Red Thread Zen

Author: Susan Murphy
Publisher: Catapult
ISBN: 161902876X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 177

Book Description
Love, attachment, the passions, gender, carnality, birth, bodily being, mortality, belonging, suffering, hope, despair, personhood, imagination, vitality, the struggle to be fully human – how do these things dwell wholly in emptiness, how do we reconcile their vivid life with 'no–thingness'? The red (or 'vermilion') thread originally connoted the color of the silk undergarments courtesans were obliged to wear. Most spiritual traditions do their best to distance themselves as thoroughly as possible from such direct and intimate contact with the fact of impassioned human bodily being, if not to declare open war upon the flesh, and the female body that most plainly bears flesh into the world. Spirituality has trouble dealing with the fact that we arrive here covered in blood. But the red thread can never be cut. Why not? Why would no perfectly accomplished saint ever even dream of cutting it? Red Thread Zen will set out to explore every corner of the magnificent koan of being 'still attached to the red thread, or 'line of tears'. This is an argument against the bloodless and socially disengaged form of 'Buddhism' that is generally being gestated in the West, one that shades too readily into the blandest of bland self–help.

The Red Thread

Author: Bernard Faure
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400822602
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 345

Book Description
Is there a Buddhist discourse on sex? In this innovative study, Bernard Faure reveals Buddhism's paradoxical attitudes toward sexuality. His remarkably broad range covers the entire geography of this religion, and its long evolution from the time of its founder, Xvkyamuni, to the premodern age. The author's anthropological approach uncovers the inherent discrepancies between the normative teachings of Buddhism and what its followers practice. Framing his discussion on some of the most prominent Western thinkers of sexuality--Georges Bataille and Michel Foucault--Faure draws from different reservoirs of writings, such as the orthodox and heterodox "doctrines" of Buddhism, and its monastic codes. Virtually untapped mythological as well as legal sources are also used. The dialectics inherent in Mahvyvna Buddhism, in particular in the Tantric and Chan/Zen traditions, seemed to allow for greater laxity and even encouraged breaking of taboos. Faure also offers a history of Buddhist monastic life, which has been buffeted by anticlerical attitudes, and by attempts to regulate sexual behavior from both within and beyond the monastery. In two chapters devoted to Buddhist homosexuality, he examines the way in which this sexual behavior was simultaneously condemned and idealized in medieval Japan. This book will appeal especially to those interested in the cultural history of Buddhism and in premodern Japanese culture. But the story of how one of the world's oldest religions has faced one of life's greatest problems makes fascinating reading for all.

Unraveling Zen's Red Thread

Author: Jon Etta Hastings Carter Covell
Publisher: Hollym International
ISBN: 9780930878191
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 341

Book Description

Upside-Down Zen

Author: Susan Murphy
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 086171279X
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 298

Book Description
"Upside-Down Zen" invites readers to explore the vivid spirit of Zen Buddhism in fresh ways. Recalling, in another vein, the warm, lyrical style of Lin Jensen's "Bad Dog!, " author Susan Murphy offers a multifaceted take on the spiritual, grounded in the everyday. She uses her skills as storyteller, filmmaker, and poet to uncover the connections between Zen and Western cinema, as well as between Zen and traditions as diverse as Australian aboriginal beliefs and Jewish folktales. In the process, she finds spirituality where it has always belonged -- wherever life is happening. Murphy helps readers make sense of Zen koans, the often oversimplified and misunderstood teaching stories of the tradition, and highlights their wisdom for any reader on the spiritual path. A strong new voice in Western Buddhism, Murphy speaks for the many "unrecorded" women of Zen while bringing a lively, literate approach to a sometimes daunting genre.

Minding the Earth, Mending the World

Author: Susan Murphy
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1466832797
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 361

Book Description
We all know our earth is in trouble. But is it beyond repair? Are we stuck with a planetary disaster we cannot hope to address?Despite the reality we find ourselves in, Zen practitioner and author Susan Murphy reminds us of the astounding intelligence and magnificence of nature and argues that not only is it not too late, but that we all have the capacity to embrace this challenge with a sense of hope and reason.By shining a sober light on the current state of emergency, Murphy delivers a brilliant rethink of the crisis we face, radically reimagining the stories we tell ourselves about the world, and illuminating the ways humanity might become the solution, rather than the problem.What if we were to choose courage and resolve, rather than fear? What if we discovered the difference each of us could make and started to listen closely to what the earth is saying, and to our own connections with it?In the tradition of the great eco-theologian Thomas Berry, Minding the Earth, Mending the World offers a profoundly hopeful second chance to engage with what it means to deeply mind the earth once more.

Wild Ways

Author: Ikkyū
Publisher: White Pine Press (NY)
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 160

Book Description
One hundred poems by a revered Japanese Zen master.

Red Thread Sisters

Author: Carol Antoinette Peacock
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101591854
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 242

Book Description
When a girl is adopted from a Chinese orphanage, everything she knew about family, best friends, and sisterhood must change. Wen has spent the first eleven years of her life at an orphanage in rural China, and the only person she would call family is her best friend, Shu Ling. When Wen is adopted by an American couple, she struggles to adjust to every part of her new life: having access to all the food and clothes she could want, going to school, being someone's daughter. But the hardest part of all is knowing that Shu Ling remains back at the orphanage, alone. Wen knows that her best friend deserves a family and a future, too. But finding a home for Shu Ling isn't easy, and time is running out . . .

Silent Illumination

Author: Guo Gu
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
ISBN: 0834843498
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 161

Book Description
Our natural awakening—or buddha-nature—is inherent within all of us and waiting to be realized. Buddha-nature has the qualities of both silence and illumination, and by working with silent illumination meditation you can find your own awakening. Distinguished Chan Buddhist teacher Guo Gu introduces you to the significance and methods of this practice through in-depth explanations and guided instructions. To help establish a foundation for realizing silent illumination, he has translated twenty-five teachings from the influential master Hongzhi Zhengjue into English, accompanied by his personal commentary. This book will be an indispensable resource for meditators interested in beginning or deepening their silent illumination practice.

Essential Zen

Author: Kazuaki Tanahashi
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0062510460
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 196

Book Description
The best collection of Zen wisdom and wit since Zen Flesh, Zen Bones, this lively introduction to Zen Buddhism has it all. Koans, sayings, poems, and stories by Eastern and American Zen teachers and students capture the delightful, challenging, mystifying, mind-stopping, outrageous, and scandalous heart of Zen. 6 illustrations.

Zen Baggage

Author: Bill Porter
Publisher: Catapult
ISBN: 1582439788
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 314

Book Description
In the spring of 2006, Bill Porter traveled through the heart of China, from Beijing to Hong Kong, on a pilgrimage to sites associated with the first six patriarchs of Zen. Zen Baggage is an account of that journey. He weaves together historical background, interviews with Zen masters, and translations of the earliest known records of Zen, along with personal vignettes. Porter's account captures the transformations taking place at religious centers in China but also the abiding legacy they have somehow managed to preserve. Porter brings wisdom and humor to every situation, whether visiting ancient caves containing the most complete collection of Buddhist texts ever uncovered, enduring a six–hour Buddhist ceremony, searching in vain for the ghost in his room, waking up the monk in charge of martial arts at Shaolin Temple, or meeting the abbess of China's first Zen nunnery. Porter's previously published Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits has become recommended reading at Zen centers and universities throughout America and even in China (in its Chinese translation), and Zen Baggage is sure to follow suit.