Book Review: Opening the Hand of Thought by Kosho Uchiyama

Opening the Hand of Thought - Foundations of Zen Buddhist Practice by Kosho Uchiyama and translated and edited by Tom Wright, Jisho Warner, and Shohaku Okumura, provides practical advice about Zen practice. I really appreciate the glossary and detailed notes explaining certain words and phrases; very helpful to understand the Chinese, Japanese, and Sanskrit words and phrases. I’m learning that words can be translated in different ways and as language changes over time, translation becomes critical and subject to debate. Another reason I want to learn Japanese, Chinese, Pali, and Sanskrit.

This is one of the few books I’ve read on Zen Buddhist practice that includes figures; although its difficult to put some of this stuff into words, let alone pictures, the author does a great job explaining  the unexplainable.