Novice to Master: An Ongoing Lesson in the Extent of My Own Stupidity [Hardcover]

Soko Morinaga Roshi (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 2002

As can be seen in its glowing endorsements and reviews — from Publishers Weekly to well-known Buddhist figures — this modern spiritual classic has been embraced by readers of all types. In his singularly humorous and bitingly direct way, Zen abbot Soko Morinaga tells the story of his rigorous training at a Japanese Zen temple, his spiritual growth, and his interactions with his students and others. Morinaga's voice is uniquely tuned to the truth of the condition of the human mind and spirit and his reflections and interpretations are unvarnished and succinct. His great gift is the ability to lift the spirit of the reader while exposing the humility and weakness in the lives of people, none more so than his own.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

It's not every day that you come across a book by one of Japan's top Zen masters. Soko Morinaga was head of the most famous monastery in Japan and of the Rinzai Zen university, but in his book Novice to Master we see that he started out as green as a novice can be. In brief episodes that span most of his 70-year lifetime, Roshi Morinaga tells us the stories of his life, those from which he learned a lesson and from which we can learn: how he implicated himself in his beloved grandfather's death, the thrill of his enlightenment experience, the grueling existence of life in a Zen monastery. Just the opposite of most books of this type, Novice to Master is heavy on anecdotes and light on explanation and advice. Near the end, however, the advice comes on thicker, such as how to not only live in the present but how to die in every moment. Well translated for the most part, Novice to Master represents the accumulated wisdom of a modern-day master of Zen. --Brian Bruya

From Publishers Weekly

From orphan to abbot, Morinaga Roshi tells his condensed life story in this slender, highly interesting volume. Before his death in 1995, he was the leader of Daitokuji Monastery and was also head of Hanazono University, a primary training facility for Buddhist monks. Finding himself completely adrift in his early 20s at the catastrophic end of World War II, Morinaga Roshi turned to several Zen temples for food and shelter, but he finally found these and a life's path at Daishuin Temple in Kyoto, Japan. In the opening chapters, Morinaga Roshi details his initial inner conflicts and describes his teacher Zuigan Roshi, who told him in their first conversation that he must believe in something again: his teacher. The second section, "Training," is a fascinating, up-close look inside a Zen monastery, where the day begins at 3 a.m. and may not end until 1 or 2 a.m. The final section ("Master") is by far the most sublime, for here rolls forth the accumulated wisdom of the unmanageable boy now grown into full stature as an esteemed abbot. The considerable grace here owes a large debt to the apparently effortless translation by Attaway Yamakawa, so that Zen's aphorisms glide home to hit their marks. Despite the odd subtitle that hints at humor, the volume instead has a soft poignancy and a certain presence within a tale well-told. It shines a light on "the living koan of human life which continues without limit."
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 168 pages
• Publisher: Wisdom Publications; First Edition edition (June 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0861713192
• ISBN-13: 978-0861713196
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,650,922 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

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars the simplicity of wisdom, January 29, 2003

By 

Joseph A. Coleman (Louisville, KY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Novice to Master: An Ongoing Lesson in the Extent of My Own Stupidity (Hardcover)

on the day that i received this book, i found that i had read it from cover to cover in matter of a couple of hours. roshi morinaga's words left me with the realization that, although his widom may appear to be quite simple, it takes a lot of learning from erroneous mistakes throughout one's life in order to put zen training into action. after blazing through this book i had found myself drawn to give it another read a couple of weeks later. reading it again, i became aware that the roshi's simple wisdom was not to be taken in stride but to be pondered more deeply. the translation of his words is unpretentious and terse, the way zen literature, in my opinion, is best transmitted. roshi morinaga opens our eyes to the initial tribulations of a zen novice such as the feelings of inadequacy in comparison to one's zen teacher, the stubborn fight that the ego plays among other things. i would strongly recommend this book for the serious zen student. may it help us all see our teachers in a more human light.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wisdom in "Stupidity.", June 6, 2002

By 

G. Merritt (Boulder, CO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Novice to Master: An Ongoing Lesson in the Extent of My Own Stupidity (Hardcover)

This posthumous memoir follows the life of Soko Morinaga Roshi (1925-95) from novice to Zen master, teaching us lessons of dedication, sacrifice and determination along the way. Soko Roshi served in the Japanese Army at the start of World War Two, before training in the monastery at Daitokuji from 1949 through 1963, and his life as a soldier seemed easy when compared to his difficult monastic training. His approach to Zen practice is refreshingly honest; meditation offers no quick fixes, he tells us, nor shortcuts to liberation. Confronting death daily is the only way, he tells us, to live life fully. In the end, this short book is not so much a memoir about Soko Roshi's forty years of "stupidity," as a book of lessons encouraging us to measure the extent of our own stupidity.

G. Merritt

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars authentic, September 1, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Novice to Master: An Ongoing Lesson in the Extent of My Own Stupidity (Hardcover)

The best darn zen book I've ever read. It has 2 or 3 pearls of wisdom applicable to anyone's life experience while also giving a detailed picture of traditional Japanese zen training at one of the oldest and most prestigious monasteries in Japan. Hard realities are delivered with a gentle demeanor unlike none I've ever encountered before.