Zen Tzu

About the Book

A Zen transcription of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching would not be necessary if Taoism and Zen were essentially identical, and would not be possible if Taoism and Zen were entirely different.

The Zen Tzu is the result of this intriguing combination of similarities and differences that became increasingly evident over many years of studying and pondering these two venerable and enigmatic Oriental traditions.

Eventually, however, familiarity met with imagination to reveal how the wisdom in the customary 81 chapters of Lao Tzu's Chinese text could be adapted to concur with Zen's Japanese character. So the Zen Tzu is finally the completion of a project that began even before the 1994 publication of The Tao of Zen.

Perhaps this creative effort, together with extensive Appendices, will not only provide important insights into the commonalities shared by Taoism and Zen, but might even result in a distinctive work with its own particular merits.

About the Author

Ray Grigg is the author of numerous internationally sold books on Taoism and Zen (The Tao of Relationships, The Tao of Being, The Tao of Sailing, Zen Brushpoems, The Tao of Zen, The New Lao Tzu, The Sage's Way, The Zen of an Earth Mythology and Zen Tzu), and has had a keen interest in Eastern philosophy for more than 50 years.

His environmental book, The EcoTrilogy: Ecologos, Ecopathy & Ecocide, uses the same detached objectivity and lucid clarity to explore, respectively, the philosophical, psychological and biophysical dimensions of our factious relationship with the ecology of the natural world—a fraught issue that is rapidly evolving from serious to critical.

Prior to writing professionally since 1985, he was a teacher in senior secondary schools of British Columbia, offering instruction in principally English and literary history, but also designing and teaching courses in cultural history, fine arts and comparative world religions.

Between 2000 and 2016, he was writing a weekly environmental column, Shades of Green, for newspapers and the internet—the 144 chapters of The EcoTrilogy were derived from these selected writings. He also conducted interviews on environmental themes for a local TV channel, and is a former director of the Advisory Council for The Centre For Studies in Religion and Society at the University of Victoria in British Columbia. After a busy life of teaching, travel, photography, design, sailing and sea kayaking, he continues to write and give occasional presentations and workshops on Taoism, Zen and environmental themes.

He lives contentedly with his wife—a classical musician—in a self-built home on ten acres of forested land on Quadra Island, British Columbia, Canada. A large organic garden and orchard supply much of their food needs. Their pets are the wild birds and animals that share their property.