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Encouraging Words: Zen Buddhist Teachings for Western Students
Nominated for the Tricycle Prize for Outstanding Contribution to Buddhism in America--a collection of short talks and essays from a renowned meditation teacher.
"The inspiration that guided monks and nuns in ancient times is our own deepest incentive as we establish our practice in a world that desperately needs new forms of kinship and love."
--Robert Aitken
In this inspiring collection, you will find a series of talks and essays that Aitken Rashi has offered his students at meditation retreats during the past two decades. They are arranged according to themes central to all spiritual seekers--attention, emptiness, coming and going, diligence, death and the afterlife, the sacred self, and the moral path. Aitken provides guidance on pursuing religious practice in a lay context, "re-casting the Dharma to include women, jobs, and family." He also charts his own quest to develop a set of moral codes in keeping with Buddhism's basic precepts and honoring the enormous ethical challenges faced in the twentieth century.
"The inspiration that guided monks and nuns in ancient times is our own deepest incentive as we establish our practice in a world that desperately needs new forms of kinship and love."
--Robert Aitken
In this inspiring collection, you will find a series of talks and essays that Aitken Rashi has offered his students at meditation retreats during the past two decades. They are arranged according to themes central to all spiritual seekers--attention, emptiness, coming and going, diligence, death and the afterlife, the sacred self, and the moral path. Aitken provides guidance on pursuing religious practice in a lay context, "re-casting the Dharma to include women, jobs, and family." He also charts his own quest to develop a set of moral codes in keeping with Buddhism's basic precepts and honoring the enormous ethical challenges faced in the twentieth century.
252 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
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About the author
Robert Aitken
88 books46 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Robert Aitken was a retired master of the Diamond Sangha, a Zen Buddhist society he founded in Honolulu in 1959 with his late wife Anne Hopkins Aitken.
A lifetime resident of Hawai‘i, Aitken Rōshi was a graduate of the University of Hawai‘i with a BA degree in English literature and an MA degree in Japanese studies. In 1941, he was captured on Guam by invading Japanese forces, and interned in Japan for the duration of World War II. In the camp, he met the British scholar R.H. Blyth, who introduced him to Zen Buddhism. After the war, he practiced Zen with Senzaki Nyogen Sensei in Los Angeles, and traveled frequently to Japan to practice in monasteries and lay centers with Nakagawa Sōen Rōshi, Yasutani Haku'un Rōshi, and Yamada Kōun Rōshi. In 1974, he was given approval to teach by the Yamada Rōshi, Abbot of the Sanbo Kyodan in Kamakura, Japan, who gave him transmission as an independent master in 1985.
Aitken Rōshi is the author of more than ten books on Zen Buddhism, and co-author of a book-length Buddhist-Christian dialogue. In Hawai‘i he was instrumental in founding the Koko An Zendo, the PĀlolo Zen Center, the Maui Zendo, and the Garden Island Sangha. A number of other centers in Europe, North and South America, and Australasia are part of the Diamond Sangha network.
Aitken Rōshi is co-founder of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship (now with a local East Hawai‘i Chapter) and serves on its international board of advisors. He has been active in a number of peace, social justice, and ecological movements, and his writing reflects his concern that Buddhists be engaged in social applications of their experience.
Aitken Rōshi has given full transmission as independent masters to Nelson Foster, Honolulu Diamond Sangha and Ring of Bone Zendo in Nevada City, California; John Tarrant, Pacific Zen Institute in Santa Rosa, California; Patrick Hawk, Zen Desert Sangha in Tucson, Arizona, and Mountain Cloud Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico; Joseph Bobrow, Harbor Sangha in San Francisco, California; Jack Duffy, Three Treasures Sangha in Seattle, Washington; Augusto Alcalde, Vimalakirti Sangha, in Cordoba, Argentina and Rolf Drosten, Wolken-und-Mond-Sangha (Clouds and Moon Sangha), in Leverkusen, Germany. He authorized Pia Gyger, One Ground Zendo in Luzern, Switzerland, as an affiliate teacher of the Diamond Sangha. He joined with John Tarrant in giving transmission as independent masters to Subhana Barzaghi in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; and to Ross Bolleter in Perth, Western Australia.
As a retired master, Aitken Rōshi worked with a few long-time students, and continued to study and write. His work, Zen Master Raven: Sayings and Doings of a Wise Bird , was published by Tuttle in 2002 [review]. His more recent publications, The Morning Star: New and Collected Zen Writings , and a new edition of A Zen Wave: Basho's Haiku and Zen , were released in October, 2003, by Shoemaker and Hoard.
