Zen Baggage

Author : Bill Porter
Publisher : Catapult
ISBN 13 : 1582439788
Total Pages : 314 pages
Book Rating : 4.85/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Zen Baggage written by Bill Porter and published by Catapult. This book was released on 2009-03-01 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the spring of 2006, Bill Porter traveled through the heart of China, from Beijing to Hong Kong, on a pilgrimage to sites associated with the first six patriarchs of Zen. Zen Baggage is an account of that journey. He weaves together historical background, interviews with Zen masters, and translations of the earliest known records of Zen, along with personal vignettes. Porter's account captures the transformations taking place at religious centers in China but also the abiding legacy they have somehow managed to preserve. Porter brings wisdom and humor to every situation, whether visiting ancient caves containing the most complete collection of Buddhist texts ever uncovered, enduring a six–hour Buddhist ceremony, searching in vain for the ghost in his room, waking up the monk in charge of martial arts at Shaolin Temple, or meeting the abbess of China's first Zen nunnery. Porter's previously published Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits has become recommended reading at Zen centers and universities throughout America and even in China (in its Chinese translation), and Zen Baggage is sure to follow suit.

Author : Solala Towler
Publisher : Watkins Media Limited
ISBN 13 : 1786780739
Total Pages : 176 pages
Book Rating : 4.37/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Spirit of Zen written by Solala Towler and published by Watkins Media Limited. This book was released on 2017-02-14 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Spirit of Zen is a collection of inspiring teaching stories taken from the classical works of Zen Buddhism. Zen is probably the most well known yet misunderstood version of Buddhism in the West. The Spirit of Zen presents the most basic principles and practices of Zen in a simple yet authentic fashion. The Spirit of Zen guides you down the path to enlightenment with stories, history and practical guidance from the masters of Zen. Often the stories contained in these teachings are an attempt to shake the student out of his or her complacent accepting of 'things as they are.' By bypassing the ordinary mindset, the often puzzling actions of the Zen master to his students awaken something in them they didn't know they had. This is all part of the attempt of the master to awaken the student to the reality of his or her own being and place in the great scheme of things. By using these radical forms of teaching, the master is jolting the student out of any preconceptions they may have about spiritual attainment. Thus the famous dictum 'If you see the Buddha in the road, kill him.' The stories are arranged according to theme: Gradual Enlightenment, Sudden Enlightenment, Teaching Stories, Paradoxical Teaching, Eccentric Masters etc. Most of them are from traditional sources with some original additions from Taoist expert Solala Towler. The simple yet profound truths of spiritual practice and awakening are often best learned from stories, rather than ponderous dissertation. These stories are profound and illuminating while also being entertaining, contain the kernel or true flavor of Zen.

Author : Red Pine
Publisher : Catapult
ISBN 13 : 1582439427
Total Pages : 251 pages
Book Rating : 4.26/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Road to Heaven written by Red Pine and published by Catapult. This book was released on 2009-08-10 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1989, Bill Porter, having spent much of his life studying and translating Chinese religious and philosophical texts, began to wonder if the Buddhist hermit tradition still existed in China. At the time, it was believed that the Cultural Revolution had dealt a lethal blow to all religions in China, destroying countless temples and shrines, and forcibly returning thousands of monks and nuns to a lay life. But when Porter travels to the Chungnan mountains — the historical refuge of ancient hermits — he discovers that the hermit tradition is very much alive, as dozens of monks and nuns continue to lead solitary lives in quiet contemplation of their faith deep in the mountains. Part travelogue, part history, part sociology, and part religious study, this record of extraordinary journeys to an unknown China sheds light on a phenomenon unparalleled in the West. Porter's discovery is more than a revelation, and uncovers the glimmer of hope for the future of religion in China.

