Questions to a Zen Master (Questions à un maître zen)

Text

A book-length transcript of Deshimaru's mondō — the question-and-answer sessions held after zazen at the Paris dōjō and at sesshin across Europe. Originally published as Questions à un maître zen (Pierre Belfond, 1981) and translated into English by Nancy Amphoux for E. P. Dutton in 1985, it preserves the unedited interrogative texture of his teaching: students asking about karma, sex, money, fear of death, and the nature of mind, and Deshimaru responding in compact, idiomatic French. One of the most accessible primary sources for his oral style.

tr. Nancy Amphoux, E. P. Dutton, 1985 (FR original Pierre Belfond, 1981)

license: fair_use

Attribution

• Attributed To
  Taisen Deshimaru

Lineage: Sōtō

By Taisen Deshimaru

• Just Sitproverb
• The Cosmos in the Postureproverb
• Automatic Thinkingproverb
• Observe Your Own Mindproverb
• Mushotoku: Without Seeking Gainsaying

Sources

• contentZen Deshimaru - The history of Zen, from the Buddha to the modern world

  Zen Deshimaru Buddhist Association

  AZI bibliography of Taisen Deshimaru — Questions à un maître zen

  Questions à un maître zen, transcribed from the mondō at the Paris dōjō, presents Deshimaru responding directly to his European students on questions of practice, ordinary life, and the nature of mind.