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The Mind of Clover: Essays in Zen Buddhist Ethics

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As a Zen practitioner preparing for Jukai I found Aitken-roshi's THE MIND OF CLOVER to be possibly the best book I have read to date on the Ten Grave Precepts.

These Precepts (not to kill, lie, steal, self-aggrandize, defame others, misuse sex, misuse intoxicants, become wrongfully angered, to be generous, and to honor awareness, learning and community) are very similar to the Judeo-Christian Commandments in form. Aitken-roshi shows the reader however that the precepts are not simply ordinances imposed from outside but the very building blocks of personality and social interaction. He illustrates well how the precepts can and must be interpreted not blindly but with full cognizance of circumstance and consequence, both on a personal level and on a global level.

THE MIND OF CLOVER takes what could be a very fuzzy and indeterminate subject and presents it with elegant simplicity. The book has been described quite correctly as a sonata, with each successive chapter building on the ones before it to reach a grand conclusion.

One may disagree with certain of Aitken-roshi's personal observations---at times, his social politics seem reflexively trapped in 1960s amber---but there is no question that THE MIND OF CLOVER transmutes the practice of Zen from "simply sitting" in zazen to an active philosophy of life, allowing the adherent to take the calm, the awareness, and the wisdom found on the zafu and translate it into a way of daily living based on compassion and intimacy with all things.

This book is excellently read in conjunction with Tenshin Reb Anderson's BEING UPRIGHT, a rather more remotely philosophical treatment of the Precepts on a less mundane, more spiritual level.

It seems many people don't "connect" with this book. For myself, I find it more than inspiring. I have gone through many copies. I give it away regularly. I've lost one in a stream. Whenever I am feeling out of touch with my practice or my life, I read it. Or I read it when I'm feeling strong. Yes, I read it often.

Aitken Roshi's teachings resonate deeply for me. Who knows why?

This is the first book I read about Zen ethics and for me, it is the best. I find Aitken's writing to be clear, concise and beautiful. He was humble about areas in which he had doubt or un-knowing.

I think is important to correct the mistaken notion that Zen is without an ethical base. Our culture has absorbed this idea with silly expressions like "that's so Zen" or mistaking Zen for nihilism (or vice versa).

Please give this book a try.

Robert Aitken Roshi is one of the true elder statesmen of Zen in the West.

In this straightforward examination, Aitken demonstrates the vital role of ethical conduct that has always been (despite the opinions of many) a part of the Zen Buddhist path of practice and enlightenment.

He walks students through an in-depth examination of the "Ten Grave Precepts" explaining the history, meaning, and various levels of understanding them for the true practice of Zen. He then outlines the deep, liberating message on the inherent nature of enlightenment, wisdom, and compassion that is the nature of the awakened mind in a series of essays.

His essays, like all of Aitken Roshi's teachings, are layered with the wisdom of the enlightenend mind. This book is a true gift from one of the modern giants of Zen Buddhism.

Not everything about this book is equally good but, that said, it is a great book about the precepts. Aitken Roshi has a non-nonsense approach to Zen and the activity of living an awakened life, and it cuts two ways. On the one hand, he has no patience for tom-foolery, puffery or the notion that there is something special and elevated about "Zenism" in and of itself. On the other hand, he is tremendously strict and won't cut you even 1/1000th of a millimeter of slack. The man lives the teaching and teaches directly out of the experience of his rich and unusual life. This in itself is the unsurpassable activity of all the Buddhas and Ancestors.

The author takes the Eightfold Path of Buddhism. It is discussed itme by item, in sufficient detail to show how the sense of self that goes with one's individual personality can be shed.

The idea is to continue to act completely natural and to do all those things expected of a human being in one's particular status, position, etc. just as clover grows and behaves exactly as it should in its perticular sstatus and position.

Clover has no mind or the functions associataed with the mind; the human being then acts just aa normally as the clover with the additional feature of a mind, but without any more cognitive identity of self than the clover.

An amazing book. Totally covers the Precepts in an easy to understand fashion. The explainations given are concise and definative. I would thoroughly recommend this book for anybody interested in Buddhist ethics.

Keith McGuckin

This book is well-written, the subject is an important one, and the author seems quite sincere. But it didn't connect with me. That may well be my failing.

The first time I read thru it nothing registered. That's rare for me, I usually, independent of whether I agree or disagree with what I am reading, find much stimulation in what I read.

So I went thru it a second time, this time underlining (which I rarely do) to help me pay better attention and identify what seems special. I underlined in 17 places in the book. Then I listed them on paper. I looked over the list and 13 of those items seemed familiar (not to say I'm any master of them, but this book didn't seem to bring anything new to them). Of the remaining 4, by the next day, they still seemed significant but not useful: I didn't see any way to work with them. Here, again, this undoubtedly reflects a lot of my own limitations.

I don't doubt that some people, perhaps many people, who are reached by a different style than I am, will find this book valuable. The precepts certainly deserve the kind of thoughtfulness that Aitken has given them and is encouraging.

At times, Aitken struck me as arrogant or opinionated. I suppose that is hard to avoid when teaching. When he writes, in the chapter on "Not Sparing the Dharma Assets", that "Making money with money is not earning a living, in my view", does he fail to appreciate the value and talent of those who risk capital on investments that are critical for making modern markets work and for fueling innovations. It may become just too easy in the role of teacher to overreach and, as the Quakers say, speak beyond one's measure. I may be doing that now, it's hard not to do. Aitken doesn't elaborate (so far as I could see) on what his concern is about making money with money. Throughout the book he asserts without explanation and seems comfortable with that.

Oddly, although Zen seems to place an emphasis on freeing oneself of (too much) abstraction so as to learn to experience life more directly and concretely, in this book the precepts are heavily abstracted, such that "not killing" is interpreted as, for example, an instruction to listen with care so as not to "kill" anothers views.

Curiously, following the letdown of reading this book, I found Brad Warner's "Hardcore Zen", which includes a chapter on the percepts. I resonated much more with that book.

As to "The Mind of Clover", I can't say whether you will find it helpful or not. I would suggest to a friend without regret that they could easily do without it.