Modern American Zen is in a deplorable state: Zen Masters are now pseudo-celebrities; Dharma Transmission has been co-opted as a branding technique; and worst of all, Zen has degenerated into a lifestyle identity whose primary aim is no longer Buddhahood, but rather the perpetuation of the Zen institution itself. Zen is more interested in establishing orthodoxy and orthopraxy than it is in helping people realize their Buddha Nature. Western Zen has become just as consumer-driven and celebrity-obsessed as the rest of American culture. And the worst part is that no one in the Zen community even seems to notice. Or to care. Brand-Name Zen takes a bold and daring look at the current decadence of modern Western Zen. It poses very important questions regarding the entire Western Zen institution, such as what is the true function of Dharma Transmission? How has zazen become the signature Zen "pose"? How have koans been appropriated as a means to establish and maintain authoritarian power structures? Brand-Name Zen offers an invaluable mirror for Western Zen to evaluate itself. It is a must read for any serious Zen student.

An exploration of the life of the Zen priest-poet Ryokan is interwoven with memoir of the author as she observes Ryokan's life during her own training as a Zen priest in Japan and encounters Ryokan in contemporary life as a model for learning and renewal. Ryokan loved the game Hide-and-go-Seek, Kakurenbo in Japanese, and this provides a metaphor as the author seeks to uncover the mysterious pathway of the hermit priest who seems to defy description. Ryokan had no plan to promote himself in any way or to encourage popularized stories about his life. He simply continued to live, not as a unique figure, but as someone authentic to his vow, living the Dharma somewhat hidden away as a hermit priest, as he climbed up and down the slope of his mountain refuge bearing the cold in winter and enduring the mosquitos in summer. Yet nearly 200 years after his death, Ryokan is known globally and we hold him in high esteem. Our wish to know him might suggest our hunger in these difficult times to touch a rare sainted life that is unabashedly simple. Perhaps we long to live fully in the courageous way that Ryokan did, to help us withstand with some grace the frictions and challenges that beset us. Translations of Ryokan's poems by the acclaimed Nobuyuki Yuasa highlight each chapter, and appear throughout the book; they serve to express Ryokan's teachings in the Dharma and his wisdom as a guide in the 21st Century. The memoir gives a personal glimpse into Zen training today where the author was the only woman and the first foreigner in the history of the 700-year-old temple. This creative medley-biography of Ryokan, author's memoir, poetry of Ryokan, and teachings in the Dharma-opens us to a new interpretation of Ryokan as a profound teacher, scholar, poet, hermit, and priest. The book includes an appendix with practice to honor Ryokan and to hold him throughout time as a true friend and guide in the Buddha Dharma. The book is for general readership as well as for seasoned meditators.

Sokei-an translated the Record of Lin-chi (Lin-chi lu) from 1931 to 1933, in his first series of lectures. He felt that Americans needed original Chinese Zen source materials, translated and commented upon by a Zen master, and there were no such materials in those early days. Sokei-an was the first Zen master to translate the Record of Lin-chi and to give a commentary in English to Western students. The real historic value of Sokei-an's Lin-chi is in his commentary with its manifestation of Lin-chi's Zen.

A collection of inspiration and wisdom, seen through the tales of housewives and kings, monks and bandits, and the deep mountains of Korea.
In this new collection of thirty-three stories, one of Korea's foremost Seon(Zen) masters introduces the richness and depth of Korea's Buddhist tradition. With humor and insight, Seon Master Daehaeng shows us our inherent potential and demonstrates how we can face the challenges of life with wisdom and vigor.
Praise for Seon Master Daehaeng's "No River to Cross"
"No River to Cross" speaks directly and simply from the heart, much in the manner of Shunryu Suzuki's "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind." Master Daehaeng's ability to penetrate the skin with plain and pointed words should give this work the same longevity.
-Francisca Cho, Georgetown University, translator of "Everything Yearned For"
"This first taste of a fresh female voice leaves you hungry for more." -Shambhala Sun

Seon Master Daehaeng was one of the most respected Buddhist teachers in Korea. She famously taught monks as well as nuns, and put a special emphasis on teaching laypeople how they too could practice spiritual cultivation and so awaken from the upside-down dreams that rule much of our lives.

