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Thread: From Jundo: Three Zen Book (Re-) Recommendations

  1. #1

    From Jundo: Three Zen Book (Re-) Recommendations

    Hi Guys,

    I am going to re-recommend three Zennish books already mentioned around the Forum ...

    For French Speakers, our dear friend Taigu has just issued his poems ... Montagnes flottantes ... "fleeting mountains," through one of France main publishers. Taigu writes, "It is basically a collection of haikus written during the last ten years in Japan as well as Dharmic poetry. It is written in French and can be ordered here. It will soon be available on Amazon."

    Les haïkus de Pierre Turlur, de facture contemporaine, sont, dans leur forme vagabonde, à l'image de la vie même. Loin d'être le fruit de la trituration du visible et du langage ou l'expression d'un jeu savant, ils sont un exercice de dépouillement où l'éphémère est précieusement recueilli. Ain de mieux appréhender leur saveur, ils sont précédés d'une introduction et accompagnés de commentaires.
    Next, I have now actually finished reading a book I recommended before on anticipation alone ... Commentary on the Song of Awakening: [Master Kodo Sawaki's] Commentary on the Seventh Century Poem by the Chinese Ch'an Master Yung-chia Hsuan-chueh, translated by Tonen O'Connor

    This is a series of talks by "Homeless" Kodo Sawaki, translated by Rev. O'Conner (who also led Zazenkai here a few months ago). An excellent resource for those of us influenced by the Practice style and Teachings of Sawaki Roshi, such as here at Treeleaf. I am going to list it as one one the best Zen books ever for those of us influenced by Sawaki and Uchiyama Roshis, right up there with "Opening the Hand of Thought" and "Cooking Your Life/Instructions for the Cook". However, I would say that the book is not for folks very new to Zen, but is more a banquet to be savored by folks who have read many Zen books and are looking for something with special flavor. I have also let Tonen know that the cost is rather an issue for some folks, and I am encouraging her to create an ebook or the like (no plans for that as of now however).

    The Song of Awakening (chin. Cheng-tao ke, jap. Shōdōka), is a seminal text within early Chinese Chan (jap. Zen). Written in the seventh century by the Chinese master Yung-chia Hsüan-chüeh (Jap. Yōka Genkaku, known familiarly as Yōka Daishi), this superb poem resonates with Yōka Daishi’s great awakening to the truth of reality. As such, it has had a deep influence on the understanding and practice of a long line of Chinese and Japanese Zen masters and practitioners.

    Kōdō Sawaki uses the poetic expression of Shōdōka as a springboard for a wide-ranging commentary that not only elucidates the poem, but adds a rich background of Buddhist teachings and emphasizes Sawaki Roshi’s focus on upright sitting in the zazen posture as the seat of realization. Filled with humor, Japanese folk history, and sometimes a no-holds barred critique of academic and priestly posturing, Sawaki’s commentary is a pleasure to encounter.

    http://www.uhpress.hawaii.edu/p-9188-9781937385613.aspx

    And last but not least is a slightly updated edition of Living Zen: The Diary of an American Zen Priest by a very powerful and unique Soto Zen Teacher, wounded war veteran and social activist Daiho Hilbert



    This book is a compilation of his short diary entries a few years ago, but he is a beautiful diarist. His short daily entries are on the mundane face of life ... a visit from his son, getting the kitchen counters redone, dealing with war memories and his painful war injuries ... yet each lesson packs a wallop. The man speaks with Wisdom and Compassion throughout, and pulls no punches. Thus, the book is somehow light and pleasant to read, yet powerful and profound at once. It is amazing how he does it. The book is available in paper or Kindle ...

    http://www.amazon.com/Living-Zen-Dia.../dp/1456464612
    http://www.amazon.com/Living-Zen-Dia.../dp/B00IUS8VBO

    I am also honored to say that Daiho invited me to write the Forward for this new edition, which I take the liberty of pasting below.