Robert Aitken was a retired master of the Diamond Sangha, a Zen Buddhist society he founded in Honolulu in 1959 with his late wife Anne Hopkins Aitken.
A lifetime resident of Hawai‘i, Aitken Rōshi was a graduate of the University of Hawai‘i with a BA degree in English literature and an MA degree in Japanese studies. In 1941, he was captured on Guam by invading Japanese forces, and interned in Japan for the duration of World War II. In the camp, he met the British scholar R.H. Blyth, who introduced him to Zen Buddhism. After the war, he practiced Zen with Senzaki Nyogen Sensei in Los Angeles, and traveled frequently to Japan to practice in monasteries and lay centers with Nakagawa Sōen Rōshi, Yasutani Haku'un Rōshi, and Yamada Kōun Rōshi. In 1974, he was given approval to teach by the Yamada Rōshi, Abbot of the Sanbo Kyodan in Kamakura, Japan, who gave him transmission as an independent master in 1985.
Aitken Rōshi is the author of more than ten books on Zen Buddhism, and co-author of a book-length Buddhist-Christian dialogue. In Hawai‘i he was instrumental in founding the Koko An Zendo, the PĀlolo Zen Center, the Maui Zendo, and the Garden Island Sangha. A number of other centers in Europe, North and South America, and Australasia are part of the Diamond Sangha network.
Aitken Rōshi is co-founder of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship (now with a local East Hawai‘i Chapter) and serves on its international board of advisors. He has been active in a number of peace, social justice, and ecological movements, and his writing reflects his concern that Buddhists be engaged in social applications of their experience.
Aitken Rōshi has given full transmission as independent masters to Nelson Foster, Honolulu Diamond Sangha and Ring of Bone Zendo in Nevada City, California; John Tarrant, Pacific Zen Institute in Santa Rosa, California; Patrick Hawk, Zen Desert Sangha in Tucson, Arizona, and Mountain Cloud Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico; Joseph Bobrow, Harbor Sangha in San Francisco, California; Jack Duffy, Three Treasures Sangha in Seattle, Washington; Augusto Alcalde, Vimalakirti Sangha, in Cordoba, Argentina and Rolf Drosten, Wolken-und-Mond-Sangha (Clouds and Moon Sangha), in Leverkusen, Germany. He authorized Pia Gyger, One Ground Zendo in Luzern, Switzerland, as an affiliate teacher of the Diamond Sangha. He joined with John Tarrant in giving transmission as independent masters to Subhana Barzaghi in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; and to Ross Bolleter in Perth, Western Australia.
As a retired master, Aitken Rōshi worked with a few long-time students, and continued to study and write. His work, Zen Master Raven: Sayings and Doings of a Wise Bird , was published by Tuttle in 2002 [review]. His more recent publications, The Morning Star: New and Collected Zen Writings , and a new edition of A Zen Wave: Basho's Haiku and Zen , were released in October, 2003, by Shoemaker and Hoard.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 28, 2021
Encouraging Words has proven to be one of my favorite reads in Zen Buddhism. The book is aptly titled, for this book is indeed encouraging. While the content is for persons already acquainted with Zen Buddhism, not beginners, Aitken had a way of speaking simply the profound Dharma. The work is intimate, for addressed to his students and Aitken speaks as one with them, not an authority over them. I was much impressed with Aitken's attitude as seen through his words: a wise teacher and more so for being humble of heart and mind.
Aitken models for us an ordinary enlightenment, meaning he does not present himself as somehow special at all - rather, a human among humans, and does not encourage us feverously tp pursue enlightenment experiences. Rather, his message is simply: Nirvana is here. We're already in the Pure Land. Being true to the Dharma, Aitken does not encourage mystification but intimacy with the everyday.
So, if you have at least a beginning grasp of Zen Buddhism, I recommend this work to you. If not, I recommend you begin elsewhere.
Aitken models for us an ordinary enlightenment, meaning he does not present himself as somehow special at all - rather, a human among humans, and does not encourage us feverously tp pursue enlightenment experiences. Rather, his message is simply: Nirvana is here. We're already in the Pure Land. Being true to the Dharma, Aitken does not encourage mystification but intimacy with the everyday.
So, if you have at least a beginning grasp of Zen Buddhism, I recommend this work to you. If not, I recommend you begin elsewhere.
May 5, 2021
This is a book composed of three parts filled with nuggets of wisdom. It is not recommended for the absolute beginner.
April 20, 2012
It is an interesting read but defiantly not for a beginner in zen with zero experience. It is more for a novice that needs a little more in-depth study of the subject.
May 6, 2015
A handy primer of Zen with brief essays on a variety of topics and a syllabus of key concepts and texts.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews