Preview
  • 101 Zen Stories

  • By: Paul Beck
  • Narrated by: Freda Cooper
  • Length: 3 hrs and 34 mins
  • 4.0 out of 5 stars (280 ratings)

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101 Zen Stories

By: Paul Beck
Narrated by: Freda Cooper
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Publisher's summary

Written in the 13th century by Japanese Zen master Muju. Well-known koans in the collection include "A Cup of Tea", "The Sound of One Hand", "No Water", "No Moon", and "Everything Is Best". Includes the soundtrack The Mysterious Sound of Wind in the Bamboo - a 43 minute collection of Zen-inspired Japanese music by The Matsu Take Ensemble.

©2012 Trout Lake Media (P)2013 Trout Lake Media
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Featured Article: The Best Zen Audiobooks to Guide You to Enlightenment


Perhaps you’re a meditation master looking for some in-depth topics, or maybe you’re new to your zen practice and seeking guidance. Either way, these ten titles offer a comprehensive selection to begin or continue your spiritual practice. Our selection includes poems, short stories, letters, and full-length texts all brought to life in audio. They cover various schools of philosophy and religion from traditionalists to modern practitioners.

What listeners say about 101 Zen Stories

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Could have done without flutes

Stories are good.

The mix is inconsistent so the flutes are annoying and distracting, would have preferred not to have them.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars

Lovely Tales

Lovely Zen tales read with a lovely voice. The music, though, is even more lovely than the tales! It is played with each story, then there is a long segment of uninterrupted music at the end of the 101 tales. What a beautiful ending it was! I plan to use this uninterrupted music for meditation...or whenever I need to soothe my soul...

Namaste... Jade Dragon

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Narration and some context would be helpful

Some of these stories were really great and I could meditate on them and take some lessons from them. Other lessons didn't seem to make any sense, had no context, and left me more confused than anything. I am not a Zen master or disciple so maybe if the story was above my head having a bit of background or narration of the story would have been helpful.

I enjoyed the narration. She was pleasant and told the stories well. I also loved the music.

Overall, worth listening to but not definitely could have been better.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Music too loud

Love the stories. Had hoped to listen as going to sleep but the music comes booming forth aft each story. It's rather jarring.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Zen Koans

Love this narrator, wish she'd done more. Music is a little loud sometimes, but I still love it.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

way too much music

Some of the stories are good Zen stories. Many of them are not good stories and nearly pointless to have included. The music is far too frequently used; before and after every single story which makes listening tedious as the stories are sometimes 30 seconds in length.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Too much flute

Really Long part of the book is the flute music - nice however when expecting stories...

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

dont recommend for sleep

Music is very loud between the stories...maybe twice as loud as the reading. Would be great if there was a more quiet version.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Tiny stories, gigantic morals!

Such an inspirational collection of short stories and zen axioms, beautifully arranged. Gave me a sense of world mystery and enlightenment!

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Does it need the flute every time?

The stories in this book are great and they’re read very well but every single story has a very loud piercing flute melody before and after. The audio levels between the story and the flute aren’t regulated well so the flute is always too loud and a bit obnoxious

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