Zen Buddhism

Jesus Christ was a Zen master? In at least one version of early Christian belief, he sure sounded like one. The Jesus narrative that eventually won out was passed on to future generations while the losers had their books burned and adherents imprisoned, tortured, or put to death. Talk about issues with freedom of religion! Luckily, an early Christian group called the “Gnostics”, in seeing their beloved books burned and adherents mistreated, buried their most important works in hopes of future discovery.

Buddhism aims for the development of a flexible mind and skillful responsiveness-whether toward problems in one's personal life or broader issues like the ecological crisis. But in a culture now saturated with cliches about mindfulness and unrealistic fantasies about happiness, what does it truly mean to walk this path? The key practice is that of embodied aliveness.

At twenty-five, activist Cristina Moon faced an impossible task: preparing for the possibility of arrest and torture inside military-ruled Myanmar. Her response? Learning Buddhist meditation. So began what would become a decades-long spiritual path—eventually leading her to a Zen temple and martial arts dojo in Hawai'i with a timeless method of warrior Zen training.

Great Brahmas. Two of this realm’s more famous inhabitants are the Great Brahma, a deity whose delusion leads him to regard himself as the all-powerful, all-seeing supposedly creator of the universe (see Digha Nikaya 11), and Brahma Sahampati, who begs the Buddha to teach Dhamma to the world.

Aging isn’t easy. But it can still be filled with joy—maybe even more joy than we expect. Alive Until You’re Dead offers a Zen approach to aging. Zen teacher and writer Susan Moon’s stories explore being present with what is, not turning away from what’s difficult, wishing for and working for the wellbeing of others, and being willing not to know what’s next. Moon writes of her most personal vulnerabilities in the service of connecting with everyone. These field notes from an old human being invite us to feel more alive in the final stretch, whatever it holds.

The teachings of Shunryu Suzuki have served for innumerable people as the gateway to Zen practice and meditation. In Zen Is Right Now, devoted student and biographer David Chadwick sheds new light on Suzuki’s presence and teachings through selected quotes from his lectures and a variety of stories told by his students.

Thich Nhat Hanh illuminates the path to peace through practices of gratitude and daily affirmations, including a "peace treaty" and the "diet for a mindful society". Practical and highly accessible, Touching Peace: Practising the Art of Mindful Living is an essential guide for mindful living in today’s world.

We live in turbulent and uncertain times. Anger and hatred are dividing us instead of bringing us closer together. What's needed is not more of the same, but a deliberate shift to consciousness and love. Join Alex Mill, a former monk who trained in a Zen monastery for 14 years, as he guides you along his personal, true-life journey. He'll recount how he found Zen awareness practice and pursued it to discover freedom, and reveal the principles he learned so that you, too, can access the wisdom and tools necessary to bring the monastery's refuge into your own life, right where you are.

« On me demande souvent comment j'en suis arrivé à devenir moine zen, qui plus est au Japon, à presque 10 000 kilomètres de cette belle vallée de la Loire qui m'a vu grandir. La vie est surprenante. Un jour, sans trop faire attention, vous vous retrouvez assis sur un coussin de méditation dans un petit temple perdu au fond d'une montagne enneigée.? » En 2020, Clément Sans entre dans un temple zen au Japon. Un an plus tard, il prend le nom de Tōzan et devient moine à Antai-ji.

This new book from Zen teacher, psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and critical favorite, Barry Magid, inspires us to outgrow the impossible pursuit of happiness, and instead make peace with the perfection of the way things are. Including ourselves! Using wryly gentle prose, Magid invites readers to consider the notion that our certainty that we are broken may be turning our pursuit of happiness into a source of more suffering.

As it turns out, Buddha had quite a lot to say on the subject of gratitude, including citing it as one of the four keys to the Gate of Heaven. Studies show - and experts counsel - that gratitude is a key component of our happiness. People who are grateful about events and experiences from the past, who celebrate triumphs instead of focusing on losses or disappointments, tend to be more satisfied. Gratitude can help us transform our fears into courage, our anger into forgiveness, our isolation into belonging, and another’s pain into healing.

The Prajna Paramita Hridaya Sutra is among the best known of all the Buddhist scriptures. Chanted daily by many Zen students, it is also studied extensively in the Tibetan tradition, and it has been regarded with interest more recently in the West in various fields of study - from philosophy to quantum physics. In just 35 lines, it expresses the truth of impermanence and the release from suffering that results from the understanding of that truth with a breathtaking economy of language.

Written in a style that balances knowledge, wit, and inspiration, Zen Mind, Franciscan Joy provides background information on the lives of the Buddha and Jesus of Nazareth. Dr. Shirley discusses the concepts of Zen impermanence, insight, and meditation and Christian trinity, incarnation, and creation. He also examines the interplay of Zen and Franciscan “emptiness” with Christian “fullness.”

عندما ننظر بعمق إلى حياتنا، نرى العديد من الأشياء غير المثالية، مثل ذرات الغبار على المرآة القديمة، وهناك كل أنواع الأشياء التي تجعلنا نشعر بعدم الرضا، وعدم السعادة، حيث تختلف، غالبًا، كلماتنا عن أفعالنا، وتتوتر علاقاتنا بسبب أخطائنا، وتسير أفضل الخطط التي نضعها للمستقبل على عكس ما نتمنى، وعلاوة على ذلك، فإننا في خضم حياتنا نُحدث جروحًا مختلفة بالآخرين، عن قصد أو عن غير قصد، ما يتسبب لنا في الشعور بالذنب والندم.

The book, Can Zen Buddhism Offer a Life Free of Problems Through Its Ancient Spiritual Remedies?, takes us through the nooks and crannies of Zen Buddhism. As it demystifies several ancient notions about Zen Buddhism, it also highlights the current state of several aspects of Zen Buddhism.

In The Way of Tenderness, Zen priest Zenju Earthlyn Manuel brings Buddhist philosophies of emptiness and appearance to bear on race, sexuality, and gender, using wisdom forged through personal experience and practice to rethink problems of identity and privilege.

A great primer on the history of Japanese art as it evolved under the Buddhist (and later Zen) movements embedding in Japan's culture. Written by the first great populariser of Chinese and Japanese cultural artefacts, including translating a great number of Chinese poems and literary works.

In this entertaining pamphlet, the author, who was an expert on the artistic traditions of China and Japan, examines the effect of Zen Buddhism on popular culture. He provides a perceptive thumbnail view of the development of Buddhism in the Far East, and engaging portraits of its luminary figures.

In The Five Ranks of Zen, American Zen teacher Shishin Wick offers an accessible entry point to each of the ranks, which Tozan created in two formulations: the first and better-known is the Five Ranks of the Relative and the Absolute; while the second set, called the Sequence of Merit, is an abbreviated form of the Ten Oxherding Pictures, a traditional formulation of the Zen spiritual journey.

El antiguo concepto budista de Mindful a menudo se presenta como un concepto demasiado complicado, pero el autor Eric McLuhan toma estos conceptos y comunica mindfulness en términos sencillos y comprensibles. Esta guía de soluciones Mindfulness cambiará su perspectiva. El trabajo de meditación de atención plena ayudará a desbloquear su potencial tanto para sus actividades en la casa y como en su trabajo. La vida no tiene que ser una carrera de una crisis a otra.