Not Always So Practicing the True Spirit of Zen

by Brian Novack
(Superior, WI)

I give Not Always So Practicing the True Spirit of Zen by Shunryu Suzuki 10/10.

This is one of the seminal texts by an American Zennist thinker originally from Japan. He is also the author of "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind". This book only continues the wonderful experience of traditional Zennist meditation that was introduced in the previous one.

The book is a compilation of thirty five lectures taken from the last three year's of Suzuki's life. While the first book focused more on specific techniques (although those techniques were surely encompassed in a deep history of Japanese zen thought), this one focuses more on the thinking itself.

This book is a great way to jump into the world of Zen thinking, and is by one of the first people to honestly "translate" the line of thought into English (as opposed to simply translating a Zen text). It is worth checking out.