Jaocb Raz is Professor Emeritus at the Department of East Asian Studies, Tel Aviv University in the fields of Buddhism, Zen Buddhism, and Japanese culture. He studied at Tel Aviv University, and at Waseda University, Tokyo [Phd studies]. He lived in Japan for many years. He is one of the founders of the Dept. of East Asian Studies, Tel Aviv University.

Fields of Research, teaching, and writing: Buddhism; Zen Buddhism; Mind and consciousness in Asian thought and religion; Buddhism and psychology; Japanese culture – aesthetics, literature, poetry, and anthropology.

Raz is the author of many books and articles on Buddhism, Japanese aesthetics, and Japanese Anthropology –  in Hebrew, English, and Japanese.

 He also  translated into Hebrew many masterpieces of Japanese literature and poetry. He also authored fiction and poetry books – including haiku.

Selected titles: Tokyo and Back; Japanese Mythology; The Anthropology of Yakuza [Japanese and Hebrew]; The Narrow Road to Oku [annotated translation of Basho’s おくのほそ道 “Oku no Hosomichi” ]; A Man in Search of an Ox [annotated translation of classic Zen text –  十牛図]; A Haiku collection; Thus I have Heard – Zen Notes; Quietism and Action in Zen Buddhism; Crazy Talks – commentary on Zen Koans; and many more.

In 2006, Raz was awarded by the Japanese government the decoration “The Order of the Rising Sun” for his contribution to Japanese studies and his outstanding contribution to the friendship and mutual understanding between Japan and Israel.

Raz is a social activist, leading several NGO groups in the fields of peacemaking, social action, and people with special needs. He is also active in the cultivation and dissemination of Buddhism in theory and practice, outside the academic world – invarious professional, institutional, political, and personal spheres in the modern Western world.

Raz has been leading meditation groups for the last thirty years.

Jaocb Raz is Professor Emeritus at the Department of East Asian Studies, Tel Aviv University in the fields of Buddhism, Zen Buddhism, and Japanese culture. He studied at Tel Aviv University, and at Waseda University, Tokyo [Phd studies]. He lived in Japan for many years. He is one of the founders of the Dept. of East Asian Studies, Tel Aviv University.

Fields of Research, teaching, and writing: Buddhism; Zen Buddhism; Mind and consciousness in Asian thought and religion; Buddhism and psychology; Japanese culture – aesthetics, literature, poetry, and anthropology.

Raz is the author of many books and articles on Buddhism, Japanese aesthetics, and Japanese Anthropology –  in Hebrew, English, and Japanese.

 He also  translated into Hebrew many masterpieces of Japanese literature and poetry. He also authored fiction and poetry books – including haiku.

Selected titles: Tokyo and Back; Japanese Mythology; The Anthropology of Yakuza [Japanese and Hebrew]; The Narrow Road to Oku [annotated translation of Basho’s おくのほそ道 “Oku no Hosomichi” ]; A Man in Search of an Ox [annotated translation of classic Zen text –  十牛図]; A Haiku collection; Thus I have Heard – Zen Notes; Quietism and Action in Zen Buddhism; Crazy Talks – commentary on Zen Koans; and many more.

In 2006, Raz was awarded by the Japanese government the decoration “The Order of the Rising Sun” for his contribution to Japanese studies and his outstanding contribution to the friendship and mutual understanding between Japan and Israel.

Raz is a social activist, leading several NGO groups in the fields of peacemaking, social action, and people with special needs. He is also active in the cultivation and dissemination of Buddhism in theory and practice, outside the academic world – invarious professional, institutional, political, and personal spheres in the modern Western world.

Raz has been leading meditation groups for the last thirty years.