Customer Reviews

Being Zen: Bringing Meditation to Life

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As my dad wrote BEING ZEN, he sent me one chapter at a time to proof-read and offer feedback. The information wasn't new to me, as we'd talked about the ideas and experiences mentioned in the book many times. And so I thought that once published, reading BEING ZEN would be like a review for me. However, each time I read a chapter, there was something new and helpful there, not because it was new information, but because my life and my relationship to everything in my life is always changing. I figure I could read this book 100 times and gain something new each time. I could turn to any page and find a reminder there that applies to my life and the issues and difficulties on my plate at any given moment. Most often, it's the last thing I want to do. My dad's "practice" is HARD!!! But I've seen it transform him and his life from one ruled by anger to one filled with love, compassion, and true happiness found in his wilingness to just BE with anything life presents. This book can help anyone who is willing to use it. And to all of you... you can either write-off my opinion as that of the biased daughter, or take it to heart from someone who has watched her father grow and change 180 degrees over the past 26 years and who has become her best friend and greatest teacher.

The emphasis in the title of Ezra Bayda's "Being Zen" is all on the word "being" - anyone who comes to this book looking for the Zen of dramtic satori experiences, paradoxical koans and teachers challenging their students with slaps and shouts may come away asking themselves, "Where's the Zen?" Ezra Bayda is the real thing, but his "Zen" is so plain and unobstrusive and everyday that it frustrates at every turn any craving for something exotic, esoteric or even apparently spiritual. "Being Zen" is about directly experiencing the life you already have, not transporting yourself to some higher "enlightened" realm. Using poignant examples of what its been like to cope with his own chronic autimmune illness and his experience working with hospice patients, Bayda shows us how we habitually turn away from life as it is - out of fear, out of anger - often in the guise of turning our life into something special, something spiritual. "Being Zen" offers simple, practical meditational techniques to help us see that our emotional problems and our physical pain are not obstacles on our path, but the path itself. The vignettes of his hospice work are especially poignant precisely because they they don't culminate in dramatic insights or breakthroughs - instead two human beings face their mortality together as best they can, each fearful, each defensive, each human to the end.
If you're just starting out on the path of practice, this book will give you a clear and firm foundation. If you've practiced for many years, it will challenge you to bring your practice firmly down to earth, rooted in everyday emotional reality.

Bayda sucessfully merges a bit of Zen and a bit of Vipassana-style mindfulness into a way of meditation practice and life practice. The book is stripped of almost all Buddhist terminology. There is no mention of karma, reincarnation, codependent origination, and any other Buddhist terms. What you get is a manual for learning to see yourself plainly and non-judgmentally without our usual hidden agendas, strategies, ego clinging, duplicity. Especially helpful are the chapters on Practicing with Fear, Practicing with Distress, Practicing with Anger. I tried the methods outlined in "Practicing with Distress" on a day when a small catastrophe popped up at work. I stayed with my breath and tried to notice the physical reactions going on. When you do that, you can actually begin to non-judgmentally notice the mind churning out thoughts.

The chapter about Bayda's experience working with hospice patients was very moving, but they weren't just an anecdote. He successfully pointed how the experiences deepened his practice.

The chapter on loving kindness meditation was also interesting. It's more commonly used by teachers in the Vipassana tradition, like Sharon Salzberg, Jack Kornfield, Sylvia Boorstein, so I was suprised to see it here. Bayda uses the method not to create some special mind-state, but to see where he has blocked off his being from experiencing what's going on in the moment.

In summary, this is a good book if you are new to meditation and are looking for a way to approach spiritual practice that is free of Buddhist terms. I think people of any religion find this book useful. It outlines tools for seeing the reactive patterns and habits that narrow our lives and that inhibit meaningful interactions with the world.

For over three years I've been studying Buddhism and Zen. During that time I've ordered many books within the different Buddhist schools. There are many fine authors out there that explain the tenets and fine workings of Buddhism as well as Zen. I believe a solid background in Buddhism background is essential in understanding Buddha's message to mankind. However, the true "nuts and bolts" of Buddhism practice can be found most directly in Zen.

It is one thing to know something about a religion or way of life yet it is another to be able to apply it. Ezra Bayda has most succinctly given the best instruction of how to apply Zen to one's life where we need it the most; during those moments when we are gripped with our core pain. Core pain is comprised of our anger, traumas, sadness, feelings of inferiority, etc. It is this core pain that can make our life a living hell. Ezra examines these emotions and teaches us how we can mindfully learn to transform them in a way that truly works. Instead of denying them or trying to escape them we learn that they are part of our path in life. And while it takes courage to be present with these emotions we learn that they are but old programs and often ancient belief systems that take us away from the genuine life we all deserve.

