Zen Essence

Zen Essence PDF Author: Thomas Cleary
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
ISBN: 0834829274
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 136

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Book Description
Drawn from the records of Chinese Zen masters of the Tang and Song dynasties, this collection may surprise some readers. In contrast to the popular image of Zen as an authoritarian, monastic tradition deeply rooted in Asian culture, these passages portray Zen as remarkably flexible, adaptive to contemporary and individual needs, and transcending cultural boundaries. The readings contained in Zen Essence emphasize that the practice of Zen requires consciousness alone and does not depend on a background in Zen Buddhism and Asian culture. The true essence of Zen resides in the relationship between mind and culture, whatever that culture might be. This unique collection of writings creates a picture of Zen not as a religion or philosophy, but as a practical science of freedom.

Zen Essence

Zen Essence PDF Author: Thomas Cleary
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
ISBN: 0834829274
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 136

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Book Description
Drawn from the records of Chinese Zen masters of the Tang and Song dynasties, this collection may surprise some readers. In contrast to the popular image of Zen as an authoritarian, monastic tradition deeply rooted in Asian culture, these passages portray Zen as remarkably flexible, adaptive to contemporary and individual needs, and transcending cultural boundaries. The readings contained in Zen Essence emphasize that the practice of Zen requires consciousness alone and does not depend on a background in Zen Buddhism and Asian culture. The true essence of Zen resides in the relationship between mind and culture, whatever that culture might be. This unique collection of writings creates a picture of Zen not as a religion or philosophy, but as a practical science of freedom.

The Essence of Zen

The Essence of Zen PDF Author: Sekkei Harada
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0861718445
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 178

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Book Description
The Essence of Zen is an expert's guided tour of the ins and outs of the tradition's approach to meditation, enlightenment, and the oneness of all things. To read it is to enter into one of modern Japanese Zen's most subtle and sophisticated minds. Sekkei Harada skillfully pushes us to drop those parts of ourselves that grasp and make demands regarding our understanding or progress in meditation practice. He enables us to see clearly-and steer clear of-the philosophical stumbling blocks that can make the path precarious. The Essence of Zen represents the most succinct of his teachings, making it of immediate value to anyone with an interest in Zen. The book also contains Harada's explanations of the differences between the tradition's primary schools, making it particularly helpful to newcomers.

Appreciate Your Life

Appreciate Your Life PDF Author: Taizan Maezumi
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
ISBN: 0834828197
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description
Here is the first major collection of the teachings of Taizan Maezumi Roshi (1931-1995), one of the first Japanese Zen masters to bring Zen to the West and founding abbot of the Zen Center of Los Angeles and Zen Mountain Center in Idyllwild, California. These short, inspiring readings illuminate Zen practice in simple, eloquent language. Topics include zazen and Zen koans, how to appreciate your life as the life of the Buddha, and the essential matter of life and death. Appreciate Your Life conveys Maezumi Roshi's unique spirit and teaching style, as well as his timeless insights into the practice of Zen. Never satisfied with merely conveying ideas, his teisho, the Zen talks he gave weekly and during retreats, evoked personal questions from his students. Maezumi Roshi insisted that his students address these questions in their own lives. As he often said, "Be intimate with your life." The readings are not teachings or instructions in the traditional sense. They are transcriptions of the master's teisho, living presentations of his direct experience of Zen realization. These teisho are crystalline offerings of Zen insight intended to reach beyond the student's intellect to her or his deepest essence.

Essential Zen

Essential Zen PDF Author: Kazuaki Tanahashi
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0062510460
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description
The best collection of Zen wisdom and wit since Zen Flesh, Zen Bones, this lively introduction to Zen Buddhism has it all. Koans, sayings, poems, and stories by Eastern and American Zen teachers and students capture the delightful, challenging, mystifying, mind-stopping, outrageous, and scandalous heart of Zen. 6 illustrations.

