Peter Prasad's Blog: Expletives Deleted - Posts Tagged "china"

Rarely does an author cut through the mist of confusion and ignorance as does Andy Ferguson in this book. It is many things, like a multi-faceted jewel capturing rainbow light: a travelogue, a history, a social examination, a pilgrimage, a review of the evolution of Buddhism back to its roots.

This is not dry, didactic scholarship; it is wry humanistic Zen about one of the most important beings in human history. It’s about Ferguson’s efforts to pick up a backpack and peel back the layers of the onion. Yes, it’s easy to spout crazy Zen and be bazaar and witty, but Ferguson does not do that. He walks the walk, the fruit of a dozen trips to China (he speaks and reads Chinese). Genuine achievement is humility with insight, and Ferguson shows us the way.

Imagine walking from India to China in 500AD so lit with your realizations, commitment and determination that you’d wait nine years in a cold cave for your students to ripen to where they could hear you. That’s human kindness. That’s Bodhidharma.

From Christmas Humphreys to Dogen, I’ve read many modern authors in the Buddhist pantheon. And retreated to seshin in Kyoto temples too. Yet, Ferguson takes me on a journey I never knew existed. Buddhists like pilgrimage, coming to oneness in sacred places, and Ferguson introduced me to an abundant new realm of hallowed spaces.

I met Ferguson for lunch. We had noodles. He’s working on another history of Bodhidharma. I want to read it. He knows more about Zen Buddhism than any author I know, and he knows it from the seat of his pants and the soles of his shoes. In a Western context, he is a dedicated student, genuine, sincere and with the clarity of a razor blade. No robes. No koans. No glib jive. No magical mystery tour. This is a heart-felt labor of love searching for the historical truth about the man that transformed Buddhism back to its beginnings.

My generation was taught to fear the Red Menace and the Yellow Peril. It was residue from the Korean War and jingoistic war hawks seeking industrial- sized military budgets. The noise continues today – same rant, new targets. I have a neighbor who goes off on racist diatribes about losing jobs to China. Well, this book helped me purge that kind of stinking thinking too.

If you are a student of travel, history, cultures, philosophy, psychology, or just want to wake up in this short, sweet life – this book is for you. I’ve sat with teachers in temples around the world for forty years, and now I sit in awe of the scholarship of Andy Ferguson. Please read this book, seek to animate wisdom and kindness in your life, and do what you can to help others. Ferguson’s book has helped me. Anahata, mon ami!

http://www.amazon.com/Tracking-Bodhid...