The lotus and the robot

298 Pages·1961·5.004 MB·English

by  Arthur Koestler

THE LOTUS AND THE ROBOT

The Lotus
and
the Robot
ARTHUR KOESTLER_
arper Colophon Books
ew York
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of
trade, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise disposed of without the
publisher’s consent, in any form of binding or cover other than that in
which it is published.
THE LOTUS AND THE ROBOT. Copyright © 1960 by
Arthur Koestler. All rights reserved. No part of
this book may be used or reproduced in any
manner whatsoever without written permission
except in the case of brief quotations embodied
in critical articles and reviews. For information
address Harper & Row, Publishers, Incorporated,
49 East 33rd Street, New York, N.Y. 10016.
This book was originally published by The
Macmillan Company in the United States of
America and is here reprinted by arrangement.
First HARPER COLOPHON edition published 1966 by
Harper & Row, Publishers, Incorporated, N. Y.
Library of Congress Catalog Card No.: 61-6583
TO
VERRIER ELWIN

Acknowledgements
THE publishers wish to thank the following for permission
to quote from the works mentioned: Vedanta, Kerala, India,
Atma-Darshan and Atma-Nirvritt, by Krishna Menon;
Shree Shree Anandamayee Sangha, Varanasi, India, Mother
as Revealed to Me, by Baiji, and Jayanti Souvenir, by
Mahamahopadyaya Gopinath Kaviraj; The Hogarth Press,
The Twice Born, by G. Morris Carstairs; Public Affairs Press
(U.S.A.) and Beacon Press (U.K.), Experiments with Truth,
by Mahatma Gandhi; Routledge and Kegan Paul (U.K.) and
The Bollingen Foundation (U.S.A.), Zen and Japanese
Culture, by D. T. Suzuki; Routledge (U.K.) and Pantheon
Books Inc. (U.S.A.), Zen in the Art of Archery, by Dr. Eugen
Herrigel; Charles Tuttle (U.S.A), Understanding the
Japanese Mind, by Dr. J.C. Moloney; The Harvard University
Press (U.S.A.), The Psychiatric Hospital as a Small Com-
munity, by William Coudhill; David Higham and Associates,
The World of Dew, by D. J. Enright; Alfred Knopf Inc., The
Temple of the Golden Pavilion, by Yukio Mishima, trans.
by Ivan Morris; The Cresset Press (U.K.) and Alfred Knopf
(U.S.A.), The Western World and Japan, by Sir George
Sansom; ‘The Yoga Institute, Bombay, International Journal
on the Science of Yoga, by Mrs. Shri Yogendra.
Contents
Preface 11
PART ONE
INDIA
Four Contemporary Saints 15
Yoga Unexpurgated 85
Yoga Research 101
The Pressure of the Past 133
The Crossroads 151
PART TWO
JAPAN
The Lotus and the Robot 165
The Unstable Crust 189
Character-Gardening 198
The Comforts of Ambiguity 216
10 The Road to Zen 227
11 Delusion and Self-Delusion 242
12 ‘A Stink of Zen’ 265
Epilogue 276
Index 287