Customer Reviews

Untrain Your Parrot: And Other No-nonsense Instructions on the Path of Zen

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As a teacher, I immediately recognized the sound pedagogy in Elizabeth Hamilton's <Untrain Your Parrot>. It comes as no surprise to discover, during the course of reading the book, that Hamilton has been a college professor in the field of music. She applies her teaching skills to her writing on Zen. Her years of experience teaching and living Zen make for a truly wonderful handbook that one can consult again and again. The exercises in the book are applicable to everyone. I particularly like the suggestions for journal writing, which are inspiring. Finally, there is also Hamilton's sense of humor. When did we forget that Zen humor has a unique place in history, recognition of the Absurd some 1200 years before the West? Thanks to Hamilton, we may enjoy a revival of laughter as part of Zen practice.

We know how important our self-talk is from the story of composer Sergei Rachmaninoff, one of the 201 stories we tell in "Extraordinary Comebacks: 201 Inspiring Stories of Courage, Triumph, and Success". After the "failure" of his First Symphony, severely depressed, he stopped composing for three years. Eventually his psychiatrist turned to re-programming his patient's self-talk, prescribing this mantra: "You will begin your concerto. You will work with great facility. It will be excellent." The composer repeated it to himself, over and over. It worked. The result: his Piano Concerto No. 2, one of his greatest works, a comeback concerto, if you will.

Should you need similar counsel, author Elizabeth Hamilton (btw a classical musician herself) may serve as a similar sage and enlightened companion. There are nuggets of diamonds strewn throughout this wide-ranging Zen commentary, one or more will resonate, some may change your life. Particularly interesting: her discussions of "zen ego," yielding or not yielding to anxiety and quotes from notables in fields from American writers to hiphop to physics to Zen masters new and old and everything in between. The chapter titled "Untrain Your Parrot" took up just 10 pages, and could have been developed even further, but takes a bit of a back seat to Hamilton's broader survey of Zen perspectives. Worthwhile volume, and worth re-reading and coming back to.

I have read a few books on Zen. But I read very few books Zen-as-self-help. There is very little that I like about this book. It is a collection of tools, meditations, journal exercises, worksheets, to do lists, and categories that the author hope are useful. Norman Fischer calls this book a doable program for psychospiritual growth and the book claims to have a no-nonsense approach. But I wonder how anyone could use the palindrome BBSTSBB which is supposed to beckon our awareness to open. Before buying this book, read the chapter on the WIPITS categories.

Personally I have very little patience with Zen as self-help. Sure, I suppose you could use and practice to somehow wrestle your thoughts into some sort of submission. But I think that would be a terrible waste of time. Zen practice is about tasting freedom, not making gradual improvement to your life. It's not about getting a bit happier or not thinking, it's about discovering how to appreciate your life without being fooled. The best Zen books are honest, inspiring insightful, and authoritative. They do not shy away from the fact that life is suffering.

Just as I did not find the book to be useful, I did not find it to be particularly inspiring either. Finally I did not find it to be very authoritative. It did quote other sources, but quoting M. Strauss ed. Familiar Medical Quotations, 1968 did not really impress me. There's so many wonderful books on Zen practice. I would suggest a reader should look anywhere else.

Only Elizabeth Hamilton could write this book - and probably only Elizabeth Hamilton would want to! It's a perfect expression of her unique style of Zen teaching - the culmination of her years of study with Joko Beck
refracted through her quirky humor and completely un-authoritarian teaching style. Dharma books sometimes seem to be written in the same generic voice of gentle mindfulness - but who wants a homogenized Dharma? Elizabeth can't be mistaken for anyone else. Her style may at times seem maddeningly eccentric - all those acronyms & techniques aren't always to my taste - but Zen masters aren't cut out with cookie-cutters and we should cherish those who truly speak in their own voice.
This book is a treat. Enjoy meeting a teacher like none other.

Reading this book makes me want to meet Elizabeth Hamilton. She is down-to-earth, witty, encouraging, and uses parables and anecdotes liberally. The core of Zen and meditation instructions are presented directly and without unnecessary embellishment. This is accessible spirituality packaged with humor, intelligence, and warmth.

I've known Elizabeth Hamilton for over fifteen years, and after reading "Untrain Your Parrot", I can see how this book is obviously both a fruit of her practice and a living manifestation of it. Particularly, she brings a unique combination of clarity and street smarts. There is a consistent emphasis on the Big Picture, while at the same time an insistence on the specific practices that make that picture clear. And perhaps most of all, there is a delicate and delightful balance of heartfelt aspiration and down-to earth humor. There is much to be learned here; as well, you may even enjoy the process.

One of the reasons I appreciate this book so much is that Hamilton conveys essential zen teachings in non-zen-like language (with which a couple of reviewers took issue). Zen is really nothing more than being present to what-is, in all of its dimensions. It doesn't have its own language, or at least, it shouldn't. In fact, one of the brilliant facets to her approach is utilizing her own creative idioms and metaphors to describe zen practice.

Hamilton does a nice job of covering the bases in this regard by breaking down areas of our experience, e.g., phsyical, emotional, etc. The Buddha did the same thing using the five aggregates.

The shikantaza instructions were excellent and grounded. It's difficult to find useful instructions on this practice. She advises using checkpoints to make sure you're not off into la-la land.

Both Hamilton and Ezra Bayda are excellent at bringing zen into everyday life. They often stress accountability -- this will give rise to such things as "check points" and "menu items". These are tools the ego can use to eventually dismantle its reign. The Buddha taught in a similar way. In fact, zen, at least as its taught at the San Diego Zen Center, which was started by Joko Beck, is a kind of short-cut to the Buddha's satipattana sutta, emphasizing mindfulness and attention in all spheres of our being.

Untrain Your Parrot is all of the above, as is the author. Elizabeth Hamilton has a gift for vibrant prose. Her mixed metaphors will make you laugh out loud, and her talent for a precise, deeply accurate phrase had me gasping with insight. Best of all is her recognition and compassion for the everyday strategies of the ego. Her Zen teaching blends this clear light of recognition with practices that help to cultivate loving kindness towards oneself and the world.

The book is immensely practical in suggesting exercises, meditation practices, and lists for examination--bound to appeal as techniques to a wide range of people (find what works for you!) Elizabeth nonetheless emphasizes strongly the importance of a daily sitting practice to help hear what your parrot is telling you. Her own energy and kindness shine through in this book.

I am confused as to how this book can even be called Zen. There is no Zen here that I saw. It is all pop-culture pseudo-psychology mixed with pop-culture pseudo-zen. I couldn't even finish it because it is so chaotic and incoherent. For example, half the terms she uses aren't Zen in nature and they aren't defined in the book. What is an "ego hybrid"? That's not Zen. What is that? Use your money to buy something worthwhile like "The Three Pillars of Zen" by Philip Kapleau.

If you buy "Untrain Your Parrot", you will be adding to your delusion, not shedding your delusions. Avoid this one.

As someone who firmly believes that zen can be a life-changing practice, I urge that this book be avoided. It leads nowhere but to an endless rearragement of thoughts. Some may sound prettier than the ones that you are trying to avoid, but they are the same prison. Elizabeth Hamilton has spend decades listening to the parrot in her mind and apparently is now happy with its chatter. Life is short and with each passing moment opportunity is lost. You can spend forever with feel-good southern California zen, but it is a waste of your precious life. Don't go here.