Embracing Mind The Zen Talks of Kobun Chino Otogawa Kobun Chino Otogawa, Judy Cosgrove, Shinbo Joseph Hall 9780998537429 Books
Download As PDF : Embracing Mind The Zen Talks of Kobun Chino Otogawa Kobun Chino Otogawa, Judy Cosgrove, Shinbo Joseph Hall 9780998537429 Books
Kobun Chino Otogawa was an instrumental figure in the transmission of Zen to America and its evolution within our culture. Sent from Eiheiji to bring the classical forms of Zen to the First Monastery in America, Kobun arrived as a young man in the midst of a social revolution and resonated in perfect time with the evolution of American Zen. With a refined ability to embody form and a deep belief in Buddha Nature - that the Buddha has no body but ours, Kobun taught Zen with intuitive jazz-like creativity. Although he came to assist Shunryu Suzuki at the San Francisco Zen Center, Kobun was enamored of the way Zen, unfettered, blossomed in new soil and he followed it wherever it grew. For Kobun, Zen was not an institution, but the elemental nature of every aspect of our lives and existed in myriad forms. Kobun founded four temples, taught Buddhism at Stanford and Naropa University, demonstrated and taught Calligraphy and Archery, spoke at events, met with sitting groups in their living rooms and hiked the wilderness with the people he encountered. When Steve Jobs founded Next Computer, Kobun was listed as it's Spiritual Director. However Zen spoke to a person, be it as a religion, a practice, an aesthetic or a guiding principle, Kobun wholeheartedly believed in Buddha Nature and followed each path with creativity and grace. The wide ranging talks in this book began as Sesshin Teishos - instructions given to students while in the midst of a week-long period of intensive sitting. Together, they offer an insight into the Zen of Kobun Chino Otogawa, containing both his perspective on the forms and his emphasis that Zen is revealed not so much in the sutras as it is in the everyday.
Embracing Mind The Zen Talks of Kobun Chino Otogawa Kobun Chino Otogawa, Judy Cosgrove, Shinbo Joseph Hall 9780998537429 Books
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Embracing Mind The Zen Talks of Kobun Chino Otogawa Kobun Chino Otogawa, Judy Cosgrove, Shinbo Joseph Hall 9780998537429 Books Reviews
from Jerry Halpern on April 26, 2017
Kobun's Voice
Reading “Embracing Mindâ€, I hear again Kobun’s voice as I experienced it. Judy Cosgrove and Angie Boissevain worked over many years to collect, transcribe, and edit this material and make Kobun’s unique voice publicly available. With "Embracing Mind" they have opened a small window onto his remarkable sensibility, penetrating understanding, and sustained effort.
Kobun Chino Otagawa Roshi was born into a centuries old temple family, and was brought up and educated as a Zen monk. Over several years Kobun practiced with Sawaki Kodo Roshi whom he regarded as his, Kobun’s, zazen teacher. Later he came to the attention of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi who wrote to Kobun , then at Eiheiji, in 196(6,7?) asking him come to the US to help Suzuki and Dainin Katagiri with the rapid growth of the sangha developing around Suzuki, which had just acquired Tassajara Springs. Kobun arrived in the US in Spring, 1967. Except for a brief return to Japan in 1969, he lived the rest of his life in the US and Europe.
“Embracing Mind†contains sesshin talks of Kobun on essential elements of Buddhism---confession, repentance, precepts, refuges, vow, meditation, bowing, enlightenment experience. He also speaks in depth of “Sanchi Manpoâ€, the essence and quality of dokusan, and “Menjuâ€, face to face transmission. However, how to practice shikantaza is at the core of “Embracing Mindâ€.
