Books like The Blue Cliff Record

This is the classic compendium of Zen koans, with commentary appended, along with poetic commentary on the commentary. It is for the most part brain shattering, and it's appeal is broad, as it bridges the sudden and gradual paths.It is a supreme melding of radical metaphysics and radical language. A perfect union of pure spirituality and pure poetry. I do not know how the Clearys managed to translate this. One of the great feats of that art.Too often Zen is thought of as a kind of peaceful mindless blankness that serves as a universal approach to activities ranging from archery to shitting, but this collection lays bare its intense intellectual vibrancy. Which isn't to say it's academic and egg-heady, rather it lays bare the mental activity required when thoughts are used to free one from ego-centric thought-prisons. The practice of Zen, and the reading of this book, is an extremely calisthenic activity that strikes repeatedly at the root of consciousness as it repeatedly, and thoughtlessly, strives to shrink itself into an identity with the tiny thought-enclosed ego self.