The Jesuit scholar Fr. Athanasius Kircher was 0ne of the most remarkable men of his time. He published forty major works in Latin on topics ranging from the natural sciences to Oriental studies. Many of his writings can be read with profit even after the passage of over three hundred years.

In 1667 Fr. Kircher published his China Illustrata. This book attempted to provide Europeans with a picture of the Chinese Empire and of the neighboring countries. Kircher drew on the written Jesuit sources, on oral accounts by returning missionaries, and on a variety of western sources such as Marco Polo. For over two hundred years, Kircher’s China Illustrata was probably the single most important written source for shaping the Western understanding of China and its neighbors.

What is Ch'an? What is Ch'an training? What is Ch'an teaching? Is Ch'an the same as the Japanese Zen, which many westerners are now familiar with due to the pioneering work of D. T. Suzuki and so many others?

In this important and fact-filled treatise on Buddhist cultivation for contemporary students, Master Nan Huai-Chin details the principles and practices behind the various schools of self-realization. Many Westerners have biases regarding works by Confucius and Mencius; even contemporary scholars misunderstand the philosophical approach that covers the spiritual cultivation path to enlightenment- the practice involved in attaining realization. This cultivation material is extremely advanced and touches upon almost every facet of spiritual cultivation–meditation techniques to use, spiritual barriers you'll encounter, physical kung-fu you'll experience, psychic powers, cultivating samadhi and dhyana, the three realms of existence, the dharmakaya-sambhogakaya-nirmanakaya bodies of spiritual cultivation, and so on. It's heavily oriented to Zen, Buddhism, Taoism, Tibetan esotericism and Chinese culture.

Within these two books Nan Huai-Chin lays out the complete structure of the universal cultivation path that's found in the world's genuine religions. A very advanced book that references hundreds of Buddhist and Taoist scriptures and touches upon countless topics of the path to enlightenment.

A discussion of Taoist theories, symbols, methods and the results of meditation from a psychological-physiological point of view. Includes the use of meditation to promote a long and healthy life, and outlines the effects of opening up ch'i energy. This is absolutely a mandatory basic beginner's book on spiritual cultivation regardless of your religious calling, no questions about it. If you want to learn meditation for real spiritual growth, this book is a MUST! It not only explains the physical changes you will experience on the spiritual path, but also contains insights into holistic medicine and complete lessons on Taoism, Buddhism, Tantra, yoga, internal alchemy and Zen.

Grimm devotes a good part of his book to the elaboration of the anatta-doctrine; he states that the Buddha sought for the atta in the indirect way, by taking away from the atta everything that is not the atta. The Buddha followed this way so radically and with so much success, that whatever is cognizable revealed itself to his as anatta. He says: "You teach the atta, but I teach what the atta is not. You speak about the atta, but I speak of anatta; in short, you have the atta-method, the atta-vada, whereas I have the anatta-method, the anatta-vada."

The book deals with Truth as the theme and basis of the doctrine of the Buddha. It explains (i) Truth, Criterion, World and subject of suffering, (2) Truth of the arising of suffering, (3) Truth of the annihilation of suffering, (4) Truth of the path leading to the annihilation of suffering. The author presents the highest knowledge, the supreme reality to which Buddha is awakened, in so cogent a form, free from mythological and mythical clothing that it becomes positively self-evident to the reader.