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LIFE between the TIGERS: Zen Wisdom in Everyday English
Legendary Yankees catcher (and accidental Zen master) Yogi Berra once asked, "How can you think and hit at the same time?" The answer is you can't. And you can't enjoy a full, satisfying life while obsessing over the past or future. You can't savor existence by living inside your head - by thinking instead of doing. This is one of the main themes of Zen Buddhism. Zen teaches us to focus on the here and now - to live in a reality that's meant to be fully experienced. Zen is seeing into your true nature. It's is about liberation from our racing minds - from limited perspectives about ourselves, our relationships, our emotions and reactions. For many Zen Buddhists, contemplating koans is a vital part of this path to liberation. Life Between the Tigers is a new collection, adapted for the modern Western reader, of Buddhist parables and Zen koans (paradoxes that challenge our perspective on life and reality). In their original forms, many koans are set in times and places that are "alien" to most Westerners. They refer to traditions, customs, locations, and histories that can confuse (and even deter) new students of Buddhism. In Life Between the Tigers, these classic stories have been edited into everyday English, so the average reader can better understand and enjoy them. Whatever your spiritual leanings, Life Between the Tigers will challenge you to see something you previously could not or would not see, provoking insights both profound and prosaic. "You know the sound of two hands, clapping. What is the sound of one hand?" asks one koan. Linear, logical thinking will get you nowhere with a riddle like that. So prepare to let go of your logical mind and see reality for what it is - a place where our words for things are not the things themselves and where human concepts limit our ability to understand the world around us.
- GenresPhilosophy
408 pages, Paperback
First published February 12, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
November 27, 2013
I received this book for free in exchange for my honest opinion through the Goodreads First Reads program.
There is a lot I liked about this book. I've studied many of the more western religions and philosophies very extensively, but I'm not very familiar at all with much of the Eastern teachings. This book attempts to bring Zen teachings to the westerner, so I was the ideal audience.
I felt like there really was lots of wisdom to be found in this book. Some stories consisted merely of short, pithy statements, while others were full parables.
The one negative about this book was that there were many stories that made zero sense to me. Things like a student asking a question and receiving a slap from the teacher as an answer. These stories always ended with the student receiving enlightenment, but they just left me confused.
It may not be fair to hold the stories that I didn't understand against the book as a whole. I've spent a lifetime studying the parables of Jesus, and one thing I've learned is that to properly understand many parables and stories you need to understand the cultural context that the story is coming from. For this reason, the culture I understand almost as well as my own is ancient Jewish culture, because I've studied it so extensively in my studies of the Bible.
It seems that I am missing a lot of cultural context that made some of these stories confusing to me. I also fully recognize that the introduction did say that many of the stories are like a joke, you either understand the punch line or you don't. But explaining it won't really help. Despite that, I really wanted someone to explain some of the stories to me.
I still did my best to not hold my lack of knowledge of the culture that created these stories against the book itself, but it definitely did detract from my experience.
That being said, the stories that I did get were quite profound. The title story, "Life Between the Tigers" may be the best story in the whole book. I absolutely loved the lesson it taught. You may be trapped between two different tigers, you may not know how your future could be any more bleak, but right now you're eating the most delicious strawberry you've ever tasted. Enjoy that moment. Enjoy the now. That's a lesson I definitely need to internalize in my life.
Here are a few more statement that I found to contain wisdom, or that made me just think a little bit deeper. These are just a few of the easily captured sound bites. Many of the other pearls were not as easy to capture in a quote.
"Thank goodness it is not even remotely necessary for speech to come from the tongue." p. 16
"When a fish meets the fishhook, if he is too greedy, he will be caught. When his mouth opens, his life already is lost." p. 32
"When you eat, eat. When you drink, drink. When you go to sleep, go to sleep. The way is this simple, this clear, this transparent - yet most people overlook it." p. 56
"The one who knows how to live attentively, night and day, is the one who knows the best way to be independent." p. 69
"The teaching is like a raft that carries you across the water to the other shore - but is then to be set down and not clung to." p. 86
"Give up becoming this or that, live without cravings, and experience this present moment with full attention." p. 88
"Like this cup, you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I tell you about Zen if you don't first empty your cup?" p. 89
"My miracle is that when I feel hungry I eat, and when I feel thirsty I drink." p. 151
"Every day is a good day." p. 168
"Men of immeasurable greatness are tossed about in the ebb and flow of words." p. 357
"A person may appear a fool and not be one. He may be just guarding his wisdom carefully." p. 361
"Virtues are the fruit of self-discipline, and do not drop from heaven by themselves, like rain or snow does." p. 362
"Live with cause, and leave results to the great law of the universe. Pass each day in peaceful contemplation." p. 368
"However wonderful a thing is, it may be that it is better not to have it at all." p. 377
All in all, it's a worthwhile read for sure. It gave me my first exposure to the teachings of Zen and it opened my eyes in many ways. If you're like me, you will have to wade through some stories that don't make any sense to you, but it's worth it for the ones that do.
There is a lot I liked about this book. I've studied many of the more western religions and philosophies very extensively, but I'm not very familiar at all with much of the Eastern teachings. This book attempts to bring Zen teachings to the westerner, so I was the ideal audience.