2013 Reprint of 1955 Edition. Exact facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. This collection of essays reprints seven articles or lectures written by Suzuki beginning in 1906. The are: The Zen Sect of Buddhism Zen Buddhism An Interpretation of Zen-Experience Reason and Intuition in Buddhist Philosophy Zen: A Reply to Dr. Hu Shih Mondo The Role of Nature in Zen Buddhism Index

Blossoming: Dharma Diary Poems Volume II picks up where The Universe for Breakfast, (Volume I) left off, continuing an exploration through mindfulness and realisations into the beauty of Presence. Joy Magezis is an ordained member of the Core Community of the Order of Interbeing, established by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. This collection includes poems about her practice with the Sangha both in Britain and Plum Village, France. An Usui Reiki Master, Joy explores experiences teaching and practicing Reiki. As a long-time socially engaged activist, she writes about movements for Peace and Justice. And her Jewish cultural roots are reflected in this volume. Of The Universe for Breakfast, Here & Now said: 'These poems beautifully reflect her Buddhist commitment and world view, her struggles and their resolution or acceptance...The author does not shy away from addressing political inequalities and brutalities, but she also has an eye or ear for the beauty of the sun, a bird song, dew drops. I found the poems very nourishing...' Joy's poetry has appeared in The Mindfulness Bell, Here & Now, Visions of the City Magazine and in the anthology Summer Times in the Algarve. Her classic Women's Studies text and her novels have been published in various languages.

'Reason and imagination and all mental chatter died down... I forgot my name, my humanness, my thingness, all that could be called me or mine. Past and future dropped away... Lighter than air, clearer than glass, altogether released from myself, I was nowhere around.' Thus Douglas Harding describes his first experience of headlessness, or no self. First published in 1961, this is a classic work which conveys the experience that mystics of all times have tried to put words to.

Much of the teaching many Buddhists receive doesn't really get to the core of our suffering. After years of practice, nothing much really changes. As the 17th century Zen Master Benkei said, "the feeling I get is that of scratching an itchy foot with my shoe on. The teachings don't strike home to the center, to the real marrow." Scratching the Itch: Getting to the Root of Our Suffering seeks to do just that. Scratching the Itch is based on teaching received from two Vietnamese Zen monks. They faced the power of our ego...the source of all our suffering...head on and urged us to surrender our ego to our true Buddha nature. Recognizing the difficulty of doing this, they developed a rigorous teaching, which I explain and expand upon in light of my personal practical experience of walking the path. The resulting teaching I call "The Fourfold Path to Freedom." While enlightenment may not be a very practical goal for most of us walking the Buddhist path, attaining a state in our practice that is close to enlightenment...and experiencing the peace and contentment that flows from that state...is a goal that every person committed to the path can attain.

The Zen Follies, by Fil Lewitt, with plenty of B & W photos and drawings of zenbos, oddballs, and unusual locations, takes a close, sometimes ironic and often funny look at the business and pleasures of Zen Buddhism, and tells through stories, essays, autobiography, and some poetry the path one person took to find the Way, and what happened along the way. The book is aimed at the general reader with no special knowledge of Zen. Lewitt has been practicing Zen Buddhist meditation for more than forty years, and now in his 70th year, was ready to write about it. He spent 1972 as a student/monk at Tassajara Monastery deep in the coastal range of central California, and founded and helped direct a small Zen Buddhist community, Big River Farm Sangha, in Mendocino, California, during the 70s and 80s.

"Extraordinary Zen Masters: A Maverick, a Master of Masters, and a Wandering Poet" tells the life stories of Ikkyu (1394-1481), Hakuin (1686-1768), and Ryokan (1758-1831). Each was an outstanding figure who manifested Zen in his own way. Ikkyu was unconventional and uncompromising, a relentless enemy of the sham and hypocrisy that pervaded the religious circles of his day. Hakuin underwent a lengthy and strenuous apprenticeship to become a Master Teacher of Zen, training hundreds of disciples and insisting that they endure the same trials and surmount the same massive barriers that he had. Ryokan, in contrast, was a gentle, self-effacing recluse who never became an abbot but lived in quiet hermitages, savoring nature and writing poetry. All three were artists of the highest order, employing brush, ink, and paper as a means of transmitting Zen teachings and creating unique works of art.

These are three of the greatest Zen masters in history-each unique, each an outstanding artist, and each a teacher of future generations. The biographies of these three men, in one volume, constitute an enlivening reading experience, full of insight on leading a meaningful life.

