Zen in Brazil
Zen in Brazil

Author: Cristina Rocha

Publisher: University of Hawaii Press

Published: 2005-12-31

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 9780824829766

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Widely perceived as an overwhelmingly Catholic nation, Brazil has experienced in recent years a growth in the popularity of Buddhism among the urban, cosmopolitan upper classes. In the 1990s Buddhism in general and Zen in particular were adopted by national elites, the media, and popular culture as a set of humanistic values to counter the rampant violence and crime in Brazilian society. Despite national media attention, the rapidly expanding Brazilian market for Buddhist books and events, and general interest in the globalization of Buddhism, the Brazilian case has received little scholarly attention. Cristina Rocha addresses that shortcoming in Zen in Brazil. Drawing on fieldwork in Japan and Brazil, she examines Brazilian history, culture, and literature to uncover the mainly Catholic, Spiritist, and Afro-Brazilian religious matrices responsible for this particular indigenization of Buddhism. In her analysis of Japanese immigration and the adoption and creolization of the Sôtôshû school of Zen Buddhism in Brazil, she offers the fascinating insight that the latter is part of a process of "cannibalizing" the modern other to become modern oneself. She shows, moreover, that in practicing Zen, the Brazilian intellectual elites from the 1950s onward have been driven by a desire to acquire and accumulate cultural capital both locally and overseas. Their consumption of Zen, Rocha contends, has been an expression of their desire to distinguish themselves from popular taste at home while at the same time associating themselves with overseas cultural elites.

Saltwater Buddha
Saltwater Buddha

Author: Jaimal Yogis

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2009-04-10

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 0861719980

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Fed up with teenage life in the suburbs, Jaimal Yogis ran off to Hawaii with little more than a copy of Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha and enough cash for a surfboard. His journey is a coming-of-age saga that takes him from communes to monasteries, from the warm Pacific to the icy New York shore. Equal parts spiritual memoir and surfer's tale, this is a chronicle of finding meditative focus in the barrel of a wave and eternal truth in the great salty blue.

Quest for Eternal Sunshine
Quest for Eternal Sunshine

Author: Mendek Rubin

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2020-04-14

Total Pages: 279

ISBN-13: 1631528793

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Quest for Eternal Sunshine chronicles the triumphant, true story of Mendek Rubin, a brilliant inventor who overcame both the trauma of the Holocaust and decades of unrelenting depression to live a life of deep peace and boundless joy. Born into a Hassidic Jewish family in Poland in 1924, Mendek grew up surrounded by extreme anti-Semitism. Armed with an ingenious mind, he survived three horrific years in Nazi slave-labor concentration camps while virtually his entire family was murdered in Auschwitz. After arriving in America in 1946—despite having no money or professional skills—his inventions helped revolutionize both the jewelry and packaged-salad industries. Remarkably, Mendek also applied his ingenuity to his own psyche, developing innovative ways to heal his heart and end his emotional suffering. After Mendek died in 2012, his daughter, Myra Goodman, found an unfinished manuscript in which he’d revealed the intimate details of his healing journey. Quest for Eternal Sunshine—the extraordinary result of a posthumous father-daughter collaboration—tells Mendek’s whole story and is filled with eye-opening revelations, effective self-healing techniques, and profound wisdom that have the power to transform the way we live our lives. An inspirational biography of a Holocaust survivor overcoming depression and PTSD. An essential new addition to Jewish Holocaust history.

The Dude and the Zen Master
The Dude and the Zen Master

Author: Jeff Bridges

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2013-01-08

Total Pages: 188

ISBN-13: 1101600756

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The perfect gift for fans of The Big Lebowski, Jeff Bridges's "The Dude", and anyone who could use more Zen in their lives. Zen Master Bernie Glassman compares Jeff Bridges’s iconic role in The Big Lebowski to a Lamed-Vavnik: one of the men in Jewish mysticism who are “simple and unassuming,” and “so good that on account of them God lets the world go on.” Jeff puts it another way. “The wonderful thing about the Dude is that he’d always rather hug it out than slug it out.” For more than a decade, Academy Award-winning actor Jeff Bridges and his Buddhist teacher, renowned Roshi Bernie Glassman, have been close friends. Inspiring and often hilarious, The Dude and the Zen Master captures their freewheeling dialogue and remarkable humanism in a book that reminds us of the importance of doing good in a difficult world.

Zen Master Class
Zen Master Class

Author: Stephen Hodge

Publisher: Quest Books

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 148

ISBN-13: 9780835608183

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Learn from the original Zen Masters of China and Japan in this journey through the history and evolution of Zen Buddhism. From the Indian monk Bodhidharma, who traveld alone to China and changed the Buddhist world, to the Japanese Master Ryokan, whose elegant poetry, simplicity, and kindness represent all that is beautiful in Zen, this Master Class offers heartening stories, insightful teachings, and practical lessons for incorporating the original Masters' teachings into our daily lives.

Zen Confidential
Zen Confidential

Author: Shozan Jack Haubner

Publisher: Shambhala Publications

Published: 2013-05-14

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 0834829053

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A screenwriter and stand-up comic’s hilarious and profound account of his journey into Zen monkhood—featuring a foreword by Leonard Cohen Shozan Jack Haubner is the David Sedaris of Zen Buddhism: a brilliant humorist and analyst of human foibles, whose hilarity is informed by the profound insights that have dawned on him—as he's stumbled and fallen into spirituall practice. Raised in a truly strange family of Mel-Gibson-esque Catholic extremists, he went on to study philosophy (becoming very un-Catholic in the process) and to pursue a career as a screenwriter and stand-up comic in the clubs of L.A. How he went from life in the fast lane to life on the stationary meditation cushion is the subject of this laugh-out-loud funny account of his experiences. Whether he’s dealing with the pranks of a juvenile delinquent assistant in the monastery kitchen or experiencing profound compassion in the presence of his spiritual teacher, Haubner’s voice is one you'll be compelled to listen to. Not only because it’s highly entertaining, but because of its remarkable insight into the human condition.

