Buddhist masters of the past have explained the relationship between Buddhist theory and the Truth by way of a simple metaphor. The Truth, they say, is like the distant moon. Ideas, theories, and explanations are merely fingers pointing at that far-away goal. They are not, and can never be, the moon itself. So this book is one such finger, a finger pointing at the moon, but the moon itself can be touched by you alone... The Buddhism which emerges from To Meet the Real Dragon is Buddhism for real people: ordinary human beings with ordinary human problems. It is humanistic Zen--Zen for human beings. Here are a few of the topics covered by this very readable book: What is Religion, Meeting a True Master, Master Dogen, Science and Buddhism, Idealism and Materialism, Gautama Buddha, The Four Noble Truths, The Transmission of the Truth, Cause and Effect, Not Doing Wrong, Action: The Center of Buddhism, Zazen, The Four Philosophies.

This book is a collection of ten shorts talks on Buddhism by Japanese Zen Master Gudo Nishijima. In the first part, Master Nishijima talks about his theory of three philosophies and one reality - his interpretation of Gautama Buddha's Four Noble Truths. Each talk is followed by a lively discussion and questions and answers. The second part contains translations of three talks given by Master Nishijima on NHK Radio in Japan in 1994. The talks are titled: Buddhism & Action, Action & Daily Life, and Buddhism & Zazen. ..".If we look at the many Sutras written about the Buddha's realization we can conclude that he reached that viewpoint or state because he revered action. Action cannot exist at any other time or place than the present moment here and now. Another way of looking at this is in terms of past, present and future: no matter what mistakes we have made in the past, although we may regret them, we can never return to the past to put things right. At the same time, although we want to attain our dream or reach some aim in the future, we can never go into the future to reach our dream or aim. But if we look at life as centered on acting, we see that we can only really exist in the present. We can never return to the past, and we cannot go into the future. This is the essence of what Gautama Buddha taught-real existence is the present moment..."

When Roshi Philip Kapleau returned to the United States in 1966, after thirteen years of training in Japan with two of the country's greatest masters of Zen, he "did not come home empty-handed -- he brought us a living word of Zen," Kenneth Kraft has said. The first Westerner fully and naturally at home with Zen, Roshi Kapleau has made it his life's work to translate Zen Buddhism into an American idiom, to take Zen's essence and plant it in American soil. Four decades later, the seeds of Zen that Roshi Kapleau planted have blossomed. Zen flourishes and Roshi Kapleau continues to help people find enlightenment and fulfillment "within, " not outside, their daily lives. "True awakening," Roshi Kapleau has said, "is not a 'high' that keeps one in the clouds of an abstract oneness, but a realization that brings one solidly down to earth into the world of toil and struggle."

Kapleau has written a number of books in his lifetime, "The Three Pillars of Zen" the most well known among them, but the heart of his work, his teachings to his students, has never before been made available. "Awakening to Zen" extracts the vital threads of Roshi Kapleau's teachings and braids them into a strong yet supple cord that readers may follow toward a deeper understanding of the enlightened life. Roshi Kapleau's warm, sometimes humorous but always grounded lessons touch on every aspect of daily reality; they capture his power, too, to transform the lives of not just practicing Buddhists, but all people who seek to experience in a more authentic way the bond they share with the world around them. One way or another, Roshi Kapleau has spent the past forty-three years of his life helping make Zen practice and its fruits accessible to anyone of sincere intent. "Awakening to Zen" offers a crucial and never-before-published aspect of his life's work.

This book is a comparative study of the ninth-century Chinese poet and recluse Han Shan (Cold Mountain) and Gary Snyder, an American poet and environmental activist. Joan Tan explains how Chan Buddhism has the potential to be recognised as an important voice in contemporary ecopoetry. Mountain-seeing Chan/Zen theory and the nature -- Chan mirror are employed as aesthetic criteria to explicate the dual discourses -- spiritual and aesthetic -- which exist in Han Shan and Snyder's poetry and life work. Snyder's goal of establishing one ecosystem for all communities encouraged him to adopt Han Shan as an ideal (albeit Chinese mythical) model and Chan Buddhism as a global subculture representing environmental values. This book investigates how Snyder interweaves Chinese cultural sources in an eclectic way to impose a sense of place, a sense of mission and a sense of energy in his ecopoetry. His unique ideogrammatic method -- riprapping -- developed as a result of his literary indebtedness to the Oriental tradition, makes for a forceful statement on contemporary ecology. Through Snyder's successful translation, Han Shan has been revived as an immortal Beat Poet (Jack Kerouac features prominently in the chapters), while Cold Mountain has emerged as synonymous with enlightenment. Snyder himself has become an exemplary representative of an American Han Shan. The poetic line extending from Han Shan through to Chan/Zen to contemporary ecology is considered here as a continuum -- a continuum profoundly enhanced by Snyder's remarkable achievement of eco-wholeness -- the original goal of Han Shan in his ecopoetry. Complemented with full Chinese character text and Glossary.

