From the publisher… Dharma Brothers: Kodo and . . . Read More.]]> Dharma Brothers: Kodo and Tokujoo, A Historical Novel Based On The Lives Of Two Japanese Zen Masters (Volume 1)
Arthur Braverman
CreateSpace, December 2010
592 pages, 6 x 9
ISBN-13: 978-1453861530
(Also available in a Kindle digital edition)

From the publisher…
Dharma Brothers: Kodo and Tokujoo is based on the lives of two Japanese Zen Masters, how they grew from two ordinary boys, walking very different paths to become extraordinary men, and the deep spiritual bond between them. It is also the story of Japan from 1880 to 1965, of two personal accounts of Zen journeys to enlightenment, and of love and friendship. The story follows the lives of these two Dharma brothers, set against a backdrop of the Japanese-Russian War of 1905, and the rise of fascism in Japan in the 1930s. Kodo was an orphan, brought up in a harsh environment, while Tokujoo was the son of a well-to-do businessman. They both spent years studying in the most stringent Zen monasteries and became life-long friends. Each struggled to find his way clear of the circumstances in which he had been reared. Each sought a way of life offering more meaning and truth, ultimately becoming a different exemplar of Zen practice and living Buddhism.

About the author…
Arthur Braverman is author of Living and Dying in Zazen and translator of Mud and Water: A Collection of Talks by the Zen Master Bassui; Warrior of Zen: The Diamond-hard Wisdom Mind of Suzuki Shosan; and A Quiet Room: The Poetry of Zen Master Jakushitsu. He studied Zen at Antaiji Temple in Kyoto, Japan under Zen Master Kosho Uchiyama (Kodo Sawaki’s Dharma heir). He lives in Ojai, California.

The Sumeru review…

I read a lot of books, and they fight for space on my table. Good books get finished, while the not so good ones languish half-read. Dharma Brothers quickly became my book of choice and yesterday I finished it, after a few weeks of stolen moments.

What was the pull? It’s very simple – I could see myself mirrored in the story and I wanted to know what happened next. Braverman’s novel, based on the true stories of two well-known Japanese roshis, illuminated the day-to-day path of zen practice with grace and wit in a narrative story format. That is not a topic which would appeal to a broad audience (which is why it is self-published), but for practitioners, it is one of immense import.

It is not easy to write a novel. It is not easy to write a historical novel that portrays another culture credibly. And it is not easy to write convincingly of a spiritual journey, without tumbling into either hagiography or maudlin melodrama.

Braverman does a very good job of walking the middle way. That’s not to say the book is without structural flaws, but those flaws are matched with vignettes that soar. My biggest complaint is that a lot of the book is spent in setting up the early practice of Kodo Sawaki Roshi and Tokujoo Kato Roshi. Braverman’s choice to focus on the intimate details of their daily lives comes at the expense of our learning more about their public activity, teaching and dharma work later in life. I would have liked to know more about their sermons and teaching methods in the public sphere, since they were such influential teachers in the 20^th century.

Similarly, I would have liked to know more about Japan’s social, cultural and political evolution over the period covered in the book. Braverman spent a number of years practicing in Japan with Kodo Sawaki’s dharma heir, Kosho Uchiyama. That experience has allowed him to portray Japan at the turn of the century with riveting accuracy. It would have been fascinating for him to include more of that context in the book, since it was such an important part of world history and since it was so integral to the transformation of all schools of Japanese Buddhism.

On the other hand, Braverman has captured perfectly the nuances of monastic practice and the “one taste” of zen. His accounts of zazen, koan study, dokusan, shikantaza, kinhin, physical labour as practice, temple architecture and routines, hermit practice, life for hereditary priests, and so on, all ring true without a false note.

Dharma Brothers steers clear of describing Kodo or Tokujoo’s satori experiences in any great detail, and even goes so far as to downplay those awakenings by placing them within the context of life’s ongoing challenges and emotional waves. Failure and uncertainty are recognized as teachers too. As Tokujoo’s teacher notes at one point in Tokujoo’s middle practice – the early student tries to control everything in his environment; the advanced student lets nature unfold and responds appropriately.

