Is there anything in Zen?

[steve_bank]

One last thing. To be clear I am in no way knowledgeable in or a practof naything. Along with amny I drifted throw eastern traditions in the 70s and picked up some useful things that stayed with me.

Plenty of books on the techniques. The staring point is sitting quiet and focusing on breathing.

 

[rousseau]

I've been reading about Acceptance and Commitment Therapy lately and it feels similar to Zen.

- detachment from thoughts and the stories we tell ourselves
- focusing on the observing self, and being non-judgemental

I guess what we call philosophy in the ancient period, we call therapy in the modern period.

 

[steve_bank]

I've been reading about Acceptance and Commitment Therapy lately and it feels similar to Zen.

- detachment from thoughts and the stories we tell ourselves
- focusing on the observing self, and being non-judgemental

I guess what we call philosophy in the ancient period, we call therapy in the modern period.

I agree. Way back when I was reading Tibetan Buddhism it sunk in it was more a psychology. Buddha being the first 'self help guru', pun intended.

 

[rousseau]

So I finally got my hands on a copy of The Essentials of Zen Buddhism by Suzuki, after having it out of the library a few months ago.

I'm close to sure this is one of the best books on Zen in existence.

 

[FwL]

There is nothing in Zen.

 

[rousseau]

So I finally got my hands on a copy of The Essentials of Zen Buddhism by Suzuki, after having it out of the library a few months ago.

I'm close to sure this is one of the best books on Zen in existence.

I should add a qualifier, because there are two with a similar name and the same editor. Not sure how similar they are, but the one I'm referring to on amazon.com rather than amazon.ca is this one.

I was reading the intro of the book more closely over the past few days and apparently the editor had been granted access to Suzuki's personal library and writings near the end of Suzuki's life, and they worked together to produce this volume. Given Suzuki was the father of bringing Zen to the West, I qualify it as being one of the better books out there on the subject. Suzuki himself wrote a ton on Zen, but this one is a really nice compilation of his writing.

And I'll grant that a lot of Zen looks like Ancient style psychotherapy, but beyond that this volume acts as a great work of philosophy. To me that's how it reads - a guide to living that touches on the essentials of human nature toward the concept of a real enlightenment, at least as far as humans can truly be enlightened. And toward that end it contains very, very beautiful writing, which is almost worth the ticket price alone, philosophy aside.

 

[rousseau]

I picked up The Way of Zen by Alan Watts this weekend, because it outlined the history of Zen and it's Taoist as well as Buddhist roots. Good read and nice to see some writing on the Taoist side of Zen.