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Sometimes I get a blank look; sometimes an incredulous stare. It's almost always a conversation stopper. It happens every time I find myself explaining to someone, who really only asked to be polite, that I am a Zen Buddhist priest, and that I engage in a religious practice of sitting stock still for thirty minutes or more, gazing at a blank wall...After one such exchange, I got to musing about how I could explain the basic idea behind the practice in very general terms that would be easy to comprehend, and it occurred to me that almost everyone has some experience of what it is we "Zen people" are trying to do.--Kyogen Carlson

In a series of essays, Kyogen Sensei, describes his own training and discovery that the teachings of Zen appear every day in the dirty clothes that need washing, in a cat sitting on a lap, or in the face of a man in a wheelchair. Click here to see the table of contents and two sample pages. Click here to read a complete chapter from Zen in the American Grain: "An Honest Doubt."

118 pages 6 x 9 inches $9.95 (includes shipping for USA addresses)

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The author of Zen in the American Grain, Kyogen Carlson, is a priest of the Soto Zen tradition. He was ordained in 1972 by Roshi Jiyu-Kennett and trained for 10 years at Shasta Abbey, a Zen monastery in Northern California. He received Dharma Transmission in 1974. (He also attended the University of California at Berkeley, receiving a degree in Sociology in 1971.) Currently Abbot of the Dharma Rain Zen Center in Portland, Oregon, he is committed to seeing the practice and tradition of Soto Zen made accessible to men and women living normal, everyday lives in the modern world.

 




 

Pages 1 and 2 of the Table of Contents - click on either thumbnail to get a readable-sized image

 

Sample pages - click on either thumbnail to get a readable-sized image

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