Product description
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Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki (1870~1966) was one of the 20th
century’s most important writers and thinkers. During his long
and extraordinarily fruitful life Suzuki became the first voice
of Japanese Buddhism, especially Zen, to the Western World. He
traveled and lectured around the world and has had a major impact
on religious, artistic and philosophical thinking that continues
to this day. D.T. Suzuki’s landmark books, “An Introduction to
Zen Buddhism” (1934) and “Zen and Japanese Culture” (1959)
changed the world of arts and letters profoundly. More than 30 of
his books remain in print. A ZEN LIFE is the first documentary
film to present the extraordinary life of D.T. Suzuki. This vivid
portrait of the man and his times includes rare footage of Suzuki
himself and reminiscences by many whose lives and thinking he
influenced. Interviewed in A ZEN LIFE are poet Gary Snyder,
religious philosopher Huston Smith, author Donald Richie,
psychiatrist Albert Stunkard. and Suzuki’s long-time assistant
Mihoko Okamura and many others. Numerous important figures of the
20th Century acknowledged Suzuki’s impact on their work and
thought including Carl Jung, Erich Fromm, Martin Heidegger, Merce
Cunningham, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, John Cage, and Alan
Watts.
Review
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Goldberg... approaches his subject with sensitivity and
in, which he backs with solid research, excellent and rare
archival footage and an array of impressive interviews. --Robert
Avila, San Francisco Film Society/Indie Wire
Some strictly orthodox Zen masters may have grumbled at his
temerity in attempting to explain the unexplainable mystery of
their doctrine. But even they had to admit that he became Zen's
most successful and widely respected missionary outside Japan,
and that if anyone could communicate Zen to the West, Dr. Suzuki
was the man... He radiates... a special serenity that makes him a
magnificent living example of the doctrine he preaches.
--Winthrop Sargeant, The New Yorker, 1957
His teachings were traditional but radical, and influenced many,
including Jung, Fromm, Ginsberg, Merton, and Heidegger. And
Suzuki's long life, explored through archival footage and
interviews, exemplifies a path of both inner still and answering
life's call. --Tikkun Magazine, 2006
Some strictly orthodox Zen masters may have grumbled at his
temerity in attempting to explain the unexplainable mystery of
their doctrine. But even they had to admit that he became Zen's
most successful and widely respected missionary outside Japan,
and that if anyone could communicate Zen to the West, Dr. Suzuki
was the man... He radiates... a special serenity that makes him a
magnificent living example of the doctrine he preaches.
--Winthrop Sargeant, The New Yorker, 1957
His teachings were traditional but radical, and influenced many,
including Jung, Fromm, Ginsberg, Merton, and Heidegger. And
Suzuki's long life, explored through archival footage and
interviews, exemplifies a path of both inner still and answering
life's call. --Tikkun Magazine, 2006