Customer Rating: 
Summary: Takuan, more than just a tasty pickle!
Comment: This text, which includes the elusive "Taia-ki" or Sword of Taia is not for the casual reader. It requires study and serious thought to approach it's lessons. My suggestion is to read it, study it, and then forget it and go about your business. Zen is found in our daily activities, so keep it simple. Eat when hungry, go to the toilet when you need to eliminate, and sleep when tired. Once internalized, let it go, focus on the here and now, and get out of the trap of over-intellectualizing everything. These are some of the fundamental lessons of the priest Takuan Soho. He was a confidante to the powerful, and a master of many arts. His advice to the Yagyu sword experts is as valid today as it was 400 years ago. Whether the reader has an interest in zen and martial arts or not, this philosophical work is worthy of the reader's attention.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Complicated
Comment: I enjoyed reading this book although I can't really say what I got out of it. The philosophies were difficult for me to grasp and I really did not come away understanding more about Eastern Philosophy.
I am going to try a few others.
Customer Rating:
Summary: unfettered mind----zen answers
Comment: This is it; skip all the rest; "the unfettered mind" tells the master
swordsman, right off the bat, how to stay cool enough to survive. Do I have to say more?
Customer Rating:
Summary: Mind over matter?
Comment: You might be someone who's down to earth, just like, figuring out how in someone's name some Japanese sword fighter is going to help you out in your daily life. Well, he isn't going to.
What this book does teaches you is to seek within yourself and return to your own core. As I'm not someone who meditates or does much spiritual enlightment, this book still taught me a lot. As for the time of reading it, it takes you back into time and makes you think of certain things you might not have thought about all your life. So, if that's enlightment, count me in.
With only 92 real pages to read, this book still gives much value for its price. Most sentences are compressed with knowledge and sometimes make you read them twice. Hey, that's 184 pages already then!
Are you interested in gaining some spiritual thoughts and maybe some habits as well? Then read this book.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Takuan Soho's Legacy
Comment: This is a legacy of Takuan Soho, a Zen monk from medieval Japan who live in the same period with Minamoto Mushasi, author of The Book of Five Rings. In this book Takuan Soho was trying to explain the concept of Zen to other sword master, Yagyu Munemori, and of course from the perspective of Buddhism. "A" gook book actualy but it takes a great amount of time to read and understand it.
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