    Gassho, Jundo
    SatToday

    -------------------

    Forward by Rev. Jundo Cohen

    Jizo rescues sentient beings in hell because he’s seen the horrors of the place. The guy who has been to war, done and suffered violence, can now speak for peace. It is not exactly clear when Daiho Hilbert’s road to Buddhism and peace activism began, but the early seeds were planted before he had even read his first Zen book, as he lay for months in a military hospital bed during the Vietnam War, parts of his skull shot away. Daiho’s Company A, 1/35th Infantry was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation, one of the nation’s highest honors, based on their experiences on the night he was wounded, for “exceptional valor in action against a numerically superior and heavily armed North Vietnamese Army force … Outnumbered and surrounded, Company A fought valiantly … as successive waves of the foe sought to overrun their position.” Daiho got up from that bed to say “never again.”

    Both the body and the spirit are scarred in war. Daiho found his peace and healing when he found his teacher and Zazen. Now he sits for peace and leads others in doing so. At the heart of his own teachings and practice these past many years has been his public Zazen sits for peace. He has been an active voice in the anti-war movement these last few wars, although no rosy eyed dreamer. He also works with fellow veterans and for a variety of folks who have seen other hells each in their own way. His style is the proverbial lotus growing beautifully amid, and nurtured by, all the muck and crap of this deluded world. Daiho has sat and practiced in the “monastery of hard knocks” filled with burned gun powder and incense, biker leather and robes, tattoos and old scrolls.

    We need the words of the ancient Zen Ancestors, with their arcane Koans, Chinese poems and Japanese sensibilities. But we also need folks who speak in modern lingo for our day, presenting the living Koans and sensibilities of these times and places where we struggle. The book is an example. Oh, there are bits of Chinese poetry scattered here and there, but most of it is the diary and wisdom of a master living in 21st Century America, shopping in the grocery store with the rest of us, facing the sometime pain of his old injuries, dealing with the VA system, hopping on his Harley to hit the road. There is a quality of simultaneous softness and “no bullshit” in his words that jumps out of these pages. In this way, Daiho reminds me of that other great wandering teacher, “Homeless” Kodo Sawaki. Kodo once wrote:

    Today I can't even to begin to believe that it was I who shouted, “Fire! To the attack!” during the Russo-Japanese War. Obviously, I have become a monk and fifty-seven years have passed since a ball pierced my neck, but the fact remains that I fought during the war. However, it would be ridiculous to isolate this episode of my life and say that this completely represents me.
    There is truth and falsehood in all things, because all phenomena are ephemeral, all is empty. Well, a lucid glance perceives simultaneously the part that is false and the part that is true, the positive and negative aspects. It is the mind of hishiryo, the mind beyond the mind, the absolute mind, that of the tranquil man of the Way … When one perceives the non-duality of positive and negative, one doesn’t take love and hate for two separate states. At a single glance one takes in the universe in its totality. From the depths of infinite space, nothing escapes this regard.

    (From Commentary on the Song of Awakening pp 75-76)

    Only someone who knows that nothing escapes, that there is love and hate and beauty and ugliness and positive and negative, can turn around and speak with authority of love and beauty and goodness. Only one who recognizes the past can move on and look forward. These pages, never failing to stare down violence, greed and falsity, are filled with gentleness and charity and truth.

    Jundo Cohen
    Tsukuba, Japan
    Last edited by Jundo; 11-20-2015 at 04:56 AM.
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

  2. #2
    Mp
    Guest
    Wonderful Jundo, thank you ... put on the Christmas list. =)

    Gassho
    Shingen

    #sattoday

  3. #3
    Thank you for the recommendations! I am particularly happy to learn of Taigu's book. It should be a good way to keep reading in French over winter break.

    Gassho
    Loren
    sat today

  4. #4
    Thanks.

