Reb Anderson

TENSHIN REB ANDERSON is a lineage holder in the Soto Zen tradition. He began training with Shunryu Suzuki Roshi at the San Francisco Zen Center in 1967; he was ordained by him as a priest in 1970 and given the name Tenshin Zenki (“Naturally Real,” “The Whole Works"). He received dharma transmission in 1983 and served as abbot of the Zen Center’s three training centers (City Center, Green Gulch Farm, and Tassajara Zen Mountain Center) from 1986 to 1995. He is particularly interested in Buddhist yoga, philosophy, psychology, and the relationship of wisdom and compassion to the social and ecological crises of our times. Together with his friends, he founded No Abode Hermitage in Mill Valley, California, in 2002. Tenshin Roshi has retired to No Abode where he continues to offer teachings and practice opportunities. He leads meditation retreats and classes nationally and internationally. Other information, including his teaching schedule and video and audio recordings of many of his dharma talks, are available at www.rebanderson.org.

"Being Upright is a large and compassionate, thorough and clear book about an important, but sometimes neglected, aspect of Zen—the precepts. Thank you, Reb, for bringing them forward." —Natalie Goldberg, author of Writing Down the Bones and The Great Spring

"An exceptionally thoughtful penetration of the bodhisattva precepts, illuminated by stories of mondo, or dharma combat, between great teachers. Rather than depending on safe generalities and abstractions, the author shows candor and courage by pointing to mistakes and frailties in his own practice—a skillful means of instruction. This excellent book, by one of his foremost disciples, does honor to Shunryu Suzuki and his teachings." —Peter Matthiessen (Muryo Roshi), author of The Snow Leopard and The Nine-Headed Dragon River: Zen Journals, 1969–1982

"The precepts are nothing more or less than the simple manifestation of actual practice: what the mind and heart of Zen look like when engaged with the world. In this clear, luminous, and encouraging book, Reb Anderson investigates and opens each of the precepts until we can see its true face—not a rule, not a guiding concept, but the fragrant flower of awakened life, passed from generation to generation, and now between us." —Jane Hirshfield, author of Nine Gates: Entering the Mind of Poetry and Women in Praise of the Sacred: 43 Centuries of Spiritual Poetry by Women

"I really like this book! It will be very useful to spiritual practitioners, Buddhist and non-Buddhist alike. Reb Anderson has managed to express his subtle and hard-earned wisdom in language that is wonderfully simple, clear, and free of jargon—and impressive feat." —Ty Koontz, former editor of The Laughing Man

"Being Upright is a much-needed book that provides a solid basis for upright practice. Its very language is upright." —David Steindl-Rast, O.S.B., author of A Listening Heart: The Spirituality of Sensuousness