Author : Red Pine
Publisher : Catapult
ISBN 13 : 1640095136
Total Pages : 250 pages
Book Rating : 4.37/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Zen Roots written by Red Pine and published by Catapult. This book was released on 2022-02-22 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Including nine new translations from the first thousand years of Zen, this collection of sacred Buddhist texts with refreshed commentary is made to be carried with you Dating from the middle of the second century B.C. to the middle of the ninth century A.D., Zen Roots includes the Heart, Diamond, and Platform sutras; selections from the Vimalakirti and Lankavatara sutras; Bodhidharma's Principles & Practice; Sengcan's Trusting the Mind; Yongjia’s Song of Enlightenment; and Huangbo's Transmission of the Mind. These translations are accompanied by introductions and enough notes to explain what needs explaining but not so many as to get in the way. Zen Roots is the perfect companion for travel, to accompany one to the higher elevations, or just to read in the backyard.

Author : John D. Barbour
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1009116231
Total Pages : 343 pages
Book Rating : 4.37/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Journeys of Transformation written by John D. Barbour and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2022-03-31 with total page 343 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Western Buddhist travel narratives are autobiographical accounts of a journey to a Buddhist culture. Dozens of such narratives have since the 1970s describe treks in Tibet, periods of residence in a Zen monastery, pilgrimages to Buddhist sites and teachers, and other Asian odysseys. The best known of these works is Peter Matthiessen's The Snow Leopard; further reflections emerge from thirty writers including John Blofeld, Jan Van de Wetering, Thomas Merton, Oliver Statler, Robert Thurman, Gretel Ehrlich, and Bill Porter. The Buddhist concept of 'no-self' helps these authors interpret certain pivotal experiences of 'unselfing' and is also a catalyst that provokes and enables such events. The writers' spiritual memoirs describe how their journeys brought about a new understanding of Buddhist enlightenment and so transformed their lives. Showing how travel can elicit self-transformation, this book is a compelling exploration of the journeys and religious changes of both individuals and Buddhism itself.

Author : Julian Daizan Skinner
Publisher : Singing Dragon
ISBN 13 : 0857013475
Total Pages : 224 pages
Book Rating : 4.77/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Practical Zen for Health, Wealth and Mindfulness written by Julian Daizan Skinner and published by Singing Dragon. This book was released on 2018-01-18 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bringing the body-mind insights of Rinzai Zen from the mountains of Japan to the Western world, Zen master Julian Daizan Skinner and Sarah Bladen present simple meditation techniques to help achieve health, wellbeing and success. Taking the reader through the first 100 days of practice, the book then shows how to adapt the new learned techniques to the rest of your life. Including case studies at the end of each chapter to show how people's lives have been transformed through their meditation journeys, this is an accessible and practical guide to adapting Eastern meditation into busy Western lives.

Author : Victor Sogen Hori
Publisher : University of Hawaii Press
ISBN 13 : 0824865677
Total Pages : 785 pages
Book Rating : 4.72/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Zen Sand written by Victor Sogen Hori and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2003-02-28 with total page 785 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Zen Sand is a classic collection of verses aimed at aiding practitioners of kôan meditation to negotiate the difficult relationship between insight and language. As such it represents a major contribution to both Western Zen practice and English-language Zen scholarship. In Japan the traditional Rinzai Zen kôan curriculum includes the use of jakugo, or "capping phrases." Once a monk has successfully replied to a kôan, the Zen master orders the search for a classical verse to express the monk’s insight into the kôan. Special collections of these jakugo were compiled as handbooks to aid in that search. Until now, Zen students in the West, lacking this important resource, have been severely limited in carrying out this practice. Zen Sand combines and translates two standard jakugo handbooks and opens the way for incorporating this important tradition fully into Western Zen practice. For the scholar, Zen Sand provides a detailed description of the jakugo practice and its place in the overall kôan curriculum, as well as a brief history of the Zen phrase book. This volume also contributes to the understanding of East Asian culture in a broader sense.

