Following the stories and transformations of Zen from its roots in India, through China and Japan, and as it migrated to North America.
Zen Conversations & Further Zen Conversations
Since 2013, Rick McDaniel has conducted more than 200 interviews with contemporary Zen Masters in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. In these two volumes, 77 of those teachers talk with him about how they became involved with Zen, what they see the purpose of Zen to be, about the elements of practice, the adaption of Zen, to the west, the ethical consequences of Zen commitment, and the future of Zen in the West. Available individually or as a set from Sumeru Books.
A study guide for Zen Conversations and Further Zen Conversations can be found at: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/2503/2728/files/Zen_Convos_Reader_s_Study_Guide.pdf?v=1683462779
The Story of Zen
The Story of Zen is a complete overview of the ideas, history, evolution, and practice of Zen Buddhism, based on interviews with more than 100 Zen teachers and senior students in Canada, the United States and Mexico. Rick McDaniel, the author, is a long-time Zen practitioner and author of five previous books on the subject. The foreword is by Genjo Marinello Roshi, and the afterword is by Dosho Port Roshi. Available from Suermu Press and Amazon.ca
Catholicism and Zen
Ever since Catholic priests from Portugal and Spain entered Japan in the 1500’s on missions to convert the Japanese to Christianity, a quiet transformation has been taking place, beginning among those Jesuit missionaries and spreading into the present day among American and European Catholics, lay and ordained alike. As Rick McDaniel describes in this important book, in seeking to understand the Japanese mind so as to know better how to convert the Japanese to Christianity, these early – and later – priests undertook Zen practice.
Available through Sumeru Press and amazon.ca
Cypress Trees in the Garden: The Second Generation of Zen Teaching in America
Cypress Trees in the Garden: The Second Generation of Zen Teaching in America continues the history of North American Zen which Rick McDaniel began in The Third Step East: Zen Masters of America (Sumeru Press, 2015). The earlier book described the pioneers who established Zen practice in North America; this book focuses on the heirs and successors of those teachers and the challenges they faced. Available through Sumeru Press and Amazon.ca
Zen Masters of America: The Third Step East
In The Third Step East: Zen Masters of America, Rick McDaniel continues the story, begun in his earlier work, of the spread of Zen from India to China (Zen Masters of China: The First Step East), thence to Japan (Zen Masters of Japan: The Second Step East), and then to North America and Europe. Available from Sumeru Books and amazon.ca
Zen Masters of Japan: The Second Step East
Zen Masters of Japan is the second book in a series that traces Zen’s journey as it spread eastward from China and Japan, toward the United States. Following Zen Masters of China, this book concentrates on Zen’s development in Japan. More specifically, it describes the lineage of the great teachers and pioneers who set out to enlighten a nation ready for an inner transformation based on compassionate awareness. A collection of Zen stories and teachings, Zen Masters of Japan also explores the elusive state of ‘No Mind’ that is so fundamental to Zen practices today.It is available through Tuttle Press and Amazon.ca.
Zen Masters of China: The First Step East
Zen Masters of China presents more than 300 traditional Zen stories and koans. Retelling them in their proper place in Zen’s historical journey through Chinese Buddhist culture, it also tells a larger story: how, in taking the first step east from India to China, Buddhism began to be Zen. Avaliable from Tuttle Press and Amazon.ca
Richard Bryan McDaniel 