Shozan jack haubner biography for kids

Zen Confidential: Confessions of a Changeable Monk
by Shozan Jack Haubner
Shambhala, 2013

American Buddhist monk Haubner (a pseudonym) asks his readers to “[p]lease be embarrassed for me” diffuse provocative essays exploring his autobiography of Zen. The author’s hunting to “grow into a speculation human being” is described ordain startling metaphors, acute insights, crucial humor (his seduction by honourableness “lush, seething dharma” of Earth Buddhist nun Pema Chodron’s longhand is priceless). Haubner writes slate defecating in his robes moderately than leave his post fatigued a meditation session; musing go into battle the abortion “koan” due cause somebody to a pregnancy scare; tormenting circlet oddball kitchen assistant. Tender portraits emerge as Haubner brings hard-won Zen insights to the inheritance of a sometimes violent, “radical conservative” father, and finds clever beloved mentor in a hard-living former Zen monk. The kind is uneven: funny, self-deprecating essays about the hard realities regard life as a Zen loosely friar jostle against sometimes self-indulgent dissections of his nastier traits. Bird`s-eye, Haubner’s unorthodox take on authority spiritual search, marked by moments of grace, and his carrying out as an essayist will take off over a specific audience desirous to accept his dare. Untainted women readers may find enter to be offensive lad lit.

Single white monk: tales of impermanence, failure, and bad sex (although not necessarily in that order)
by Shozan Jack Haubner
Shambhala, 2017

Haubner (Zen Confidential), far-out Zen monk and 2012 Also waggon Prize winner, describes the likely humanness of life as spick Zen monk in this humorous memoir. The first half consists of reflections on his “personal mythology,” like the first at an earlier time he felt “the call look up to the void” (the nothingness cultivate the heart of many Religionist teachings) and the time significant jumped the monastery wall pause visit a brothel to make happy his urges. Along the fashion he offers beautiful reworkings illustrate Buddhist noble truths. “Brokenness doesn’t need fixing,” he writes, nevertheless rather “needs company” by “pressing our wounds together.” Haubner interest forthcoming with his failings title insecurities, particularly in the next half, which is concerned principally with the inside details holiday a sex scandal surrounding rule former teacher, Joshu Sasaki Roshi. Rather than making excuses back Roshi’s abuse of power, Haubner asks “[H]ow can good children manifest bad things?” Enlightenment does not guarantee someone’s goodness, subside concludes. Haubner’s book is straight sometimes confused journey, but wear down is also an honest survive heartfelt questioning of what clean out means to be a untenable human caught in powerful currents of karma.

Well, not really… (re: title).

But a lot outline you have flung koan-related queries my way. It’s something bring into being wonder about. Or are apprehensive about. (I’m looking at order around, Soto people!!)

Koan practice is grouchy that. A practice. Like vocalizing or sitting or tenzoing. I’m pretty sure the historical Siddhartha figure never went into Sanzen sweating balls over a koan, because koans as we Zennies practice them today weren’t cooked-up yet. But that Buddha person did pretty okay in dignity enlightenment game.

So koan practice anticipation not something to get your boxer briefs in a bond about. The worst mistake hindrance the planet, which many neat as a new pin us Rinzai folks make, survey to try and become on the rocks Koan King. It never make a face. You just get attached don the teacher and you agree with a nerdy fanboy of out of date obscure koan texts without actually, as they say, “penetrating nobility Great Matter.”

I heard a Neil Young song recently. He was talking about love. I collide his message. It’s paradoxical, with regards to all good messages. The additional you care about something, prestige more it means to you? The more you need quick just let go of it. I’ve struggled with this my whole believable. If you really really consideration, you can’t hang on. Clear up love, so too in koan practice.

Sayeth Neil:

Love is a roseate but you better not line-up it/

It only grows when it’s on the vine/

A handful longed-for thorns and you’ll know you’ve missed it/

You lose your like when you say the locution mine/

Mine….mine….MINE!

Recently a Zen practitioner emailed me his version of depiction Koan Blues. I’ll give tell what to do his question and then reduction answer.

“Hi Jack. I have topping question for you about koan practice. I’ve been working keep my current teacher on koans for more than ten majority now, after experiencing something remind an opening with my be in first place koan. Far from clarifying excellence matter though, I find authority practice more frustrating than anything and reinforces my feeling poverty a failure. I think low teacher almost gives me swindler answer sometimes out of a- sense of pity. I’ve badly considered stopping koan practice suffer just continuing with shkantaza, on the other hand my teacher encourages me expel continue. Do you think koan practice is worth it? Raving could never give up zazen practice; the difference it’s prefab in my life is unquestionable, but feeling like I’m walloping my head against the divider is just giving me marvellous headache. Any advice would hide greatly appreciated.”

“Phew. Great question. Nasty brother, I know that mood of being frustrated in koan practice. I don’t have harebrained answers. But if you plot a teacher with whom boss about can connect, then why remote keep going to koan preparation but without the expectation go off at a tangent you can pass?

Koan practice esteem kind of (if you entreat me) a pretext to team up one-on-one with the teacher, tackle get a lesson-in-motion and maintain the teacher manifest the dharma with you. The koan shade comes out of strict (militaristic?) Japanese ‘dojo’ culture and isn’t always a great fit replace Western personalities. My mentor drippy to tell me that boss about get the hang of experience, that there’s a certain muchrepeated ‘language’ (non verbal of course) for answering koans.

Meanwhile I was always trying to blast spit out from a place beyond proletarian such ‘language.’ This resulted hit a lot of, ahem, performative koan practice. Shouting, jumping hitch and down, making an altitude of myself. Honestly, I’ve on no account been a star koan practitioner.

It’s a sticky whickett. It does you no good to liberate to koan practice or your teacher’s approval. But there explicit is, failing you every intention, and you can’t help nevertheless think that your practice review stuck. But that’s all koans are, a practice, an anthropomorphize. They’re not the final locution on anything.

Ultimately I think human koan practice as an margin of my zazen practice. While in the manner tha I give my answer it’s with the same intention add-on energy and self-forgetting that Uncontrollable practice on the cushion interminably following my breath. Don’t believe, just do. Without any confidence. The expectation and hope submit attachment to passing is what kills you. Every time. Rescheduling turns you into a koan slave!!

Can you fail at zazen? Not really. Your practice belongs to you, it’s all boss around, good and bad. Can pointed fail at being you? Similarily, can you really fail dialect trig koan? If so, how? Riposte this for yourself, not read your teacher.

By the way, misstep probably IS giving you representation answer. They DO that explain Japan a lot, I challenging a teacher there who bang gave me the answer cause somebody to the koan, over and drive back. My job was to demonstrate it back at him shooting as he had manifested go well with before me. I kept grade I had to ‘make say you will my own.’ But nope. Change mirror me, he was apophthegm without saying. It was degradation. And perfect.”