Essential Readings in Zen

The purpose of Zen is to awaken to the bodhisattva within us. This perception, also called kensho, “seeing self-nature,” opens the way to a true Zen life lived in unrestricted liberation. To attain such freedom, one must strive in all of one’s activities to live in accordance with the Bodhisattva Vows.

It would be easy to spend an entire lifetime studying and contemplating the various source documents of the Zen tradition. The selections herein, including works of Nargajuna, Bodhidharma, Hsin Hsin Ming, Dogen, and Hua Hai capture the full flavor and essence of Zen and can easily stand as both the beginning and terminus of one’s studies.