선에 관한 가장 기초 입문

An Introduction to Zen Buddhism (Paperback)
Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki / Grove Pr / 1994년 1월

선을 체계적으로 서구에 소개한 사람은 스즈키 선사이다. 쉬운 영어로 여러권의 책을 출판했고 이 책은 그중에서 입문으로 역할하는 책이다. 이책은 선입문서들이 다 그렇듯이 선의 초기 시절의 일화들을 소개한다. 그리고 선에 관한 대부분의 책이 그렇듯이 공안과 일화를 소개할 뿐 해설하지는 않는다. 그 뜻은 독자가 깨달아야 한다는 것이다.

다음은 내가 아마존에 썼던 리뷰이다. 

Zen Buddhism was systemically introduced to the West by Zen master Suzuki. He wrote several books on Zen in plain English and those books are still counted as basic materials to understand Zen. This book cites numerous anecdotes of the heyday of Zen Buddhism, Tang dynasty. This is the typical style of Zen primer.
Buddha attacked the Hinduist concept of atman. Atman is similar to the Platonic forms, that is, all phenomenons have their substance. This way of thought is deeply ingrained in our language. For example, ¡®I¡¯ am always ¡®I¡¯. When I was 5 years old, when I was 20 years old, and when I will be 60 years. And that, we think, with no questioning, those ¡®I¡¯s should have the same identity. And our friends should be so. But those ¡®I¡¯ and she/he could not be the same ones. What always is there is only the name we give. You could know it with no being lost in thought. Buddha taught that the object that our attention is directed lacks the substance and what we really recognize is only the name. The enlightenment, the ultimate goal of Buddhism, is just breaking through the boundaries of that kind of mundane thought. But achieving such breaking is near-impossible. We could understand what Buddha said but knowing is not doing.
Mahayana Buddhism built up heady mountain of scriptures. By the 12 c., it amounted to 160 thousands pages in total. Zen suspected that the enlightenment couldn¡¯t be achieved with reading scripts and meditation. It is best reached not by the study of scripture, the practice of good deeds, rites and ceremonies, or worship of images, but by shaking up ordinary inertia. Zen Buddhism employed Koans to do it. Koan is a brief paradoxical statement or question used as a discipline in meditation. The effort to solve a koan is designed to exhaust the analytic intellect and the will, leaving the mind open for response on an intuitive level. There are about 1,700 traditional koans, which are based on anecdotes from ancient Zen masters. They include the well-known example "When both hands are clapped a sound is produced; listen to the sound of one hand clapping." This should sound the at best illogical at worst babble. But koan is the typical way to reach to the enlightenment in Zen Buddhism. And it is inevitable to write the history of Zen Buddhism is to write the list of koans. This book is no exception. But each koan had its own situation. So each koan should be introduced with its own locale. And this determines the writing style of the Zen primers: almost all Zen primers take the form of storytelling. And Zen master Suzuki is an excellent raconteur.
But Suzuki restrains himself to storyteller, not interpreter of each koan. So you should guess the meaning of koans by yourself. This is the very tradition of Zen-related books. Suzuki could put the meaning of koans in words. But such wording can¡¯t catch the very essence of koan. You should realize it by yourself. All the cues are in this book.

선의 실제 역사

The Golden Age of Zen: Zen Masters of the t'Ang Dynasty (Paperback, 280, Revised)
John C. H. Wu / World Wisdom Books / 2003년 10월

선을 다루는 서적이 대개 그렇듯이 이책 역시 선이 태어나던 시기인 당나라 시절을 다룬다. 원래 영어로 쓰여진 이책은 불교에 낯선 서구인들에게 선을 소개하는 것이었다. 다시 말해 선 입문서이다. 스즈키 선사의 'An Introduction to Zen Buddhism'이 그런 목적으로 쓰여진 책으로는 초기의 저술이고 또 가장 유명하다. 그러나 이책은 스즈키와는 조금 다르다. 스즈키와 마찬가지로 이책 역시 선 입문서의 표준을 따라간다. 공안을 나열하고 연관된 일화를 소개한다. 그러나 스즈키와 달리 저자는 이야기꾼이 아니라 해설자의 입장을 취한다. 이야기꾼은 선을 소개할 때 가장 고전적인 방법이다. 그러나 그런 식으로는 초보자가 선이 무엇인지 알수가 없다. 그러므로 저자는 왜 선이 중국에서 일어날 수 밖에 없었는가부터 시작한다. 그는 도교의 영향을 지적한다. 도교의 이해없이 선은 이해할 수 없다고 말한다. 스즈키의 경우 선을 불교의 전통에서 설명한다. 그러나 선은 역사적 배경에서 이해할 때 더 쉽다. 쉬운 영어로 되어 있어 이해하기 쉽다.

다음은 내가 아마존에 썼던 리뷰이다. 

