R/E DELEUZE + BUDDHI

Michael Current writes:

-> Could anyone suggest any books on Zen or Buddism in general that woul
-> help me see these parallels. I am fairly ignorant on Eastern philoso
-> but I would like to look at this point more closely.

It is in my opinion better to experience some of these buddhist texts
directly first, before reading anything that tries to "explain" one
system in terms of anOther. Like any Great Totalizing System, buddhism
has both totalitarian and anarchist desiring-machines weaving together
and against each other in a strangely sedimented interpenetration. Most
beginning books will tend to explain the important lines of flight in
buddhism away. But there are a few gems that are worth drowning your
imputed self in, regardless of whether you appear to understand their
turning words or not. Thomas Clearly translation of the Mumonkan, or
Empty Gate is in a low-cost Bantam paperback, and is titled NO BARRIER:
Unlocking the Zen Koan. The best Zen line of flight is his translation
of THE BLUE CLIFF RECORD, but this is an expensive hardback (Shambala
Books). THE HUNDRED THOUSAND SONGS OF MILAREPA is in paperback (also
Shambala Books). Choygam Trungpa's TRANCENDING MADNESS: The Experience
of the Six Bardos. For Taoism, Burton Watson's translation of Chang Tzu
is in paper, and must reading for any deleuzian. And of course there's
always the Sufi poet Rumi, founder of the Whirling Dervishes, whose
ecstatic poems drown the yearning souls of anyone who dares to read
him... :-)

Harvey Forman
harvey.forman@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
* RM 1.3 00580 * Dogen said: One inch of practice, one inch of Buddha...

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