Summary

This new book, Eloquent Silence, brings depth and breadth to our knowledge and appreciation of this historic figure. For the first time, we can read Nyogen Senzaki's commentaries on the complete Gateless Gate, as well as on several cases from the Blue Rock Collection and the Book of Equanimity; and transcriptions of his talks on Zen, esoteric Buddhism, the Lotus Sutra, what it means to be a Buddhist monk, and many other subjects. Eloquent Silence also includes poems in Nyogen Senzaki's beautiful calligraphic hand (and his own translations); two early letters to his teacher, Soyen Shaku (who represented Japan at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893), as well as a partial autobiography of Soyen Shaku; a series of letters in response to an article by Nyogen Senzaki that was severely critical of the Japanese Zen establishment; and rare photographs. Roko Sherry Chayat has edited Nyogen Senzaki's words with sensitivity and grace, retaining his wry, probing style yet bringing clarity and accessibility to these remarkably contemporary teachings.

Author Biography

Nyogen Senzaki, a colleague of Dr. D.T. Suzuki, was one of the first Zen masters to come from Japan to the United States. He founded the first Zen organizations in the new world, in California. He died in 1958.

Reverend Roko Sherry Chayat is abbot of the Zen Center of Syracuse Hoen-ji, which was founded in 1972. She began Zen practice in 1967 with Eido Shimano Roshi at New York Zendo Shobo-ji in New York City, where she also attended Dharma teachings by Hakuun Yasutani Roshi. Her training continued at Dai Bosatsu Zendo with Eido Roshi and, on his frequent visits, with Soen Nakagawa Roshi. She studied with the late Maurine Stuart at the Cambridge Buddhist Association in the 1980s. Roko Osho was ordained by Eido Roshi in 1991, and authorized by him as a Dharma Teacher the following year. He acknowledged her as his Dharma Heir in 1998. A creative writing graduate of Vassar College, she did post-graduate work in painting at the New York Studio School, and was a reviewer for ARTnews in the late 1960s. Her articles have also appeared in Sculpture magazine, American Ceramics, Tricycle, and Buddhadharma, among other journals, and she wrote a column on art for twenty years for the Syracuse Post-Standard and Sunday Stars Magazine, for which she won several awards. She has written, compiled, and edited several books, including Life Lessons: the Art of Jerome Witkin; Endless Vow: the Zen Path of Soen Nakagawa (with Eido Shimano Roshi and Kazuaki Tanahashi), and Subtle Sound: the Zen Teachings of Maurine Stuart. She travels widely to teach and lead retreats, and is a member of the American Zen Teachers Association and Interfaith Works of Central New York. Sherry Chayat was installed as the second Abbot of Dai Bosatsu Zendo Kongo-ji on New Year's Day 2011.

