Zen Student: Remember, Live Right Now! [Paperback]

Raymond Reed Hardy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 2006

Zen Student: Remember, Live Right Now! is Dr. Raymond Reed Hardy's second book about Zen in America. Hardy's first book, Zen Master: Practical Zen by an American for Americans-first released in 2002-explains in plain and simple terms how to begin a meditation practice based on Hardy's own personal experience. In Zen Student, Hardy writes to the reader who has done at least a little Zen meditation and is now seeking support for a more advanced practice.

There is a huge difference between the person who has never started a meditation practice and one who has practiced-even if for just a few months. The difference has to do with the experiences that typically come only through meditation. Zen Student speaks to and about those special experiences, giving the fledgling student the strong sense of support that comes when we recognize others who are on the same path. Hardy's background in psychology (he is an associate professor of psychology) and his long history (more than twenty-three years) of very simple zazen meditation, give him just the right combination of authoritative knowledge and experiential wisdom to most effectively address the needs of American meditators. In Zen Student, he provides autobiographical information, followed by teaching stories and anecdotes for the intermediate student. He also includes a question and answer series based on the interactions he has had with his own students over the past twenty years. The final section of the book includes thirteen inspirational haiku poems and some strong reminders of the importance of the meditation practice the student has begun.

Hardy has already started his third and final book of the series-for advanced students. However, he is keeping mum about the contents. Will you be ready when that book arrives?

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Raymond Reed Hardy is an Associate Professor of Psychology at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wisconsin, now in his thirty-second year of full time teaching. Hardy’s teaching responsibilities have included Lifespan Human Development, Early Childhood Development, Personal Development: A Multicultural Perspective, Conditioning and Learning, Meditation and Consciousness, Comparative Psychology, General Psychology, and less frequently, Statistics for the Social Sciences and Research Design. His current interests include promoting Zen worldwide, and addressing problems in human development caused by unintended impacts of cultural characteristics. Hardy lives in Green Bay, Wisconsin with his wife of thirty-eight years. His two adult children live in nearby communities.

Product Details

• Paperback: 172 pages
• Publisher: Wheatmark (June 15, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1587366126
• ISBN-13: 978-1587366123
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,744,035 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 'Wake up! Now is the Time! Right Now!', June 15, 2006

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Zen Student: Remember, Live Right Now! (Paperback)

So ends Dr. Raymond Reed Hardy's compact and useful aid in practicing Zazen. Hardy writes with such clarity of style that even the most goal oriented, success focused, immediate gratification American person - with a bit of patience and time - can finally begin to grasp the measure of the Zen influenced life.

Hardy intentionally writes for the 'Western mind' and freely admits that this book is directed toward those who have a foundation in Zen. And that most assuredly does not mean that the novice won't benefit from this book. For those who have never meditated, never attended a retreat (The Zen Sesshin), or even have familiarity with the Zen way of living, there still is much in this immensely readable book to admire. For this reader, Hardy's style of sharing and teaching Zen in the style in which he writes is reason enough to take Zen seriously and join the human brotherhood in what is probably the the most applicable form of philosophy/religion in today's world.

So, yes, follow Hardy's advice and read his first book also, but spend some evenings with ZEN STUDENT and see if it doesn't make you at least take notice of the impact that living in the moment can make on our chaotic lives. Grady Harp, June 06

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Recommended for anyone seeking to explore the benefits of Zen meditation and practice, September 12, 2006

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Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Zen Student: Remember, Live Right Now! (Paperback)

Written in plain terms for American practitioners in the art of meditation, Zen Student: Remember, Live Right Now by Raymond Reed Hardy (Associate Professor Of Psychology at St. Norbert College) Zen Student is as much a testimony of the experience of meditation as it is a guide for novice to intermediate meditators. The author's history of more than twenty-three years in the practice of zazen meditation shows through, and inspirational haiku poems as well as question-and-answer sessions, mindfulness stories, and practical suggestions for incorporating Zen into daily life round out this excellent and descriptive guide. Recommended for anyone seeking to explore the benefits of Zen meditation and practice.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good initial introduction to Zen, June 14, 2006

By 

Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Zen Student: Remember, Live Right Now! (Paperback)

Hardy's first encounter with Zen meditation took place in Vietnam in 1968. He was an infantryman and his company was on foot patrol. They entered a clearing in the jungle and encountered a man of military age on a platform engaged in zazen meditation. When the alarm "Gook!" was passed from man to man, all stopped. Even though it could have been a trap, the patrol walked around the meditator, who didn't even appear to be breathing. He was so still, some members of the patrol speculated that he was dead and had been propped up to serve as a Potemkin-like distracter.
This episode, recounted at the beginning of the book, is a fitting description of the Western attitude towards Zen. An Eastern religion, it seems incongruous to Western minds. The practitioners do not evangelize, which makes it appear that they practice their religion oblivious to outsiders.
The author, an associate professor of psychology in Wisconsin, has written this book in an attempt to explain Zen to Western minds. Before I read it, I had almost no exposure to or knowledge of Zen and now I have some exposure and a little knowledge. As the author himself admits, the learning curve regarding Zen is not steep. The explanations of Zen reminded me of the literary form known as paradoxism. Created by Rumanian exile/émigré Florentin Smarandache, it employs internal contradictions. It utilizes phrases such as; "In death there is life."
I found the Zen philosophy generally comprehensible, as it is similar to that of the Native Americans. Their philosophy is one of taking from nature while maintaining a reverence for the ways in which the sustenance is provided. The Zen philosophy of living for the moment, yet being mindful of the holistic long-term consequences is analogous.
I have always heard that Zen is hard to understand. I am in agreement with that statement. While reading this book did increase my knowledge of Zen practices, my understanding underwent only a slight improvement.