I felt like there really was lots of wisdom to be found in this book. Some stories consisted merely of short, pithy statements, while others were full parables.
The one negative about this book was that there were many stories that made zero sense to me. Things like a student asking a question and receiving a slap from the teacher as an answer. These stories always ended with the student receiving enlightenment, but they just left me confused.
It may not be fair to hold the stories that I didn't understand against the book as a whole. I've spent a lifetime studying the parables of Jesus, and one thing I've learned is that to properly understand many parables and stories you need to understand the cultural context that the story is coming from. For this reason, the culture I understand almost as well as my own is ancient Jewish culture, because I've studied it so extensively in my studies of the Bible.
It seems that I am missing a lot of cultural context that made some of these stories confusing to me. I also fully recognize that the introduction did say that many of the stories are like a joke, you either understand the punch line or you don't. But explaining it won't really help. Despite that, I really wanted someone to explain some of the stories to me.
I still did my best to not hold my lack of knowledge of the culture that created these stories against the book itself, but it definitely did detract from my experience.
That being said, the stories that I did get were quite profound. The title story, "Life Between the Tigers" may be the best story in the whole book. I absolutely loved the lesson it taught. You may be trapped between two different tigers, you may not know how your future could be any more bleak, but right now you're eating the most delicious strawberry you've ever tasted. Enjoy that moment. Enjoy the now. That's a lesson I definitely need to internalize in my life.
Here are a few more statement that I found to contain wisdom, or that made me just think a little bit deeper. These are just a few of the easily captured sound bites. Many of the other pearls were not as easy to capture in a quote.
"Thank goodness it is not even remotely necessary for speech to come from the tongue." p. 16
"When a fish meets the fishhook, if he is too greedy, he will be caught. When his mouth opens, his life already is lost." p. 32
"When you eat, eat. When you drink, drink. When you go to sleep, go to sleep. The way is this simple, this clear, this transparent - yet most people overlook it." p. 56
"The one who knows how to live attentively, night and day, is the one who knows the best way to be independent." p. 69
"The teaching is like a raft that carries you across the water to the other shore - but is then to be set down and not clung to." p. 86
"Give up becoming this or that, live without cravings, and experience this present moment with full attention." p. 88
"Like this cup, you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I tell you about Zen if you don't first empty your cup?" p. 89
"My miracle is that when I feel hungry I eat, and when I feel thirsty I drink." p. 151
"Every day is a good day." p. 168
"Men of immeasurable greatness are tossed about in the ebb and flow of words." p. 357
"A person may appear a fool and not be one. He may be just guarding his wisdom carefully." p. 361
"Virtues are the fruit of self-discipline, and do not drop from heaven by themselves, like rain or snow does." p. 362
"Live with cause, and leave results to the great law of the universe. Pass each day in peaceful contemplation." p. 368
"However wonderful a thing is, it may be that it is better not to have it at all." p. 377
All in all, it's a worthwhile read for sure. It gave me my first exposure to the teachings of Zen and it opened my eyes in many ways. If you're like me, you will have to wade through some stories that don't make any sense to you, but it's worth it for the ones that do.
November 19, 2013
Highly recommended! Life Between the Tigers is well worth reading. I loved the introduction, which I read 3 times and plan to have by my side. The book is done very smart with each page artistically appealing. The short stories within are life changing and left me thinking. I am sure I shall read this Zen Wisdom over and over as I grow.
November 9, 2013
I like this book overall. I would especially recommend the paperback, because it's so pretty to look at and thumb through. The pages are in a soft gray color, and there are flowers and plant images, in white, on the margins of every page. So it's a book that you could keep in your meditation area, along with your other spiritual books, candles, etc.
Each page is a koan or parable that you can read in probably a minute or less, which I didn't realize when I signed up for the Goodreads giveaway. So it's not a book that sets out to explain Zen Buddhism in a chapter-by-chapter format, it's more like a collection of readings that don't need to be read in sequential order.
The book's introduction gives a brief bio of the Buddha and some basics about Buddhism, such as the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. This information is easily found online--there's nothing new for anyone who has looked into Buddhism. In the rest of the book, there are these one-page readings. It's nice to have all these in one book; but I would have liked more of an explanation of where they came from, who wrote them, or any known stories of their histories. There are no explanations of that sort--it's just an intro and a collection. There is no author listed on the book, just editors Kris Neely and Peter Gerardo, which makes sense. Neely and Gerardo didn't write anything except the intro; they merely collected these koans and parables into a book.
I was not raised Buddhist, and I wouldn't call myself a Buddhist--I'm more someone who likes to read books about Buddhism as a way to find tools to help me with my life. I found the readings difficult to understand, but I also struggle with some basic Buddhist concepts. For example, I understand that desire is not a good thing in Buddhism; but if people are in jobs that they don't like, are they supposed to sit silently and wait for the feeling to go away, instead of making the effort to get training and look for more satisfactory employment? So as you can see, I'm a beginner at this. But I'm sure that I will be flipping through this book and looking over these pages for many years. For that reason, I thank the editors for putting this book together--and I'm happy I won the giveaway!
