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Books and other product reviews

Daily Buddhism, Reviews

Book: Shaolin Qi Gong: Energy in Motion

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Book: Shaolin Qi Gong: Energy in Motion
By Shi Xinggui
Destiny Books, 154 pages, 2007, DVD included.
Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1594772649/?tag=askdrarca-20

The great teacher Bodhidharma is credited with the creation of Shaolin Temple qi gong and kung fu in the 6th century CE. Motivated by the terrible physical condition of the monks who spent all their time meditating or copying scrolls, his two-part system promoted physical as well as spiritual fitness and became the basis for all the martial and meditative arts taught in the Shaolin Temple. These ancient practices increase physical health and vitality, enhance creativity, and can be practiced well into old age.

Author Shi Xinggui, a Shaolin monk, explains the fundamental principle of qi gong–the art of mastering energy (qi) and moving it through the body–and provides clear demonstrations of all the positions and movements. In order to develop qi attentively, it is necessary to cultivate the art of slowness in both movement and breathwork. Shi Xinggui provides both a short form and a long form of the daily exercises, with lessons on heart centering, organ strengthening, and balancing the energy using the three dantians–the three energy centers of the body. A 53-minute DVD of the exercises performed by the author is also included.

The preceding text is from Amazon; I couldn’t have explained it all any better than that. So what do I think about the book? After simply reading the book, I have to say I thought it was all a bit silly. A collection of very slow, very gentle exercises where you probably wouldn’t break a sweat. From my American background, where people routinely spend hours at the gym and consequently end up seeing a doctor for a sports-related injury once a year, this seemed less-than-productive.

But then I watched the enclosed DVD, and it all became clear to me. He is so slow, and so graceful in these videos that it becomes obvious what the benefits will be. This seems to be just as much about inner peace as it is physical exercise. I have gained a new respect for the topic after watching the video.

The book is a glossy photobook with enough text to explain what’s going on, but not so much as to detract from the many full-color pictures of Shi Xinggui doing the exercises. The text and pictures are large and generous; you’ll be able to understand fully what he’s doing just by looking at the pictures. If not, there’s always the video. The DVD is a professionally-produced disc with attractive printing and various chapter stops. The soundtrack that accompanies the exercises is perfect. All but the last five minutes are videos of Shi Xinggui doing exercises silently. The last 5 minutes are brief biography of him, all in on-screen text- there is no speaking or voice-work at all on the DVD.

If you are looking for a VERY low-impact exercise system that will, at the very least, improve your flexibility and peace of mind, pick this up and follow along. I would imagine people with severe arthritis or similar problems might have some difficulty with this, but if you are simply out of shape or overweight, that should be no hindrance to doing everything in the book.

Daily Buddhism, Koans, Reviews

Book: The Sayings of Layman P’ang, by James Green

Book Review: The Sayings of Layman P’ang: A Zen Classic of China
Translated by James Green
Shambhala Publications, 2009, 144 pages.
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1590306309/?tag=askdrarca-20

When the mind is at peace,
The world too is at peace. –Laymen P’ang


Layman P’ang was a Chan/Zen Buddhist during the Tang Dynasty. He serves as an exemplary figure to those Buddhists practicing outside of monasticism. He studied and practiced Buddhism with his whole family and from his stories about them and his writings come the most famous of the Buddhist sayings.

In an age where it was common for those spiritually-minded individuals to give up their possessions and families and go off to live in a monastery, old Mr. Pang chose not to take that route. Instead, he and his family made a living selling baskets and studying with many traveling masters through the years. This book is a collection of nearly 60 stories of Mr. P’ang and his family, and his dialogues with these masters. In these discussions, sometimes the Master would teach Layman P’ang something, but just as often the reverse would happen.

Most of the stories are fairly cryptic to the modern reader, and are essentially koans. One reads the story and asks, ‚Äúwhat just went on there?‚Äù There are extensive footnotes after each story, but rather than explain the meaning, most of the footnotes explain more about the characters or put the story in some kind of context. It’s usually up to the reader to find the meaning.

There is a lot of introductory material in this book before the stories actually start, and much of this introduction is valuable in itself. It explains the significance of being a layman compared to being a monk, and why P’ang is looked at as a traditional hero. It gives a bit ofhistory about the various masters and monks mentioned in the stories and what they are best known for.

The book is short, at 144 pages with largish type and lots of white space. You could read it in an evening if you wanted to make the attempt, but as with most books of this type, it would probably be better to read one or two of the single-page-long stories per day and give them time to make sense.

If you enjoy koans, pick this book up. It’s got the usual koan-style stories in it, but there is enough help in the footnotes to understand what was really going on. Even if you don’t enjoy the ‚Äúriddle‚Äù aspect of koans, Layman P’ang’s thoughtful, mysterious, and funny insights are worth a look.

