A Glimpse of Nothingness: Experiences in an American Zen Community (Hardcover)

~ Janwillem Van De Wetering (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Nearly 30 years ago, van de Wetering, who would later achieve fame as a mystery novelist, published The Empty Mirror, about his experiences at a Zen monastery in Japan in the mid-60s. In 1975, he published a sequel, A Glimpse of Nothingness, about his stint at the Moon Springs Hermitage in Maine. Now the author has written a follow-up, AfterZen, told from the perspective of an aging soul who dropped most formal Zen practice years ago but still carries an abiding respect for the gut truths of the teaching and for at least some of its teachers. Much of the book has the air of the classic Zen saying, "If you see the Buddha on the road, kill him": with humor and occasional crankiness, van de Wetering knocks koans, meditation and some of the trappings of the monastic Zen life. There are many flashbacks, to Japan, to his American experiences, to meetings with fellow ex-students, and the book has a somewhat chaotic feel, rather more like life than art. Throughout, van de Wetering's voice is sincere, if iconoclastic. Those looking for composed wisdom should read Basho; those looking for an honest memoir by a perhaps wise man will find this to their taste. One Spirit alternate. (June) FYI: Also in June, van de Wetering's two earlier books, which have been out of print, are being reissued by St. Martin's/Dunne; Empty Mirror: $10.95 paper 160p ISBN 0-312-20774-3; Glimpse: $11.95 paper 192p ISBN -20945-2).
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"This is a book that deserves serious attention . . . eminently readable, easy to relate to on several different levels, and a fascinating and encouraging tale of human communal endeavor."--The New York Times Book Review "I was pleasantly surprised to find the book enjoyable . . . the main virtue of this book is van de Wetering's skill for re-creating places, feelings, scenes, and encounters. The book is relaxed, alternately serious and humorous, and insightful."--The Shambhala Review "The most down-to-earth account of the Zen discipline ever written for Westerners . . . van de Wetering clears away the thicket of intellectualization and mannered inscrutability and gets down to the ordinariness of Zen. Even those who normally refect spiritual trips . . . will find this dogged, bourgeois seeker hard to ignore."--Kirkus Reviews -- Review --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 184 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin (T); 1st American Edition. edition (May 1975)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395204429
• ISBN-13: 978-0395204429
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,743,270 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant Work, May 21, 2003

By	Swing King (Cincinnati, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Glimpse of Nothingness: Experiences in an American Zen Community (Paperback)

I picked this book up in a college town's bookstore while visiting my sister. Sometimes I will just pick up a handful of books in the Eastern Philosophy section, and see what I get when I take off my blindfold. On the car ride home I was unsure while glancing over it if I was going to like this one or not. The back speaks of "...Zen sages who were alcoholics, the two natured personality of Zen Masters who enjoy sex and cowboy movies..."-I personally found this description of the contents after having read it, frankly completely off base.

This book is about a Zen student's adventures from Japan, back to Amsterdam, to the United States-where this book takes place for the most part. It could be any Zen community really, it shows what it is like working with others in a very accurate manner. He writes with a direct simplicity-he is not wordy, just says it how it was. Now did I agree with everything he had to say about Zen? Not at all, but the important thing is I was asked a lot of questions while reading this book. And that's what any good book can do above all else, is ask questions-rather than saying, "here, agree with me."

A passage of his book that provided myself with a lot of insight goes as follows,

"A Chinese allegory tells how a monk sets off on a long pilgrimage to find the Buddha. He spends years and years on his quest and finally he comes to the country where the Buddha lives.

He crosses a river, it is a wide river, and he looks about him while the boatman rows him across. There is a corpse floating on the water and it is coming closer.

The monk looks. The corpse is so close he can touch it. He recognizes the corpse, it is his own.

The monk loses all self control and wails.

There he floats, dead.

Nothing remains.

Anything he has ever been, ever learned, ever owned, floats past him, still and without life, moved by the slow current of the wide river.

It is the first moment of his liberation."

This book is brilliant in all places, it shows some struggle with inner questioning. A wrestling with the author's own cleverness. It almost feels like a diary. One that just so happened to have been written while having a stay with a Zen community. I believe you will come to appreciate this book a lot.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The training is everywhere, March 5, 2001

By	Frank Bierbrauer (Cardiff, Wales, UK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: A Glimpse of Nothingness: Experiences in an American Zen Community (Paperback)

Once again Jan Willem van de Wetering in his humourous style exposes his experiences to the world without embarrassment or shyness. Ten years after his experience as a young man in the Zen monastery in Japan under the old master, even though he had separated from "Peter", the old masters heir to be, on bad terms, he meets him again in Holland and Peter visits him at his home. He decides to continue where he left off with his koan still smoldering inside. He spends some time at Peter's Zen community, or commarde as others called it, and solved his koan as well as others. We learn more of Peter and especially of the fascinating set of characters who are also seeking, such as Edgar or Rupert the erstwhile psychologist. As before, he struggles with the required discipline but this time it's not as hard, he has gained from his stay in Japan; as the old master said at the end of the first book "you are now a little awake, so awake you will never be able to fall asleep again".

The training is everywhere.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars taught me that zen is a dirty word, November 9, 2002

By	Yugen Phoenix (Lavelle, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Glimpse of Nothingness: Experiences in an American Zen Community (Paperback)

this book shows that the most sacred is found in wherever you are, and it is never necessary to point it out. Its just there smiling from the shadows, waiting for you to share in the joke. The character of Peter is very interesting and represents an 'ideal' which I try to live up to, not in the sense of mirroring his personality or surroundings, but merely reflecting the core that is all our nature. It is not so much the narrator's specific journey is important, as none of ours are except to us individually, but of the feeling generated from knowing though flawed we are all just sleepy children not yet aware of the extend of our shared majesty.