Zen is a Buddhist tradition that relies much more heavily on experiential learning through meditation than on study of sutras and commentary. It also places great value on everyday living. But it would be disingenuous to imply that one can progress along the path without knowing what that path is. Which leads us to some of the deeper issues raised in this excellent book:

• priests, monks, hermits and laypeople in Japan’s Buddhist landscape
• operation and maintenance of Buddhist institutions in Japan after 1880
• lives and prospects of non-eminent monks
• marriage as part of the dharma path, rather than antithetical to it
• zen versus bushido
• tradition versus modernity
• real practice versus going through the motions

Dharma Brothers: Kodo and Tokujoo, A Historical Novel Based On The Lives Of Two Japanese Zen Masters (Volume 1) tackles all of these topics, to greater or lesser degrees, in the context of a story that makes you want to keep turning pages. You will as likely be left with more questions than answers, but that is a good thing.

Braverman never gives any explanation of why his first novel is tagged as volume one, but we can only hope he keeps writing fiction along with his other endeavours.
Karma Yönten Gyatso

For details and a description of the films: http://dharmarising.eventbrite.com/ DHARMA RISING Is Western Buddhism becoming Dharma . . . Read More.]]> There’ll be a screening of Dharma Rising, David Cherniack’s recently completed two part film about Buddhism in the West on Dec 8 at Innis Town Hall at 7 pm.

For details and a description of the films: http://dharmarising.eventbrite.com/
DHARMA RISING
Is Western Buddhism becoming Dharma Light? Can the fundamental teachings of Buddhism withstand the influences of modernity? What can our Western Buddhist Teachers offer us?

A two part documentary that takes a fascinating look, through the eyes first generation Western Buddhist Teachers, at the challenges facing Buddhism as it encounters contemporary culture in America and Europe.

Thursday December 8, 2011 7:00 pm  (Q & A with director - Dave Cherniack - to follow screening)
Innis Town Hall Theatre 2 Sussex Ave on the University of Toronto campus (Tickets will not be available at the door)

Buddhism is now widely accepted as the fastest growing ‘convert’ religion among educated Westerners. There are reasons for its appeal: its comparative freedom from reliance on faith in dogmas that are hard to accept for pragmatic, scientifically inclined, Westerners; its inclusive attitude to the natural world; its ecological approach; its compassionate, forgiving, and non-violent nature. Dharma Rising introduces us to a generation of Western Dharma teachers who are leading the way in the integration of Buddhism in the West, and share with us how that adaption is taking shape within a culture that runs on the engines of competition and greed, where many consider cruelty to be kindness and ignorance to be knowledge.

Part One examines the new roles Dharma teachers and institutions are adopting as they face the challenges of modernity: democratization, transitioning from monasteries to centres, from top-down to different forms of organization, and new forms of teachers and teachings.

Part Two takes a looks at how the fundamental tenets of Buddhism are being re-interpreted between the opposing poles of tradition and reform. The nature of Buddhist Enlightenment and the reality of Rebirth are being questioned. On the horns  of this dilemma the question arises: Is Western Buddhism becoming Dharma Light? Or is it entering modern culture through social engagement, mindfulness practice, and a new non-sectarian scientific, and ethical, paradigm?

Featured in the films: Jack Kornfield, Stephen & Ondrea Levine, Robert Thurman, Jiun Hogen Roshi, B. Alan Wallace, Zenkei Blanche Hartman, Mel Sojun Weitzman, Zoketsu Norman Fischer, Ajahn Sucitto,Sylvia Wetzel, Judith Simmer-Brown, Lama Tsultrim Allione, Reginald A. Ray, Lama Shenpen Hookham, Jan Willis, Stephen Batchelor,  Bernie Glassman, Mathieu Ricard, John Crook, Sangkarakshita.

The Flower is Full of Everything Except One Thing from Plum Village Online Monastery on Vimeo.

A Deep Volition to Practice: Question and Answer Session from Plum Village Online Monastery on Vimeo.

Miracles of Reconciliation from Plum Village Online Monastery on . . . Read More.]]>

The Flower is Full of Everything Except One Thing from Plum Village Online Monastery on Vimeo.

A Deep Volition to Practice: Question and Answer Session from Plum Village Online Monastery on Vimeo.

Miracles of Reconciliation from Plum Village Online Monastery on Vimeo.

Open Mind Open Heart Retreat: Orientation from Plum Village Online Monastery on Vimeo.

Handling Strong Emotions from Plum Village Online Monastery on Vimeo.

Make Yourself Available: Children’s Talk from Plum Village Online Monastery on Vimeo.

