkeley or San Francisco and bought a D.T. Suzuki book about Zen I might pay close to $3 for the paperback book.  In today’s money the same book would be $26!  For all that money whether in the 60s or 2021 Zen still remains incomprehensible for the vast majority of people who buy books about Zen.  Even the translations, no matter how accurate they are and close to the original, most remain incomprehensible for the majority of the curious.

Since 2007 I have endeavored to write about Zen in The Zennist blog from my own awakening back in 1969.  Notice, that I used the word “about” which means for me an approach through language to the exactness of my intuition.  My endeavor has not be an educated guess or a probe into the unknown to find Zen’s truth.  Far from it.  My word-arrows always hit the target.  It is just that the target remains invisible and incomprehensible for the many!  Yes, my arrows are clearly visible for all to see except for the target.

For the last three years or so I’ve been working on a book.  I had amassed a considerable amount of quotes from the Buddha’s discourses including  quotes from Zen masters.  But these quotes were not intended so much for a book as they were proof that what I was saying about Buddhism and Zen from my own awakening were in fact true. 

When I wrote the book I found it unnecessary to do much quoting.  I already understood where Zen and for that matter Buddhism was coming from.  The book in a way expresses what I would want to be told by a great teacher where the second part of the book is about my personal journey into the mysterious land of Zen where lies its secret.

With the help of Otomo, an old student of some 17 years, the book, The Secret of Zen was recently put on the Amazon’s Kindle and Books.  There might be a few errors here and there but the bulk of the book stands ready to read and enjoy.   I really hope that the reader will one day be able to see the target that I look at every day and find no problem hitting the bullseye.