This frank account by a longtime Zen student looks back over a journey that began in Berkeley in the heady sixties when the author experimented with psychedelics and started to study with Suzuki Roshi, who encouraged his students to find a genuine way of practicing Zen.
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From Publishers Weekly
Author Storlie begins this book of the inner mind seated in the full lotus position. He doesn't get much farther. Recounting a tale that is not quite fiction, not quite fact (he has combined characters and dredged up quotes from 30 years of memories, he tells us in the preface), he leads us through a life spent in the quest of knowledge and bliss-the pursuit of Zen. He starts in Minnesota, journeys out to San Francisco at the peak of Haight-Ashbury and studies under two Zen masters as the years progress, all in an effort to satisfy his thirsty soul. Yet this memoir reads like a Less Than Zero for hippie burnouts. Too much of it is devoted to acid trips, beery nights out in the Bay Area wilderness, a few dabblings with heroin. It dwells on mind games and pointless journeys in the forest, a Walden without a reason for being written. While Storlie says he seeks spiritual attainment, he never tells us why. Cheering him on as his 1960s hippie friends turn his life into an outtake from Trainspotting (complete with a visit while stoned to Timothy Leary), as he struggles to complete an academic degree, any academic degree, and as he marries and divorces, becomes difficult.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Storlie, now a professor of English, relays his struggles to obtain his education while being pulled to explore the consciousness-raising milieu of 1960s Berkeley. Fully half of the book is given to descriptions of experimentation with LSD on its own and LSD mixed with Zen meditation. Later, Storlie rejects psychedelics and describes his experiences studying with two Zen masters, Suzuki Roshi and Katagiri Roshi. The chapters of personal history alternate with chapters describing a single day, close to the present, during which Storlie sits in meditation and explores the wilderness of the Flute Reed Mountains. While heartfelt, these chapters become somewhat tedious. The descriptions of working with the two Zen masters and life in the respective communities will be of interest to American Zen practitioners, but for most collections there are other titles that offer more compelling reading, notably Lawrence Shainberg's Ambivalent Zen (LJ 12/95).?Mark Woodhouse, Elmira Coll. Lib., N.Y.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not a waste of time,
By Mr. Moose (Indianapolis) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Nothing on My Mind: Berkeley, LSD, Two Zen Masters, and a Life on the Dharma Trail (Paperback)
I just finished this book a few days ago, and I am quite glad I read it. Mr. Storlie writes with an eloquent and absorbing voice, and he offers an authoritative and thoughtful perspective on psychedelic experimentation, the counterculture of the late 60s, and ultimately, Zen Buddhism. This book, for me, was like a delicious and nutritious meal served up at exactly the right time. This will not be the case for all readers. I should say that I am someone who has a specific curiosity for that bit of American history that took place when I was only a child and only vaguely aware of its power and dark underpinnings. I have heard it said that the political revolution of the late 60s began to falter at precisely the same time it began to transition into a cultural revolution. Without necessarily intending to do so, Storlie seems to support (as well as explore) that notion. But, for me, Storlie's narrative is most valuable for the perspective it offers on the growth and movement of Zen in American culture. I say this because a specific question has thrashed about in my own mind for at least ten years now, and that is: "Am I a Buddhist?" If you are like me, that is, you think you might be one, and perhaps would like to be able to call yourself one, but don't think you qualify, this book should be useful to you too. So, "thank you" to the very masterful artist and sensible human, E.F. Storlie.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Candid Portrayal of One Person's "Life on the Dharma Trail",
By
This review is from: Nothing on My Mind: Berkeley, LSD, Two Zen Masters, and a Life on the Dharma Trail (Paperback)
Yes, the chief virtue of this book is its honesty, its lack of glamour. In contrast to the enlightenment stories of The Three Pillars of Zen, it is more along the lines of the books by Janwillem van de Wetering (The Empty Mirror, etc.) in that it isn't terribly romantic and dramatic. He sits a lot. He learns some things, but he's still very human.
I disagree with the reviewer who found it pretentious. I think the author is intelligent enough to know that he is exposing himself. I think he realizes he was a typical Berkeley nincompoop unable to say no to any proferred drug or intoxicant. There is none of the fatuousness of D.T. Suzuki's writings. Normally we have the courtesy, the good manners, to cover up our arrogance, pretensions, and self-centeredness. But he does not do this. I give him high marks for this, but I agree with the reviewer who commented that he wished for more positives. It certainly does not convince me that I should commit thirty years to zazen. But perhaps he has done me a service leading me to believe that formal Zen in the Soto Church is not for me. But I think it would be a worthwhile read for anyone who, like me, is interested in the history of Zen in America.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Six Years Later...,
By
This review is from: Nothing on My Mind: Berkeley, LSD, Two Zen Masters, and a Life on the Dharma Trail (Paperback)
I wouldn't have given this book 5 stars when I first read it. 3.5, perhaps. But, I believe that one measure of worth is how often you think of something as time passes (and much of what you've read is long forgotten).
Since reading it six years ago, I've often thought about this book. It's a tale of imperfection, a man striving for something that he never quite attains. It's not world-class literature or a deeply spiritual book to lead you towards enlightenment. However, in his own way Storlie captures the human condition/struggle very well. I won't say much more than that. Read it. Don't expect much. Maybe you'll be surprised.
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