IN THICH NHAT HANH'S MOST EXCITING and provocative book in years, he offers a dramatic vision of the future of our planet and links his contemplation of environmental destruction to the Buddhist teachings of interconnectedness and the impermanence of all things. Rather than seeing impermanence as an excuse for disengaging from the world, he argues passionately that engaging with the world is the key to our individual and collective survival. The World We Have is above all a hopeful book. Thich Nhat Hanh offers a clear vision of the road ahead and models conviction and courage that we will need to stay on that path.

The power and simplicity of the Korean Zen tradition shine in this collection of teachings by a renowned modern master, translated by Martine Batchelor. Kusan Sunim provides a wealth of practical advice for students, particularly with regard to the uniquely Korean practice of "hwadu," or sitting with questioning. An extensive introduction by Stephen Batchelor, author of "Buddhism without Beliefs," provides both a biography of the author and a brief history of Korean Zen.

Breath-Centered Consciousness is a manual for practicing meditation. But don't expect to find the same instructions in this book that you've read in other meditation manuals. The practice described is ancient-the practice of anapana sati or "mindfulness of breathing"-but the way it's described may surprise you. And the way some common problems in meditation are dealt with is fresh and powerful. Distraction, for example, isn't a matter of what we pay attention to, but of how we pay attention-in the clinging anxiety of self-centeredness or in the equanimity of breath-centered consciousness. Meditation isn't something restricted to a special time of practice, but a way of life in which every moment is special. We meditate because we want to be happy. But we find in meditation that our happiness can't be separated from the happiness of others. If you're new to meditation-or if you've been meditating a while, but feel something is lacking in your practice-this book is for you.

"The Essentials of Buddhist Meditation" is a classic Buddhist meditation instruction manual deeply rooted in the Indian Buddhist "calming-and-insight" meditation tradition. Within its tradition, it is the universally-acknowledged standard beginning-to-intermediate meditation manual, one which offers perhaps the most reliable, comprehensive, and practically-useful Buddhist meditation instruction currently available in English. The author of "The Essentials" is the sixth-century monk and meditation master, Shramana Zhiyi (Chih-i), one of the most illustrious figures in the history of Chinese Buddhism. Master Zhiyi is famous for his role in the founding of the Tiantai teachings lineage and for his authorship of a quartet of meditation manuals of which this is one. The translator of this volume is the American monk, Bhikshu Dharmamitra, a translator of numerous classic works from the Indian and Chinese Buddhist traditions.

Instead of promising a straight and clear path to enlightenment, author and teacher Geri Larkin shows us that even stumbling along that path can lead to self-discovery and awakening, especially if we prize the journey and not the destination. With candour, affection, and earthy wisdom, Larkin shares her experiences as a beginning and continuing Buddhist. This spirituality classic shows any seeker that it's possible to stumble, smile, and stay Zen through it all.

This 20th anniversary edition of Thich Nhat Hanh's classic commentary offers new insights into one of the Buddha's most important teachings. According to the Anapanasati Sutra, maintaining awareness of our breathing is a means of awakening to the true nature of all things and arriving at spiritual liberation. Breathe, You Are Alive! outlines the Buddha's exercises of conscious breathing along with commentaries and further exercises for daily life. Thich Nhat Hanh gently walks the reader through a progression of exercises that focus on the physical, mental, and spiritual planes. This new edition includes Thich Nhat Hanh's most recent commentaries.

Does a dog have Buddha-nature? Zen master Dogen said yes. Zen master Joshu said no. What do you say? Quick! Answer! Newly designed and typeset for easy reading by Boomer Books.

Based on a series of dharma talks, Warm Smiles from Cold Mountains explores the life of passionate commitment that lies at the heart of the formal practice of Zen meditation. Reb Anderson draws on over 30 years of experience as a Zen priest with stories covering a range of topics and concerns, from what it feels like to be a father, to the simple task of cleaning up a desk. At once inspirational and practical, Anderson bows to an ancient tradition as he helps to forge a modern-day Buddhism that urges us "to sit still in the middle of all living beings." This third edition adds two new chapters: "Suzuki Roshi's Teaching on Shikantaza" and "September 11: Letting Go of Hatred."