If There Is No Death, There Is No Life from Plum Village Online Monastery on Vimeo.

Your Father and Mother Are Inside: Children’s Talk from Plum Village Online Monastery on Vimeo.

Namo’valokiteshvaraya Chanting from Plum Village Online Monastery on Vimeo.

From Doug Sensei’s website: http://www.dharma-japan.org/

Attendance at both events is . . . Read More.]]> 2011 Buddhist Teachers Council

New York’s Garrison Institute will host this landmark event between June 8-11. It will be preceded by a 3-day conference for established Buddhist teachers called:
2011 Pioneering Buddhist Teachers Meeting, to be held June 5-8.

Attendance at both events is by Invitation

As Buddhism becomes established in the West, one of the new developments is a rich cross-fertilization among the great traditions. In this spirit, Buddhist teachers in the West have been meeting and supporting one another in many forms.  The Garrison 2011 meeting continues the past series of collaborative teacher meetings held in the U.S., Dharamsala, and in Europe. This 2011 multi-tradition meeting will be 3 days of a Maha Teacher Council of 230 Buddhist teachers from centers across the West. Some key themes will include:

THE MINDFUL SOCIETY – a visionary consideration of the promise and the pitfalls as the Dharma spreads more widely into medicine, science, healing, education, the arts and all aspects of Western culture.

PRESERVATION OF DEPTH AND ADAPTING SKILLFUL MEANS TO A NEW WORLD – how to preserve and adapt the Dharma in new conditions without losing depth.

FROM ELDERS TO THE NEXT GENERATION – 50 teachers under age 45 will join the council to consider together how the current teachers can best support and empower the next generations.

For more information, please email retreats@garrisoninstitute.org or call 845-424-4800.

Sumeru will report more on this event when we learn who is attending from Canadian organizations.

AN AMERICAN BUDDHIST LIFE Memoirs of a Modern Dharma Pioneer By Charles S. Prebish ISBN 978-1-896559-09-4

$24.95 US/CAN    €17.50 EUR Perfect bound paperback, 266 pages, 6” x 9″ . . . Read More.]]> Sumeru announces publication of:

AN AMERICAN BUDDHIST LIFE: Memoirs of a Modern Dharma Pioneer

AN AMERICAN BUDDHIST LIFE
Memoirs of a Modern Dharma Pioneer
By Charles S. Prebish
ISBN 978-1-896559-09-4

$24.95 US/CAN    €17.50 EUR
Perfect bound paperback, 266 pages, 6” x 9″

Now available worldwide at
www.amazon.com, www.barnesandnoble.com
and many other online retailers

From the beginning of Charles Prebish’s involvement with Buddhism in 1965, Buddhism has made huge inroads on the North American continent, and world-wide, both in terms of its scholarship and globalization. He has been fortunate enough to know and work with an incredible group of brilliant scholars who remain alive: Luis Gómez, Lewis Lancaster, Donald Swearer, Frank Reynolds, Stanley Weinstein, Jeffrey Hopkins, Robert Thurman and others. Unfortunately, none of these great scholars seems as yet to have shared their reminiscences of these exciting times with readers.

Equally, because of his pioneering work in studying Western forms of Buddhism, Dr. Prebish was able to meet not only the many Asian Buddhist teachers who appeared in North America after the change in immigration law in 1965, but virtually all of their first and second generation Dharma heirs. His friendships with Chögyam Trungpa and John Daido Loori Roshi, for example, gave him insights into the rapid development of what he began calling “American Buddhism” in the 1970s. In the nearly half century that he has been involved with the Buddhist tradition, an enormous number of major events have occurred in North America (and worldwide), and he has been involved with almost all of them.

Apart from being the leading pioneer in the study of Western forms of Buddhism, as mentioned above, he was the leading advocate for establishing this new and exciting avenue of inquiry as a valid and important sub-discipline in the larger discipline of Buddhist Studies. Now there are many dozens of courses devoted to this topic, and it has become one of the most vibrant areas of scholarly publication in Buddhist Studies. When technology began to creep into academe, he was there to found, with Damien Keown in 1994, the online Journal of Buddhist Ethics, which was the first online peer-reviewed scholarly journal in the field of Religious Studies. Five years later, with Martin Baumann, he began the Journal of Global Buddhism. In 1996, he and Keown founded the Routledge “Critical Studies in Buddhism” series which published more than sixty scholarly titles under their editorship over the next 10 years.

