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Motorcycle Book Store > Motorcycle books beginning with N
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Novice to Master: An Ongoing Lesson in the Extent of My Own Stupidity |
Author: Soko Morinaga
Published: 2004-04-25 |
List price: $11.95
Our price: $9.56
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As of: December 03rd, 2008 05:13:55 PM
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Customer comments on this selection.
 Real Life Down-to-Earth Zen
In this autobiography, Soko Morinaga gives us a feeling for living in the real-life daily struggles of practicing Zen. Morinaga takes us behind the abstracted mystifying experience one is left with from zen koans by telling us about his actual life. He recounts how hard it was to follow his master's instructions and fulfill the standards of _samu_, the Zen discipline of work. Morinaga starts out by proclaiming the difficulty of the task of verbalizing the inexpressible and then approaches fulfilling that task by sharing the everday details of his process. His earthy opening story dashes at pretense. As the second speaker at a conference in which the first speaker had spoken at great length, Morinaga asked the audience if anyone needed to go to the bathroom. Morinaga then explains that like going to the bathroom, enlightenment is something noone else can do for you.
In one very touching scene he recounts how as a child he struggled with watching his gradfather's death. Later he tells of a woman who seems at peace with her oncoming death. The book, as the subtitle suggests, is divided into two sections: first his novice years; second his years as a Zen master.
Because Morinaga gives us a real picture of Zen, this is an important, valuable, and enlightening book.
Life is short and this book to
Very nice book. A great feeling of being beside Morinaga Roshi sharing his direct-life zen. But I eat it up in one day, a great day.
Gassho
Hans
 Learning by Example
As a relative newcomer to Zen practice I took the usual route of acquiring books to try and show me how to put in to action these things I had decided I wanted to bring in to my life.
When I picked up this book I was hesitant, being that it was so small and many said it was simply the story of a monk. There were so many other stories out there about the lives of monks but this was the story written BY the monk while he still lived. So I risked it.
My appreciation for his narration knows no bounds. Within the first few pages was the idea that with all people and all things, NOTHING is trash. That struck something within me and I was hooked until the finish. The language is plain and each small chapter in the book goes over a different concept, yet they all build on one another. Further worthy of another read are the sections where he discusses how enlightenment came upon him, as well as how he helped his elderly assistant go through her cancer peacefully.
This isn't the kind of book that will give you ideas on how to meditate better, or how to improve your ability to have compassion for others. What it does offer is a view of life in to a world where an individual who came from a very un-compassionate period and culture eventually \came to grasp the nature of reality and that he did not exist. It is not for emulation, but understanding the process and the peace and simplicity that is attained from practice.
We Should All be So Stupid!
Humility is at the heart of this insightful, compassionate and wise account of a monk's progress from novice to master. Sincere, honest and anecdotal, these stories should be an inspiration to the beginner as well as the long-term practitioner. The roshi's whole life was a manifestation of great belief, great doubt and great determination. This is one of the better books to give to the layperson who knows little to nothing about Zen. Morinaga presents the "practice of zazen" as something ordinary and plain, but distinctly as a "practice" that never ends and which requires great fortitude and determination. As Morinaga makes clear, Zen is a way of life and, like life itself, must be lived with vigor and enthusiasm.
Real Word Real Truth
I found this to be one of the best books about Zen and Life. One he shows some of the real struggles he went through, and that we all go through at one point in life. This helps you understand the growth processes that everyone follows to find wisdom.
The book was better than alot of books that stick with teachnique. He gets his point across without trying to use an agenda, such as heal the world, or come to be my religion. He gives some of the basic blocks a person has to follow when mastering anything cause it comes to mastering yourself. I already have a line of people that want the book because they see how powerful it was for me.
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