Zen and the Art of Insight

Zen and the Art of Insight PDF Author: Thomas Cleary
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
ISBN: 0834827204
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 176

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Book Description
The Prajnaparamita ("perfection of wisdom") sutras are one of the great legacies of Mahayana Buddhism, giving eloquent expression to some of that school's central concerns: the perception of shunyata, the essential emptiness of all phenomena; and the ideal of the bodhisattva, one who postpones his or her own enlightenment in order to work for the salvation of all beings. The Prajnaparamita literature consists of a number of texts composed in Buddhist India between 100 BCE and 100 CE. Originally written in Sanskrit, but surviving today mostly in their Chinese versions, the texts are concerned with the experience of profound insight that cannot be conveyed by concepts or in intellectual terms. The material remains important today in Mahayana Buddhism and Zen. Key selections from the Prajnaparamita literature are presented here, along with Thomas Cleary's illuminating commentary, as a means of demonstrating the intrinsic limitations of discursive thought, and of pointing to the profound wisdom that lies beyond it. Included are selections from: • The Scripture on Perfect Insight Awakening to Essence • The Essentials of the Great Scripture on Perfect Insight • Treatise on the Great Scripture on Perfect Insight • The Scripture on Perfect Insight for Benevolent Rulers • Key Teachings on the Great Scripture of Perfect Insight • The Questions of Suvikrantavikramin

The Essence of Zen

The Essence of Zen PDF Author: Sangharakshita (Bikshu, Sthavira)
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description


The Dude and the Zen Master

The Dude and the Zen Master PDF Author: Jeff Bridges
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101600756
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
The perfect gift for fans of The Big Lebowski, Jeff Bridges's "The Dude", and anyone who could use more Zen in their lives. Zen Master Bernie Glassman compares Jeff Bridges’s iconic role in The Big Lebowski to a Lamed-Vavnik: one of the men in Jewish mysticism who are “simple and unassuming,” and “so good that on account of them God lets the world go on.” Jeff puts it another way. “The wonderful thing about the Dude is that he’d always rather hug it out than slug it out.” For more than a decade, Academy Award-winning actor Jeff Bridges and his Buddhist teacher, renowned Roshi Bernie Glassman, have been close friends. Inspiring and often hilarious, The Dude and the Zen Master captures their freewheeling dialogue and remarkable humanism in a book that reminds us of the importance of doing good in a difficult world.

Zen and the Brain

Zen and the Brain PDF Author: James H. Austin
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262260350
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 876

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Book Description
A neuroscientist and Zen practitioner interweaves the latest research on the brain with his personal narrative of Zen. Aldous Huxley called humankind's basic trend toward spiritual growth the "perennial philosophy." In the view of James Austin, the trend implies a "perennial psychophysiology"—because awakening, or enlightenment, occurs only when the human brain undergoes substantial changes. What are the peak experiences of enlightenment? How could these states profoundly enhance, and yet simplify, the workings of the brain? Zen and the Brain presents the latest evidence. In this book Zen Buddhism becomes the opening wedge for an extraordinarily wide-ranging exploration of consciousness. In order to understand which brain mechanisms produce Zen states, one needs some understanding of the anatomy, physiology, and chemistry of the brain. Austin, both a neurologist and a Zen practitioner, interweaves the most recent brain research with the personal narrative of his Zen experiences. The science is both inclusive and rigorous; the Zen sections are clear and evocative. Along the way, Austin examines such topics as similar states in other disciplines and religions, sleep and dreams, mental illness, consciousness-altering drugs, and the social consequences of the advanced stage of ongoing enlightenment.

The Essence of Zen

The Essence of Zen PDF Author: Sangharakshita (Bhikshu)
Publisher: Windhorse Publications
ISBN: 9780904766912
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 70

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Book Description
Drawing on his knowledge and long practice of Buddhism, the author reflects on four lines representing fundamental principles of the Zen or Ch'an school of Buddhism: A special transmission outside the scriptures, No dependence on words and letters, Direct pointing to the mind, and Seeing into one's own nature and realizing Buddhahood. He sets out to communicate the essence of each, and to indicate how its meaning can be applied to Western conditions.

Presentation Zen

Presentation Zen PDF Author: Garr Reynolds
Publisher: Pearson Education
ISBN: 0321601890
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
FOREWORD BY GUY KAWASAKI Presentation designer and internationally acclaimed communications expert Garr Reynolds, creator of the most popular Web site on presentation design and delivery on the Net — presentationzen.com — shares his experience in a provocative mix of illumination, inspiration, education, and guidance that will change the way you think about making presentations with PowerPoint or Keynote. Presentation Zen challenges the conventional wisdom of making "slide presentations" in today’s world and encourages you to think differently and more creatively about the preparation, design, and delivery of your presentations. Garr shares lessons and perspectives that draw upon practical advice from the fields of communication and business. Combining solid principles of design with the tenets of Zen simplicity, this book will help you along the path to simpler, more effective presentations.