This is the 2nd book on Zen Buddhism that I've read, written by a Zen master. The first one, "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind" has influenced my spiritual practice a lot through the simplicity of the Zen way of thinking and having always a fresh approach to life, every day.



"The Authentic Gate" comes to complete what I knew with a more down-to-earth and serious perspective, stressing the importance of everybody having Buddha-nature and being already Enlightened. The idea in Mayahana Japanese Buddhism i

This is the 2nd book on Zen Buddhism that I've read, written by a Zen master. The first one, "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind" has influenced my spiritual practice a lot through the simplicity of the Zen way of thinking and having always a fresh approach to life, every day.



"The Authentic Gate" comes to complete what I knew with a more down-to-earth and serious perspective, stressing the importance of everybody having Buddha-nature and being already Enlightened. The idea in Mayahana Japanese Buddhism is that we already are what we are looking for, and looking outside of us only creates an illusion.



The book is also presenting clearly, step by step, the two schools of Zen, Soto, and Rinzai. These two schools of Zen in Japan use exclusively meditation (shikantaza or "just sit") and koans in combination with meditation. Through "koans", which are paradoxical and illogical for our minds, one manages to stop the usual thought process going on in our heads and focus on an inexistent paradoxical thing, to go beyond the ordinary and find Awakening.



Throughout the book, along with the different explanations in each chapter, the author keeps a silver line of mindfulness, simpleness, and clarity, that one can only experience in Zen meditation or close relation with a Zen master.



There are also occasional discussions and comparisons between Christianity, Mahayana Buddhism (where Zen comes from) and also occasional Vajrayana Buddhism, to answer a broader group of people that might be interested in Zen Buddhism.



By reading this book, one gets face to face with the core of Zen Buddhism experienced through their two vehicles (meditations and koans) and witnesses the mind of a Zen master. You can almost feel Yamada Koun talking to you humbly and direct, sitting cross-legged near a table with a great teapot on it, explaining to you in its simplicity, the base and the ways of practicing Zen Buddhism, Japanese Buddhism.



I strongly recommend this book to anyone who wants a clear and undivided perspective on Zen Buddhism. This can be very useful in practicing Zen or even as documenting yourself for further references to Zen Buddhism, especially if you are a writer of spiritual books.