The Book of Householder Koans

"These two extraordinary Zen Teachers offer a cutting-edge immersion into the koans of our actual lives, issue by issue, urging us to plunge in, and be intimate with what actually is, in this very moment. Flowing beneath the surface of these contemporary koans is an ocean of traditional koans and old Buddhist stories and themes, all intermingled with the immediacy of contemporary life. A guaranteed American Zen classic!" —Roshi Pat Enkyo O'Hara, author of Most Intimate: A Zen Approach to Life's Challenges "Radical, useful, and wild, this rich collection of householder koans opens a treasure house of wisdom for all. What a wonderful adventure in the practical mind and heart of true Zen and true life." —Rev. Joan Jiko Halifax, Abbot of Upaya Zen Center “In The Book of Householder Koans Nakao and Marko wonderfully carry into contemporary life the spirit and color of the zen koan tradition in all its mystery and brazenness—and, at the same time, provide a wonderfully wise, knowing, and light-hearted look at how we can live this one precious unrepeatable human life in beauty. The koan stories they provide (submitted by many of their students) are pithy, funny, and perfectly apt for the times we live in. What a lively book!” —Norman Fischer, poet, Zen priest, and author most recently of The World Could Be Otherwise: Imagination and the Bodhisattva Path “I was blown away by the force of The Book of Householder Koans as it establishes Western Zen as a new center of enlightenment. Roshis Myonen Eve Marko and Egyoku Wendy Nakao present Zen koans, exquisitely digested from everyday life, that retain the ancient and authentic power to stop you in your tracks while they beckon you onward. Read this book, emerging from two female Zen masters’ lifetimes of practice, and enter an intimate world that opens your awareness in relationship, work, and current worldly puzzles.” —Grace Schireson, author of Wild-Ass Zen, Enlightenment Wherever You Are, Zen Women: Beyond Tea Ladies, Iron Maidens and Macho Maters, and Naked in the Zendo: Stories of Uptight Zen, and editor of Zen Bridge: The Zen Teachings of Keido Fukushima “In this wonderful collection, Eve Myonen Marko and Wendy Egyoku Nakao write that Zen is about letting go of our fixed opinions. One opinion about Zen, when it came to this country, is that it is for monks and priests who live in monasteries or as hermits. In fact, most Zen students nowadays are householders who have issues that are different from those of our ancestor monks in China. The training for priests cannot be the same as the training for householders. Householders’ lives are messy. Roshis Eve and Wendy use the ancient wisdom of Zen to illuminate modern-day practice. Their insight and compassion have provided us with an important collection of koan stories that illustrate how Zen can bring deep insight to all meditators, whether householders, the homeless, women, men, or even ordained priests.” —Roshi Gerry Shishin Wick, spiritual director of Great Mountain Zen Center, and author of The Book of Equanimity: Illuminating Classic Zen Koans “The only real Zen is the Zen of our actual lived lives. Zen’s koans are stories that take us to where we really live, that show us who we are when we let go of the false stories we’ve been trapped within. The collections of these true stories, which open our hearts, started in China. And China gave us many that we cherish to this day. Others come from Korea and Vietnam and Japan. And now, in The Book of Householder Koans, we are given a selection collected from four Western countries by two preeminent American Zen masters. And this is real Zen. These are the true stories of who we have always been from before the creation of the stars and planets. This is Zen made out of our bones and marrow, our tears and laughter. This amazing book is one of a handful written in this time that will be recalled as classics of our way. If you’ve never practiced Zen, read this book. If Zen has been your...