Zen ABC [antikvár]

Introduction Zen is intangible. Its expression is neither verbal nor visual. Yet we seek to experience Zen. We struggle to achieve enlightenment until we understand that to struggle is to become further removed from our goal. . .and when we reach this understanding we can begin to achieve enlightenment. Enlightenment—the experience of no-thing. Zen ABC is a starting point for parents and their children to begin to share the evocations of Zen experience. We have chosen for each letter of the alphabet a Zen-related word described by a haiku, a koan, or a fragment from the classical literature of Zen. For those unfamiliar, haiku is a special form of Japanese nature poetry. Although traditionally written in three lines with a total of seventeen syllables, contemporary haiku has taken on a freer form while still eliciting an inexpressible meaning. When written by masters such as Bashô and Hô-ô, a Zen haiku is one that causes enhanced perception, so that, as R.H. Biyth puts it, "a haiku is not a poem; it is not literature; it is a hand beckoning, a door half-opened, a mirror wiped clean.'" A koan also beckons the inquiring mind but its form is the unanswerable question. One of the most famous koans is "what is the sound of one hand clapping?" Koans are used, at times, by Zen masters to test their students; at other times they are a focal point for meditation. They are used here as examples of the multitextured language of Zen. As stated, every letter has a word; every letter, that is, except X. Instead, there is the story of Hua-yen's returning to the world of delusion—for it is delusion to think that there is a Zen word for the letter X. There is no-thing for X. Accompanying each letter are the truly exquisite illustrations by Amy Zerner and her mother Jessie Spicer Zerner. This mother-daughter collaboration mirrors the collaboration of words and pictures used in Zen ABC to help make accessible the world of Zen.