Clear your head and relax. Replace annoyance with amusement. Enjoy calm, clarity, humor, and patience.

Buddhism is not Zen. Mindfulness is not Zen. Zazen meditation is not Zen. Zen is a name that began with Bodhidharma and includes the Zen Patriarchs of China and the Masters that followed him, such as Huang Po and Joshu and the others in the Mumonkan, and even Tung Shan. They taught no practices, no means and no attainment. As Joshu said, "We are all Patriarchs now that Bodhidharma has come." The Zen conversation is characterized by several memes, one of which is the Four Statements of Zen. These memes have largely been abandoned by those who claim to be Zen Buddhists today. Other memes include Negation (no teaching, no attainment, no wisdom), Zen Dialogue or Dharma Combat, Conceptual Thought, and of course Sudden Enlightenment. The Sudden Enlightenment meme is one of the most ignored memes in Zen. The majority of those claiming to teach Zen Buddhism are preaching the Buddhist religion. They preach a path to inner peace, they preach mindfulness, and they put their faith in a practice called zazen sitting meditation. They claim this is Zen. What Zen Masters taught any of this? In contrast, even a brief review of the Zen Masters that we all agree are the beginning of the lineage, Huang Po, Joshu, Mumon, these old men teach no sitting meditation, no inner peace, and only a sudden enlightenment that does not rely on any means and cannot be attained through any effort. This book contrasts the writings of the old Zen Masters with those today who claim to be Zen Buddhists, but are not Zen.

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.

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.

Published originally as biweekly columns, the fifty essays in this collection bring the age-old practice of Zen to bear upon contemporary life. Whether their immediate subject be shoveling snow or baking bread, the virtues of solitude or the emotional dimension of social media, these lucid, graceful essays explore the manifold ways by which we might take the backward step, shifting our orientation from ego-centered thinking to selfless awareness. Wise and true, writes Roshi Joan Halifax of The Backward Step, this wonderful book transmits the essence of practice realization.

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.

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.

This collection of literature attempts to compile many of the classic, timeless works that have stood the test of time and offer them at a reduced, affordable price, in an attractive volume so that everyone can enjoy them.

Varvann er rent i en smaragdstrom manelyset hvitt pa Frostfjell tanker tier og anden blir klar tomhet i sikte og verden blir taus Diktene til Hanshan, Shih-te og Feng-kan kan leses pa mange ulike niva, som zen-refleksjoner over utfordringer langs Veien, som livet til en politisk flyktning som har forlatt alt til fordel for et liv i fjellheimen, eller som en menneskelig lengsel etter et enklere liv i harmoni med naturen. Hanshan ble kjent i Vesten gjennom beat-generasjonens skribenter. Gary Snyder oversatte et utvalg av diktene og pa engelsk ble Hanshan kjent som Cold Mountain. Videre dedikerte Jack Kerouacs Dharma Bums til denne hemmelighetsfulle dikterens minne. Siden etterkrigstiden har Cold Mountain eller Frostfjell fasinert og inspirert zennister, taoister, terapeuter, bohemer og fjellentusiaster i Europa og Amerika med sine gatefulle og innsiktsfulle dikt. I denne boken utgis alle diktene for forste gang pa norsk.