Nothing Special: Living ZenThe Zen master and author of Everyday Zen shares the simple, essential wisdom of embracing the ordinary in life. Zen is life itself, nothing added. But for many of us, pursuing a spiritual path involves fantasies about our future lives—fantasies that separate us from ourselves and leave us anxious to achieve a resolution that is constantly receding just past the horizon of reality. In Nothing Special, Charlotte Joko Beck reveals how living in the knowledge that “things are always just as they are” is not the counsel of despair but an invitation to joy. Author of the Zen classic, Everyday Zen, Charlotte Joko Beck now shows readers how to awaken to daily life and discover the ideal in the everyday, finding riches in our feelings, relationships, and work. Nothing Special offers the rare and delightful experience of learning in the authentic Buddhist tradition with a wonderfully contemporary Western master. |
Contents
| 5 | |
SACRIFICE | 41 |
Can Anything Hurt Us? | 75 |
The SubjectObject Problem | 84 |
Integration | 93 |
Do Not Judge | 103 |
Preparing the Ground | 113 |
The Icy Couch | 122 |
Transformation | 202 |
The Natural Man | 208 |
The Fall | 221 |
The Sound of a Dove and a Critical Voice | 227 |
Chaos and Wonder | 239 |
From Drama to No Drama | 249 |
Simple Mind | 255 |
Wandering in the Desert | 267 |
Melting Ice Cubes | 132 |
The Six Stages of Practice | 187 |
Curiosity and Obsession | 193 |
Notes | 275 |
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Common terms and phrases
anger angry attention baseboard basic begin bodily sensations body Carlos Castaneda castle caught create door Dorothy drama dualistic emotion enlightened ergy everything example experience experiencing fact fantasy fear feel Gateless Gate give going happens happy hear helps hope Hubert Benoit human hurricane hurt ice cube judgment koan labeling our thoughts lives look loop mean ment mind move mushy Nasrudin ness never nondual notice object observe obsessive ourselves pain peace Peace Pilgrim person prac problem reality realize relationship rience rock samadhi self-centered thoughts sense separate sesshin shikantaza simple mind simply Sisyphus sitting slowly someone sometimes sorbed stage stay strategy struggle STUDENT suffering Suppose talk tend tension things tice tion transformation true truly understand upset W. H. Auden what's whirlpool wonder worry zazen Zen centers Zen practice zendo