Samurai Zen: the Warrior Koans unites 100 of the rare riddles representing the core spiritual discipline of Japan’s ancient samurai tradition. Dating from the thirteenth-century records of Japan’s Kamakura temples, and traditionally guarded with a reverent secrecy, they reflect the earliest manifestation of pure Zen in Japan as created by Zen Masters for their warrior pupils. Unlike the classical Chinese koan riddles, the Japanese koans used incidents from everyday life – a broken teacup, a water-jar, a cloth – to bring the warrior pupils of the samurai to the Zen realization. As key preparatory tests, they were direct attempts to waken the sleeping wisdom in each man, found in the region of conscious meditation that is without thought. Their aim was to enable a widening of consciousness beyond the illusions of the limited self, and a joyful inspiration in life – a state that has been compared to being free under a blue sky after imprisonment. Trevor Leggett (1914 – 2000), for many years the Head of the Japanese Service of the BBC, was a leading practitioner of Judo and among the West’s most recognized modern experts on Zen and the eastern arts. He is the author of several books on Zen Buddhism including Zen and the Ways and Encounters in Yoga and Zen, and was awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure by the Japanese Government in 1984 in recognition of his work in promoting Japanese culture abroad.
