Waking Up to What You Do A Zen Practice for Meeting Every Situation with Intelligence and Compassion

by Rizzetto, Diane Eshin; Joko Beck, Charlotte

• ISBN13: 9781590303429
• ISBN10: 1590303423
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-06-13
• Publisher: Shambhala

Summary

Life is rising up to meet us at every moment. The question is: Are we there to meet it or not? Diane Rizzetto presents a simple but supremely effective practice for meeting every moment of our lives with mindfulness, using the Zen precepts as tools to develop a keen awareness of the motivations behind every aspect of our behaviorto "wake up to what we do"from moment to moment. As we train in mindfulness of our actions, every situation of our lives becomes our teacher, offering priceless insight into what it really means to be happy. It's a simple practice with transformative potential, enabling us to break through our habitual reactions and to see clearly how our own happiness and well-being are intimately, inevitably connected to the happiness and well-being of everyone around us.

Author Biography

Diane Rizzetto is the Abbess and Guiding Teacher of the Bay Zen Center in Oakland, California. A dharma heir of Charlotte Joko Beck, she teaches extensively in Europe, as well as in the San Francisco Bay Area and throughout the United States.

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix
Preface	xi
Acknowledgments	xv
Introduction: A Sink Full of Teaching	1	(12)
PART ONE
What Are the Precepts?	13	(12)
The Dream of Self	25	(5)
The Dead Spot	30	(9)
The Process	39	(12)
PART TWO
The Precepts
I Take Up the Way of Speaking Truthfully	51	(13)
I Take Up the Way of Speaking of Others with Openness and Possibility	64	(16)
I Take Up the Way of Meeting Others on Equal Ground	80	(12)
I Take Up the Way of Cultivating a Clear Mind	92	(16)
I Take Up the Way of Taking Only What Is Freely Given and Giving Freely of All That I Can	108	(19)
I Take Up the Way of Engaging in Sexual Intimacy Respectfully and with an Open Heart	127	(15)
I Take Up the Way of Letting Go of Anger	142	(20)
I Take Up the Way of Supporting Life	162	(19)
Conclusion: A Process of Transformation	181	(6)
Appendix: A Primer in Awareness Practice	187	(8)
Notes	195