Arts, Literature & Culture
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At Hell's Gate
A Soldier's Journey from War to Peace
In this raw and moving memoir, Claude Thomas describes his service in Vietnam, his subsequent emotional collapse, and his remarkable journey toward healing. At Hell's Gate is not only a gripping coming-of-age story but a spiritual travelogue from the horrors of combat to the discovery of inner peace—a journey that inspired Thomas to become a Zen monk and peace activist who travels to war-scarred regions around the world.… Read More
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Basic Japanese through Comics
What is "Basic Japanese"? This book presents some very basic words and phrases along with some that are not usually considered "basic" at all. In fact, some of the material in this book is not typically presented until the student is well into his or her study of the Japanese language—and even then, it can be confusing without a skilled explanation. The Mangajin method, however, makes even this… Read More
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Basic Japanese through Comics Part 2
Basic Japanese Through Comics is not intended as a textbook, but rather as an entertaining supplement to a more structured study of Japanese. The 24 "lessons" in this book are a compilation of the Basic Japanese column from Mangajin magazine; they do not build on each other, so they can be read or studied in any order. Some of the other benefits of Basic Japanese Through Comics… Read More
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A Discourse by Three Drunkards on Government
A Discourse by Three Drunkards on Government takes the form of a debate between a spokesman for Western ideals of democracy and progress, and an advocate for adherence to traditional samurai values. Their discussion is moderated by the imperturbable Master Nankai, who loves nothing more than to drink and argue politics. The fiction of the drinking bout allowed Chomin to debate freely topical political issues, in a discussion that… Read More
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The Elements of Japanese Design
A Handbook of Family Crests, Heraldry & Symbolism
The Elements of Japanese Design is a library of traditional Japanese design motifs in the form of more than 2,700 family crests ( mon) compiled and drawn by a Kyoto publisher and bookseller early in the twentieth century, and selected and interpreted by John Dower, a leading American scholar of Japan. First used for identification on the battlefield beginning in the twelfth century, mon developed into symbols of… Read More
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Enso
Zen Circles of Enlightenment
The ensō is one of the most prevalent images of Zen art, and it has become a kind of symbol of the clean and strong Japanese aesthetic. It has been subject to a rich variety of interpretations—seen as everything from a rice cake to a symbol of infinity. But regardless of how it is understood, the ensō is above all an expression of the mind of the artist who brushes… Read More
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Four Huts
Asian Writings on the Simple Life
The short works collected in Four Huts give voice to one of the most treasured aesthetic and spiritual ideals of Asia—that of a simple life lived in a simple dwelling. The texts were written between the ninth and the seventeenth centuries and convey each author's underlying sense of the world and what is to be valued in it. Four Huts presents original translations by Burton Watson—one… Read More
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Hearing with the Eye
Photographs from Point Lobos
These magical photographs of ordinary land- and waterscapes all share a mysterious quality of presence that calls into question any distinction we might make between ourselves and the natural world. They thus represent the renowned nature photographer–Zen master’s teaching on the interconnectedness of all things. The sixty-one astonishingly beautiful color images are accompanied by John Daido Loori’s commentary on a text by the most famous of all historic Zen masters,… Read More
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Jake Fades
A Novel of Impermanence
Jake is a Zen master and expert bicycle repairman who fixes flats and teaches meditation out of a shop in Bar Harbor, Maine. Hank is his long-time student. The aging Jake hopes that Hank will take over teaching for him. But the commitment-phobic Hank doesn’t feel up to the job, and Jake is beginning to exhibit behavior that looks suspiciously like Alzheimer’s disease. Is a guy with as… Read More
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Japanese Street Slang
Japanese Street Slang is the first and only exposé of the rough and ready, raw and down-dirty street language as it is used in Japan today. Here's how they really speak: The hustlers and high rollers, the teens and Tokyo yuppies, the gangsters and their ladies of the night. Witty mini-essays trace the fascinating origins of many expressions and the rollicking example sentences reveal just how and where they… Read More
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