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Being Human | An Excerpt from Zen in the Age of Anxiety
Wisdom for Navigating Our Modern Lives I can’t get no satisfaction ’Cause I try and I try and I try and I try I can’t get no, I can’t get no Satisfaction (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction The Rolling Stones’s first big hit in the United States was “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” and is -
The Approach and Intent of Zen | An Excerpt from The Rinzai Zen Way
Understanding the Rinzai Zen Way Studying Zen, one rides all vehicles of Buddhism; practicing Zen, one attains awakening in a single lifetime. —Eisai [From a teisho given in February 2012] In speaking with many beginning Zen students, it seems apparent that although they may be familiar with some of the methods of Zen practice, -
The View | An Excerpt from The Sound of Cherry Blossoms
Clarify Your Definitions We have all been in gardens—even very costly ones—that we find oddly uninspiring. There are the landscapes around mansions where money has been lavished on moving trees, building pools, patios, and fire pits, and planting lush lawns, yet we don’t much enjoy being in those spaces and may even find them stale -
Book Club Discussion | Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
Each month, the Shambhala employees gather to discuss a new book as part of our Shambhala Publications Book Club. After each meeting, we will be sharing the notes from our discussion with you to spark your own thoughts and conversations. Our October pick was Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice by -
Talking with Jan Chozen Bays About Mindful Eating
Food: A Way to Contentedness and Connection An interview on the publication of the expanded edition of her book Mindful Eating: A Guide to Rediscovering a Healthy and Joyful Relationship with Food By Dave O'Neal Shambhala: What, in a nutshell, is “mindful eating”? Jan Chozen Bays: Mindful eating is deliberately paying full attention to what you are eating -
A Walk with Dogen into Our Time
In 1954 poet Allen Ginsberg wrote a poem called “Song” that acknowledges the weight of our human circumstance and suffering in a particular and somewhat unusual way. I believe it may also provide a gateway to the following writings by Zen master Eihei Dogen, who addressed the nature of reality as he came to understand the world of people and things through his lifetime practice of Zen.
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Samurai and Japanese Culture Reader’s Guide: The Works of Master Translator and Author William Scott Wilson
One of the greatest joys for me as an editor at Shambhala Publications is when I work on books by people I have long admired. This was most definitely the case when Shambhala had the good fortune to become William Scott Wilson’s publisher several years ago. I first encountered his work when I was a -
The Art of Haiku
From the introduction to The Art of Haiku: Its History through Poems and Paintings by Japanese Masters This book will trace the history of Japanese haiku, including the poetic traditions from which it was born, primarily through the work of leading masters such as Basho, Buson, Issa, and Shiki, along with a number of other fine poets. -
Samurai Wisdom Stories: The Archery Contest
With the introduction of firearms, the art of bow shooting was in danger of disappearing. However, this art was one of the principal disciplines of bushido, the Way of the Samurai. As a means of keeping this tradition alive, the annual Toshiya archery contest was instituted. The site of the contest was a temple in -
How Do You Avoid Intimacy?
Everything is the Way: Ordinary Mind Zen By Elihu Genmyo Smith Intimacy: How does this occur? Practice is intimacy, intimacy as the whole universe, intimacy as our life, as this moment. Because it is so simple and straightforward, for just this reason we find all sorts of ways to avoid our life, our
