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Great Doubt: Practicing Zen in the World by [Boshan]

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Jeff Shore

Great Doubt: Practicing Zen in the World Kindle Edition

by Boshan (Author), Brad Warner (Foreword), Jeff Shore (Translator)

12 customer reviews

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The greater the doubt, the greater the awakening.

“In this brief but remarkably thorough book, Boshan puts into words what it means to truly doubt. Not just to be skeptical—but to push all the way to the very foundations. Anyone interested in Zen can learn a whole lot from this little book.”
—from the foreword by Brad Warner, author of Hardcore Zen

“Great doubt and great faith are foundations of Zen practice. This great gift of a book provides essential checkpoints along the path.” —Grace Schireson, author of Zen Women

“Upbeat, insightful, and inspiring teachings—a rich resource for all Buddhist practitioners.”—Richard M. Jaffe, Duke University, author of Neither Monk nor Layman

“Boshan addresses the reader directly with vivid metaphors and stern (sometimes humorous) admonishments. He pulls no punches… These concise texts, not previously available in their entirety in English, offer classic wisdom for those exploring the Zen paths.”—Publishers Weekly

“A classic Chinese text with clear—and inspiring—commentaries”—Thomas Yuho Kirchner, translator of Entangling Vines

Length: 128 pages	Word Wise: Enabled	Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
Page Flip: Enabled

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Product details

File Size: 1241 KB
Print Length: 128 pages
Publisher: Wisdom Publications (July 26, 2016)
Publication Date: July 26, 2016
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
Language: English
ASIN: B01AS3WJWA
Text-to-Speech: Enabled

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Not Enabled

Word Wise: Enabled
Lending: Not Enabled
Screen Reader: Supported

Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #451,097 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #124 in Buddhist Sacred Writings (Kindle Store)
- #169 in Zen Philosophy (Kindle Store)
- #224 in Zen Buddhism (Kindle Store)

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Amazon Customer

An invaluable book for every sincere Buddhist practitioner.

December 5, 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

As Boshan clearly describes in this text, to rouse great doubt it is essential to deeply question all that we are, thus to dissolve our precious hold on ourselves. Naively convinced and certain of our self-identity, enamored with who we are and what we do, we just reinforce our ego. And so, our suffering continues.
Great Doubt: Practicing Zen in the World provides a precious corrective. It pinpoints dangerous forms of spiritual bypass and gets us back on the track of real practice.
“Great doubt, great awakening; small doubt, small awakening; no doubt, no awakening.” Without genuine doubt, we remain stupidly sure of ourselves and the world around us, our mind a dead weight of fixed ideas and misconceptions. This is precisely what we must drop in order to truly live!

6 people found this helpful

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D. Cannon

A wonderful reminder

August 7, 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

A wonderful reminder from Boshan and Jeff Shore that this practice doesn't belong to us, no matter how hard we try. Finally, no effort will do, and everything must end with this notion of "self." Only then does great doubt arise, naturally, and the beauty and completeness that is always here is revealed.

3 people found this helpful

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Marcus Blosch

A clear and insightful guide from two great teachers on practicing great doubt

February 2, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Nine bows to Jeff shore for bringing this treasure to us. Boshan's guidance, and Jeff's commentaries, offer encouragement and insight on how to correctly practice and cultivate great doubt. The wisdom of two great teachers distilled in this volume, has helped me greatly in my practice, and may it do same for you.

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Pablo

This is not Zen

August 10, 2016

Format: Paperback

The standard account of the history of Zen, at least here in the West, goes something like this. First there was Bodhidharma and the patriarchs, then the Golden age of the Tang dynasty: Mazu and Shitou, Nanquan and Zhaozhou, Linji and Deshan, and so on. At some point Zen was transmitted from China to Japan, and so we have Dogen, Bankei, Hakuin and their schools. Then from Japan to the West, and the rest is history.

But what happened to the Zen school in China during all these years? It turns out it was alive and well. Jeff Shore brings us a short text from Chan master Boshan (1575-1630) in which he succinctly and thoroughly deals with Great Doubt, and the problems or pitfalls that appear when rousing it.

Boshan's style is direct and without concessions. His words are poisonous darts, direct to the jugular. Every time he says "This is just your wavering mind; it is not Zen" I can't help but admitting that I have fallen into every one of these diseases many, many times. Far from discouraging, though, his words are like whips that spur me on in my practice.

Jeff's commentary is very helpful as well, expanding some of Boshan's more obscure references, and hammering out the central theme: don't think you've got it just because you've had a wonderful experience! Jeff writes with an energy that only thirty years studying in Rinzai Zen monasteries in Japan can give you. If Boshan's words are like darts, Jeff's feel like punches that come out of the page and knock you down. How very fortunate of us to have this book.

For a more thoroughgoing review of the place of Great Doubt in Zen practice through history, Jeff has written about that elsewhere: [...]

If you have only an academic interest in Zen, I don't think you will get much out of this book. If, however, you practice or plan to start practicing meditation, this book will be very helpful. Keep it close, and beware of the dangers mentioned! Boshan and Jeff will kindly push you onwards.

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G. McLoughlin

A Classic

July 27, 2017

Format: Paperback

Great Faith, Great Determination, and Great Doubt are often cited as three essentials for Zen practice. The first two are relatively easy to understand, at least superficially. I suspect that Zen is unique in stressing the importance of Great Doubt, although it may be at the core of all religions. After all, to admit doubt, that we really do not know, and honesty face ourselves is a different story. It is far easier to dig little hiding holes or satisfy ourselves with comforting superficialities and diversions (I speak from personal experience!) or even subtler “spiritual” pitfalls. In the first complete translation of these texts by Boshan, we get a short, profound, and sometimes humorous guide to avoiding those self-created traps. The translations and Jeff Shore’s modern commentary are written in simple, clear English that calmly allows no escape. Although Jeff Shore is a professor at the only Rinzai Zen university (Hanazono in Kyoto) and the lay successor of Keido Fukushima Roshi, this is not a book for adherents of one sect or another. It is a classic that any serious practitioner will refer to over and over again.

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Amazon Customer

To the end, and even further

July 7, 2017

Format: Kindle Edition

It took me more than five years to get acclimated to the cultural side of Zen Buddhism. I felt I had to create an Asian mindset to be able to practice. Trying to work with koan of medieval Chinese people instead of my own made me feel like a double idiot. After digging deeper, however, a true and joyful world has appeared.

It was well worth the struggle. But we are blessed to have Boshan, for he saves us from these kinds of misdirected efforts with his universal yet pointed focus. With your own real koan, Boshan brings you to the end, and even further. Boshan’s vivid contemporary style is great, and Jeff’s commentaries are a great help. He is able to explain poetic expressions like “the whole world is the monk’s eye” and help us relate to it.

In the first part, for Those Who Don’t Rouse Doubt, the old Chinese monk shows his sharp psychological insight and great writing style. Boshan reminds me of the great French moralists and their descriptions of character types.

In the second part Boshan shows, or rather embodies, the mind’s maniacal efforts to turn everything into something to grasp. With his powerful and vivid phrases and repetitive language, he directly grabs you before mind or intellect starts working, and gives you the courage to jump into the unknown once and for all. Then live your life from there, without any attachment. And Jeff's commentary goes on to reveal that this is the simplest and most natural thing.

This book is a must for every lay practitioner – and even more for monastics.

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