For Shunmyo Masuno, chief priest at Kenkoji, a Soto Zen temple in Yokohama, Zen is an action, not a philosophy. As Masuno explains to The Japan Times, "Zen is concerned with gyōjūzaga, four cardinal behaviors: walking, standing, sitting, lying. It's difficult to discover the essence of Zen by simply reading philosophical books, as is popular in the West. Unless people can apply the basic, active principles of Zen to their daily lives, it's meaningless."

Zen: The Art of Simple Living, by Shunmyo Masuno, Translated by Allison Markin Powell.
224 pages