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Zen Library

godnotgod

Thou art That
My intent is to use this thread to gather free works on Zen Buddhism in electronic format for anyone to download.

I will contribute the first work. It is
The Way of Zen, by Alan Watts, in .pdf format:

316880.jpg
zen-bamboo-bird.jpg


Here is the download link:

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&...mOJhLo&sig=AHIEtbR0lYrKooLhDGx8euv0SAgK05XNWQ
(link tested OK 3-12-13)

Do not click on 'Download Original', as it won't work. Instead, click on 'File' under 'The Way of Zen', upper left, then on 'Print(PDF)'.

Enjoy!

Please add to the library if you know of other publications on Zen in electronic format. Make sure you test the download link before finalizing your post.

Thanks!:)
 
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dyanaprajna2011

Dharmapala
Over the last few years, I have downloaded literally dozens of books on Zen, and hundreds on Buddhism in general. I'm going to have to go back and check where I got most of them, but I have some really good ones that need to go in this thread.

BuddhaNet File library: Zen, Chan Buddhist Teachings

These are text documents in zip format at buddhanet. This would be a good place to start.

For those into Soto Zen and Dogen, here's the Shobogenzo:

The Shōbōgenzō - Dōgen / Free Download

Just click on the "free download" link in blue.

Here's the "Gateless Gate" collection of koans:

http://www.consciouslivingfoundation.org/ebooks/13/CLF-Zen-Mumon_The Gateless Gate.pdf

And, the last for now, Thomas Hoover's "The Zen Experience":

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/34325/34325-pdf.pdf
 

godnotgod

Thou art That
zenmind.jpg

Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, by Shunryu Suzuki

"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few."
Shunryu Suzuki, founder, San Francisco Zen Center

You can download the entire book for free in .pdf format here:

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q...bo18fRfgq6XY2g

When the page opens, do not click on 'Download Original'. It won't work. Instead, under the heading 'zenmind.pdf', upper left, click on 'File', then 'Print(PDF)'. You will be presented with a choice to 'Open With' or 'Save File'. Click on 'Save File' and then choose your favorite download location. I tested the link, and it is good. This book is a classic. Enjoy!:)
 

godnotgod

Thou art That
BenoitZen.jpg

The Supreme Doctrine - Zen and the Psychology of Transformation,
by Hubert Benoit

I am happy to announce that the renowned work on Zen by Hubert Benoit: The Supreme Doctrine - Zen and the Psychology of Transformation, is now available free for download in .pdf format. Please click on the link below, then choose 'Save File' to your favorite download location. This should be in every Zennist's library.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...OY5HujMJd1-KhQ

...from a review of the book:

"Zen is probably the most radical approach to existence devised through human history. Authentic Zen has nothing New Age or feel-good about it: it promises no comfort or self-aggrandizement, only absolute existential salvation, and THAT only have a laborious emptying out of the cup of ego that runneth over.

Most Zen masters refuse to discuss the discipline or explain it. Hubert Benoit takes the opposite, and for intellectually-inclined Westerners, the more accessible path, and discusses Zen in exhaustive detail in terms of psychology and philosophy--especially phenomenology and existentialism. I was skeptical of this approach until I actually read this book. Benoit writes at an extremely high level of abstraction (something quite alien to traditional Zen, which deals mainly in parables) but any experienced meditator will concur that practically every word Benoit writes rings with utter truth and fidelty to the workings of consciousness. He is clearly a man who has absorbed the Zen teachings and then examined the workings of his own mind with unfailing rigor and perceptiveness; he has taken those findings and translated them into language with a care and accuracy that nobody else, to my knowledge, has ever matched. The results are utterly profound."
*****
Here also is a link to a recap of Benoit's main ideas you might enjoy:


Supreme Doctrine: a recap of Hubert Benoit's main ideas
*****


Please feel free to post your comments here.

sotozen.jpg
 

godnotgod

Thou art That

Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, by Shunryu Suzuki

"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few."
Shunryu Suzuki, founder, San Francisco Zen Center

You can download the entire book for free in .pdf format here:

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q...bo18fRfgq6XY2g

When the page opens, do not click on 'Download Original'. It won't work. Instead, under the heading 'zenmind.pdf', upper left, click on 'File', then 'Print(PDF)'. You will be presented with a choice to 'Open With' or 'Save File'. Click on 'Save File' and then choose your favorite download location. I tested the link, and it is good. This book is a classic. Enjoy!:)
zmbm.jpg
 
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godnotgod

Thou art That
in_search_of_the_miraculous_2.gif


Not a book on Zen, but an important cornerstone in mysticism. Here is a brief description and a link to the free .pdf download:


Since its original publication in 1949, In Search of the Miraculous has been hailed as the most valuable and reliable documentation of G. I. Gurdjieff's thoughts and universal view. This historic and influential work is considered by many to be a primer of mystical thought as expressed through the Work, a combination of Eastern philosophies that had for centuries been passed on orally from teacher to student. Gurdjieff's goal, to introduce the Work to the West, attracted many students, among them Ouspensky, an established mathematician, journalist, and, with the publication of In Search of the Miraculous, an eloquent and persuasive proselyte.

Ouspensky describes Gurdjieff's teachings in fascinating and accessible detail, providing what has proven to be a stellar introduction to the universal view of both student and teacher. It goes without saying that In Search of the Miraculous has inspired great thinkers and writers of ensuing spiritual movements, including Marianne Williamson, the highly acclaimed author of A Return to Love and Illuminata. In a new and never-before-published foreword, Williamson shares the influence of Ouspensky's book and Gurdjieff's teachings on the New Thought movement and her own life, providing a contemporary look at an already timeless classic.

http://www.gurdjieff.am/in-search/index.pdf
 
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