Buddha Facing the Wall Interviews with American Zen Monks

by Jenkins, Sara

• ISBN13: 9780963078438
• ISBN10: 0963078437
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-09-01
• Publisher: Keep It Simple Books

Summary

This book presents first-hand accounts of life in an American Zen monastery. Interviews with fifteen monks offer vivid personal glimpses of how everything about the monastery -- from the daily schedule to meetings with the teacher to the silence itself -- is designed to support the deep inner work that leads to spiritual transformation.

Author Biography

Sara Jenkins worked as an art historian, director of an oral history project, and managing editor of a medical research journal before plunging simultaneously into freelance life and Zen Buddhism fourteen years ago. Since then she has occupied many points along the editorial spectrum, including copy editor, illustrations editor, nonfiction author's editor, book producer, and writer. She lives in Lake Junaluska, North Carolina. Cheri Huber is the author of 19 books, including There Is Nothing Wrong with You, When You're Falling, Dive,and Time-Out for Parents. She founded the Mountain View Zen Center in Mountain View, California, and the Zen Monastery Practice Center in Murphys, California, and teaches in both communities. She travels widely and often, leading workshops and retreats around the United States and abroad, most recently in Costa Rica and Italy. She founded Living Compassion in 2003, a nonprofit group comprised of There Is Nothing Wrong With You Retreats (based on the book); Global Community for Peace: The Assisi Peace Project; The Africa Vulnerable Children Project; and Open Air Talk Radio, her weekly call-in radio show originating from Stanford University. She lives in Murphys, California.

Table of Contents

Preface	9	(4)
Introduction: Facing the Wall	13	(18)
Openness	31	(10)
Intimate and Nonpersonal	41	(16)
Silence	57	(12)
Solitude	69	(8)
Only One Rule	77	(8)
The Unexpected and the All Too Familiar	85	(20)
Building As Dharma	105	(18)
Compassion and the Paradox of No Escape	123	(14)
Freedom and the Paradox of Nothing to Do	137	(8)
Happiness	145	(10)
Monks in the World	155	(16)
From the Front of the Room: The Teacher's Perspective	171	(34)
Epilog: Walking Outside	205	(2)
From the Monastery Guidebook	207