(From Review in Publishers Weekly, April 12, 2004).	 
	Zen Master Wu Kwang (Richard Shrobe). Shambala Press (128 pp).
	a therapist who heads a Korean Zen Buddhist center in New York, 
	guides students lightly through the history of that branch of Zen. 
	He cites major teachers and their teachings, including poems, other
	writings and kong-ans (koans, or logic-defying riddles), then comments
	on and interprets them. This sketch of lineage provides a grounding
 	glimpse of a spiritual tradition that works by challenging practitioners
	about their attachments to whatever grounds them or makes them know 
	with certainty.  Zen is that most slippery body of teachings about human 
  	knowing, and Shrobe does a fine job of unpacking stories and words for
 	meaning without getting lost in the conceptualization that Zen debunks.
	Because explanation through concepts can be misleading in Zen, he
	"explains" key Korean Zen teachings through examples and stories from past
	masters and practitioners rather than using abstract ideas. ("Not explaining,
	not understanding is the transcendence of ideas, concepts, words and speech.")
	As is often the case with Zen teachers, this book is a transcribed
	series of talks. Shrobe's words lack the lyrical quality that often
	graces spare prose of such Zen masters as Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, but his
 	language possesses the sharp-edged simple diction characteristic of Zen
 	teaching. ("'Still not far off'- that is called Zen faith.") The book is
	short, but will be particularly helpful for Korean Zen students deepening
	their practice. (Available May 11, 2004).

     		
			     - If you missed the first one ! -


    		
			Open Mouth Already a Mistake