- Presents the most important 20th century criticism on major works from The Odyssey through modern literature- The critical essays reflect a variety of schools of criticism- Contains critical biographies, notes on the contributing critics, a chronology of the author's life, and an index- Introductory essay by Harold Bloom

    Deceptively simple, Ryokan's poems transcend artifice, presenting spontaneous expressions of pure Zen spirit. Like his contemporary Thoreau, Ryokan celebrates nature and the natural life, but his poems touch the whole range of human experience: joy and sadness, pleasure and pain, enlightenment and illusion, love and loneliness. This collection of translations reflects the full spectrum of Ryokan's spiritual and poetic vision, including Japanese haiku, longer folk songs, and Chinese-style verse. Fifteen ink paintings by Koshi no Sengai (1895-1958) complement these translations and beautifully depict the spirit of this famous poet.

    Main theme at a political level is anti-Jewish prejudice in the US and the case of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti. At a personal level, relationships with family and women provide the bulk of the story.

    Have foreigners shaped China’s history to a greater extent than has previously been acknowledged, reaching back possibly millennia? Was Confucius’ most famous book, the Analects, inspired by entheogenic medicines imported from abroad, possession of which in the 1930s brought one before the firing squad in the name of Confucius? In these book review essays by Isham Cook, foreign devils, old China Hands, eccentric expatriates, and a few Chinese tell an offbeat history of China’s last two centuries, with a backward glance at ancient China as told by Western mummies.

    

    The “haiku moment,” as it is called, refers to a heightened awareness of the world around us and how, in that small, transient period, the greater essence of our lives is reflected. As our culture speeds up and our personal lives feel overbooked and busy, haiku can offer an easy way to slow down, appreciate the simple things around us, and give us a moment to reflect on our lives. In Haiku Mind, Patricia Donegan presents 108 haiku that offer a larger lesson on how we can approach our lives. With themes such as honesty, transience, and compassion, Donegan offers haiku and commentary as a form of meditation—a moment where we can slowly and naturally discover what is simply here.

    This is not that book! Hardcore Zen was a groundbreaking look at Zen Buddhism through the eyes of a Western punk rocker living in Japan who became an ordained monk while working for a company that made cheap monster movies. In this new sequel, Hardcore Zen Strikes Again, Brad returns to his roots and provides a glimpse into some of his early writings that formed the basis for that book. These essays, mostly from a long-defunct website Brad produced in the early 2000s, form a snapshot of the genesis of Brad’s first book. Brad has provided new introductions and afterwords to each essay as well as a complete chapter written for Hardcore Zen that did not make the final cut, plus an article about his experiences at the company he was working for when the book was written. Together they make an invaluable collection for anyone interested in Brad’s writing as well as those interested in his unique way of presenting the timeless truths of Zen in a contemporary idiom.

    The concocted variety tends to be insipid, flat, stiff, standardized, completely lacking in exciting and imaginative use of language. Read Real Japanese Essays, and its companion volume Read Real Japanese Fiction, allows readers to experience the work of several of todays foremost writers as if they were lifelong Japanese speakers. The pieces in Read Real Japanese Essays are informed by the personalities of the writers: Haruki Murakami, Banana Yoshimoto, Mitsuyo Kakuta, Junko Sakai, Yoko Ogawa, Kou Machida, Keiichiro Hirano and Hideo Levy. By turns humorous, serious, beautiful and biting, they have been selected on the basis of their appeal. All are stimulating works that will motivate readers to want more. Just like real Japanese books, the text in this collection runs from top bottom and from right to left. For those needing backup, the essays have been supplemented with facing-page translations of the phrases used therein, often with notes on nuance, usage, grammar or culture. In the back of the book, moreover, is a built-in Japanese-English learner's dictionary and a notes section covering issues of nuance, usage, grammar and culture that come up in each essay. Best of all, the book comes with a free audio CD containing narrations of the essays, performed by a professional voice actress. This will help users to become familiar with the sounds and rhythms of Japanese, as well as the speed at which the language is normally spoken.

