When Shunryu Suzuki Roshi's Zen Mind; Beginner's Mind was published in 1972; it was enthusiastically embraced by Westerners eager for spiritual insight and knowledge of Zen. The book became the most successful treatise on Buddhism in English; selling more than one million copies to date. Branching Streams Flow in the Darkness is the first follow-up volume to Suzuki Roshi's important work. Like Zen Mind; Beginner's Mind; it is a collection of lectures that reveal the insight; humor; and intimacy with Zen that made Suzuki Roshi so influential as a teacher.The Sandokai—a poem by the eighth-century Zen master Sekito Kisen (Ch. Shitou Xiqian)—is the subject of these lectures. Given in 1970 at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center; the lectures are an example of a Zen teacher in his prime elucidating a venerated; ancient; and difficult work to his Western students. The poem addresses the question of how the oneness of things and the multiplicity of things coexist (or; as Suzuki Roshi expresses it; "things-as-it-is"). Included with the lectures are his students' questions and his direct answers to them; along with a meditation instruction. Suzuki Roshi's teachings are valuable not only for those with a general interest in Buddhism but also for students of Zen practice wanting an example of how a modern master in the Japanese Soto Zen tradition understands this core text today.
#1627230 in Books Auguste Duhaut Cilly 1999-04-15Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.21 x .69 x 6.14l; 3.10 #File Name: 0520217527284 pagesA Voyage to California the Sandwich Islands and Around the World in the Years 1826 1829
Review
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. A Poet-Captain's NarrativeBy Roy K. FarberWhat this volume lacks; in graphic description of the doings of this French merchant ship; its officers seamen; the weather they encountered; their living conditions; the hardships joys of daily life the sweat of their tasks; while sail-ing from France southwest around Cape Horn; up the Pacific to the Californias; Baja Alta; back down again; all several times; as the crew of the Héros en-deavors to trade her cargo at a profit for whatever of value available in its many ports of call; attempting to increase its profit over their 2 years on the coast; until finally sailing off for Hawaii to trade more; then to Canton to trade once more be-fore circumventing the globe sailing home; this more (or less) may be found in Dana's remarkable Two Years Before the Mast; which speaks of events just shy of a decade later.But what is lacking in Two Years found here; are poetic descriptions of the Californias; of the Missions; Priests Indians (here; our Author-Capitan; be-ing Catholic; is not as caustic as Dana; but nor does he give uncritical accep-tance); of the land its seasons; of small civil communities soon to burst forth; a horseback ride to explore south of San Francisco sailing across that great Bay; its place names already been given.Although more understanding of the Spanish attempt at colonizing; Capi-tan Duhaut-Cilly is a fair critic of its failures the degeneration of society; particu-larly in Alta California. Writing less than 5 years after Mexico became independ-ent at the pinnacle of the Mission experiment; one sees through his eyes hears his prophesy what shall already be in advanced state of decay by the time Dana arrives; moreso a decade thereafter when Frémont Co. overwhelmed the Hispanic residents despite their many blunders.He describes unique matters; the Russian trade in sea otter furs their tightly knit community at Fort Ross; the expulsion of the Spanish by Mexican de-cree; his journey into Oahu the impending decline of the Hawaiian people.Capitan Duhaut-Cilly is an ethnographer; one feels his objectivity; albeit limited by the historical perception of his times; but not nearly so elitist as many Protestants of that epoch who saw nothing noble in anything alien; be it a Multi-Theistic Native; a Papist or a Tralfamadorian.And our Capitan's description of the seafaring merchant's trade; its disap-pointments successes; makes us realize how advanced the entire process al-ready was; the sea routes well-known; with many references to the writings of those nautical pathfinders who came before cherished by those who relied thereon.This is no sterile chronicle; but a living remarkable read; one to treasure sa-vor in wonderment.4 of 5 people found the following review helpful. French twistBy Harry EagarIn some ways; Auguste Duhaut-Cilly's memoir is one of the most interesting of the early travel writings about the eastern Pacific; but for some reason it has not been available in English."A Voyage to California" is more relevant to Alta and Baja California than to Hawaii. Duhaut-Cilly spent two years on the California coast; trying to open up a French trade and getting the chance to observe the crisis created when the new Mexican Republic expelled the Spaniards. Duhaut-Cilly; a republican and ardent Catholic; was pulled in both directions but religion finally overcame politics and he sided with the Spanish friars.His bigotry carried over to Hawaii; where his opinions about the New England Congregationalist missionaries are some of the harshest on record. He wrote; "We observed the cruel treatment inflicted by these missionaries in the name of religion on the islanders who rebelled against their strictures -- cruelties; I say; quite comparable to those charged against the inquisitors of Spain and Portugal."They were hardly that bad. Hawaiians were never "put to the question" (interrogated under torture); much less burned alive.Even though his feelings were strong; Duhaut-Cilly was intelligent enough not to get involved in the French plot to force Catholic missionaries on the unwilling Oahu alii (chiefs).The French captain was a great admirer of the islands and of the islanders. Coasting along Oahu's North Shore; he described impressions of "fearsome precipices; one towering over the other; of impenetrable forests rising in great steps above other forests; dark chasms of frightful depth; steep and slippery; bare wet rocks mingling their dark color with the somber green of old trees. High and gleaming cascades; after descending for hundreds of yards; threw themselves into the tree tops; where they burst into foam only to reunite and fall again until some fissure in the rocks provided a channel for a gentler descent to the sea."Duhaut-Cilly adds hardly anything to the historical record; although one of his opinions deserves attention. In Honolulu; this veteran of Napoleon's "wars of liberation;" wrote; "We no longer live in an age when a power may seize; without scruple or respect for property; any land that it may discover. Today such an act will arouse the indignation of the entire Christian and civilized world."A bad prediction; but the appeal of the book is the lively writing and Duhaut-Cilly's typically French philosophizing; which is totally lacking in the banal accounts of English and American skippers.His account does flesh out a bit the career of Jean-Baptiste Rives; a famous haole (white) troublemaker in Liholilo's reign. Rives; who Duhaut-Cilly identifies only as "Monsieur R.;" was Duhaut-Cilly's supercargo (trading agent); and he caused Duhaut-Cilly plenty of trouble; too.Although Duhaut-Cilly's account has been published in English before; until now it never has been all in one place; nor in hard covers. (Some purely nautical material has been left out of this edition; too.) Furthermore; according to translator August Fruge; previous translation were defective. This one reads very easily. There also are plenty of explanatory notes by Fruge and Neal Harlow.
