TWIB-II 27
Apr. 13th, 2008 11:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akujunkanTwo books this week.
1) The Diamond Sutra and the Sutra of Hui-neng - W.Y. Evans-Wentz
This volume is comprised of two sutras: the Diamond Sutra, which along with the Heart Sutra is one of the most important texts in East Asian Buddhism, and the Sutra of Hui-neng, which is the biography of the sixth (and final) zen patriarch. Both are important and influential texts in the development of Chan/Seon/Zen Buddhism, which is why this book's presentation of them is so unfortunate. It was produced in the early 20th century, when Buddhism was presented to its Western (and predominantly British) audience as alternately just another element of theosophy, or as a product of the feminine, irrational, and inscrutable "Orient" and thus beyond the ken of Westerners. In other words, the text--the introductory/explanatory chapters, as well as the translations themselves and the authors' notes--is outdated and of inferior quality compared to that of later material produced for Western audiences in the past thirty or so years. I'm not sure while Shambala is still publishing these manuscripts, as they're of limited use to anyone but scholars of Buddhism's development in the West.
2) More Red Meat - Max Cannon
I first encountered this comic strip in high school, on the whiteboard of the room across from mine. This book collects the series' strips from that era, and they are as hysterical now as they were then. Go read this book.
That will be all.
1) The Diamond Sutra and the Sutra of Hui-neng - W.Y. Evans-Wentz
This volume is comprised of two sutras: the Diamond Sutra, which along with the Heart Sutra is one of the most important texts in East Asian Buddhism, and the Sutra of Hui-neng, which is the biography of the sixth (and final) zen patriarch. Both are important and influential texts in the development of Chan/Seon/Zen Buddhism, which is why this book's presentation of them is so unfortunate. It was produced in the early 20th century, when Buddhism was presented to its Western (and predominantly British) audience as alternately just another element of theosophy, or as a product of the feminine, irrational, and inscrutable "Orient" and thus beyond the ken of Westerners. In other words, the text--the introductory/explanatory chapters, as well as the translations themselves and the authors' notes--is outdated and of inferior quality compared to that of later material produced for Western audiences in the past thirty or so years. I'm not sure while Shambala is still publishing these manuscripts, as they're of limited use to anyone but scholars of Buddhism's development in the West.
2) More Red Meat - Max Cannon
I first encountered this comic strip in high school, on the whiteboard of the room across from mine. This book collects the series' strips from that era, and they are as hysterical now as they were then. Go read this book.
That will be all.
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no subject
on 2008-04-14 05:04 am (UTC)no subject
on 2008-04-15 04:42 am (UTC)(ATM, though, I've rediscovered Orange Film Garden and am loving it muchly.)
no subject
on 2008-04-15 04:57 am (UTC)no subject
on 2008-04-15 07:17 pm (UTC)Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever even seen a Pillows pv. I didn't even know what they looked like until the first time I saw them in concert.
no subject
on 2008-04-15 08:33 pm (UTC)I dislike most Japanese music, to be quite honest. But probably just because I don't know much about it/listen to it at all. I like Kokusyoku Sumire. ;)
no subject
on 2008-04-23 04:36 am (UTC)Anyway, I don't know who Kokusyoku Sumire is, but based on your liking of the Pillows/DM, you may also like:
Asian Kung-fu Generation
Blankey Jet City/Ajico
Thee Michelle Gun Elephant
Guniw Tools
Shocking Lemon
Love Psychedelico (who do not really sound like the above but are all kinds of awesome regardless)
Damn. I am way better than amazon recs! ;-)