    The translators have balanced faithfulness to the Japanese with an appreciation of the unique spirit of each poem to create English versions that evoke the joy and wonder of the originals with the same astonishing economy of language. An introduction by the translators and short biographies of the poets are included. Reproductions of woodblock prints and paintings accompany the poems.

    This collection of translations of the classical Zen poets of China, Japan, and Korea includes the work of Zen practitioners and monks as well as scholars, artists, travelers, and recluses, ranging from Wang Wei, Hanshan, and Yang Wanli, to Shinkei, Basho, and Ryokan.

    Within that business saga is the dramatic tale of Japan's brightest financial minds, the men who made the Japanese economic miracle come to life, and their struggle against the economic failure in the 1990s. Into this climate of despair, where Japan seemed incapable of reviving prosperity, came a group of wily and determined Americans who would discover just how different the Japanese really are.

    There, on the shelves next to the old books, live the Little People, a tiny family who were once brought from England to Japan by a beloved nanny. Since then, each generation of Moriyama-family children has inherited the responsibility of filling the blue glass with milk to feed the Little People and it's now Yuri's turn. The little girl dutifully fulfils her task but the world around the Moriyama family is changing. Japan is caught in the whirl of what will soon become World War II, turning her beloved older brother into a fanatic nationalist and dividing the family for ever. Sheltered in the garden and the house, Yuri is able to keep the Little People safe, and they do their best to comfort Yuri in return, until one day owing to food restrictions milk is in shorter supply...From the Trade Paperback edition.

    However, he soon becomes all too painfully aware of the consequences of his actions.

    What if every day you work up with a wonderful feeling of peace, warmth, well-being and complete satisfaction? As a world traveled Doctor of Metaphysics for well over 30 years of my life, and as a student of metaphysics all of my life, I can tell you without doubt, that very life you crave is at your fingertips starting right now. This book showcases 7 powerful techniques of meditation that will make you a pro in no time.This book is not like other meditation books which only talk about philosophies and do not give real actionable steps.This book will make you a "Zen monk" if you have an hour to spare each day. Meditation is really simple thing which anyone can do to improve their overall brain performance and happiness. Are you one of those who - -Want to be really happy… not just faking smiles anymore? -Are sick of being tired and bored with life? -Are going through life without enjoying it? -Are so depressed and negative that no one really enjoys spending time with you? Well, I even one of them sounds familiar, this book has come to your rescue. This book is short, simple and no-fluff guide to meditation. I will teach you some of the powerful techniques such as : - Brand New Visual Meditation Matrix World Technique( This technique can increase your IQ beyond 180 points) Never heard before Total Awareness Meditation A Very Powerful Breathing Meditation Powerful concentration exercises and much more!! You must ask for it... Q. I want to know what it feels like to be loved? Q. I want to know what love feels like? Q. I want to know what peace feels like? Q. I want to have an experience of what prosperity is like? Q. I want an experience of that? Q. I want an experience of manifestation in my life? I have put together my life’s works, studies and practices of Metaphysical and Spiritual law, in a way that will help you do just that! You cannot be a true success in life, until you have succeeded within spiritually. When you understand and practice spiritual law, metaphysical law goes into effect. Metaphysics is harnessing your energy and “imagining” exactly what you want to happen in your life. How do you harness and imagine? You Meditate Correctly! You can only get into your inner self to receive answers, fix and reorganize through meditation. Meditation allows us to access our resources, the resources trapped in our mind that want to come out. There is no greater resource than our mind and there is no better way to access that resource than through meditation. And to not make use of this valuable resource of our mind is like going out and buying a real expensive computer system with every imaginable program that has been produced, and never turn the computer on.

    George Kennedy of Yale, who called it “a small mass of confusion". The old theory as to the nature of the Chinese written character (which Pound & Fenollosa followed) is that the written character is ideogrammic—a stylized picture of the thing or concept it represents. The opposing theory (which prevails today among scholars) is that the character may have had pictorial origins in prehistoric times but that these origins have been obscured in all but a few very simple cases, & that in any case native writers don’t have the original pictorial meaning in mind as they write. Whether Pound proceeded on false premises remains an academic question. Let the pedants rave. An important extension of imagist technique in poetry was gained by Pound’s perception of the essentially poetic nature of the Chinese character as it's still written.