Upside-Down Zen : Finding the Marvelous in the Ordinary

by Murphy, Susan; Tarrant, John

• ISBN13: 9780861712793
• ISBN10: 086171279X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-11-13
• Publisher: Wisdom Publications

Summary

Writing and teaching in the same tradition as Robert Aitken (Taking the Path of Zen) and John Tarrant (Bring Me the Rhinoceros), Susan Murphy shares their warm and lyrical approach to Zen Buddhism.

Upside-Down Zen is Murphy's unique invitation to explore the vivid spirit of Zen. Concentrating her gaze on the particular-the lived moment-she delivers Zen's timeless wisdom in a voice that stimulates and sustains the interest of the contemporary reader. She illuminates Zen koans, the often misunderstood teaching stories of the tradition, by drawing on diverse sources such as literature, folk-tales, modern cinema, and Australian aboriginal spirituality.

Upside-Down Zen is an excellent, enjoyable read for anyone with an interest in meditation, self-knowledge, and the opening of insight and compassion in ordinary life.

Author Biography

Susan Murphy is a Zen teacher in the lineage that comes through Robert Aitken and Ross Bolleter in the Diamond Sangha branch of the Harada-Yasutani line of Zen, and John Tarrant, who has established an independent Zen school, the Pacific Zen Institute. She regularly conducts sesshin (Zen retreats) with the Zen Open Circle (www.zenopencircle.org.au). She also travels to Melbourne and the US to teach. Susan is a writer and feature film director, with a special interest in place, dream, and the affinity of Dharma with aboriginal spirituality. She is a widely published author on subjects as varied as cinema and Zen. She lives in Sydney.
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Table of Contents

FOREWORD BY JOHN TARRANT	XIII
PREFACE	XVII
PART ONE: THE PATH OF ZEN
1 BREATH, LIKE MIND, LIKE WATER	3	(13)
The universe breathing
Between life and death
Becoming the breath
A fasting of the mind
An accomplice to all your wishes
Bathe in silence
Letting be
Becoming willingness
Not knowing
Alive with death
The bare fact
A mind like fire, a mind like water
2 ONE WORLD AT A TIME	16	(11)
An honorable obsession
Alone and deeply comfortable
The tiger of mindfulness
A strange happiness
The simplicity of the Way
The koan of orange
No hindrance in the mind
What is the Mysterious?
3 INTIMACY WITH THE OTHER	27	(15)
Compassion and insight
The four noble truths
The four bodhisauva vows
Greed
Hatred and anger
The offer of negative emotion
Not getting angry
Thu original delusion
And yet, and yet...
4 THE GREAT WAY PLAY	42	(11)
The Serious matter of play
The dragon of creativity
Intimate plainness
The green branch
Cracking a great smile
So what is it?
No names
Accept all offers
5 THE WHOLE WORLD IS MEDICINE	53	(16)
Bring forth that mind
If you argue "right" and "wrong"
Minding the universe
Medicine and sickness mutually correspond
Unknowing
The koan Mu
The silence of koans
A wise fool
Shikantaza: the koan of just being
A direct path into reality
Trusted by the unknown
Becoming what it wants
6 "HE IS ME"	69	(14)
An initiatory path
Transmission mind to mind
The master's likeness
Just this person
The work of compassion
The dark waters
He is me...and yet...
A teacher has nothing to offer
PART TWO: ONE TEACHING UPSIDE-DOWN
7 THE TIGER'S KINDNESS	83	(12)
The fearlessness of the tiger
The strange offer of fear
Ruthlessness
Life cycle, gift cycle
Loss and creativity
No glass
The kindliness of all beings
8 SONGLINES OF THE WAY	95	(18)
Does the Dharma come from somewhere?
It speaks in silence
The place that lives us
Belonging
Reconciliation with this!
Dreaming country
Singing the land
Quiet country
Resonance
Affinity
Reciprocity
Singing ourselves awake
9 THE HERMITAGE IN THE STREET	113	(11)
Feel free to look around
Counter-terrorism
The grain of the world
The secret life of the street Knipls
The midden of the human world
Administered reality
Walking meditation on the pavement
The plainest poetry
The hermitage of the everyday
10 CAN THE BUDDHA BE A MOTHER?	124	(15)
Contraband
All the unknown women
Lineage
Spring wind
A covenant with the unknown
Home-leaving without leaving home
Not mixing up Buddhism
The teacher of your life
One insult after another
The mind of "Is that so?"
11 THE KOAN OF DREAM	139	(16)
The space between
Equally great dreams
Dream and Dharma
Even in a dream
Snow in a silver bowl
The great dream body of the Buddha
Ordinary pebbles
Dream and death
Contemplate your dream
PART THREE: LOTUS IN THE FIRE
12 THE WAY OF CHARACTER	155	(15)
Character: a work in progress
To forget the self
Paying attention
Uncontrived
Intimacy with the other
Character
Karma
The ongoing ceremony of awareness
Forbearing
Integrity
The seeing of the heart
Accountability
Why were you not who you really are?
The habit that ends all habit
13 A THOUSAND MISTAKES, TEN THOUSAND MISTAKES	170	(15)
No time, no near and far
A life and death question
Fox lives
Our human shiftiness
Precarious
The mortal fact
Which is which?
Return to fate means eternity
A life of grace
No error
14 MYSTERIOUS AFFINITY	185	(12)
Chien separated from her soul
A ghost story
A love story
The eros of the Way
Reunion
Grace
A member of the feast
15 EVERY DAY IS A GOOD DAY	197	(9)
And then what happens?
A curse and a gift
The quiet, bright reed song
The full moon of everyday life
No resistance
The abiding one
The providence of each moment
16 ACCEPT ALL OFFERS	206	(15)
The sharpest fact
Only for your benefit
Royal ease
The not-doing of the self
The one I enclose with my name
Deep, deep laziness
The promise inside suffering
Buddhahood is passion
There is nothing I dislike
A scaled-down life
Freely living within limitation
Becoming like this
Not supposing something
When the straw sandals wear out
17 WALKING ALONE IN THE RED SKY	221	(10)
Sun-face Buddha, Moon-face Buddha
Golden wind
One face
When the day has begun
Blossom
It never stops flowing
APPENDIX: How to begin seated Zen meditation	231	(4)
APPENDIX: The Great Prajna Paramita Heart Sutra	235	(2)
GLOSSARY	237	(8)
NOTES	245	(16)
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS	261	(2)
INDEX	263	(8)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR	271