Daily Buddhism, Reviews

Book: Natural wakefulness Discovering the Wisdom We Were Born With

Book: Natural Wakefulness: Discovering the Wisdom We Were Born With
By Gaylon Ferguson
Shambhala Publications, 204 pages, to be released April 14, 2009
Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1590306570/?tag=askdrarca-20

The beginning of this book explains that we are born “Awake” but quickly get mired down in the daily day-to-day work of living. This is just the way things work in the world. But, as Buddhists know, we can “Awaken” to reality and become Enlightened. In his book, Gaylon Ferguson focus on RE-awakening, or enhancing that natural wakefulness with which we all enter this world.


The book is clearly written with everyday English and a minimum of jargon, a feature of which I completely approve. He covers a large number of topics, and includes chapters on mindfulness of body meditation, mindfulness of feeling, awareness of the mind’s flow, seeing beyond hope and fear, and awakening from the nightmare of materialism and much more.

Gaylon Ferguson recieved training from the Tibetan Master, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, and if you have read books by any of his other students, you will see much here that is familiar. The book is heavily focused on meditation and improving your meditation practice. There are quite a few meditation exercises and ideas that you can incorporate into your own practice.

There is a section at the end which explains the sources of many of the quotes used in the book. Not just the basic bibliography, but also some of the context, which was interesting. There is a short section of additional resources, most of which are tied in with Shambhala.

This is an excellent book to help you get more serious with your meditation practice. It’s probably not for the absolute novice at meditation, but if you’ve been sitting for maybe a couple of weeks (at least long enough to know how to start) and are running into problems, this might be a good next step. The author’s focus on learning to trust that we are already naturally awake is an interesting point of view with which to work, and he often emphasizes the importance and benefits of making the commitment to a regular meditation practice.

Daily Buddhism, Reviews

Book: The Way of Korean Zen, by Kusan Sunim

Book: The Way of Korean Zen
by Kusan Sunim
Published by Weatherhill / Shambala (c) 2009, 182 pages
Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1590306864/?tag=askdrarca-20

The author, Kusan Sunim (1901-1983) was the Resident Master of the Song-gwang Sa, one of the largest monasteries in South Korea. He was the first Zen teacher to accept and train Western students in a Korean monastery. The extensive introductor section of the book was written by Stephen Batchelor, author of Buddhism Without Beliefs.

There are two major sections to the book, the introduction by Stephen Batchelor, and the bulk of the book by Master Kusan. The introductory portion explains the history of how Zen spread to Korea, life in a Korean monastery, the biography of Master Kusan, and various remarks about the rest of the book.

The final two-thirds of the book are translations of Master Kusan’s teachings, and are in four parts: Instructions for Meditation, Discourses from a Winter Retreat, Advice and Encouragement and the Ten Oxherding Pictures. There is also a very brief glossary.

Master Kusan teaches the Hwadu method of meditation. Hwadu meditation is somewhat similar to meditating on a koan, but there is a difference. A Koan is generally a complete situation or story, while the hwadu is just the central question involved. For example, a koan often involves specific characters and situations, it’s a whole story, while the hwadu is just the question, “What is this?” or something along those lines. He explains that hwadu meditation means keeping that question at the forefront of your mind non-stop while living your life. Everything you do involves that question and must apply to that question. It seems to be a super-challenging form of mindfulness and concentration.

The section From a Winter Retreat is a collection of his teachings and lectures given during one four-month long retreat that took place one winter. There are various topics and subjects, but again, many of them center around hwadu meditation. This is the largest section of the book, and includes lots of advice and wisdom.

The final portion of the book is Kusan’s explanation of the famous Ten Oxherding Pictures. We have covered those pictures here before, and I don’t think Kusan really adds much new to the interpretation.

Overall, it’s a good book. The historical introduction and the focus on hwadu are interesting; it’s always hard to really explain “koan” meditation in a coherent way, but Kusan covers it well and thoroughly. There are some superficial differences between Korean Zen and Japanese Zen, but nothing really stood out to me as particularly significant. If you are interested in Zen, give this one a try.

Daily Buddhism, Reviews

Book/CD: Sampoojanam: Reverence to the Buddha

sampoo-frontSampoojanam: Reverence to the Buddha

Buddhist Sanskrit and Pali chants presented in kirtan
by Sree Aswath and Carl Scott
Mindflow Learning Systems 25 pages, $16.95
Publisher link: http://chant-sanskrit.com

Many of the original texts of Buddhism are written in Sanskrit, so it’s not uncommon for a Buddhist to learn the language. It’s more than a little daunting getting started learning Pali or Sanskrit, but many rituals involve recitations or chanting in Pali, even in modern times. This little booklet and CD set are one way to learn one of the major rituals, the sevenfold Buddha Puja.

