• 101 Zen Stories

  • By: Paul Beck
  • Narrated by: Freda Cooper
  • Length: 3 hrs and 34 mins
  • 4.0 out of 5 stars (277 ratings)

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101 Zen Stories  By  cover art

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

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
    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
    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Loud Music!

The stories are beautiful and the narration is perfect but the stories are separated by very LOUD music. I found it very stressful to listen to. Also the music is not melodic and is very intense. This would have been so lovely without the music!

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7 people found this helpful

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

Well worth the price

This audio is filled with great Zen stories some old and some new. It is accompanied throughout with oriental music in each chapter. The last 11 chapters are just pure soothing Asian music. A good bargain for the price and well worth a listen. Freda Cooper does an excellent performance with her narration of these classical Zen Stories. I enjoyed it very much.

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6 people found this helpful

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

Stories not Useful Without Good Narration

As an editor for Zen stories myself, I understand how it is not an easy job to convey simplicity. The narrator does her job as a technical reader, but it lacks substance in conveying Zen. The recording also seems to lack warmth for her voice which adds a little to how disconnected it sounds from the content. So, combined with the narrators possible unfamiliarity with the simplicity and warm tone of Zen and the very empirical language that is employed by the book itself, I would not recommend this book very highly.

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5 people found this helpful

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

very interesting!

love it. helps to put life in a more productive perspective. would suggest to anyone needing an emotional and spiritual boost

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4 people found this helpful

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

A great meditative experience listening to this!

But only if you absorb it in a state of meditation or self realization instead of trying to comprehend it's meaning. It is inner knowing of the spirit!

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1 person found this helpful

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

Immeasurably re-playable!

I have had this audio version of the wonderful work Zen Flesh, Zen Bones for several years now, and I find myself drawn back to play it over again many times a year, particularly when I’m feeling drawn off the Path in my own life. It brings clarity and thoughtfulness back to the forefront of my mind.

I feel compelled in part to leave this review due to the number of lower star reviews that speak of the dissatisfaction of the music or the narrator, and this have struck me as quite ironic given the subject matter. . .

I will say in all honesty that I originally wasn’t a big fan of the narration - at first - however, I think it works well, and at times when I read the stories in text form, I hear it as Freda’s voice and it can be quite comforting. I have always been enamored by the musical interludes, as I’ve always felt that the Matsu Take Ensemble’s “The Mysterious Sound in the Bamboo” adds so much character to this audio version that I would find it a bit hollow if it didn’t have it. I also find myself listening to that album often as well. In any case, I hope that many people find this audiobook as, if I may use the term, enlightening -😉- as I have, and may the light of love and peace find a place in their hearts.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    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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