Reviews for Zen and the Art of Calligraphy : The Essence of Sho

The average rating for Zen and the Art of Calligraphy : The Essence of Sho based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2017-11-06 00:00:00 Raquel Jordan This is a book the reader will find himself (or herself) coming back to again and again as if for refreshment from a pure spring. There is something about Zen and calligraphy that go together, like tea and boiling water.

Review # 2 was written on 2021-06-28 00:00:00 Sofia Riska Over the last year or so I have been consuming as many first hand accounts of those that were direct students of GI Gurdjieff after having read all of his writing including Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson, Meetings with Remarkable Men, etc. Though I would not put this one at the top of my list as I preferred Tshekovitch, Peters and the de Hartmann's accounts, I quite enjoyed Zuber's take on working and being in the presence of Gurdjieff. He gave you a taste of what he was able to elicit from those that worked from him and obviously had a huge amount of respect. I found his take on Gurdjieff as an esoteric Christian fascinating as he was not only able to dispel the normal negative associations one has with the modern version of the religion, but also made quite an interesting case for his point of view. It was clear the author's love of hierarchy and be raised christian colored his point of view. But since Zuber was a relatively famous documentary filmmaker at the time who specialized in places off the beaten path that held many different faith traditions, it is clear there is more to his argument than meets the eye. As another reviewer noted, the introduction by PL Travers was otherworldly and may have been worth the price of admission alone. Not recommended for anyone that is not well steeped in the 4th Way work or the writing of Gurdjieff himself.