Swedenborg: Buddha of the North

by D.T. SUZUKI, Andrew Bernstein (Translator)

Overview

"…important for anyone who is concerned with inter-religious dialogue and the meaning of… visionary mysticism."
—The Reader's Review

This first complete English translation of two works by Zen scholar D.T. Suzuki introduces Emanuel Swedenborg and compares Swedenborgian thought to Buddhism. The first work stresses Swedenborg's message that true spirituality demands an engagement in this world; the second compares Swedenborg's description of heaven to the paradise of Pure Land Buddhism.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780877851844
Publisher:	Swedenborg Foundation Publishers
Publication date:	05/01/1996
Series:	SWEDENBORG STUDIES , #5
Edition description:	1st Edition
Pages:	168
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	3 Months to 18 Years

About the Author

Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki (1870-1966) is credited with introducing the West to Zen Buddhism. Suzuki pursued his religious and philosophical studies at Tokyo University. After a ten-year sojourn in the United States, where he worked as an editor of Oriental Studies for Open Court Press, Suzuki returned to his native Japan where he undertook the translation of Swedenborg's works into Japanese. Throughout his long life, this Buddhist scholar taught at colleges in Japan, the United States, and Europe, including Columbia, Yale, Harvard, Cambridge, and Oxford. His works are collected in the 32-volume Suzuki Daisetsu Zenshu. Among his works available in English are Essays in Zen Buddhism, Mysticism: Christian and Buddhist, and Zen and Japanese Culture.

Read an Excerpt

"Previously, I noted that the essence of heaven is innocence and that, because this innocence cannot be achieved through ordinary knowledge, it must be reached through a perfect enlightenment beyond knowledge. What I call enlightenment is the perception that we cannot independently achieve good separate from the Lord God in heaven. Without this perception, we cannot attain innocence.

"Since heaven derives from innocence, its opposite, hell, would have to signify non-innocence. In other words, those who believe in self-power without relying on other-power will always fall into hell. When my ego's purpose suddenly arises, I shoot into hell like an arrow. The purpose of ego, according to Swedenborg, is self-love and worldly love. When the vault of hell is opened, the raging fire and smoke that one sees rising up is what springs from the blaze of these two loves. Those who are in hell in bodily form are completely consumed by these flames. As I said before, there is also heat in heaven, the heat of divine love. However, this heat is like the warmth of spring, and once this warmth flows into the blade of hell, the blaze cools and becomes extremely cold. The heat of heaven acts in this mysterious way. Flowing from the depths of the Divine is a power that cannot be judged by human perception."