First You Shave Your Head (Paperback)

~ (Author), Geraldine A. Larkin (Author) "I can't believe this!..." (more)
Key Phrases: awakening becomes aroused, doing prostrations, meditation hall, Diamond Sutra, Wonderful Flower, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

When a Zen master invited Geri Larkin to join him on a spiritual pilgrimage to Korea, she had a spiritually incorrect reaction. One might think "that I would be swept away by emotion, stunned at my good fortune," writes Larkin in First You Shave Your Head. Instead, she obsessed over the mandate that she shave off all of her hair. "If I was going to be a card- carrying pilgrim, then I had to peel my fingers off of my last scalp of identity--my hair," writes Larkin, whose other popular works include Stumbling Toward Enlightenment and Tap Dancing in Zen. This self-effacing, witty narrator speaks with an unabashedly, all-American frame of mind, helping Westerners see themselves walking the Buddhist path. As Larkin treks through the mountains and monasteries of Korea, she shares her pangs of hunger and her fear of the unknown as well as the bliss of "magic moments," such as drinking green tea in a hermitage that was carved into a cliff. This travelogue shows us what it means to journey toward enlightenment with humility, or at least good sense of humor. --Gail Hudson

From Library Journal

First you shave your head but that's far from the worst of it. According to Larkin (Stumbling Toward Enlightenment) in this account of a month-long Zen pilgrimage in Korea, you also slog through the mountains in summer's heat and pelting rain, carrying knapsacks of books. You bathe and wash your clothes always the same set only once every ten days. You contend with biting insects, constant dirt, and primitive sanitation. As described in this spiritual travelog, Larkin's pilgrimage with her teacher and two fellow Zen monks resembles U.S. Army basic training. A Michigan-based teacher of Zen Buddhism, Larkin tolerates constant harassment, inadequate sleep, and hurry-up-and-wait all for the stripping away of the ego. There are compensations, of course: beautiful countryside and temples, generous people, kindly monks, a stiffening of the backbone, and learning one's strengths and weaknesses. If you're up to the challenge, perhaps this "muscular" Zen is for you. If not, read this book anyway. It's marvelously entertaining and enlightening. There's even a recipe for kimchi. For academic and public libraries. James F. DeRoche, Alexandria, VA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Celestial Arts; First Edition. 1 in number line edition (September 20, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1587610094
• ISBN-13: 978-1587610097
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #616,909 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Killing the teacher, January 29, 2002

By	Algernon D'Ammassa (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

On the subject of growing up, an eminent teacher from Korea once said to his American followers: "First you must kill your parents; then, you must kill Buddha; and then, you must kill me."

Author Geri Larkin is a Dharma Teacher under a different Korean teacher, Samu Sunim. Her first two collections of dharma talks ("Stumbing Towards Enlightenment" and "Tap Dancing In Zen") are inspirational: completely heartfelt, utterly acessible and entertaining for a general reader. She is a single mom in Michigan who is also a serious student of Zen, such that when her teacher tells her she must shave her head for a pilgrimage in Korea, she does it - but prepares by consulting fashion magazines first. No pretentious, other-worldly Zen here.

This travelogue, in which she and an American dharma sister visit Korean temples along with their feisty master, is not Ally McBeal-goes-to-Asia: it is a plunge into the unknown. Korea is still very much another world, and all of the confidence this Zen practitioner had accumulated on her home turf is quickly stripped away by the weather, the rough terrain, the austerities of the trip, and the severe corrections of her teacher and other glowering monks along the way.

She likens the process to beating a shirt clean. She is left not even with humility - everything is taken away, reduced to "don't-know" mind: "The longer and more arduous the trip, the more your heart has a chance to open up until finally, in a moment of utter exhaustion, you realize that's all of you that is left - the heart part. Your mind has disappeared - the one that judges and gets mad and worries and thinks and fantasizes. Instead you are in love with your life, whatever it is. And the whole world is your family with the earth playing the lead role as universal nest, one you are thrilled to share with all takers. I almost forgot. You'll also lose ten pounds without even trying."

But holding on to that isn't it, either. The most wonderful thing this book offers (aside from some choice stories, one of the best being the elderly monk in the mountains who demonstrates how a soccer ball is the best exercise machine you will ever need) is an open-hearted account of a sincere student finding the real faith in practice, in which losing it is getting it and all the merit is given away.

Highly recommended.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Judge a book by its cover?, July 16, 2003

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

Actually, I LOVE this book: Zen pilgrimage and Korean Dharma history to boot (just my thing}. Traveling with Larkin is like coffee with your best friend just outside the Zen hall -- as close (and enjoyable) as you can get without going in and actually sitting down on a mat yourself.

The only reason I didn't give it five stars (and I almost gave it three) was the back cover, upon which the marketing folks at the publishing house wrote something to the effect of Larkin being the first Western woman to have been honored with a pilgrimage through Korea's temples. Not only is this untrue, but NOWHERE in the text does Larkin herself make such a claim. What she DOES say is simply that her and traveling buddy Haju (also a WOMAN!) were the first Western women some of the Korean monks had ever seen -- which I'm sure was true.

Kind of a big difference there. Either someone at Celestial Arts accidentally misread Larkin's text, or they hoped to sell more books by stretching the truth. Either way is a little disrespectful not only to Larkin, but to the women who made the journey before her.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars an amazing doorway, June 3, 2002

By A Customer

What an amazing journey I took when I read this book. Knowing little to nothing about Korea (ok there was that MASH tv show) and just a tad bit more about zen, I found myself alternating between tenderness and strength as I read through her journeys. A must read for anyone who thinks they are able to handle the rigors of a spiritual practice!