By Master Sheng-yen
New York: Doubleday, 1999. Paperback, xviii + 142 pages.
Master Sheng-yen is the abbot: of two Ch'an (Zen) Buddhist: monasteries in Taipei. If you've heard stories about Zen masters who strike their students with a stick or utter absurdities that catalyze instant enlightenment and wondered what it was all about, this book will put things in perspective. Endorsed by the Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh on the hack cover, this work is an excellent, dear explanation of the sometimes mystifying schools of Ch'an or Zen Buddhism.