This complete translation of the original collection of sermons, dialogues, and anecdotes of Huang Po, the illustrious Chinese master of the Tang Dynasty, allows the Western reader to gain an understanding of Zen from the original source, one of the key works in its teachings; it also offers deep and often startling insights into the rich treasures of Eastern thought. Nowhere is the use of paradox in Zen illustrated better than in the teaching of Huang Po, who shows how the experience of intuitive knowledge that reveals to a man what he is cannot be communicated by words. With the help of...

This uniquely contemporary guide to understanding the timeless message of Buddhism, and in particular its relevance in actual human relations, was inspired by Shantideva's 'Guide To The Bodhisattva's Way Of Life', which the author translated into English, the oral instructions of living Buddhist masters, Heidegger's classic 'Being and Time', and the writings of the Christian theologians Paul Tillich and John MacQuarrie.

Zen teaching of instantaneous awakening A complete translation of the teaching of the Chinese Ch'an Master Hui Hai by John Blofeld, with a foreword by Charles Luk Hui Hai, was one of the great Ch'an (Zen) Masters. He was a contemporary of both Ma Tsu and Huang Po, those early masters who established Ch'an after the death of Hui Neng, the sixth Patriarch. Hui Hai's direct teachings point immediately to this moment of truth and awakening, and the message of this classic eighth-century text is universal and timeless.

A religion with roots stretching back nearly five thousand years, Taoism combines elements of folklore, occult sciences, cosmology, yoga, meditation, poetry, and exalted mysticism. Mysterious and charmingly poetic, it is a living remnant of a way of life which has almost vanished from the world.

In this comprehensive study, John Blofeld explains the fundamental concepts of Taoism, tells many stories of ancient masters, and provides incisive reflections on Taoist verse. He writes in a colorful and unique way about his visits to Taoist hermitages in China and his interchanges with...

This book presents important discourses that deal with the Healing Buddha in his various manifestations and discusses the many symbols, colors, and deities that are used as objects of meditation. The accompanying photographs of sculptures, paintings, and mandalas demonstrate the importance of art and aesthetic experience in Buddhist healing practices. Also included is a history of healing in the development of Buddhism from the earliest texts and the famous "Lotus Sutra " to the Buddhism of Tibet, where elaborate ritual is used in the healing of body and mind. Some of the many herbs and...

In his early twenties, John Blofeld spent what he describes as three exquisitely happy years" in Peking during the era of the last emperor, when the breathtaking greatness of China's ancient traditions was still everywhere evident. Arriving in 1934, he found a city imbued with the atmosphere of the recent imperial past and haunted by the powerful spirit of the late Dowager Empress Tzu Hsi. He entered a world of magnificent palaces and temples of the Forbidden City, of lotus-covered lakes and lush pleasure-gardens, of bustling bazaars and peaceful bathhouses, and of "flower houses" with their...