The Complete Book of Zen (ISBN 1862042551)

bad...just plain bad:
this book is awful. He says the same stuff over and over. The author, supposedly a shaolin grandmaster (I doubt it), wastes your time by slamming every other authority on Zen. He clearly has an ego problem. Not sure how a "shao lin grandmaster" and Zen expert could think this way. And, after slamming everyone else's opinion, he rarely offers his own view in a clear concise manner. He tries to hide his lack of knowledge by reciting "encyclopaedia style" history for over the first 1/2 of the book. Then, to torture you further, he keeps repeating the same history over and over, every chance he gets, for the 2nd half of the book. So frustrating. I learned nothing after reading the book twice. I could go on and on about all the flaws of this book but I can simply tell you that you won't feel good after you read it. It is the worst book on Zen I have ever read and I have read dozens. I am just trying to help save you some money here, sorry I can't jump on the bandwagon with the other reviewers. I can't imagine ANYONE liking this book, even if I try to use my most objective thinking. It seems to me the reviews were written by the author or some of his friends. This book is truly THAT bad!

Magical thinking:
The authors main purpose in tracing the history of Zen seems to be to justify the Shaolin temple. There is also a fair amount of what I would characterize as magical thinking, especially the belief that through kung fu exercises and zen meditation one can acquire supernatural powers and cure disease. For example, on page 23 he says "With Zen cultivation, psychic powers like telepathy, clairvoyance and astral travel may be developed." But apparently the techniques don't help much with skepticism, rational thought, or the development of objective and reproducible testing conditions to measure the validity of such a claim. On page 25: "I myself have successfully employed these principles, together with the relevant exercises, to help cure many patients of their so-called incurable diseases, including cancer." Western medicine certainly falls down when attempting to classify and manage certain types of disease that don't fit the allopathic model well. But the idea that disease occurs, as WKK suggests, from a failure to reach one's spiritual potential puts an element of blame on the patient that is inappropriate. Also inappropriate is the false hope given to (and in some cases the money taken from) patients faced with terminal illness looking for a way to hang on to life. It's not all bad. The second half of the book offers a lot of practical instruction. And to his credit, WKK stresses the purpose of all of this is to improve our experience of reality rather than wait for an afterlife.

Hmmm..:
Although not the best book on Zen, it certainly has some good information for those who dont know about the Zen aspect of the Chinese martial arts. As for the "supernatural" abilities that he says, they are not supernatural, they are simply the highest ability of a human being. Research and you will see how it all fits together, research how the meridians and accupressure points of the point all generate bioelectricity, research how an experiment was done on testing the electrical field of the huuman body pinpointing the EXACT points that the chinese have documented for over 4,000 years, research how through being able to train and harness this chi can have both healing and detrimental effects, research how 'spritual healers' or martial art masters with the skill (very rare nowdays) have been studied and have generated incredible measures of heat from their palms and main accupuncture meridians, or "chakras" as others might describe. This training can be done both in martial arts and sitting meditation, although it is not as easy to "attain" as it requires letting go of all the nonsense that we deal with in every day life. I realized that these "spiritual healers" (who some have actually healed and generated results in front of documented scientific experiments, of course the true scientific explanation is still a mystery) through gently massaging or (if have a good ability of using this "chi") sometimes just placing the palms over organs and these meridians. It is more of a "feel" than concious thinking though. Also a martial artist, with force, or a fierce exertion of chi (that can be done without even touching) can potentially disable or kill a person, you ever been dead legged? thats because a certain vital spot of your leg has been struck at the right angle and becomes temporarily unusable. The "harder" styles of martial arts develop finger chi so that their hands may dig into these points with striking or grabbing (chin na). Unfortunately most Americans (I am one) are ignorant of this knowledge, even though it has been around for thousands of years. Hope you all read this review, peace p.s. it is also known in some martial art circles that the chi goes through cycles in 2 hour periods over 24 hours for each specific organ area, these cavities of the body (specific ones) correspond to specific organs and when struck at the 2 hours of cycling can cause death, or temporary disability, of course even if one acquired the specific knowledge of this , you would not be able to use it without proper training, in fact most teachers with the ability to do so will rarely ever disclose this knowledge. I dont even know why I just said all of this, but at least now, some of you true martial artists, know that the true "secrets" can be found through proper research.

Now that's good Zen:
Zen Buddhism has its home in the Shaolin temple in China, which is also known for its gongfu. The samurai in Japan also were ardent practioners of Zen to improve their swordsmanship. These phenomena has baffled scholars for many years: for arts that practice fighting, why practice a "peaceful" religion/spiritual philosophy? This book has the answer. It explains the concrete connection between Zen and gongfu. On the whole its an enjoyable book. Master Wong uses various sutras and koans to explain different types of meditations, Zen or otherwise, while also givine a good comparison as between other forms of Buddhism as well as tracing its roots from India to China to Japan. On the whole, for those who want to have a well rounded regimen in training for both mind and body, this is a great book to start. This book gives a good introduction to qigong and gongfu as well as best ways to prepare for meditation. I only give 4 stars for a couple of reasons. Master Wong does tend to repeat himself in this book. Also in writing about martial arts in general, he seemed to lack humility about the subject. Yes, I also agree gongfu is good, but I also think using other forms of martial arts, like karate and taekwondo, can also be suited for Zen study; as that is how I'm doing this training. Either way, it's a good book to check out. If doesn't want to be too bogged down in mere intellectual studies of sutras, this helps one in getting to the core of what Zen is really about.

etic vs emic:
If you are looking for a scholarly exposition about zen, this is not it. Sifu Wong Kiew Kit is an sifu (master) of chi kung and Southern Shaolin with students all over the world. In my feeling, if you want the view of a scholar trying to trace various philosophical arguments through the history of zen you might try a book by Paul Williams. This book is good if you want the perspective of someone who is keen on the "practical nature" of zen. Being a martial arts master, his descriptions and illustrations are couched in that tradition. You might seek out a book by Thich Nhat Hanh first though.