This book deals with the heyday of Zen Buddhism, Tang dynasty. The purpose of this book is introducing the Westerners to the Zen Buddhism. In other word, this is a Zen primer. Zen master Suzuki¡¯s ¡®An Introduction to Zen Buddhism¡¯ is widely read for this purpose. But this book is somewhat different from Suzuki¡¯s. Just like Suzuki¡¯s book, this book follow the standard format of Zen primer. Listing koans (about the koan, see my review on Suzuki¡¯s book) chronically with the related anecdotes. But unlike Suzuki¡¯s, Wu takes the stance of interpreter not of storyteller. Storytelling is the classic way to introducing Zen Buddhism (for the reason, see my review on Suzuki¡¯s). But in that way, beginners can¡¯t grasp even the basic of Zen Buddhism. So Wu approaches somewhat differently. He begins with why Zen should take place in China, not in India. He points out the influence of Taoism. Taoism has, in fact, affinity to Buddhism and it¡¯s the mindset the Chinese understood foreign thought, Buddhism. So Wu argue that we can¡¯t figure out Zen without understanding basic principles of Taoism. Suzuki¡¯s book, for example, represents and explains the principles of Zen from the tradition of Buddhism. But unfortunately it seems not that good way to figure out Zen. Like other thoughts, Zen could be best understood against the historical backdrop. And it¡¯s the way this book employs and the beauty of this book: each principle of Zen is explained against Taoism and historical backdrop. Thought could be fully understood when the behind motives are grasped, I think. Yep, such works are not hard to see in Buddhology. But this book is written in the plain English to be steadfast to the intention of Zen primer.

선의 실제 역사

선의 황금시대
오경웅 지음, 류시화 옮김 / 경서원 / 1986년 12월

선을 다루는 서적이 대개 그렇듯이 이책 역시 선이 태어나던 시기인 당나라 시절을 다룬다. 원래 영어로 쓰여진 이책은 불교에 낯선 서구인들에게 선을 소개하는 것이었다. 다시 말해 선 입문서이다. 스즈키 선사의 'An Introduction to Zen Buddhism'이 그런 목적으로 쓰여진 책으로는 초기의 저술이고 또 가장 유명하다. 그러나 이책은 스즈키와는 조금 다르다. 스즈키와 마찬가지로 이책 역시 선 입문서의 표준을 따라간다. 공안을 나열하고 연관된 일화를 소개한다. 그러나 스즈키와 달리 저자는 이야기꾼이 아니라 해설자의 입장을 취한다. 이야기꾼은 선을 소개할 때 가장 고전적인 방법이다. 그러나 그런 식으로는 초보자가 선이 무엇인지 알수가 없다. 그러므로 저자는 왜 선이 중국에서 일어날 수 밖에 없었는가부터 시작한다. 그는 도교의 영향을 지적한다. 도교의 이해없이 선은 이해할 수 없다고 말한다. 스즈키의 경우 선을 불교의 전통에서 설명한다. 그러나 선은 역사적 배경에서 이해할 때 더 쉽다. 원래 영어로 쓰인 원저도 쉬운 영어로 되어 있고 번역도 잘되어 있다.

다음은 내가 아마존에 썼던 리뷰이다. 

This book deals with the heyday of Zen Buddhism, Tang dynasty. The purpose of this book is introducing the Westerners to the Zen Buddhism. In other word, this is a Zen primer. Zen master Suzuki¡¯s ¡®An Introduction to Zen Buddhism¡¯ is widely read for this purpose. But this book is somewhat different from Suzuki¡¯s. Just like Suzuki¡¯s book, this book follow the standard format of Zen primer. Listing koans (about the koan, see my review on Suzuki¡¯s book) chronically with the related anecdotes. But unlike Suzuki¡¯s, Wu takes the stance of interpreter not of storyteller. Storytelling is the classic way to introducing Zen Buddhism (for the reason, see my review on Suzuki¡¯s). But in that way, beginners can¡¯t grasp even the basic of Zen Buddhism. So Wu approaches somewhat differently. He begins with why Zen should take place in China, not in India. He points out the influence of Taoism. Taoism has, in fact, affinity to Buddhism and it¡¯s the mindset the Chinese understood foreign thought, Buddhism. So Wu argue that we can¡¯t figure out Zen without understanding basic principles of Taoism. Suzuki¡¯s book, for example, represents and explains the principles of Zen from the tradition of Buddhism. But unfortunately it seems not that good way to figure out Zen. Like other thoughts, Zen could be best understood against the historical backdrop. And it¡¯s the way this book employs and the beauty of this book: each principle of Zen is explained against Taoism and historical backdrop. Thought could be fully understood when the behind motives are grasped, I think. Yep, such works are not hard to see in Buddhology. But this book is written in the plain English to be steadfast to the intention of Zen primer.