THIS BOOK WILL HELP YOU
- to appreciate the significance of this particular school of Buddhism, famous for its focus on meditation and self-awakening
- to understand the history of Zen and the 'Ways of Zen'
- to discover how Zen is a way of life -- not a belief system
- to avoid faux pas in conversation, in travelling and in personal relationships

Zen (in Chinese, Ch'an) is the form of Buddhism which the great teacher Bodhidharma brought to China from India in the late fifth century. Today it is practised mainly in Japan and Korea, . Based upon the understanding that each of us has the potential for complete awakening, Zen is in fact a coalition of practical ways of stilling the mind in order to attain self-knowledge.
Because the realization of the true nature of reality, including one's own, is not an intellectual pursuit but an experienced truth, Zen teachers transmit the truth (dharma) from mind to mind or heart to heart without the use of words, using different techniques to break through the limitations of the logical mind.
This engaging book explains the essence of Zen in simple terms.. It traces its development and looks at its unique methods of teaching, such as meditation, koans -- startling paradoxes that stop the intellect -- the use of texts, ceremonies, poetry, and the martial arts. It describes life in monasteries and in the everyday world. Because Zen is rooted in Reality, its practitioners often experience a delightful sense of wonder in the commonplace. This democratic and liberating philosophy does not require us to give up our own traditions, but rather helps us to deepen our understanding of them, and continues to inspire growing numbers of followers in the West.

ACCESS THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS
"Simple Guides: Religion" is a series of concise, accessible introductions to the world's major religions. Written by experts in the field, they offer an engaging and sympathetic description of the key concepts, beliefs and practices of different faiths.
Ideal for spiritual seekers and travellers alike, "Simple Guides" aims to open the doors of perception. Together the books provide a reliable compass to the world's great spiritual traditions, and a point of reference for further exploration and discovery. By offering essential insights into the core values, customs and beliefs of different societies, they also enable visitors to be aware of the cultural sensibilities of their hosts, and to behave in a way that fosters mutual respect
and understanding.

Zen is famous for koans (called kong-ans in Korean, and in this book), those bizarre and seemingly unanswerable questions Zen masters pose to their students to check their realization (such as "What is the sound of one hand clapping?"). Fear of koans keeps some people from ever giving Zen practice a try. But here, through the experience of seeing a modern Zen master work with his students, you can see what koan training is really like: It's a skillful, lively practice for attaining wisdom.This book presents the system of ten koans that Zen Master Seung Sahn came to call the "Ten Gates." These koans represent the basic types one will encounter in any course of study. Each of the ten gates, or koans, is illuminated by actual interchanges between Zen Master Seung Sahn and his students that show what the practice is all about: it is above all a process of coming to trust one's own wisdom, and of manifesting that wisdom in every koan-like situation life presents us with.
For more information on the author, Zen Master Seung Sahn, visit his website at www.kwanumzen.com.

Offers an original and fertile way to integrate spiritual and scientific views of human evolution. It offers a new and refreshing alternative to the way we think about our origins: random mutation (mechanistic neo-Darwinism), Genesis (God did it all personally), and Intelligent Design (God personally does what we can't otherwise account for). The result is an invigorating perspective on how our best qualities -- our capacity for love, our appreciation of beauty, our altruistic capability, our creativity and intelligence -- have come into being and evolved. How we think about our origin matters: if we think we are machines living among other machines, we will act accordingly. By showing evolution as a creative and intelligent process with its own inherent logic, THE ORIGIN OF HUMAN NATURE resolves the dilemma of how to have, at the same time, both truth and ethics. Instead of starting in an imagined remote and 'uncertain past' and moving to the present, this book starts at the certain and 'immediate present' and works back. That consciousness, creativity, and intelligence exist is certain. The question is: how can these have evolved? Dr Albert Low has made a study of human nature throughout his life. To write this book he draws on his prolonged meditations on creativity and the human condition, his years of providing psychological and spiritual counseling, and a wide-ranging knowledge of Western psychology, philosophy, and science.

Ruth Fuller Sasaki, who died in 1967, was a pivotal figure in the emergence and development of Zen Buddhism in the United States. She is the only Westerner--and the only woman--to be made a priest of a Daitoku-ji temple and was mentor to Burton Watson, Philip Yampolsky, and Gary Snyder, and mother-in-law of Alan Watts. This is the first biography of her remarkable life.
Few devoted their lives to Zen Buddhism as Ruth Fuller did. As a senior student of Sokei-an Sasaki in New York, Ruth helped him develop the infrastructure of what would eventually become The First Zen Institute in New York City. She married Sasaki in 1944, and it was her mission to maintain The First Zen Institute and later, to establish The First Zen Institute of America in Japan. Her legacy remains today in the Zen facilities she helped build in New York and abroad and in the many texts she saw through translation, published from the 1950s to the 1970s. For the first time in book form, three of her writings are included here--"Zen: A Religion", "Zen: A Method for Religious Awakening", and "Rinzai Zen Study for Foreigners in Japan".