Zig Zag Zen
Zig Zag Zen

Author: Allan Hunt Badiner

Publisher: Chronicle Books

Published: 2002-04

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13: 9780811832861

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Buddhism and psychedelic experimentation share a common concern: the liberation of the mind. Zig Zag Zen launches the first serious inquiry into the moral, ethical, doctrinal, and transcendental considerations created by the intersection of Buddhism and psychedelics. With a foreword by renowned Buddhist scholar Stephen Batchelor and a preface by historian of religion Huston Smith, along with numerous essays and interviews, Zig Zag Zen is a provocative and thoughtful exploration of altered states of consciousness and the potential for transformation. Accompanying each essay is a work of visionary art selected by artist Alex Grey, such as a vividly graphic work by Robert Venosa, a contemporary thangka painting by Robert Beer, and an exercise in emptiness in the form of an enso by a 17th-century Zen abbot. Packed with enlightening entries and art that lie outside the scope of mainstream anthologies, Zig Zag Zen offers eye-opening insights into alternate methods of inner exploration.

What More Do You Want?
What More Do You Want?

Author: Albert Low

Publisher: Tuttle Publishing

Published: 2013-04-09

Total Pages: 231

ISBN-13: 1462911919

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All readers, both novice and longtime practitioners, will encounter in this book new answers, and new questions, to the what, why and how of Zen practice. We've all had moments in our lives when we've thought, "Something is missing. There must be more to life than this." It is this sense that often brings people to the practice of Zen. By turning to Zen, they acknowledge that this "something" lies not in externals, but rather in seeking to transcend desire and attachment. The journey toward that transcendence begins with questioning, and questions will be part of the path until awakening is attained. In What More do You Want? a fascinating new book by renowned Zen master Albert Low, he addresses some of the questions students have posed about the practice of Zen: Why do we practice? Why should we seek to understand our reasons for practicing? How can we distinguish between true and false practice? What is awakening? In addition, Low shares with his readers four teishos--talks that comment on a text or koan in order to enhance meditation practice--on zazen or seated meditation, on pain and suffering, and on the very nature of practice itself. Finally, Low shares with readers an experience of satori, a glimpse into Buddha nature.

Zen Bender
Zen Bender

Author: Stephanie Krikorian

Publisher: Mango Media Inc.

Published: 2019-08-15

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 1642500305

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Hooked on Self-Help Craving a quick fix: When the recession turned her life upside down, Stephanie Krikorian had to reinvent her life...and fast. She started ghostwriting self-help books for women. Between writing and researching she realized that everywhere she looked there was AFOG. Another freaking opportunity for growth. Soon she wasn't just writing each book; she was living them. This was the start of a ten-year zen bender of dieting, dating, journaling, meditating, and Marie-Kondo-ing on a quest for that ultimate self-help high. Fifty and fabulous: Stephanie Krikorian spent her forties trying all of the dating hacks to find love and respect, all of the diets to build self-esteem in a new body, and all of the spiritual guidance to become centered through self-care. On the brink of turning fifty she realized that being better wasn't what she craved; it was something else altogether. Learn to laugh at yourself and trust yourself: Zen Bender is the story of one woman's journey to radical acceptance, with some questionable advice along the way. A witty, moving, insightful story, the woman behind bestselling celebrity self-help books shares her story of being hooked on the self-help fix for a decade before learning that all the self-help in the world won't help you trust gut. A Self-confidence book for women: For anyone tired of promises to change everything in just thirty days, this book is a breath of fresh air. Readers who enjoyed self-confidence books for women like The Universe Has Your Back, The Self-Love Experiment, The Gifts of Imperfection, and Yogabitch will love the message of radical acceptance in Zen Bender: A Decade-Long Enthusiastic Quest to Fix Everything (That Was Never Broken).

Quest of Zen
Quest of Zen

Author: Sam Nak P.J. Concepcion

Publisher: Xlibris Corporation

Published: 2010-10-22

Total Pages: 157

ISBN-13: 1453563695

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Religion/Psychology/Philosophy/New Age Quest of Zen Awakening the Wisdom Heart Quest of Zen calls us to the fearless heros journey that will set the mind free from the dark clouds of delusion. Quest of Zen presents a glimpse of the Zen training for monks and lay persons as well as offers practical guidelines on mind cultivation. The book introduces the Buddhist worldview and retells also the Buddhas and the Zen masterss awakening accounts that provide a sense of direction to the fearless hero in realizing the bliss of the enlightenment and rousing the wisdom heart. All rejoice! The fearless hero reveals the bliss of the enlightenment - - the ultimate emptiness. He conveys the perfect wisdom heart that unveils its sublime excellence. Like the waters of the Ganges that flow constantly toward the ocean, the perfect wisdom heart enters quietly into the meandering stream of the one suchness of all living beings. Through self giving, the perfect wisdom heart spurs them into a rebirth and a newness of life within the mystical sanctuary of the Buddhas. The perfect wisdom heart flows on with unlimited loving kindness, unlimited compassion, unlimited joy and unlimited peace.