{"product_id":"9781589881280","title":"Zen Traces: Exploring American Zen with Twain and Thoreau","description":"\u003cp\u003eAs Zen takes root in the West, new forms continue to arise. For centuries Zen masters have tested their students with “koans” and “capping phrases.” A koan is a spiritual paradox that must be solved intuitively, a meditative practice that reveals deeper truths about the self and, ideally, leads to enlightenment. “What is the sound of one hand?” asks a classic koan. Answers typically rely on demonstrations rather than explanations. After solving a koan to the master’s satisfaction, the student chooses an insightful comment—a capping phrase—from a traditional source. The process is a strategy to transcend the limits of conventional language.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eZen Traces\u003c\/i\u003e, Buddhist scholar Kenneth Kraft transposes these time-honored practices in a new idiom. He selects passages from four sources: traditional Zen, present-day Zen, Henry David Thoreau, and Mark Twain. Traditional Zen is Asian; present-day Zen merges Asia and the West; Thoreau and Twain are, of course, Westerners. When a koan-like story about a contemporary Zen teacher is paired with a pithy comment by Mark Twain, something fresh emerges. The resulting juxtapositions, at once playful and serious, are surprising, delightful, and maybe even enlightening.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eKenneth Kraft\u003c\/b\u003e, professor emeritus of religious studies at Lehigh University, is a scholar of Japanese Zen and socially engaged Buddhism.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dry, Paul Books, Incorporated","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47057406427376,"sku":"9781589881280","price":14.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781589881280_p0.jpg?v=1763809631","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781589881280","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}