In other words, Dr. Prebish has been involved in virtually everything exciting in the Buddhist world over the past forty-five years. Because of his unique involvement and longevity, he has an incredible historical record to document and share, and a huge number of stories to tell. These stories allow us to share his incredible personal journey, and provide a true “insider’s” viewpoint. It even gives us a rare and largely unknown snapshot into the world of sport, where he became a nationally respected Olympic-style wrestling official and one of the leading, early scholarly proponents of the exploration of the relationship between sport and religion. Chuck’s stories are kind and compassionate. An American Buddhist Life: Memoirs of a Modern Dharma Pioneer makes for a great read!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Charles Prebish came to Utah State University in January 2007 following more than thirty-five years on the faculty of the Pennsylvania State University. During his tenure at the university, he was the first holder of the Charles Redd Endowed Chair in Religious Studies and served as Director of the Religious Studies Program. During his career, Dr. Prebish published more than twenty books and nearly one hundred scholarly articles and chapters. His books Buddhist Monastic Discipline (1975) and Luminous Passage: The Practice and Study of Buddhism in America (1999) are considered classic volumes in Buddhist Studies.

Dr. Prebish remains the leading pioneer in the establishment of the study of Western Buddhism as a sub-discipline in Buddhist Studies. In 1993 he held the Visiting Numata Chair in Buddhist Studies at the University of Calgary, and in 1997 was awarded a Rockefeller Foundation National Humanities Fellowship for research at the University of Toronto. Dr. Prebish has been an officer in the International Association of Buddhist Studies, and was co-founder of the Buddhism Section of the American Academy of Religion. He has also served as editor of the Journal of Global Buddhism and Critical Review of Books in Religion. In 2005, he was honored with a “festschrift” volume by his colleagues titled Buddhist Studies from India to America: Essays in Honor of Charles S. Prebish. Dr. Prebish retired from Utah State University on December 31, 2010, and was awarded emeritus status. He currently resides in State College, Pennsylvania.

For more information about the book, here is a link to our PRESS RELEASE.

AN AMERICAN BUDDHIST LIFE: Memoirs of a Modern Dharma Pioneer by Charles S. Prebish

The Sumeru Press Inc. Paperback, 6×9, 266p, illustr. ISBN 978-1-896559-09-4 $24.95

Charles Prebish came to Utah State University in January 2007 following more than thirty-five years . . . Read More.]]> Coming soon, from SUMERU…

AN AMERICAN BUDDHIST LIFE: Memoirs of a Modern Dharma Pioneer
by Charles S. Prebish

The Sumeru Press Inc.
Paperback, 6×9, 266p, illustr.
ISBN 978-1-896559-09-4
$24.95

Charles Prebish came to Utah State University in January 2007 following more than thirty-five years on the faculty of the Pennsylvania State University. During his tenure at the university, he was the first holder of the Charles Redd Endowed Chair in Religious Studies and served as Director of the Religious Studies Program. During his career, Dr. Prebish published more than twenty books and nearly one hundred scholarly articles and chapters. His books Buddhist Monastic Discipline (1975) and Luminous Passage: The Practice and Study of Buddhism in America (1999) are considered classic volumes in Buddhist Studies. Dr. Prebish remains the leading pioneer in the establishment of the study of Western Buddhism as a sub-discipline in Buddhist Studies. In 1993 he held the Visiting Numata Chair in Buddhist Studies at the University of Calgary, and in 1997 was awarded a Rockefeller Foundation National Humanities Fellowship for research at the University of Toronto. Dr. Prebish has been an officer in the International Association of Buddhist Studies, and was co-founder of the Buddhism Section of the American Academy of Religion. In 1994, he co-founded the Journal of Buddhist Ethics, which was the first online peer-reviewed journal in the field of Buddhist Studies; and in 1996, co-founded the Routledge “Critical Studies in Buddhism” series. He has also served as editor of the Journal of Global Buddhism and Critical Review of Books in Religion. In 2005, he was honored with a “festschrift” volume by his colleagues titled Buddhist Studies from India to America: Essays in Honor of Charles S. Prebish. Dr. Prebish retired from Utah State University on December 31, 2010, and was awarded emeritus status. He currently resides in State College, Pennsylvania.