i)â€In Buddhism, the first way you identify yourself as a Buddhist is to believe in yourself, utterly. That is the first step. If that doesn’t exist, nothing can work out. Enlightenment is not the issue here. Enlightenment is just a shadow. It’s just an occasion. It appears and it goes away. You cannot have it. Faith is a dynamic manifestation of your own life, moment after moment. To have doubt about it is the most sinful thing, so to speak. Not knowing everything about your life is fine, but to doubt about it is the first mistake. Faith in oneself occurs even in total confusion. It has been said that the great ocean of Buddha-dharma , the truth in awakening, is entered by faith.â€
ii)†I don’t have any sense of training you for something. …So if this is not training, what is it? It’s not school, of course. I’m talking about the kind of sitting we are doing here. If there are any misunderstandings about what is called Zen life or Buddhist life, I’d like to clear them up and reassure you that however you are is the way you should be. However you manage your daily life that is how it should be. I’m saying this because there is such a long traditional way of monastic practice in which sitting was done only in a closed society like a monastery. My basic intention is to really open this sitting opportunity to everybody who is ready to do it and enjoy it with no division between monks and nuns, young and old. For some who were trained in the monastery or communal situation with a well-set schedule and regulations, it might be quite difficult that we have almost no rules. People come and go and there is no scolding and no one carrying a stick to beat you up like an old rug or dumb person! Many people say that’s not [sitting], but I believe this is the real [sitting].â€
iii)â€Whoever is sitting, that person’s mind embraces the whole situation…The teaching is within you, which includes how you live… Nothing is missed†…There is no ‘should be’ kind of thing. “Even the effort to become a Buddha, you set aside. In one sense, it’s a terrible state! It’s the hardest kind of operation.†There is no crunch, nothing to hang onto to order your mind.
iv)â€It’s impossible to teach the meaning of sitting. You won’t believe it! …until you experience it and confirm it by yourself, you cannot believe it…because you are Buddhas you can sit.â€
Jerry Halpern
Basically, this book fails miserably to deliver any wisdom, insight, new or even different views on Zen. As the title implies, Kobun didn't write this book. Some people, possibly his disciples or students, transcribed his words into this book. Keep in mind that Kobun was not a native English speaker. He came to America when he was about 29 years old. Imagine his English proficiency. Even native English speakers find Zen extremely difficult to express. And yet the editors simply put his words in writing without consideration for readers who just want to know about Zen. I wonder if they truly understood what they were writing. Kobun might have been a good Zen priest or teacher but this book doesn't show it at all, thanks to confusing, unclear, incoherent, and incomplete remarks from beginning to end. Here is one "when the ferry boat arrives on the other shore, you say, Goodbye, to the other passengers, and don't know when you are going to meet again. If this practice together is not touching the key point, it's all my fault! And it's all your foolishness, so it's very serious." This is the end of one chapter.
Shunryu Suzuki, who was Kobun's fellow Zen teacher, on the other hand, have some good books in his name, thanks to competent editors and writers. I have no idea if Suzuki was truly a good Zen teacher but based on his books, I feel that he was great. Sadly for Kobun, this book is a disservice to his name. I suspect that the book publisher simply wanted to ride the coattails of Kobun's association with Steve Jobs. They certainly got me.
If you simply want to know about Zen, forget this book. Find something else. If you want to know more about Zen, this book also isn't for you. Don't be misled by embracing mind or Zen talks in the title.
Angie Boissevain's introduction tells us that we listen to Otogawa Roshi's talks with our heart and with our belly, that he speaks in spirals, not in linear lines. Yes. So valuable in these days when so much is written about what is actually not knowable.
It is wonderful, after so many years, to have Kobun Chino Otogawa's wise words between the covers of a book, beautifully edited and carefully presented. I grew up with these words and have hoped for a long time that they could be shared. It's a joy to see them in print at last.
Clearly written, full of insight for those like me, who practice meditation and study Buddhism.
The book needed a strong editor. Japanese English may convey Kobun's voice, but it quickly becomes tiresome for the reader. Steve Hagan's book Buddhism Plain and Simple would be a better choice for beginning students.
It is wonderful finally having Kobun Chino Roshi's words so readily available to read and savor. When I read this I feel as though I am in retreat with him and others. These are very intimate talks about the deep heart of sitting practice.
This is one of the rarest books,artfully written. Intimateand inspiring.Deeply spiritual and human and using Kobun Roshi words
"still, in a chaotic confused world,splendid wisdom exists, if you are able to see it" Gassho to Roshi
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