The Heart of Being: Moral and Ethical Teachings of Zen Buddhism

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The Heart of Being: Moral and Ethical Teachings of Zen Buddhism

by John Daido Loori, Bonnie Myotai Treace (Editor), Konrad Ryushin Marchaj (Editor)

4.32 of 5 stars 4.32 · rating details · 38 ratings · 4 reviews

Presents Buddhist teachings on a wide range of social and moral issues in the modern world.

Paperback, 288 pages

Published October 15th 1996 by Tuttle Publishing

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Aug 10, 2012 Eric added it

Shelves: zen

This is good. It could be worthwhile to read this if you've heard of Zen from say, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance or some Alan Watts books, because this book can help to capture some aspects of Zen practice that you may have missed reading that sort of stuff alone. Maybe dispel a few Pop Zen misconceptions. This feels like the real deal. Nothing wrong with ZAMM or Watts, just that there's potentially more to Zen than that.

I worry that I only think it's a good book and that it's the Re...more This is good. It could be worthwhile to read this if you've heard of Zen from say, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance or some Alan Watts books, because this book can help to capture some aspects of Zen practice that you may have missed reading that sort of stuff alone. Maybe dispel a few Pop Zen misconceptions. This feels like the real deal. Nothing wrong with ZAMM or Watts, just that there's potentially more to Zen than that.

I worry that I only think it's a good book and that it's the Real Deal because people I admire in Zen seem to think highly of the author. So be warned, this could just be praise by imitation. To be honest, I think I only understood about 30% of the book. A lot of the Zen way of talking (the donkey looking at well, well looking at donkey etc) just plain flies over my head. The koans likewise, zoom zoom, Loori asks us questions about them and I just stare back eyes glazed over. The things I react to are literal, like his speculation on how the Wild Fox koan came to be (his take: Baizhang is having a walk one day, notices a fox carcass and seizes upon the opportunity to make a teaching of it (hides it in some cave for later)). So maybe it's just truthiness I'm reacting to. Or maybe I'm just reacting to the sound of Loori's voice (if you've listened to some WZEN podcasts, his voice is sticky, deep with a sense of authority and urgency).

Oh maybe I should stick this on a shelf and come back read it again in 5 years, see if I understand it better. Is it wrong to walk away inspired a book you don't actually understand? To say “this has deepened my commitment to the Path”, when most if flew straight over your head?

Some things I found useful from this book: the concept of “buji Zen” (the mistaken “anything goes” attitude that comes from superficial/intellectual encounter with Zen); the idea that greed/compassion, anger/wisdom, delusion/enlightenment are all two sides of the same coins, differentiated only by the sense of separation between self and other. I also found it helpful that Loori tied these dusty old koans to modern dilemmas; that American Buddhist teacher that infected a bunch of people with HIV by having unprotected sex because he thought he was free from cause-and-effect (Bam! reincarnated as a fox), the Mount Tremper vs. the New York Dept of Environmental Conservation thing, etc. Still alive, these stories.

One thing which resonated with me from this is what I like to call “strict morality; flexible behaviour”. Context is everything in the precepts. The outward manifestation of the precepts varies from context to context to context, but you must preserve them. There's no rulebook, no commandments; but you have to figure it out for yourself in your own life. The emphasis on non-separation of self and other also hit home. It's probably optimistic to say that Zen is without dogma, but come on, if “self and other are not separate” is what we've got for dogma, I'd say we're doing pretty good.

One thing which deeply irritated me is using the Precept about not misusing sexuality as an argument against genetic engineering. That annoys this geek.

But overall, the book feels “right”. It's a reminder to practice. Moment to moment, context after context, breath after breath, returning to the practice. Remind me to read this again in 2017. Maybe I'll understand things differently?(less)

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Sep 13, 2009 Kasey rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: buddhism

I read this slowly because it needs to be absorbed that way-beautiful, rich essays about the moral teachings of Zen.

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Aug 28, 2011 Cathy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: zen

An essential text for anyone following the path of jukai, aka. the taking of the precepts.

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Jan 28, 2012 Sean rated it 4 of 5 stars

A solid explanation of Zen ethics and training, but I doubt it would be terribly useful for anyone who is already practicing at a temple. He makes a valiant effort to keep the subject "alive", but you can only accomplish so much and it was maybe inevitable that the process of putting Buddhist ethics into so lengthy a book also petrified it. Several times I felt the book got bogged down in words as Loori Roshi tried to explicitly describe nuances that I fear we students will just have to figure o...more

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May 08, 2013 Kristopher marked it as to-read

Shelves: valorie-suggests

May 08, 2013 Melissa marked it as to-read

Shelves: my-own-library

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Shelves: lz-library, dharma

Feb 23, 2013 Kate is currently reading it

Mar 18, 2013 Peter Saxon added it · review of another edition

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Nov 30, 2012 Matthew Jenkins rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: buddhism, on-kindle

Nov 10, 2012 Alice rated it 5 of 5 stars

Nov 17, 2012 Levi rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: own

Oct 22, 2012 Laurel marked it as to-read

Shelves: nonfiction, spirituality, buddhism-taoism

Oct 15, 2012 Bear rated it 3 of 5 stars

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Shelves: started

Sep 16, 2012 Eric rated it 3 of 5 stars

Jun 30, 2012 Tom rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: dharma

Jun 20, 2012 Genevieve McKay marked it as to-read

Jun 10, 2012 Heather Ann rated it 5 of 5 stars

Jun 04, 2012 Sean rated it 4 of 5 stars

May 07, 2012 Mike added it · review of another edition

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Dec 30, 2011 John Pappas rated it 5 of 5 stars

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