Dropping Ashes on the Buddha
The Teachings of Zen Master Seung Sahn
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4.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
The classic guide for Zen students pursuing the true way.
“Somebody comes into the Zen center with a lighted cigarette, walks up to the Buddha-statue, blows smoke in its face and drops ashes on its lap. You are standing there. What can you do?” This is a problem that Zen Master Seung Sahn was fond of posing to his American students who attended his Zen centers.
Dropping Ashes on the Buddha is a delightful, irreverent, and often hilariously funny living record of the dialogue between Korean Zen Master Seung Sahn and his American students. Consisting of dialogues, stories, formal Zen interviews, Dharma speeches, and letters using the Zen Master’s actual words in spontaneous, living interaction, this book is a fresh presentation of the Zen teaching method of “instant dialogue” between Master and student which, through the use of astonishment and paradox, leads to an understanding of ultimate reality.
Customer Reviews
A good read but not for beginners
If you have a few years of Zazen under your belt and have read some of the more accessible Zen texts, this is an interesting addition to the modern Zen cannon. But if you haven’t much background and practice in Zen, it isn’t going to make much sense.