My latest book to read on the bus, this 500 page tome contains thousands of dialogues between Zen Masters and their disciples. The period it coveres goes over almost a millenium, from Bodhidharmas voyage from the West to his 25th generation of students.

It was edited by a man named Andy Ferguson, and published by a company called Wisdom Publications. Included in the back of the book is a handy pull out chart of the lineage of the several hundred Buddhist teachers the book talks about.

What makes this book a favorite read on the bus is how brief and easy the episodes are to read. For example, imagine this dialogue:

Zen Master: "Do you know what this is?"
Zen Student: "It's a whisk, master"
Zen Master: "Don't shout at me!"
Zen Student: "I wasn't shouting!"
Then the Zen Master slapped the student.
What makes this so worthwhile is the fact that this so much resembles what I would normally be reading on the bus, which is books of comic strips. For example, the following exchange would make a lot of sense coming out of the mouths of Garfield and Odie.

This book also inspired my new Zen Buddhist Drinking Game.

Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors.