A Glimpse of Nothingness: Experiences in an American Zen Community

Book Description

The description of a Zen path of one Westerner who began by seeking for the sense of it all, and who came to realize at least a part of it.

Customer Reviews:

the first step towards liberation.......2007-07-14

The pursuit of the unanswered koan continues in the zen experiences of van de Wetering. The book recounts linking up with his Zen mentor/nemesis "Peter" after a hiatus of 10 years. The author decides to leave Holland and join Peter at his zen community in New England so that the koan may be realized.

As in "The Empty Mirror" (see review), van de Wetering pursues the unlocking of his koan given him by the old master in Kyoto. And he eventually comes to an understanding:

"But when you find the koan's answer, as cryptic as the koan itself, the interpretation is still yours to find out. You may even go along a way which the master doesn't approve of, and he may terminate your training. But your insight will still be right and properly acknowledged".

After his insight, the author returns to his Amsterdam routines, changed and yet not changed. With humor and honesty, one man has chronicled his struggles on the path to enlightenment for us - the first step in liberation.

Highly recommended, as this is a seriously humorous book.

Extracts: A Field Guide for Iconoclasts

Part 2: Zen in America.......2004-10-01

The author resumes his search for the meaning of life in an American Zen commune. Less fumbling compared to his experience in "The Empty Mirror". One could almost sese the author has gained some insight. What this insight is, is not quite clear ~ as it should be. The master will pour you tea, but where is your cup?!

Brilliant Work.......2003-05-21

I picked this book up in a college town's bookstore while visiting my sister. Sometimes I will just pick up a handful of books in the Eastern Philosophy section, and see what I get when I take off my blindfold. On the car ride home I was unsure while glancing over it if I was going to like this one or not. The back speaks of "...Zen sages who were alcoholics, the two natured personality of Zen Masters who enjoy sex and cowboy movies..."-I personally found this description of the contents after having read it, frankly completely off base.

This book is about a Zen student's adventures from Japan, back to Amsterdam, to the United States-where this book takes place for the most part. It could be any Zen community really, it shows what it is like working with others in a very accurate manner. He writes with a direct simplicity-he is not wordy, just says it how it was. Now did I agree with everything he had to say about Zen? Not at all, but the important thing is I was asked a lot of questions while reading this book. And that's what any good book can do above all else, is ask questions-rather than saying, "here, agree with me."

A passage of his book that provided myself with a lot of insight goes as follows,

"A Chinese allegory tells how a monk sets off on a long pilgrimage to find the Buddha. He spends years and years on his quest and finally he comes to the country where the Buddha lives.

He crosses a river, it is a wide river, and he looks about him while the boatman rows him across. There is a corpse floating on the water and it is coming closer.

The monk looks. The corpse is so close he can touch it. He recognizes the corpse, it is his own.

The monk loses all self control and wails.

There he floats, dead.

Nothing remains.

Anything he has ever been, ever learned, ever owned, floats past him, still and without life, moved by the slow current of the wide river.

It is the first moment of his liberation."

This book is brilliant in all places, it shows some struggle with inner questioning. A wrestling with the author's own cleverness. It almost feels like a diary. One that just so happened to have been written while having a stay with a Zen community. I believe you will come to appreciate this book a lot.

taught me that zen is a dirty word.......2002-11-10

this book shows that the most sacred is found in wherever you are, and it is never necessary to point it out. Its just there smiling from the shadows, waiting for you to share in the joke. The character of Peter is very interesting and represents an 'ideal' which I try to live up to, not in the sense of mirroring his personality or surroundings, but merely reflecting the core that is all our nature. It is not so much the narrator's specific journey is important, as none of ours are except to us individually, but of the feeling generated from knowing though flawed we are all just sleepy children not yet aware of the extend of our shared majesty.

The training is everywhere.......2001-03-05

Once again Jan Willem van de Wetering in his humourous style exposes his experiences to the world without embarrassment or shyness. Ten years after his experience as a young man in the Zen monastery in Japan under the old master, even though he had separated from "Peter", the old masters heir to be, on bad terms, he meets him again in Holland and Peter visits him at his home. He decides to continue where he left off with his koan still smoldering inside. He spends some time at Peter's Zen community, or commarde as others called it, and solved his koan as well as others. We learn more of Peter and especially of the fascinating set of characters who are also seeking, such as Edgar or Rupert the erstwhile psychologist. As before, he struggles with the required discipline but this time it's not as hard, he has gained from his stay in Japan; as the old master said at the end of the first book "you are now a little awake, so awake you will never be able to fall asleep again".

The training is everywhere.

Religion and Nothingness (Nanzan Studies in Religion and Culture)

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Interesting to Christians (including former and almost)

Religion and Nothingness (Nanzan Studies in Religion and Culture)
Keiji Nishitani
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0520049462

Customer Reviews:

Interesting to Christians (including former and almost).......2005-01-28

Discussing Buddhism and Christianity together, might seem a little strange, but adding Nietzsche to the mix makes for something truly unique. The title first drew me to the book, as it spoke to my vague sense that the corrct way to address my spiritual doubts was to dive into them. I can't speak of what Keiji intended to communicate, or why those better educated in religion or philosophy would be interested in this book. I read it as "personal spirituality", though it took a long time and I probably wouldn't have finished if I'd been living somewhere that I had a TV or internet access or a car. I don't know if it's the fault of the translation or it's part of Keiji's style, but I'd have a hard time paraphrasing what the book was about. And yet, I understand. Or there are many things I understand better from having read this book.

I found it interesting to consider how Buddhism can correct those aspects of Western rationality which have corrupted the practice of Christianity. Sorry, that probably doesn't help much.

Experience of Nothingness: Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj's Talks on Realizing the Infinite (Robert Powell Blue Dove Books)

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"The Experience of Nothingness" - Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
Beyond Consciousness
Like staring into the sun
Absolutely Amazing; Life-changing
The Powerful Discourses of Nisargadatta Maharaj

Experience of Nothingness: Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj's Talks on Realizing the Infinite (Robert Powell Blue Dove Books)
Nisargadatta Sri Maharaj
Manufacturer: North Atlantic Books
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I Am That: Talks with Sri Nisargadatta
The Wisdom-Teachings of Nisargadatta Maharaj: A Visual Journey

ASIN: 1884997147
Release Date: 1996-06-30

Book Description

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj (1897-1981) is a revered master of the Tantric Nath lineage. His reputation and the popularity of his works has been increasing at an astonishing rate since his death in 1981. He is an inspiring example of an ordinary merchant and family man who attained complete realization of the Infinite, who taught that true freedom is a possibility for every one of us. Disciples and seekers from all over the world were drawn to his humble home in the tenements of Bombay.

Even on the printed page, in this moving volume of talks edited by Robert Powell, Nisargadatta's words carry a special potency. They are the words of a compassionate wise man, speaking equally to the heart-oriented and the head-oriented person, to East and West.

Customer Reviews:

"The Experience of Nothingness" - Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.......2007-01-06

Clearly expounds the nature of the experience at the heart & soul of this school of profound teaching. i.e. the ultimate goal of the spirtual quest.

Beyond Consciousness.......2005-07-11

Reading this book I felt that words used in it did not convey the original meaning. This 'defect' of language was referred to in another review as 'dualism'; it is as if the words 'crack' and when this happens there is no meaning left.

The "I-am-ness" Sri Nisargadatta continously talks about is called in the Yoga Sutrats 'asmita' - it has often been translated as 'I-sense' and 'pure Ego'. Yoga Sutras have many good commentaries and to understand Sri Nisargadatta some commentaries on his teachings would be a good help.

I happened to read Ayya Khema's autobiographic book 'I Give You My Life' a few days before I read 'The Experience of Nothingness' and in this book her experience in Bombay when she visited Maharaj. What happened?

First Sri Nisargadatta started to ask her questions about herself; she writes: 'I had come to hear his words of wisdom and did not want to talk about myself in front of all those people. But he gave me no peace... at the end he said I was on the right path but not enlightened yet.'

She continues: 'In retrospect, I would like to say that he was so sure of what he was about and fervently engaged in it that it was hard to see him as an enlightened person.'

Like staring into the sun.......2005-07-01

If you want a book that will help you feel good and be successful in this life... this isn't the one. This is for that soul that simple wants the straightest, truest answers possible, from someone who was fearless in his search of reality. I've read three of Nisargadatta's books (including the classic "I Am That"), and this one takes the reader further than any of the others. He challenges the reader to go beyond even the "I Am" state and realize an even deeper, broader reality. This following quote sums up much of his focus in the book...

"Even this primary concept, "I-am-ness," is dishonest, just because it is still only a concept. Finally, one has to transcend that also and be in the nirvikalpa state, which means the concept-free state. Then you have no concept at all, not even of "I am." In that state one does not know that one is. This state is known as Parabrahman: Brahman transcended. Brahman is manifest; Parabrahman is beyond that, prior to that: the Absolute." (page 123)

These are among the last teachings of Sri Nisargadatta and he shared them in a way that was simple, bold and powerful. Again and again he challenges seekers to question who/what they really are... like turning the camera on yourself.

"Your true meaning cannot be grasped or captured by words. You can never be equated with any words, because you are prior to words." (page 159)

I think this book is best read slowly and absorbed for whatever gifts it brings to you.

Absolutely Amazing; Life-changing.......2005-04-21

This is the most amazing, most soul-searching work in philosophy and spirituality that I have ever read.

It's not a literary masterpeice, but the ideas conveyed are truly mind-blowing. Most of the ideas are quite simple and fundamental, but they deal with the very core of existence and reality.

I'm usually a very fast reader, but it took me months to read this book, simply because of the intensity of the concepts. I had to digest it in small pieces, and absorb it over time before reading onwards.

One of my favourite quotes from the book:

" There is no fragmentation in reality; it's one ocean of infinity, it is consciousness. Now, this we always are, we don't to strive to attain it, but we're not aware of it because we are constantly in a state of duality, in conflict. We are everlasting trying to attain something, not awakened to what we are already. "

The Powerful Discourses of Nisargadatta Maharaj.......2004-03-18

These are among the final talks that Nisargadatta gave in the last year of his life or so. In this powerful book of Q & A between teacher and seeker we have some extremely detailed and terse teachings on the Nature of Reality.
Nisargadatta's answers cut to the chase and go right to the Heart of the Absolute. One of the reasons for the sharpness of the teachings is because he is physically suffering due to throat cancer and nevertheless continues to teach throughout his illness (he continued to teach until hours before his physical death).
For those that don't know his work too well, what is considered his main work is I AM THAT, which is recommended to begin the study of his teachings, after I AM THAT came a series of about 6 books, all within the last 2 years of his life. The post I AM THAT books are all uncompromisingly direct and sharp. He speaks only from realization of the Unborn state and gives all his discources from there, making it tricky to understand for some. With the combination of being ill and with 42 years of teaching experience at this point, he keeps his talks very focused.
In this great work, we see his expertise in that he doesn't just point to the Absolute reality with a lot of poetic words, he also deconstructs your preciously held self. He tirelessly breaks down concepts and spiritual ideas we don't want to let go of. One can say in this work we are privledged to see very "advanced" teachings. Teachings that will appeal to seekers that can go beyond just pretty ideas of spirituality, bliss out states, any form of personal gain whatsoever (because you're understanding yourself as the Impersonal Reality). He even challenges one particular seeker in this book to leave spirituality because he knows that this particular seeker is caught up being a "spiritual seeker" and isn't ready to go beyond the body-mind sense, he fears death of the personality. No flowery, superficial hand holding here!
The essence of his teachings is: understand your "I am-ness" or consciousness, go deeply into that and awake from your daydream as that body-mind entity you think you are and apperceive yourself as the Unborn.
I felt deeply privledged to read this wonderful book.

"What do you understand by the word dream? Is not the dream something like a drama, a play?...To one who really understands what has been said here, a dream is no different from what is seen in the waking state: both are plays of consciousness... We call one thing the waking state, another thing the dream, but in essence both are events happening in the consciousness and essentially they are not different."

" When you are liberated from the body/mind sense, so that you are not the body mind, that itself is liberation."

The Cult of Nothingness: The Philosophers and the Buddha

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The Cult of Nothingness: The Philosophers and the Buddha
Roger-Pol Droit
Manufacturer: The University of North Carolina Press
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The Search for the Buddha: The Men Who Discovered India's Lost Religion

ASIN: 0807854492
Release Date: 2003-05-05

Book Description

The common Western understanding of Buddhism today envisions this major world religion as one of compassion and tolerance. But as Roger-Pol Droit reveals, this view bears little resemblance to one broadly held in the nineteenth-century European philosophical imagination that saw Buddhism as a religion of annihilation calling for the destruction of the self.

Originally published in France in 1997, this book traces the history of the Western discovery of Buddhism. Droit shows that such major philosophers as Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Hegel, Cousin, and Renan imagined Buddhism as a religion that was, as Nietzsche put it, a "negation of the world." In fact, says Droit, such portrayals were more a reflection of what was happening in Europe at the time--when the collapse of traditional European hierarchies and values, the specter of atheism, and the rise of racism and social revolts were shaking European societies--than an accurate description of Buddhist thought. Droit also reflects on how this history continues to echo in contemporary Western understandings of Buddhism. The book includes a comprehensive bibliography of books on Buddhism published in the West between 1638 and 1890.

Last Writings: Nothingness and the Religious Worldview
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Last Writings: Nothingness and the Religious Worldview
Nishida Kitaro
Manufacturer: University of Hawaii Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0824815548

Philosophers of Nothingness: An Essay on the Kyoto School (Nanzan Library of Asian Religion and Culture)
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First-rate scholarship on Japanese philosophy

Mediocre

Philosophers of Nothingness: An Essay on the Kyoto School (Nanzan Library of Asian Religion and Culture)
James W. Heisig
Manufacturer: University of Hawaii Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0824824814

Customer Reviews:

First-rate scholarship on Japanese philosophy.......2005-07-25

"Philosophers of Nothingness" is everything the leaders in the field of modern Japanese philosophy say it is, and more. Although I approached the book expecting to find it full of exotic jargon, I was surprised to find the philsophical language familiar and the presentation easy to follow. Heisig writes with a style that must be the envy of his colleagues: clear, engaging, and with fluency that pulls you along through even the most difficult material. His decision to isolate the technical material into notes written in prose style makes the book still more accessible to readers who might otherwise be frightened off by references to the vast amount of Japanese resources that lay behind the book.
Translations into English of the three philosophers that he treats--Nishida, Tanabe, and Nishitani--are numerous enough, but picking them up without sufficient understanding of where they are coming from caused many of us no end of confusion. Thanks to Heisig, we now have a general matrix in which to fit their ideas. The challenge of the Kyoto School to "Western" philosophers has never been more evident. If there is one complaint I have, it is that Heisig did not include a translation of the preface that Raimon Panikkar, the celebrated Catalan philosopher, wrote for the original Spanish edition of the book.

Mediocre.......2004-02-16

Heisig's work attempts to summarize the entirety of the three main Kyoto school philosophers. The summaries range from alright to bad. He glosses over terms quickly and doesn't explore any depth nor does he point out points of controversy. Even though these are summaries, they seem fairly vapid. It doesn't help that many of the works discussed are not available in English. The capstone for the book is when he talks about why these philosophers aren't studied much. One can't help but think this is the thing he got most correct. They don't fit into most phil. departments and they don't fit into most East Asian studies departments. This book doesn't seem fit for an intro course nor does it seem fit for a focused seminar. Unfortunately, Heisig's book is forgettable.

Logic of Nothingness: A Study of Nishida Kitaro (Nanzan Library of Asian Religion and Culture)

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Challenging, helpful book in need of the logic of proofreading

Logic of Nothingness: A Study of Nishida Kitaro (Nanzan Library of Asian Religion and Culture)
Robert J. J. Wargo
Manufacturer: University of Hawaii Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0824829697

Book Description

The writings of Nishida Kitarô, whose name has become almost synonymous with Japanese philosophy, continue to attract attention around the world. Yet studies of his thought in Western languages have tended to overlook two key areas: first, the influence of the generation of Japanese philosophers who preceded Nishida; and second, the logic of basho (place), the cornerstone of Nishida's mature philosophical system.

The Logic of Nothingness addresses both of these topics. Robert Wargo argues that the overriding concern of Nishida's mature philosophy, the attempt to give a reasonable account of reality that includes the reasonableness of that account itself—or what Wargo calls "the problem of completeness"—has its origins in Inoue Enryô's (1858-1919) and Inoue Tetsujirô's (1855-1944) preoccupation with "the problem of standpoints." A translation of one of Nishida's most demanding texts, included here as an appendix, demonstrates the value of Wargo's insightful analysis of the logic of basho as an aid to deciphering the philosopher's early work.

Customer Reviews:

Challenging, helpful book in need of the logic of proofreading.......2006-01-26

In this book, Wargo aims to uncover the structure of Nishida's system of thought and clarify it, especially by examining his concept of Basho ("topos" or "locus" or whatnot). All in all, he does a fine job of this, and by the end of the book when we come to a translation of an essay by Nishida, the latter's prose--usually all but opaque to me--actually started to make sense in spots. Still, the book as a whole is tough reading, and a strong background in the academic field of philosophy is probably necessary to really get what's going on. (In fact, Wargo displays many of the characteristic biases and nervous ticks of philosophy majors in his writing, which gets just a bit annoying in spots).

On the minus side, the book is badly infested with typographical errors, about one every other page. The editing here is just utterly shoddy, and given the care philosophers usually take with precise language, almost blasphemously ironic. Worst of the worst can be found in chapter 1: Inoue Tetsujiro is most of the time referred to by his first name here (to distinguish him from Inoue Enryo), but the name is incorrectly given as Tetsuro countless times. Inexcusably sloppy.

The Other Side of Nothingness: Toward a Theology of Radical Openness

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World Peace through Mystics of All Faiths
Be still and know that I am God

The Other Side of Nothingness: Toward a Theology of Radical Openness
Beverly Lanzetta
Manufacturer: State University of New York Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0791449505

Book Description

Provides an innovative theology based in mysticism, one that acknowledges the pain of spiritual repression and values religious pluralism.

Customer Reviews:

World Peace through Mystics of All Faiths.......2007-05-07

Lanzetta is GOOD. Only drawback -- she never met a long Greek word she didn't like. HOWEVER after one looks them up a few times, her deep knowledge of the world's mystics gives the reader a sense of how beautiful the world could be if we all moved to the other side of nothingness. I give copies away to friends. Maggie Ross recommended this book. As a Christian lover of silence Ross also sees the bond we can find there with everyone in the whole world without exception. Lanzetta reminds me of a lecture on COMPASSION which Karen Armstrong gave last year. The thoughtless, threadbare, and facile statements that "we are all going to the same place" may actually have a truth that is beyond our imagination.

Be still and know that I am God.......2003-05-10

In THE OTHER SIDE OF NOTHINGNESS, Beverly Lanzetta tells a story, a love story. This is a love story between God and humankind, told for the new millenium. In it, she reflects on the divine encounter from the apophatic tradition of particular Christian mystics. She develops her story, in part, through a lucid witnessing of the writings of pseudo-Dionysius, the anonymous author of THE CLOUD OF UNKNOWING, and Meister Eckhart. Although these mystics are of western origin, she recognizes the experience to be a universal one. She knows, as do I, that the love story that occurs between man and God happens in the deepest parts of ourselves and is a treasure that can be found in any of us.

Key to her tale is the contemplative life. Dr. Lanzetta shows us, in her exploration of these writings, the ultimate ways we might embrace God and that God might embrace us. At the core are vulnerability, mercy and non-violence. At the core is a fluidity that cannot be named, trapped, or reached. But deeper and deeper we go, and our Beloved goes with us, the unnameable, the unreachable, the unknowable, into a Self-emptying nothingness and embrace. It is a love story that has no beginning or end because it is all Mystery. Spirit and matter embrace as One in the eternal present. It is always happening.

This story is retold for us today, that we as a global community, might know the plurality and the Oneness that is forever and eternally our heritage. Dr. Lanzetta reminds us of the twentieth-century prophets and social mystics, Mohandas K. Gandhi, Dorothy Day, Abraham Heschel, and Howard Thurman, whose desire to be transformed takes place in social climates with the marginalized and those who are materially and spiritually poor among us.

Dr. Lanzetta speaks about the unknowable in a manner that is masterful and eloquent. She is a visionary who writes on mystical openness "motivated by a desire to recover what has remained unheard in the history of theology, and to put it to use in overcoming religious exclusiveness and the violence associated with absolute truth claims." She speaks from her heart for our hearts. Over and over, I am reminded: Be still and know that I am loved. Be still and know that I am God.

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Clothed in Nothingness
Leonard, M Hummel
Manufacturer: Augsburg Fortress Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0800634551

Book Description

Where is God when one suffers? How may one be consoled? How do people understand their religious beliefs in relation to suffering? When they encounter genuine travail, do their religious convictions come into play? How are they modified or asserted?

Leonard Hummel takes three of the most important insights of the Reformation—the doctrine of justification, the theology of the Cross, and the priesthood of believers—to see how they have been reappropriated by Christians in contemporary pastoral settings. He examines the theology of consolation as formulated in the early Lutheran tradition and as practiced by contemporary Lutherans. He describes the "religious coping" of seven believers who have suffered personal or social ills and how their capacity to cope was enhanced or affected by their belief. These vivid case studies are then used to illumine how pastoral theology and caregivers might bring traditional theological beliefs into a distinctive "lived theology."

Rediscovering the West: An Inquiry into Nothingness and Relatedness (Suny Series in Western Traditions)
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Rediscovering the West: An Inquiry into Nothingness and Relatedness (Suny Series in Western Traditions)
Stephen C. Rowe
Manufacturer: State University of New York Press
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0791419924

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