John Stevens lived in Japan for thirty-five years, where he was a professor of Buddhist studies at Tohoku Fukushi University in Sendai. Stevens is a widely respected translator, an ordained Buddhist priest, a curator of several major exhibitions of Zen art, and an aikido instructor. He has authored more than thirty books and is one of the foremost Western experts on aikido, holding a ranking of 7th dan Aikikai. Stevens has also studied calligraphy for decades, authoring the classic "Sacred Calligraphy of the East." Other John Stevens titles that are likely to be of interest include "The Philosophy of Aikido, " and "The Marathon Monks of Mount Hiei.""

Follow the hapless, feckless, neurotic Sensei and other mad characters from many sects and religions through their blasphemous, heretical adventures and teachings. The book focuses on mostly fictional Zen teachers, such as Master Sensei, The Dreaded Fujikami, and Sister Dharmastream, and winds its way through assorted realms and dimensions as these anti-doctrine Saints tease and torment the mundane minds of earnest believers. Factional fighting, physical battles, sexual irregularities and heavy drinking are all a part of these short quips and short stories that pass through monasteries, psychiatric hospitals, jails and heavens. If you are a naughty Buddhist, this is just the book for you. If you are a fundamentalist bore, this may not be your cup of tea; and anyway, the tea is laced with sake. Also, if you are a gentle soul just barely holding your precious belief system together by a thread, this volume may not be for you. These pages are meant for those who find themselves ready to let go of all beliefs and dive in head-first into the messy ocean of birth and death and chaos. If you are wandering through the three worlds looking for a conceptual resting place, you will not find it here.

ZEN PSYCHOLOGY In A Nutshell
Enlightening Insights & Perspectives For Living Mindfully
This book considers key insights and realizations found in the tradition and practice of Zen. These are timeless penetrating perspectives on the nature of being and reality... which have been discovered and re-discovered by great seminal thinkers, teachers and open-minded individuals in the East and the West, throughout all of recorded history. The work endeavors to distill the essence of Zen into succinct statements... which can point the way and be useful for living mindfully.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
Disclaimer
A Preface
On The Nature of Zen Knowing
Zen Psychology
Insights & Realizations
Zen Mindfulness
On The Art &Technique Of
Living Mindfully
A Zen Ode
Uplifting Perspectives
Addendum
Golden Guidelines
For Life & Living
EXCERPTS:
ON THE NATURE OF ZEN KNOWING
For Those That Understand...
No Explanation Is Necessary.
For Those That Don't...
None Is Possible.
ZEN PSYCHOLOGY - Insights & Realizations
Much of our understanding, and many of our life experiences, are at a level which is beyond the intellect's abilities to explain or to communicate (ranging from simple experiences like riding a bike and swimming - to profound insight into the nature of being and reality). This deeply intuitive knowing is often overlooked, undervalued and doubted - yet it is far more crucial and powerful than our limited mental and verbal abilities.
Truth, beauty, joy and peace are immediately available in the real world. There is no special place to go, and nothing out of the ordinary to do - to acquire access to these merits - other than to get real, come to your senses and pay attention.
Preoccupation and consumption by the past and the future (e.g. drivenness and hurry sickness) are human foibles that rob one of being fully present to savor and participate in life. Realization of the ultimate magnitude of the moment enhances enjoyment and effectiveness.
ON THE ART & TECHNIQUE OF LIVING MINDFULLY
The following considers the art and technique of living mindfully and mindfulness - which can be described as a mental state of clear minded awareness that is unencumbered, unfettered and unhurried. The art of living mindfully entails being fully present to experience and savor being alive, awake and aware. The technique of mindfulness involves consciously focusing one's attention on thoughts, feelings, actions and experiences - many of which can at times be self-defeating and toxic.
A ZEN ODE - Uplifting Perspectives
Let us joyfully stand in awe and wonder...
Being mindful of the marvels and mysteries in life and nature...
Finding peace and serenity in the power and wisdom of the universe...
Gracefully accepting and courageously trusting
That which is beyond our understanding and comprehension...
Allaying unfounded fears and speculations.
(c) Copyright 2012 - Dr. Dan Matzke, Ph.D.
KeyWords: Zen, enlightenment, awakening, satori, insights, mindfulness, psychology, self help, personal growth & development, emotional intelligence

