Complete Poison Blossoms from a Thicket of Thorn

Hakuin Zenji, Norman Waddell

"The most influential master in the Japanese Rinzai tradition, Hakuin Ekaku (1686-1769) reestablished the rigorous koan-training methods of the great T{u2019}an- and Sung-dynasty masters of China; all modern Rinzai Zen masters trace their lineage to him and his teaching. Hakuin took the unusual step of overseeing the collection and publication of his own Zen records--a task usually left to students after the master{u2019}s death. Complete Poison Blossoms, comprising some 450 individual pieces--the majority in verse, ranging from four-line poems to essays sufficiently long to have been published as independent texts--is a sourcebook of guidance on the path to ultimate liberation. Waddell augments these texts with clarifying introductions and background context, detailed notes explaining Hakuin{u2019}s allusions, and side remarks recorded during lectures by Hakuin{u2019}s own students...