Relentlessly pursuing illumination, struggling to let go of identity, desire, belief and certainty, Shainberg faces down and learns to accept the Backward Law, "Whosoever would save his soul shall lose it." This unique, courageous memoir tells of one man's attempt to infuse his daily life with the elusive wisdom of Zen.
| ||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Shainberg's involvement with Zen Buddhism began at the age of 16 in 1951, when he met guru Alan Watts; three years later he took a trip to Indian sage Krishnamurti's spiritual center in Ojai, Calif. His interest in Asian wisdom was spurred by his father, a prosperous Memphis chain-store owner who turned away from traditional Judaism to Zen and Krishnamurti's teachings. Moving to New York's Greenwich Village, Shainberg, a novelist and nonfiction author, studied with Japanese Zen masters from the early 1970s on, practicing meditation, trying to overcome fears and ingrained habits to attain enlightenment. As this poignant memoir's title suggests, Zen discipline brought bliss, frustration, moments of absurdity as well as transcendence as he coped with writer's block, a crumbling marriage, unsatisfying psychoanalysis, karate lessons and a truncated career as a Zen monk-in-training. His luminous self-portrait makes us feel Zen as a lived experience.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Shainberg, a skillful writer of both fiction (Memories of Amnesia, British American Pub., 1988) and nonfiction (Brain Surgeon, LJ 6/1/79), turns his attention in this memoir to his lifelong interest in Zen. The result is a personal picture of his involvement with spiritual disciplines and American Zen groups. Some of the passages stand among the best of their kind in terms of conveying the actual experience of various aspects of Zen training. As the title implies, Shainberg's practice of Zen has been beset with a certain hesitancy, and while this ambivalence, as well as many of his other experiences, will ring true to American practitioners, readers new to the subject may find themselves put off by the strength and subtlety of his generally negative assessments. The failing of this book is that we never glimpse the positive fire that motivates Shainberg to return to Zen practice again and again and, ultimately, to embrace it. Nonetheless, his work is recommended for libraries with strong collections in this area.?Mark Woodhouse, Elmira Coll. Lib., N.Y.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
There are no customer reviews yet.
|
|||
|
Video reviews
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
