That book is one of the few Zen books that I actually can be heard to caution about. That book has done so much damage over the decades sending people into some pressure cooker practice in a race for big booming Kenshos! The author (Kapleau Roshi) and his teachers (Yasutan-Harada) represent a small corner of folks, not so influential in Japan but must more in the west (through the "Sambokyodan" and Maezumi Roshi's Lineage) creating a mixed Rinzai-Soto practice. That is fine, but Yasutani created a kind of high pressure "blood comes out your eyes" version of Shikantaza that is secondary to their high pressure Koan Introspection Zazen.
If you are going to read that book, I would suggest that you read the following three essays too ...
Special reading - once born twice born zen
and
Also this:
Sanbõkyõdan
Zen and the Way of the New Religions
Robert H. SHARF
A biographer of Kapleau Roshi sums up "Three Pillars" this way:
Gassho, Jundo
STLah
If you are going to read that book, I would suggest that you read the following three essays too ...
Special reading - once born twice born zen
and
Also this:
Sanbõkyõdan
Zen and the Way of the New Religions
Robert H. SHARF
A biographer of Kapleau Roshi sums up "Three Pillars" this way:
Kraft points out that Kapleau’s book is “in large measure a book about kensho” (p.14) which in itself is problematic as for many, including some of the authors of the essays, this led to “inflated expectations… [and] [t]he discrepancy between anticipatory visions of enlightenment and actual experiences of insight”. (p.15) This disjuncture between what Kapleau wrote and the actual experiences of Zen students has led to some criticisms of The Three Pillars of Zen as a book that gives an unrealistic picture of what to expect from zazen. ...
While this emphasis on and almost inevitability of kensho is, I think, a fair criticism of The Three Pillars of Zen, there is little doubt that Kapleau’s book brought many people to the study and practice of Zen Buddhism and for that we should be grateful. It is also necessary that we understand where and how Kapleau learned his Zen practice to better understand why he wrote and taught the way he did.
http://www.thezensite.com/ZenBookRev...enpractice.htm
While this emphasis on and almost inevitability of kensho is, I think, a fair criticism of The Three Pillars of Zen, there is little doubt that Kapleau’s book brought many people to the study and practice of Zen Buddhism and for that we should be grateful. It is also necessary that we understand where and how Kapleau learned his Zen practice to better understand why he wrote and taught the way he did.
http://www.thezensite.com/ZenBookRev...enpractice.htm
STLah
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