Four decades ago   aged twenty   the author experienced what he calls a  negative satori," a fundamental and irrefutable realization not of enlightenment, but of himself as a predicament only enlightenment could resolve. This, shaped by the hammer blows of a singular American professor, Richard DeMartino, brought him to Zen, and to Japan. Yet over time, of far greater import than his bungling efforts were the wonderful occupants of the Zen world he encountered: Toyoshima-san, the meditation Prometheus whose superhuman efforts astounded and inspired all while he remained impaled on the cliff's edge; the Thief, chief monastery monk who stole the world from whoever he encountered and whose yawns and the brushing of his teeth shot sparks of Absolute Meaning; Hisamatsu, the great lay Zen Master who at age 16 overheard a doctor tell his mother he'd be dead in six months, only to awaken ten years later and become the most delighted man in Japan; Bunko, the monk kind to others but ferocious with himself, whose daily state of Oneness in meditation left him dissatisfied because despite all exertion he could not crush it to pieces and break beyond it.These are among the sitters for the portraits in Reports From the Zen Wars, Steve Antinoff's attempt to bear witness to what for him has been The Greatest Show on Earth, price of admission one lotus position.

In this practical manual, osho (zen teacher) Kigen Raul Davila offers us a clear and simple step-by-step guide to the practice of Zen Buddhism, which he considers neither a religion nor a philosophical system. It is, rather, a practical teaching which helps us direct our complete attention to our mental processes. This practice centers us, calms our mind, and helps us stop our unending internal dialogue. This lets us take a well-earned vacation from ourselves, our daily problems, and the tyranny of our past and future. When we stop this internal dialogue we transcend our Self and the world of forms. We go beyond Self and Other, Self and things "out there," Self and You, Self and everything else. We then enter a space of great Silence, in which neither the past nor the future disturb us, a space which is all present, with no limitations, nor problems, a space of freedom. We realize that is the true reality, our true nature, and feel great peace and happiness, the joy of freedom."