The Universe for Breakfast chronicles a journey of transformation in verse. Joy Magezis has been ordained as a member of the Core Community of the Order of Interbeing, established by Zen Master, Thich Nhat Hanh. She was part of his official delegation to Vietnam, when Thich Nhat Hanh returned after 39 years of exile. A series of poems about the trip appear in this collection, as well as poems about her experiences practicing with the Sangha community in Britain and in Plum Village. Joy is an Usui Reiki Master and a UK Reiki Federation Master Teacher Member. She documents her experiences learning, using and teaching Reiki through a number of poems in this book. An international author and college lecturer, Joy's classic Women's Studies text has been translated into various languages including Russian and Chinese. Her novels have been published in both English and German

This translation, supported by the Japan Foundation, makes a strong claim to be the definitive translation of the 95 chapter edition of Shobogenzo, the essential Japanese Buddhist text, written in the 13th century by Zen Master Dogen. Shobogenzo Book 4, the final book in this four volume set, contains chapters 73 to 95, plus two additional chapters in the Appendices. Well-known chapters include Dai Shugyo (Great Practice); Shukke (Transcending Family Life); and Shoji (Life and Death). Book 4 maintains the highest standards of translation, with a clear style that rigorously follows the original words of Master Dogen.

This translation, supported by the Japan Foundation, makes a strong claim to be the definitive translation of the 95 chapter edition of Shobogenzo, the essential Japanese Buddhist text, written in the 13th century by Zen Master Dogen. The translation adheres closely to the original Japanese, with a clear style and extensive annotations. Book 1 presents translations of twenty-one chapters of Shobogenzo including Genjo-koan (The Realized Universe), Soku-shin-ze-butsu (Mind Here & Now is Buddha), Uji (Existence-Time), and Sansuigyo (The Sutra of Mountains & Water). Its several reference sections include a Chinese/English appendix of references to the Lotus Sutra, and an extensive Sanskrit glossary. 'At last I visited Zen Master Nyojo of Dai-byaku-ho mountain, and there I was able to complete the great task of a lifetime of practice. After that, at the beginning of the great Sung era of Shojo, I came home determined to spread the Dharma and to save living beings, it was as if a heavy burden had been placed on my shoulders....I will leave this record to people who learn in practice and are easy in the truth, so that they can know the right Dharma of the Buddha's lineage. This may be a true mission.'

This translation, supported by the Japan Foundation, makes a strong claim to be the definitive translation of the 95 chapter edition of Shobogenzo, the essential Japanese Buddhist text, written in the 13th century by Zen Master Dogen. Following Shobogenzo Books 1 and 2, the third book in this four-volume set contains chapters 42 to 72 from the 95-chapter edition, including: Tsuki (The Moon); Kuge (Flowers in Space); Mujo Seppo (All Things and Phenomena Preach Dharma); Kajo (Daily Life); and Zanmai-O-Zanmai (Samadhi, King of Samadhis). Book 3 maintains the highest standards of translation, with a clear style that rigorously follows the original words of Master Dogen. 'The first Patriarch, the Venerable Bodhidharma, after arriving from the west, passed nine years facing the wall at Shorin-ji temple on Shoshitsu-ho peak in the Sugaku mountains, sitting in Zazen in the lotus posture. From that time through to today, brains and eyes have pervaded China. The lifeblood of the first Patriarch is only the practice of sitting in the full lotus posture.'

Through explorations of the three pillars of Zen--teaching, practice, and enlightenment--Roshi Philip Kapleau presents a comprehensive overview of the history and discipline of Zen Buddhism.  An established classic, this 35th anniversary edition features new illustrations and photographs, as well as a new afterword by Sensei Bodhin Kjolhede, who has succeeded Philip Kapleau as spiritual director of the Rochester Zen Center, one of the oldest and most influential Zen centers in the United States.

This translation, supported by the Japan Foundation, makes a strong claim to be the definitive translation of the 95 chapter edition of Shobogenzo, the essential Japanese Buddhist text, written in the 13th century by Zen Master Dogen. Following on from Shobogenzo Book 1, the second book in this four volume set contains chapters 22 to 41 from the 95-chapter edition, including these well-known chapters: Bussho (Buddha Nature); Daigo (Great Realization); Gyoji (Conduct and Observance); Inmo (This); and Shinjin-gakudo (Learning the Truth with Body and Mind). Book 2 maintains the highest standards of translation, with a clear style that rigorously follows the original words of Master Dogen. Ample footnotes, including Japanese and Chinese characters, explanatory text, and cross-references to other works, provide the reader with a wealth of supplementary information. Also included are a Sanskrit glossary of terms, and a list of Pinyin equivalents to the Japanese readings of Masters' names. 'The water is clean, right down to the ground, Fishes are swimming like fishes. The sky is wide, clear through to the heavens, And birds are flying like birds. ...children and grandchildren of the Buddhist patriarchs should unfailingly learn in practice that sitting in Zazen is the one great matter. This is the authentic seal which is received and transmitted one-to-one.'