Each page is a koan or parable that you can read in probably a minute or less, which I didn't realize when I signed up for the Goodreads giveaway. So it's not a book that sets out to explain Zen Buddhism in a chapter-by-chapter format, it's more like a collection of readings that don't need to be read in sequential order.
The book's introduction gives a brief bio of the Buddha and some basics about Buddhism, such as the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. This information is easily found online--there's nothing new for anyone who has looked into Buddhism. In the rest of the book, there are these one-page readings. It's nice to have all these in one book; but I would have liked more of an explanation of where they came from, who wrote them, or any known stories of their histories. There are no explanations of that sort--it's just an intro and a collection. There is no author listed on the book, just editors Kris Neely and Peter Gerardo, which makes sense. Neely and Gerardo didn't write anything except the intro; they merely collected these koans and parables into a book.
I was not raised Buddhist, and I wouldn't call myself a Buddhist--I'm more someone who likes to read books about Buddhism as a way to find tools to help me with my life. I found the readings difficult to understand, but I also struggle with some basic Buddhist concepts. For example, I understand that desire is not a good thing in Buddhism; but if people are in jobs that they don't like, are they supposed to sit silently and wait for the feeling to go away, instead of making the effort to get training and look for more satisfactory employment? So as you can see, I'm a beginner at this. But I'm sure that I will be flipping through this book and looking over these pages for many years. For that reason, I thank the editors for putting this book together--and I'm happy I won the giveaway!
November 15, 2013
This book is appalling on many levels. The "editors" and publisher here claim to offer zen wisdom and insights. They do this by assembling well known koans, then doing a find/replace on the Chinese and Japanese names. Why is this problematic? First, there is the insinuation readers are too small-minded to get past the Asian-sounding names and places in the original texts. It assumes that readers need more waspy, Anglo, or Judeo-Christian names in order to have their hearts opened by koans. In other words, as an Asian American, this feels white-washed and racist. Second, there is the problem of acknowledging the intellectual work of translators and scholars. I don't know where these editors got their koans, but a nod to the hard work of others is just a sign of diligence and respect. It's also just helpful to students to realize that translations of particular phrases may differ, and thus offer different insights. Third, the find/replace obscures the centuries of effort that went into and that continue to sustain the sharing of koans. People spent their entire lives creating and preserving these stories-- hiding them as Jake and Katie and Larry obscures who the teachers and commentators were in history. Each figure in history had unique concerns, interactions with teachers/students, and debates with others of the time. This book doesn't recognize any of this.
December 15, 2013
I received this book in a give away.
Even though I am not a Zen Buddhist, I do like to listen to, or read Zen stories sometimes, because they relieve me of my rigid westernized logical thinking patterns for a little while. To do every story justice, I could not read this book fast, actually it is the sort of book that you can read in when you feel like it; even if it is just one koan. You can start at any page. For certain stories I needed time to digest it. Even one that was only two or three sentences could allow me to meditate for a while. That was exactly what I had hoped it would do.
I appreciated that the exotic names of people and locales were replaced by more familiar ones. The only thing that bothered me was that almost every story ended with some variation of "he was enlightened" or 'she became a teacher herself". It sounded too much like advertising Zen, and it distracted from the meaning and also from the openess to meditate on the koan. I do not know if this is a common practice within Zen Buddhist texts, but it didn't work for me. I rather have the story by itself. I don't need to see someone else become enlightened to "get it". I liked it better when an old retiring Zen master made a curious remark to his students, and then disappeared, never to be seen again.
Time will tell if I learned anything from this book.
Even though I am not a Zen Buddhist, I do like to listen to, or read Zen stories sometimes, because they relieve me of my rigid westernized logical thinking patterns for a little while. To do every story justice, I could not read this book fast, actually it is the sort of book that you can read in when you feel like it; even if it is just one koan. You can start at any page. For certain stories I needed time to digest it. Even one that was only two or three sentences could allow me to meditate for a while. That was exactly what I had hoped it would do.
I appreciated that the exotic names of people and locales were replaced by more familiar ones. The only thing that bothered me was that almost every story ended with some variation of "he was enlightened" or 'she became a teacher herself". It sounded too much like advertising Zen, and it distracted from the meaning and also from the openess to meditate on the koan. I do not know if this is a common practice within Zen Buddhist texts, but it didn't work for me. I rather have the story by itself. I don't need to see someone else become enlightened to "get it". I liked it better when an old retiring Zen master made a curious remark to his students, and then disappeared, never to be seen again.
Time will tell if I learned anything from this book.
December 12, 2013
Highly recommended! Life Between the Tigers is well worth reading. I loved the introduction, which I read 3 times and plan to have by my side. The book is done very smart with each page artistically appealing. The short stories within are life changing and left me thinking. I am sure I shall read this Zen Wisdom over and over as I grow.
February 5, 2014
Not sure what to make if this: it has a great introduction but other than that I did not enjoy the book per se: a list of very short stories with supposedly a zen background underneath which escaped me for the time being.
April 1, 2014
One student saw one star. Another student argued that there were five stars. The teacher came and explained: "Moon moving behind the trees."
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews