Review: If you don't know much about it....
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 6, 2013
JoeDanDonigiI read two books by the same author Thomas Hoover.  One was called the "Zen Experience" and this one is called "Zen Culture".  Pretty much the same thing you say?  No.  Zen Experience is mostly about how Buddhism developed in India and China and gives us a history of the various schools and teachers of Buddhism.  So more broad strokes about the countries involved and more specific about individual teachers.  Zen Culture the book I'm currently reviewing is more about Zen Buddhism and its history specifically in Japan and how that history plays a part in architecture, painting, flower arranging, the tea ceremony, and haiku poetry and how these various things affect Zen.  Its a symbiotic relationship.If you want learn the beginnings of Buddhism in India and China and if you're interest lies in specific monks that started schools then start with the Zen Experience.  If you want to learn the little things that make Zen in Japan what it is today then Zen Culture is a good place to start.Photoman35mm