Eido Shimano is a respected elder of the Zen community. He received dharma transmission from Soen Nakagawa Roshi and today serves as the abbot and spiritual teacher of two zendos, living at Dai Bosatsu Zendo in Livingston Manor, New York.
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Foreword
Introduction	p. 1
Acknowledgments	p. 23
Photographs	p. 27
Commentaries on the Cateless Cate	p. 35
Introductory Comments	p. 37
Mumon's Introduction	p. 40
Joshu's Dog	p. 43
Hyakujo's Fox	p. 47
Gutei's Finger	p. 51
A Beardless Foreigner	p. 54
Kyogen's Man in a Tree	p. 57
Buddha Twirls a Flower	p. 60
Joshu's "Wash Your Bowl"	p. 63
Keichus Wheel	p. 67
A Buddha before History	p. 70
Seizei Alone and Poor	p. 74
Joshu Examines a Hermit Monk in Meditation	p. 77
Zuigan Calls His Own Master	p. 80
Tokusan Holds His Bowls	p. 83
Nansen Cuts the Cat in Two	p. 87
Tozan's Three Blows	p. 91
The Bell and the Ceremonial Robe	p. 94
The Three Calls of the Emperor's Teacher	p. 97
Tozan's Three Pounds	p. 100
Everyday Life Is the Path	p. 104
The Man of Great Strength	p. 107
Dried Dung	p. 110
Kashyapa's Preaching Sign	p. 113
Think Neither Good, Nor Not-Good	p. 116
Without Speech, Without Silence	p. 121
Preaching from the Third Seat	p. 124
Two Monks Roll Up the Screen	p. 127
It Is Not Mind, It Is Not Buddha, It Is Not Things	p. 130
Ryutan Blows Out the Candle	p. 133
Not the Wind, Not the Flag	p. 137
Mind Is Buddha	p. 141
Joshu Investigates	p. 144
A Philosopher Asks Buddha	p. 147
This Mind Is Not Buddha	p. 151
Wisdom Is Not the Path	p. 154
Two Souls	p. 158
Meeting a Master on the Road	p. 163
The Cypress Tree in the Garden	p. 166
A Buffalo Passes through an Enclosure	p. 169
Ummon's Off the Track	p. 172
Tipping Over a Water Vessel	p. 175
Bodhidharma Pacifies the Mind	p. 178
The Woman Comes Out from Meditation	p. 181
Shuzan's Short Staff	p. 185
Basho's Staff	p. 188
Who Is It?	p. 191
Proceed from the Top of the Pole	p. 194
The Three Barriers of Tosotsu	p. 197
One Path of Kernpo	p. 200
Amban's Addition	p. 203
Commentaries on the Blue Rock Collection	p. 207
I Know Not	p. 209
The Ultimate Path	p. 211
Suigan's Eyebrows	p. 213
Tozan's Three Pounds of Flax	p. 216
Seppo's Cobra	p. 218
Commentaries on the Book of Equanimity	p. 221
Introduction	p. 223
Buddha Takes His Preaching Seat	p. 226
Bodhidharma Walks Out from Samskrita	p. 229
Dharma Talks and Essays	p. 235
An Ideal Buddhist	p. 237
A Meeting With Sufi Master Hazrat Inayat Khan	p. 242
Seven Treasures, Part One	p. 244
Seven Treasures, Part Two	p. 249
Seven Treasures, Part Three	p. 253
The Ten Stages of Consciousness	p. 257
Emancipation	p. 260
How to Study Buddhism	p. 265
Zen Buddhism in the Light of Modern Thought	p. 268
Buddhism and Women	p. 272
Obaku's Transmission of Mind, Part One	p. 276
Obaku's Transmission of Mind, Part Two	p. 279
Obaku's Transmission of Mind, Part Three	p. 282
Obaku's Transmission of Mind, Part Four	p. 286
Esoteric Buddhism in Japan	p. 289
Shingon Teachings	p. 296
What Is Zen? An Evening Chat	p. 299
What Does a Buddhist Monk Want?	p. 305
On Zen Meditation	p. 309
On The Lotus of the Wonderful Law: Introducing Soen Nakagawa	p. 315
Bankei's Zen	p. 322
Calligraphies and Selected Poems	p. 325
"Basho"	p. 327
"0pening words of Wyoming Zendo"	p. 328
"Evacuees make poinsettia"	p. 329
"Autumn came naturally"	p. 330
"In this part of plateau"	p. 331
"This desert on the plateau"	p. 332
"My uta (Japanese ode)"	p. 333
"Those who live without unreasonable desires"	p. 334
"The mother was named an enemy-alien"	p. 335
"Naked mountains afar!"	p. 336
"No spring in this plateau"	p. 337
"Closing the meditation hall"	p. 338
"Bodhidharrna"	p. 339
"This world is the palace of enlightenment"	p. 340
"Until now the radiant moon"	p. 341
odhidharma Commemoration	p. 343
Celebration of Buddha's Birth	p. 343
Translations of Three Poems by Jakushitsu	p. 344
Commemoration of Soyen Shaku	p. 346
Thirty-third Commemoration of Soyen Shaku	p. 346
The Autobiography of Soyen Shaku: Translated and with Comments	p. 347
Correspondence	p. 363
To Soyen Shaku, December 25, 189?	p. 365
To Soyen Shaku, March 21, 1905	p. 378
The Purpose of Establishing Tozen Zenkutsu, April 8, 1931	p. 382
Article and Related Letters to the Editor, Second General Conference of Pan-Pacific Young Buddhist Associations, 1934	p. 384
Exchange with Myra A. Stall, July 11 and 16, 1956	p. 402
Newly Translated Correspondence	p. 404
Notes	p. 407
Bibliography	p. 411
Index	p. 413
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.

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