사회과학도를 위한 교과서

Statistics for Social Data Analysis (Hardcover, 4)
Knoke, David / Wadsworth Pub Co / 2002년 1월

고급통계교과서는 아니다. 통계학과에서 배우는 것처럼 함수도출을 수리적으로 한다든가 하는 것은 나오지 않는다. SPSS나 SAS를 쓰는데 필요한 정도의 지식만 제시된다. 그 통계적 방법의 의미만 건드리는 것이다. 사회과학 통계서적이 다 그렇다. 이책의 장점은 설명이 명료하고 간단하면서 실제 사례가 풍부하게 제시되었다는 것이다. 그러나 실제 리서치를 할 때 유용하지는 않다. 실제 분석에선 이책에 소개된 것보다 더 고급을 쓰게 되기 때문이다. 초보자에게는 좋지만 실제 연구자에게 유용한 것은 아니다.

다음은 내가 아마존에 썼던 리뷰이다 

This book is a statistics textbook for students of social sciences, not high-end users. I read earlier edition of this book in undergraduate statistics course. In that course, only basics of statistics were instructed. In social sciences, they don't need to know A to Z of statistics for all they have to know is what the function of SPSS or SAS means and what kind of data is needed and how the data would be analyzed in the statistics packages. There is no need to derive the functions in the textbook mathematically as they do in the courses of statistics department. We should understand what the function means, not how it is derived. This book is written in this regard. Unlike orthodox statistics textbook, this book tackles only the meaning of the statistical methods. In doing so, this book illustrates the methods with various field works and SPSS exercises. This is the stance most textbook written for social scientists takes. It seems that this book succeed in achieving the goal. Explanations are succinct and examples are apposite.
But this book is not that useful when you should do real research. Most social sciences articles use more advanced methods than what this book introduces. This book is good enough to beginners, but not so to who would be real researcher. At that point, you should have read more advanced ones already. If not, you couldn't read a piece of article in the common journals.  

It's the politics, stupid

Industrial Policy in an Era of Globalization: Lessons from Asia (Paperback) - Lessons from Asia
Marcus Noland / Peterson Inst for Intl Economics / 2003년 3월

 소책자이다. 이론적 프레임을 제시하는 것이 목적이 아니라 OECD나 IMF에서 공짜로 다운해 볼 수 있는 워킹페이퍼와 비슷한 성격의 정책제안서이다. 자세한 것은 아래에 내가 전에 영어로 쓴 리뷰를 보라

 다음은 내가 아마존에 썻던 리뷰이다.

This booklet is intended not to be theoretical breakthrough or carving out amazing new facts, but to be a policy recommendation in the style of working papers from OECD or IMF which could be downloaded freely from their website.
East Asian developmental states of Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, or their policy tool dubbed as industrial policy garnered enviable encomiums in the 1980s and the early 1990s. There were so many speculations on whether its industrial developmental experiences could be copied into the contexts of other developing countries. World Bank¡¯s ¡®The East Asian Miracle (1993)¡¯ was a good example of such trend. Even the stalwart of lasses-faire capitalism, the States, tinkered with the idea. Government-led establishing of SEMATECH was the instance. Now you can witness the stratospherical-scale experiment in China. But the more-than-a-decade-protracted stagnation in Japan, spectacular debacle of Asian financial crises seeded the suspicion about the model and it blossomed to the full-blown denial at the turn of the century. This monograph is another nail in the coffin.
The industrial policy is the policy set of promotion/protection. The state nurtured target industries which could be internationally competitive to step up the ladder of international comparative advantages. The targeted industry should be protected from the hostile environment up to being internationally competitive, and promoted with directing national resources to that industry. This, of course, bucked the basic premises of market economics with distorting the flow of resources. But authors are not concerned with principles, but whether this policy tool was effective at all. In a nutshell, they are skeptical. According to their econometric data, targeting served to shorten economic recovery, at best. It could be claimed that in the early stage of postwar recovery, the state intervention contributed to some degree. But it¡¯s dubious whether its efficacy could be extended after the initial takeoff stage, in Rostow¡¯s words. The industrial policy is more than economics but it¡¯s the issue of political economy, in other words it¡¯s prone to be captured by vested interests. It¡¯s the de facto consensus that since the 1970s, Japan could not be called as the developmental state: the political economy swayed to negative way to the efficiency of economy since then and it¡¯s the fundamental cause of Japan¡¯s stagnation. The point is summed up as ¡®Two Japans¡¯: the inefficient sectors are parasites on the efficient sectors like electronics, auto. This has dragged the overall efficiency of the economy down. Authors argue that the applicability of industrial policy i.e. promotion/protection is not hindered by WTO regime for there a lot of loopholes available under current rule books. The issue at hand is the efficacy and the political economy. The efficacy is questionable according to data. And it would be next to impossible to overcome the issue of political economy which could insulate the state from the vested interest.
The points this monograph poses are not that unknown. But the manner presenting in the form of literature is the problem of this book. Econometric data are interesting and inspiring. But they are employed to support points. I think they could have organized the points in more straightforward way. Points are scattered, not seamlessly sorted out.