WALK LIKE A MOUNTAIN is the definitive guide to walking as Buddhist practice, not just for the serious practitioner but for anyone who wants to bring more contemplative depth to their everyday walks. From kinhin during zazen sessions to pilgrimage and beyond, this handbook offers the "how-to" with clarity and insight. Posture, hand positions and foot mechanics are merely the beginning. Other topics that are addressed in this comprehensive book include: Preparations and aids Prayer walking Purification and dedication Kaihogyo (marathon contemplative walking) Leading a walking practice Walking for change Walking as daily life Walking the symbolic landscape Alms rounds Mandalas Circumambulation Labyrinths Walking Nembutsu Alternatives in contemplative walking. Innen Ray Parchelo has studied, taught and practiced Buddhism for more than 40 years and acts as both the Priest to the Red Maple Sangha and Director of Tendai Canada. He began his formal dharma practice in 1974 and has been a member of several Buddhist centres, first taking refuge in 1994. In 2008, he renewed his refuge- vows as a student of Ven. Monshin Paul Naamon, and, in 2010, was ordained a Tendai priest. Innen is has lived and worked as a clinical social worker in the Ottawa Valley since 1975. He regularly uses walking and mindfulness techniques in a social work setting. He has degrees in Comparative Religion and Social Work and has published general and scholarly articles on dharma and social work topics and is a popular conference speaker. He is the regular Buddhist contributor to the Ottawa Citizen's "Ask the Religion Experts" column. He and his wife, Judy, live with their three dogs in a old log schoolhouse, near Renfrew, Ontario.

Author H. Grevemberg, a Senior Dharma Teacher in the Kwan Um School of Zen, gives a startling account of the path of Zen in a muscular prose in the tradition of Henry Miller and Hunter S. Thompson. "The American spirit of self-reliance goes hand in hand with the mystical tradition of Zen - yet it hasn't found its own bare wire. The best revolution, and the domain of the Zen adept, is an inner one." The Zen Revolution reads like a novel, each compelling chapter revealing another nuance; the whole gamut, from origin to fiery culmination. Delving into both the spiritual and worldly aspects with equal candor, The Zen Revolution takes on the basic question of existence, perhaps the most important question we face. There's a new adventure in every chapter, leading to an eventual breakthrough - something nearly unheard of in the Zen literature of the West.

In this book, Scott Shaw, a prolific proponent of modern Zen Buddhism, leads the reader through a series of discussions, detailing the various aspects of Zen in relation to human consciousness and developmental awareness. He guides the reader to a place where they may come to understand the true nature of the everyday trials and tribulations of life and make each of them a true learning experience. Ultimately, the reader may come away with a new sense of empowerment and personal understanding. From this they can transverse even the most treacherous of life circumstance with a new and enhanced knowledge of self-awareness.

Dogen's great spiritual teachings are the foundation of Soto Zen. For the first time, contemporary American women Zen masters in the Soto tradition, join together to reach within Dogen's mind to make his masterpieces accessible and practical for those seeking deeper realization and understanding.

This classic Zen Buddhist collection of 49 koans with commentary by Mumon was originally published in 1934, and later included in Paul Reps and Nyogen Senzaki's popular anthology Zen Flesh, Zen Bones. Due to non-renewal it is currently in the public domain in the US (although other parts of Zen Flesh, Zen Bones are not).

Takuan Soho's (1573-1645) two works on Zen and swordsmanship are among the most straightforward and lively presentations of Zen ever written and have enjoyed great popularity in both premodern and modern Japan. Although dealing ostensibly with the art of the sword,Record of Immovable Wisdom andOn the Sword Taie are basic guides to Zen-"user's manuals" for Zen mind that show one how to manifest it not only in sword play but from moment to moment in everyday life. Along with translations of Record of Immovable Wisdom and On the Sword Taie (the former, composed in all likelihood for the shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu and his fencing master, Yagyu Munenori), this book includes an introduction to Takuan's distinctive approach to Zen, drawing on excerpts from the master's other writings. It also offers an accessible overview of the actual role of the sword in Takuan's day, a period that witnessed both a bloody age of civil warfare and Japan's final unification under the Tokugawa shoguns. Takuan was arguably the most famous Zen priest of his time, and as a pivotal figure, bridging the Zen of the late medieval and early modern periods, his story (presented in the book's biographical section) offers a rare picture of Japanese Zen in transition. For modern readers, whether practitioners of Zen or the martial arts, Takuan's emphasis on freedom of mind as the crux of his teaching resonates as powerfully as it did with the samurai and swordsmen of Tokugawa Japan. Scholars will welcome this new, annotated translation of Takuan's sword-related works as well as the host of detail it provides, illuminating an obscure period in Zen's history in Japan.

This book, from the series Primary Sources: Historical Books of the World (Asia and Far East Collection), represents an important historical artifact on Asian history and culture. Its contents come from the legions of academic literature and research on the subject produced over the last several hundred years. Covered within is a discussion drawn from many areas of study and research on the subject. From analyses of the varied geography that encompasses the Asian continent to significant time periods spanning centuries, the book was made in an effort to preserve the work of previous generations.

The book is in two parts: The first, Body Mechanics, describes our body type, structure, systems, organs and canals, physical conditioning, and stress. The second, Concept, Principle and Technique, describes meditations and breathing, mind and body coordination, mental calm and strength, physical relaxation with power, extending energy of the mind, physical conditioning, mindset, self-defence, and massage. The techniques presented are equally suitable for men and women.A section concentrates on physical training. Detailed attention is given to dynamic and static contractions for strength and endurance, cardiovascular techniques for endurance and strength, and exercises for flexibility and strength. Physical training has the dual function of strengthening the body and strengthening the mind. An important section is on mindset; working on mindset is not only to learn the techniques for conditioning your intuition and develop desirables, such as confidence and awareness, but to feel complete within yourself and realize your value in society.The section on self-defence is not a reiteration of physical techniques frequently taught in self-defence classes or martial arts schools. It relates self-defence to mindset, and the power of mind and body coordination. Attention to these areas, the principles of which are described in other sections, comprises the essence of effective self-defence. Principles to which you should adhere when facing potentially dangerous conflict, and techniques you can use during physical engagement, are also discussed. The final section is on massage. The methods described are an effective way of treating someone who has an ailment and feels low on energy, or simply enjoys being massaged. Fundamental to the technique is the concentration of your intrinsic energy to regenerate or revitalize someone's life power.It is apparent from what can be seen of human effort, mental, physical, and of whatever form, that the motivating driver and the real source of power is the mind. It is also obvious to anyone who has had experience of western and eastern culture that the East is, from its own rich past, ahead of the West in giving concept, method and rationale to an understanding of the relationship between mind and body, mental strength, and the power of mind and body coordination. At the heart of this thinking is zen and it is best seen as the foundation of the Oriental spiritual disciplines, such as the budo, the martial arts of Japan.Intuition, the unconscious mind, or the state of no-mind is the zen mind, the mind that is the focus of the zen method. Intuition cannot be learned, but it can be conditioned, and the techniques for conditioning it can be learned. Zen has been, and is, to budo, an attempt to apply the accumulated knowledge of Confucius, Laotzu, and Buddha to the conditioning of intuition. In the case of budo, zen has been the unifying and driving force. Intuition penetrates the very soul of those who rely on it. It brings a general simplicity that appears to have an unrefined aspect but which is not unrefined. It has been said: The intellect can play with the concept; only the intuition can understand.

The strange verbal paradoxes called koans have been used traditionally in Zen training to help students attain a direct realization of truths inexpressible in words. The two works translated in this book, "Mumonkan "("The Gateless Gate ") and "Hekiganroku (The Blue Cliff Record)," both compiled during the Song dynasty in China, are the best known and most frequently studied koan collections, and are classics of Zen literature. They are still used today in a variety of practice lineages, from traditional zendos to modern Zen centers. In a completely new translation, together with original commentaries, the well-known Zen teacher Katsuki Sekida brings to these works the same fresh and pragmatic approach that made his "Zen Training " so successful. The insights of a lifetime of Zen practice and his familiarity with both Eastern and Western ways of thinking make him an ideal interpreter of these texts.

This is an excellent summary of ten original yoga systems, in which the Author, Ernest Wood, who speaks from more than forty years of experience in Eastern Philosophy, tells us in a very well written and easy to understand language about the teachings and philosophy of these major yoga systems. At the same time, he has also endeavored to preserve the perfect authenticity and clearness of the original teachings of these ten different well-known Oriental schools of yoga teaching and practice. The ten yoga systems are: Raja Yoga, Gita-Yoga, Gnyana-Yoga, Hatha and Laya Yogas, Bhakti and Mantra Yogas, Buddhist Yoga, The Chinese Yoga or Zen, and finally the Sufi Yogas, which includes discussions on Maulana Rumi, Omar Khayyam and other well-known Sufi poets and mystics.