Dialogues in a Dream: The Life and Zen Teaching of Muso Soseki

By Muso Soseki

Drawing on his encyclopaedic knowledge, one of the most famous masters in the history of Zen leads us on a grand tour of Buddhist theology in all its timeless relevance.

Muso Soseki, the renowned fourteenth century Zen master, is today most known for developing the art of traditional Japanese Zen gardening. Even more impressive is his creation of the institutional structure for all Japanese Buddhist temples, which still in use today.
Dialogues in a Dream is one of the many projects Soseki took on in this final period of his life. Written in the guise of a conversation between Soseki and the shogun, the work covers the breadth of Buddhist philosophy and practice, and includes insightful discussions of prayer, mediation, and the place of study in religious life. His penetrating analysis deepens our appreciation of even the simplest Buddhist practices.
Acclaimed scholar Thomas Yuho Kirchner painstakingly translates this classic text into English.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wisdom Publications
• Release date: Jun 16, 2015
• ISBN: 9781614292685

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Reviews for Dialogues in a Dream

[Jazzy85 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A true wisdom book of a very popular Japanese Zen Buddhist master. The most fascinating thing about this book is that it takes both essential Zen concepts (Concerned about realising Original Mind, Face) and Buddhist concepts (rebirth, karma, nirvana) hand in hand and blends it nicely as the master teaches us the crux of these philosophical intrinsic concepts through a dialogue way which is more like Question and Answer format. In many Zen books we find that very less is spoken or written by authors about essential Buddhist concepts just in order to prove or showcase the independent existence of Zen apart from core Buddhist theories, an approach which I find lacklustre. But the great Zen master of 14th century does the job of taking both concepts simultaneously really well, this book is a must read for Zen and even Pure Land Buddhist practitioners/readers/students. Even the beginners in Buddhism (who are not well aware of intricate differences between various schools and approaches of Buddhism) will find this book really helpful in their journey to enlightenment. For me this book is at par with other great books of great enlightened masters. Even Non Buddhists will learn a lot from it.