Author : Barbara O'Brien
Publisher : Shambhala Publications
ISBN 13 : 1611805783
Total Pages : 329 pages
Book Rating : 4.89/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Circle of the Way written by Barbara O'Brien and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 2019-11-12 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive, accessible guide to the fascinating history of Zen Buddhism--including important figures, schools, foundational texts, practices, and politics. Zen Buddhism has a storied history--Bodhidharma sitting in meditation in a cave for nine years; a would-be disciple cutting off his own arm to get the master's attention; the proliferating schools and intense Dharma combat of the Tang and Song Dynasties; Zen nuns and laypeople holding their own against patriarchal lineages; the appearance of new masters in the Zen schools of Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and later the Western world. In The Circle of the Way, Zen practitioner and popular religion writer Barbara O'Brien brings clarity to this huge swath of history by charting a middle way between Zen's traditional lore and the findings of modern historical scholarship. In a clear and often funny style, O'Brien parses fact from fiction while always attending to the greatest interest of contemporary practitioners--the development of Zen doctrine and practice as a living tradition across cultures and centuries.

Author : Trevor Carolan
Publisher : SUNY Press
ISBN 13 : 1438459831
Total Pages : 216 pages
Book Rating : 4.37/5 ( download)

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Download or read book New World Dharma written by Trevor Carolan and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 2016-03-16 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Interviews and profiles of spiritual and cultural figures influenced by Buddhism. Based on Trevor Carolan’s interviews, profiles, and essays from the past twenty years, this book offers a fascinating and intimate look at many of the Buddhist (and Buddhist-inspired) spiritual and cultural leaders who have shaped our time. Drawn from the global mosaic of the arts and humanities, environmentalism, and governance, Carolan’s collaborators include Buddhist teachers, poets, writers, activists, and even a politician. Readers will encounter Red Pine, Maxine Hong Kingston, Gary Snyder, Robert Aitken-Roshi, Jerry Brown, the Dalai Lama, Allen Ginsberg, along with many others. They explore engaged practice, East-West ethics, the role of dharma-influenced literature, Beat literature, social and political activism, and more. A rich resource for anyone interested in Buddhism, New World Dharma reveals a Buddhist consciousness responding to the challenge of rethinking what citizenship, community, and the sacred might mean in a global age. “Congratulations to Trevor Carolan for creating a wise and excellent sequence of essays, accurate historical information, and interviews which provide very useful insights and Buddhist time-tracks to both Buddhist and non-Buddhist readers and researchers.” — Ed Sanders, poet and historian “New World Dharma sheds light on a major development in literary and spiritual life by giving a personal, social, internal look into the lives of key Buddhist writers and leaders. In hindsight, it is clear that the influx of Asian spiritual teachings into the West instigated a cultural awakening of major proportion. This book provides a sense of how the fabric of this cultural awakening was woven, thread by thread, over several decades, as the people interviewed were all connected in some way.” — Fran Grace, coeditor of Meditation and the Classroom: Contemplative Pedagogy for Religious Studies

Author : Liu Tsung-yuan
Publisher : Copper Canyon Press
ISBN 13 : 1619322072
Total Pages : 261 pages
Book Rating : 4.73/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Written in Exile written by Liu Tsung-yuan and published by Copper Canyon Press. This book was released on 2020-01-15 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After a failed push for political reform, the T’ang era’s greatest prose-writer, Liu Tsung-yuan, was exiled to the southern reaches of China. Thousands of miles from home and freed from the strictures of court bureaucracy, he turned his gaze inward and chronicled his estrangement in poems. Liu’s fame as a prose writer, however, overshadowed his accomplishment as a poet. Three hundred years after Liu died, the poet Su Tung-p’o ranked him as one of the greatest poets of the T’ang, along with Tu Fu, Li Pai, and Wei Ying-wu. And yet Liu is unknown in the West, with fewer than a dozen poems published in English translation. The renowned translator Red Pine discovered Liu’s poetry during his travels throughout China and was compelled to translate 140 of the 146 poems attributed to Liu. As Red Pine writes, “I was captivated by the man and by how he came to write what he did.” Appended with thoroughly researched notes, an in-depth introduction, and the Chinese originals, Written in Exile presents the long-overdue introduction of a legendary T’ang poet.