Odonatological Abstracts

(12886) SUZUKI, D.T., 1973. Zen and Japanese culture. Princeton Univ. Press [Bollingen Series No. 64], Princeton, xxiv+478 pp., 69 figs excl. ISBN 0- -691-01770-0. Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki, Japan’s foremost authority on Zen Buddhism and author of over one hundred works on the subject, died in Tokyo in 1966, at the age of 95. In the present work, after briefly explaining what Zen is, he considers in detail various aspects of Japanese art and life that this Buddhist discipline has influenced: the cult of swordsmanship, the tea ceremony, the haiku form of poetry, and the Japanese love of nature. Other essays are devoted to the relationship of Zen and Confucianism, to the role of Zen in the tradition of Samurai, and to Japanese art. – Of ethnoodonatological interest is the reproduction of an early 18th century woodblock print (60 x 104 cm), by an unknown artist, printed by Munakata Shiko, from Suzuki’s coll., titled “The Buddha entering into Nirvana”. The mourners include human and nonhuman beings, the insects being represented by 3 dragonflies. A detailed description and an essay go along with the illustration.