D. T. Suzuki

A Biography

A. Irwin Switzer

The Buddhist Society London

59

1985

9781985875432

Biography

1 total

This represents the first biography of Dr Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki (1870-1966), one of the great men of modern times who, through the course of a long and active life, worked tirelessly to unite East and West in the quest for essential religious truth. It was he more than any other who unlocked the treasure-house of Mahāyāna Buddhism for Westerners, but more especially he is remembered for his lucid expositions of that most elusive of all subjects: Zen Buddhism. In this work, the author succinctly traces the career of Daisetz Suzuki from his early years of genteel poverty in provincial Japan, through the intense struggles of his Zen training, to his first sojourn in the West (1897-1909) — the West to which he was to return time and time again throughout his long life, culminating in an intensive 10-year period when, a man far advanced in years, he undertook a strenuous teaching programme in the United States and Europe. He finally passed away in his native Japan in 1966 at the age of 95.