    SAT today
    _/_
    Rich
    MUHYO
    無 (MU, Emptiness) and 氷 (HYO, Ice) ... Emptiness Ice ...

    https://instagram.com/notmovingmind

  5. #5
    Jizo rescues sentient beings in hell because he’s seen the horrors of the place. The guy who has been to war, done and suffered violence, can now speak for peace. It is not exactly clear when Daiho Hilbert’s road to Buddhism and peace activism began, but the early seeds were planted before he had even read his first Zen book.


    Danny
    #sattoday

  6. #6
    Thank you for the recommendations.

    i have Daiho's earlier version and found it a good read and perspective on zen in everyday life. Earlier this year my wife and I trained with Daiho....not Zen specifically but walking. We were training to walk 14 miles in the memorial Bataan Death March that happens annually in southern New Mexico. There were a large number of New Mexicans who were captured and in the March, hence the memorial walk being held in NM. Even with his wounds from Vietnam he stayed the pace, rather fast I will add, and we all crossed the finish line together. There was also those (many military) who went the longer 26 mile route. Daiho is also an accomplished painter.

    Looks like I will have to get the revision since it has Jundo's forward.

    Gassho

    Randy
    sattoday
    Last edited by Doshin; 11-19-2015 at 11:41 PM.

  7. #7
    Thank you Jundo! The list gets longer!

    Gassho,
    Sierra
    SatToday

  8. #8
    Thank you for the recommendations Jundo.

    Gassho
    Sergey
    sat-today

  9. #9

    From Jundo: Three Zen Book (Re-) Recommendations

    Gassho to all.
    I cannot recommend Commentary on the Song of Awakening enough. It is a wonderful gift to give to our jukaiees (best wishes for tomorrow).
    Gassho Heisoku ( a pickled radish of some kind!)
    Read the book to find out why!
    Sat today.


    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
    Last edited by Heisoku; 01-09-2016 at 10:00 AM.
    Heisoku 平 息
    Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home. (Basho)

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Calm Heart View Post
    Thank you for the recommendations.

    i have Daiho's earlier version and found it a good read and perspective on zen in everyday life. Earlier this year my wife and I trained with Daiho....not Zen specifically but walking. We were training to walk 14 miles in the memorial Bataan Death March that happens annually in southern New Mexico. There were a large number of New Mexicans who were captured and in the March, hence the memorial walk being held in NM. Even with his wounds from Vietnam he stayed the pace, rather fast I will add, and we all crossed the finish line together. There was also those (many military) who went the longer 26 mile route. Daiho is also an accomplished painter.

    Looks like I will have to get the revision since it has Jundo's forward.

    Gassho

    Randy
    sattoday

    An Update,

    Harvey Hilbert (Daiho) just completed another book "Zen In Your Pocket". A very brief introduction to Zen. I wrote a review of it at Amazon.com. If family or friends want to know what we do have them give 20 minutes to the first Section.

    Gassho
    Randy
    sattoday

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Calm Heart View Post
    An Update,

    Harvey Hilbert (Daiho) just completed another book "Zen In Your Pocket". A very brief introduction to Zen. I wrote a review of it at Amazon.com. If family or friends want to know what we do have them give 20 minutes to the first Section.

    Gassho
    Randy
    sattoday
    Daiho as promised to come back as a guest sometime in the coming weeks to lead Zazen and introduce the book.

    Gassho, Jundo
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

  12. #12
    Thank you for the recommendation. Sad to hear there are no plans for an eBook version of "Song...", as I've given up paper books. But I'll have to make an exception in this case!

    -satToday
    Thanks,
    Kaishin (開心, Open Heart)
    Please take this layman's words with a grain of salt.

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Kaishin View Post
    Thank you for the recommendation. Sad to hear there are no plans for an eBook version of "Song...", as I've given up paper books. But I'll have to make an exception in this case!

    -satToday
    I asked her about that, and also about the price. I believe it was the publisher's decision. I encouraged her to see if something might be done about that.

    Gassho, Jundo
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

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