At least one reader has referred to this as being like a self-help book. Yet anytime we look for truth whether it be in religion or psychology, aren't we looking for something to help us. Ezra offers us the tools to achieve transformation in our life. When I ordered this book I had hoped it would teach me how to truly apply Zen teachings to my life. What I didn't realize is that the information this book contains would exceed anything I have read in any religious book, psychology book, or college text. Another reviewer said "Where's the Zen" in reference to the contents of this book. "The Zen" is there on every page. While Ezra doesn't use the esoteric style of writing common in Zen/Buddhist teaching, his simple clearcut way of communication exemplifies the simpleness that Zen is truly about.

Ezra's other two books "At Home in the Muddy Water" and "Saying Yes to Life" are excellent as well and deepen your understanding of living mindfully and in the moment. A helpful hint, read his three books in chronological order with this book first. Personally, I think that reading them in order adds to a person's understanding and that each book acts like a foundation for the next. Ezra Bayda I have not had the honor of meeting you personally yet I thank you most sincerely for the gift of your writings. I bow to you for you are a Master! There are many of us I'm sure that are looking forward to your future works.

Two other excellent Zen books that teach mindful living and dealing with difficult emotions are "Beginning Mindfulness: Learning the Way of Awareness" by Andrew Weiss and "At Hell's Gate : A Soldier's Journey" by Claude Anshin Thomas. Also, the writing's of Thich Nhat Hanh, a great man who highly influenced both of these authors, teaches the art of mindful living in a very understandable manner. Good luck to you on the path.

Being Zen is one of the clearest books on spiritual practice I have ever read. It uses plain language, and like Pema Chodron, has a heart quality that seems to speak directly to the reader. Perhaps best of all, the book is filled with practical and specific suggestions, seemingly based on the author's direct personal experience. I highly recommend this book. Anna Hughes, Oklahoma

BEING ZEN provides a practical, heartfelt approach for addressing the messiness of everyday life - our difficult situations, our anger and confusion, and most of all, our fears. Ezra Bayda does this without losing sight of the bigger picture of our basic connectedness. In fact, the basic theme of the book is about moving from our "cocoon world of protectedness" to living in a genuine way.
Spiritual practice has to withstand the unrelenting quizzes of daily challenge. Bayda has certainly had his share, as described, for example, in his own struggles with fear, self-doubt and illness. These and other examples are used as a basis for describing very specific and practical tools for using the challenges of everyday life as opportunities to become free. And he does so in a very clear and down-to-earth way, making this immediately accessible to the reader.

The author seems like a person that many will be able to relate to. He's been in the trenches dealing with very challenging problems. I like the way he refers to problems as "part of the path" and NOT as some inconvenience that is keeping us from our practice. This was extremely helpful in helping me overcome a very distressing phobia. The subject of Zen is a difficult one to talk or write about in a clear manner but the author has managed to do so. Of all the Zen books I have, this is the only one that I keep on my nightstand. I feel you won't regret reading this one!

From the vivid illustrations taken from life to the carefully described steps to bringing practice into life, "Being Zen" is an easily-absorbed yet eloquent tool for meditation students. I especially like the author's description of healing: "Healing involves clearing the pathway to the open heart-the heart that knows only connectedness." Since reading this book, and using the practical suggestions for bringing meditation practice into daily life, I have experienced "a more spacious container of awareness," and that has brought a greater sense of joy and connection to life.

If you are interested in Zen as a philosiphical belief system to solidify some identity, this book should be considered dangerous. If you are looking to be more open to your life, no matter what may be present, Ezra offers very clear applicable guidance. This book speaks to the heart of what I believe spiritual practice to be about. How do we take these teachings and apply them to our daily life? How does a sitting practice carry over to working with our life when our partner is upset & we are knee deep in our emotional reaction to them? Or when we are struggling with our relationship to work, illness, financial instability, or whatever ups & downs life presents, how does "Zen" apply to this? This book, filled with insight into Ezra's relationship with practice, offers answers to these difficult questions, and serves as a valuble gem as to how do we apply practice to the "Muddy Water".

This is the second best book on Zen I ever read, the first being a text by Nagarjuna from the first century AD. Like Krishnamurti's insights--and like Gautama Buddha's, for that matter--Bayda's insights come from the most reliable teacher of them all: a personal experience of suffering. Seems to keep him honest, too. Isn't this remarkable these days--a teacher who's not on some guru trip? Bayda sheds light on the teaching, and he seems to be instructing himself along with the rest of us, never putting on airs--or fancy robes.

He nudges us toward transcendence by insisting--gently, gently--that we attend to what's in the way of it! All that's gold doesn't glitter. This is the genuine article, the straight poop. No flying-boy stuff. No easy mysticism. Just the Great Perpendicular Path of "attention, attention, attention," as practical as a spade in a garden. Gives a fellow the courage to dig and sow and weed and trust in the Spring. Thank you, Mr. Bayda.