Bad Dog!: A Memoir of Love, Beauty, and Redemption in Dark Places [Paperback]

Lin Jensen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 27, 2005

Today, Lin Jensen is a Zen master. But before that, he had to get through a difficult childhood and a difficult life. Bad Dog! is Jensen's sometimes quirky, sometimes poignant telling of the long path he took to inner peace. In over 40 short, interlocking pieces, Jensen uncovers his personal history, starting with his early life on a struggling farm in the dusty, quiet Midwest. Jensen eventually reaches college where he encounters a new world and a new passion, poetry, before entering into a marriage that is destined to fail. The one constant throughout Jensen's life is the search for meaning, — a search that leads him to finally awaken to his calling in Zen. Always engaging, Jensen's quiet stories subtly reflect on the currents of love, beauty, and redemption that run through all lives. His simple prose rings with insight at just the right moments, making Bad Dog! a book that will appeal to anyone who's ever looked for life's little bright spots.

Editorial Reviews

Review

An exquisite work of alarming lucidity. -- Stephen Batchelor, author of Living with the Devil

Compellingly beautiful... a reading experience that is both gut-wrenching and inspiring. -- Keith Kachtick, author of Hungry Ghost

Jensen demonstrates, through his own clarity, that seeing the world as it actually is means being fully alive. -- Sylvia Boorstein, author of Funny, You Don't Look Buddhist

Like something Steinbeck might have written had he been a Buddhist, and I can pay an author no higher compliment. -- Christopher Moore, author of The Stupidest Angel

Simply the best book on the wisdom of living that I have seen in many years. -- Thomas Moore, author of Care of the Soul

Product Details

• Paperback: 266 pages
• Publisher: Wisdom Publications (July 27, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0861714865
• ISBN-13: 978-0861714865
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #954,283 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Redemption redux, January 14, 2006

By 

LB Curlew "Bradley M. Stovall" (Chico, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bad Dog!: A Memoir of Love, Beauty, and Redemption in Dark Places (Paperback)

The first story "Bad Dog" evokes the recurring theme of the entire collection: Redemption in a world of sorrow. It spans the author's life through more than fifty years in a mere six pages. An essence of humilty is evident as you try and understand the hardness of his father's will. The adage of he did the best he knew how plays a familiar tune to most of us raised by depression era parents. The resentment melts away with Jensen's tender acts of mercy towards his father nearing the end of his life. A tender act few if any of us would be able to muster up...
It's a recommended read for everyone hoping to understand how to see into the darkness and not be afraid.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most beautiful books I've read, July 29, 2006

By 

Mary Rosendale - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bad Dog!: A Memoir of Love, Beauty, and Redemption in Dark Places (Paperback)

I'm a fan of really good writing as well as Buddhism. I read this book several months ago and always meant to write a review about it. So today I finally got around to it and browsed the reviews written before me to see that all the superlatives had been already taken.

Gut-wrenching, beautiful,powerful.

This book touched me as very few have. It is a must-read regardless of its subject matter because of the quality of the writing alone. I could feel this kid's life. His loneliness, alienation and neediness.

Like many great books it can be read on different levels. As a personal memoir of growing up in a particular time and place with a particular type of upbringing. As a lay Buddhist book; essentially a primer of how to step away from a world of samsara and build for yourself, step by step, act by act, a life of peace, love and compassion.

What a journey he's had. How amazing that he shared it with us.

It's an elegant, lyrical, deceptively "deep" book which really deserves a much wider audience.(Read it and imagine that it's Number One on the N.Y. Times bestseller list and see if you feel just a little more hopeful).

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Life's lessons are all around us, September 20, 2005

By 

FDB "Lit Snob" (So Cal, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bad Dog!: A Memoir of Love, Beauty, and Redemption in Dark Places (Paperback)

Lin Jenson has the grace to reflect on profound moments in his life in a non-judgemental way, regardless of the circumstances. It is refreshing to read the work of a person that has the gift of self reflection and can communicate the experience as well as this Zen teacher has been able to do. One can only hope to be able to learn as much from their own life's experiences.