SOURCE: “The Influence of D. T. Suzuki in the West,” in A Zen Life: D. T. Suzuki Remembered, edited by Masao Abe, John Weatherhill, Inc., 1986, pp. 109-17.

In the following essay, Abe examines the influence Suzuki's interpretation of Zen Buddhism had on the West.

In the West, as well as in Japan, Suzuki Sensei has often been regarded exclusively as an exponent of Zen in the twentieth century. He was, however, a many-sided individual and a thinker of consummate synthesis rarely found in our times. One of his earliest books in English is entitled Outlines of Mahayana Buddhism, and the significance of Mahayana Buddhism was his major concern from the outset. He carefully studied the Lankavatara Sutra, and published a translation, index, and exegesis of the Sutra. The Gandavyuha Sutra and Huayen [Hua-yen] Buddhism also were subjects of persistent interest and research throughout his life. In addition, he...