Publication
Washington, D.C. : Counterpoint, c2001.
Call number
History / Downi
ISBN
1582431132 / 9781582431130
Original publication date
2001
Collections
CSS Library Notes
Shunryu Suzuki , Richard Baker , David Chadwick ,
Physical description
xx, 384 p.; 25 cm
Description
History
Language
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LibraryThing member amcvay
Excess is the right word. This is the story of abbott gone wrong, and zen as marketing success with restaurants, cookbooks (Tassajara), retreats.
LibraryThing member aulsmith
A very zen book about the San Francisco Zen Center. Centering around the experiences of its practitioners during the crisis in 1983, when the Abbot was discovered having an affair with one of his students, the book circles around the foundations of the Center and where people who practiced there
You should approach this book with a blank piece of paper and a pen. A large number of important characters w keep cycling through the book, which has no index. It's very difficult to keep track of who is who without taking notes.
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are today. Mostly the author lets his interview subjects talk for themselves, even when they contradict each other and it's hard to make sense of what's being said. But then the author will interrupt with a penetrating question that gets you to focus on how far from normal life and normal expectations of the Buddhist middle way one can wander in search of enlightenment. I've long been skeptical about the usefulness of zen meditation, and nothing here made me change my mind. But I also saw why some people are genuinely attached to the practice.You should approach this book with a blank piece of paper and a pen. A large number of important characters w keep cycling through the book, which has no index. It's very difficult to keep track of who is who without taking notes.
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