A study of the Gospel of Thomas, exploring what Jesus was really like and what he stood for. It demonstrates that Jesus's teaching is akin to Zen, in that it has an emphasis on direct seeing rather than endless cognition.

Jesus Christ was a Zen master? In at least one version of early Christian belief, he sure sounded like one. Early Christianity was far from the gentle and unified belief system that we have been led to believe it was. In fact, in the earliest stages of its development, interpretations of the meanings of Jesus' teachings varied widely, were hotly debated, and differing views were not tolerated well at all. The Jesus narrative that eventually won out was passed on to future generations while the losers had their books burned and adherents imprisoned, tortured, or put to death. Talk about issues with freedom of religion! Luckily, an early Christian group called the "Gnostics", in seeing their beloved books burned and adherents mistreated, buried their most important works in hopes of future discovery. These works were discovered in Nag Hammadi, Egypt in 1945 and have shed quite a bit of light on an alternative and very different interpretation of Jesus' teachings--one that was widely followed in the early years of Christianity, yet more closely resembles the "enlightenment" teachings of Zen and Buddhism. The Zen-like nature of the Gnostic's Jesus is the focus of this work. "What you seek after is within you." - Dialogue of the Savior Scroll up and grab your copy today!

Using the teachings of Christ and the writings and stories of Christian spiritual masters, Chetwynd delves into the history of the tradition of meditation within Christianity. "Zen & the Kingdom of Heaven" offers provocative insights into the role of meditation in the East and the West.

A new revised edition of the classic title on Zen and Christian living. Zen Spirit, Christian Spirit is a study of the intersection between Zen Buddhism and Christianity. Robert Kennedy explores how Zen can help us to live deeper lives and how we can return from a study of Zen to a more profound understanding of Christian living and practice. "What I looked for in Zen," says the author, "was not a new faith, but a new way of being Catholic that grew out of my own lived experience and would not be blown away by authority or by changing theological fashion." Kennedy is unique in being competent in both Catholic and Zen practice and who responds to people who are drawn to this form of prayer and life. This is a refreshingly simple but also most beautiful book.

When Christian Zen was first published in the early 1970's, it was reviewed enthusiastically in many parts of the world. A subsequent edition added new material from the author's experience. This latest edition, from Fordham University Press, includes a new Preface by the author and a letter to the author from the Christian mystic Thomas Merton, written shortly before Merton's untimely death. William Johnston presents a study of Zen meditation in the light of Christian mysticism.

This is the spiritual side of Zen, that art to trust and accept life that coincides with the core of the Gospel message.

Albert Einstein was a Zen master? I think so, and I aim to prove it. In this work, I outline the top 54 sayings uttered by "Uncle Albert" that, in my opinion, show his views of reality to be very similar to those of some of the greatest Zen masters to have ever lived, past and present. Ranging from funny to contemplative to serious, these quotes outline my belief that through his unique understanding of the universe, Einstein seems to have developed an appreciation for the forces of the natural world that are congruent with the philosophical ideals held by Zen and Taoism masters through the ages. Though Einstein considered himself non-religious (because he dismissed the idea of a personalized God), he nevertheless developed, through his work, an appreciation and even an admiration for the intelligence that animates the living world - an intelligence whose essence he felt to be far beyond the sphere of human comprehension. For this reason, he famously claimed to be "a deeply religious nonbeliever", and felt his viewpoint to be a "somewhat new kind of religion". Though Einstein's non-personalized beliefs were definitely new compared to Western concepts of religion, they fit right in with well-established Eastern concepts from Zen, Taoism, Buddhism, and even Hinduism. Through this work, I hope to point out a fairly different approach to spiritual appreciation than what most of us are used to; an approach I believe to be every bit as valid as the Western, personalized-God variety. At the very least, I hope this work will serve as a simple introduction to the eye-opening contributions of Eastern philosophical thought. "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one." -Albert Einstein Scroll up and grab a copy today.