Kazuaki Tanahashi ist ein Künstler und Aktivist, dessen Werk Kalligrafie mit einem tiefen Engagement für Frieden und Umweltschutz verbindet. Seine weltweit ausgestellten kalligrafischen Gemälde verkörpern den Geist der ostasiatischen Tradition und spiegeln gleichzeitig seine lebenslange Hingabe an die Verantwortung für den Planeten wider. Durch seine Kunst und Lehre teilt Tanahashi eine Vision einer Welt, in der Schönheit und Harmonie mit ökologischer Verantwortung im Einklang stehen.
Kazuaki Tanahashi, japanischer Kalligraphie-Meister, Autor, Dichter, Übersetzer und Friedensaktivist und Friederike Juen Boissevain, Ärztin und Zen-Lehrerin, widmen sich in diesem Buch dem Leben, den Gedichten und den Kalligraphien des bis heute hochgeschätzten japanischen Poeten und Zen-Meisters Daigu Ryokans (1758-1831). Das Buch enthält neben einer ausführlichen Lebensbeschreibung und einigen Abdrucken von Ryokans Kalligraphien auch zahlreiche erstmals ins Deutsche übersetzte Gedichte und Anekdoten.
Der aus zahlreichen Veröffentlichungen bekannte Künstler, Zen-Schüler und Dichter präsentiert hier eine gelungene Synthese aus Kalligrafie und erlebter Zen-Weisheit. Insgesamt 60 eindrucksvolle 'Ein-Strich-Kalligrafien' des Künstlers Tanahashi bilden den Rahmen für 132 kurze oder längere Sentenzen des Dichters und Zen-Schülers Tanahashi – Weisheiten und Wahrheiten, Gedichte und Gedanken, Offensichtliches und Verstecktes, Ernstes und (Selbst-)Ironisches, und all dies durchdrungen und getränkt von der Gelöstheit und Heiterkeit der Zen-Erfahrung, wie man sie auch bei den Mönch-Dichtern früherer Jahrhunderte so sehr schätzt. 'Tief in der traditionellen Pinselkunst des Ostens wurzelnd, spricht dieser Band den modernen Künstler doch unmittelbar an und entzündet Funken, die die Entwicklung der modernen Zen-Kalligrafie nachhaltig beeinflussen werden.'
The complete English translation of one of the great Zen classics and works of Japanese literature, by the founder of the Soto school—now in a single volume Treasury of the True Dharma Eye (Shobo Genzo, in Japanese) is a monumental work, considered to be one of the profoundest expressions of Zen wisdom ever put on paper, and also the most outstanding literary and philosophical work of Japan. It is a collection of essays by Eihei Dogen (1200–1253), founder of Zen’s Soto school. Kazuaki Tanahashi and a team of translators that represent a Who’s Who of American Zen have produced a translation of the great work that combines accuracy with a deep understanding of Dogen’s voice and literary gifts. This edition includes a wealth of materials to aid understanding, including maps, lineage charts, a bibliography, and an exhaustive glossary of names and terms—and, as a bonus, the most renowned of all Dogen’s essays, “Recommending Zazen to All People.”
Eihei Dogen (1200-1253), among the first to transmit Zen Buddhism from China to Japan and founder of the important Soto School, was not only a profoundly influential and provocative Zen philosopher but also one of the most stimulating figures in Japanese letters. Kazuaki Tanahashi, collaborating with several other Zen authorities, has produced sensitive and accurate translations of Dogen's most important texts. Moon in a Dewdrop contains the key essays of the great master, as well as extensive background materials that will help Western readers to approach this significant work. There is also a selection of Dogen's poetry, most of which has not appeared in English translation before. Dogen's thought runs counter to conventional logic, employing paradoxical language and startling imagery. It illuminates such fundamental concerns as the nature of time, existence, life, death, the self, and what is beyond self.
An illuminating in-depth study of one of the most well-known and recited Buddhist texts, by a renowned modern translator The Prajna Paramita Hridaya Sutra is among the best known of all the Buddhist scriptures. Chanted daily by many Zen practitioners, it is also studied extensively in the Tibetan tradition, and it has been regarded with interest more recently in the West in various fields of study—from philosophy to quantum physics. In just a few lines, it expresses the truth of impermanence and the release of suffering that results from the understanding of that truth with a breathtaking economy of language. Kazuaki Tanahashi’s guide to the Heart Sutra is the result of a life spent working with it and living it. He outlines the history and meaning of the text and then analyzes it line by line in its various forms (Sanskrit, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Tibetan, Mongolian, and various key English translations), providing a deeper understanding of the history and etymology of the elusive words than is generally available to the non-specialist—yet with a clear emphasis on the relevance of the text to practice. This book includes a fresh and meticulous new translation of the text by the author and Roshi Joan Halifax.
The best collection of Zen wisdom and wit since "Zen Flesh, Zen Bones": koans, sayings, poems, and stories by Eastern and American Zen teachers and students capture the delightful, challenging, mystifying, mind-stopping, outrageous, and scandalous heart of Zen.
"An esteemed masterpiece, the One Thousand Character Essay embodies the philosophy, mythology and history of ancient China. The Essay was composed by the literary giant Zhou Xingsi in the sixth century as a rhymed composition with no repeated ideographs. It has been sung to infants as a lullaby, functioned to teach language and writing, used as library index codes and as signs for seating applicants for examinations selecting public officials. The One Thousand Character Essay provides a window into the social values of the times and the importance of nature in defining the individual's and society's relation to the larger world. It refers to and draws on the meaning of the writing of Confucius, Laozi, Mengzi, Mozi, and Zhuangzi, the essential ancient Chinese writers. As the Essay reflects core values in Chinese civilization throughout time and gives insight into its major early writers, it can be a fundamental text in studying Chinese classical works. Its influence extended to Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and beyond"-- Provided by publisher
Renowned artist Kaz Tanahashi reveals the deep, inner spiritual connections that Zen gardens can foster, with over 75 stunning full-color photos of the masterpiece gardens of Kyōto, Japan. Imagine yourself in Kyōto, Japan, gazing at an ancient temple garden. How would you contextualize what you are seeing? What is the history of this centuries-old contemplative art form of Zen gardening? What are its symbols and concepts? Richly illustrated with full-color photographs, Gardens of Awakening guides you through a series of Zen temple gardens, most of which were created from the fourteenth through seventeenth centuries. Some are teeming with plants and flowing water, while others have only rocks and sand. All share in the Zen aesthetics of awakening. Through essays and commentary on Mitsue Nagase’s striking photographs, beloved Zen artist and translator Kazuaki Tanahashi presents the gardens in terms of seven qualities that arise from Zen practice: direct, ordinary, vigorous, gleaming, pivotal, nondual, and inexhaustible. Relating these qualities to the development of Zen culture and its influence on Japanese art, Gardens of Awakening invites you deep into the heart of Zen.