The booklet begins by describing how to perform the puja (worship ceremony), either alone or with a group. This section of the booklet is only two pages, but seems thorough enough to me. the next several pages are the Sanskrit version of the ritual. There is no explanation in this section about what the Sanskrit says or how to read it; this is not a “how to read Sanskrit” text. Most of the remainder of the book has the phonetic version of the spoken ritual on the left-hand page and the English translation on the right-hand page. The accompanying CD has the chants on it, and you can follow each track while reading the phonteic version in the book. Presumably one can memorize the sounds and repeat the ritual after enough repetitions.

The voices and chanting on the CD are clear and spoken slowly enough that following along in the booklet is easy. The book itself is small, but does the job. If you can read the Sanskrit, that’s good, but if not, the translation is there to help. Although the puja ritual is explained, there is no explanation on the meaning of the text, so you may want to do a little research on the sutras and chants outside the book.

My opinion is that the best use of this book and CD set is to memorize the chanting, or to perhaps get a little extra experience reading Sanskrit while listening to it being read aloud on the CD. If you want to learn to do a real puja in authentic Pali, then this might be worth picking up.

Daily Buddhism, Reviews

Beginners Buddhism Books

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Beginner’s Books

Last week I mentioned that sometimes I get two of the same question at the same time. Well it happened again, this time regarding reading material:

Question:

Hi, I wanted to know if we are new to Buddhism what reading material would you suggest to start out. Thank you,

and also

I’ve been interested in Buddhism for quite some time and have done a bit of reading/meditation/study here and there. However, I was wondering if there are any books you can recommend on the basic foundations: the four noble truths, the eight-fold path, the five precepts. I’d really prefer something that’s easily understandable to someone new to Buddhism–something in layman’s terms, if you will.

Answer:

My first recommendation is, of course, to read and subscribe to the Daily Buddhism. I did a series from February 2nd to Feb 6th called the “Foundations of Buddhism.” Go back and find the posts and read them, or listen to Podcast episode 43, the audio version of the same material. These are free and available to you immediately, so I see no reason not to start there. You can also purchase it in printable pdf format, and here are links:

Foundations of Buddhism by Brian Schell
Podcast/ MP3 Audio Show (Free): http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/1156
Buy the eBook ($4.95): http://www.dailybuddhism.com/archives/1158

Beyond that, here are a few good beginner books that I recommend:

Buddhism Without Beliefs by Stephen Batchelor
Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1573226564/?tag=askdrarca-20
This is the book that “converted” me when it first came out. It explains all the basics of Buddhism without relying on mysticism and religion. I have long since given my copy away and it’s been years since I read it, but I’ll recommend it just for the impact it had on me.

Buddhist Scriptures by Edward Conze
Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0140440887/?tag=askdrarca-20
This one has excerpts from all the major “scriptures” of Buddhism and will give a good overview of what all has been written in the past 2500 years. There are lots of stories, doctrines, and so forth here, but this is not a “What is Buddhism about” kind of book. This is a good book for when you have a grasp of the basics, but don’t buy this as a first book.

Meditation for Dummies by Stephan Bodian
Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0471777749/?tag=askdrarca-20
I like this one because it’s not actually about Buddhism. It focuses on many different forms of meditation, allowing you to try various ways of meditating without “preaching” to you about which one is best for your sect of Buddhism. I think it is best to learn Buddhism and Meditation separately and then find a way to make the two mesh with each other in your own mind.

Thich Nhat Hanh: Essential Writings by Thich Nhat Hanh
Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1570753709/?tag=askdrarca-20
Thich Nhat Hanh is easily my favorite Buddhist author living today. You just have to like the guy, he’s warm, honest, gentle in the extreme, and possibly the biggest pacifist ever. Nominated by Martin Luther King Jr. for a Nobel prize, he’s written a gazillion books, and I’d recommend just about any of them. This one is a good starting point.

The Five-Minute Buddhist by Brian Schell
Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B0G1QH4/?tag=askdrarca-20
MY Book. Of course I’m going to recommend it here. It’s got all the best posts from the Daily Buddhism, as well as new material. If you like reading this web site, you should absolutely pick this one up.

I’ve also reviewed quite a few books here on the Daily Buddhism site, and I recommend most of them (I don’t like to write about the books I disliked).

Daily Buddhism, Reviews

CD Review: Sitar Secrets by Al Gromer Khan

CD: Sitar Secrets
Artist: Al Gromer Khan
Publisher: New Earth Records
Run time: 9 tracks, 47:42 Minutes
Amazon CD: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001O4C6JO/?tag=askdrarca-20
Amazon MP3: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001Q1KM9Q/?tag=askdrarca-20
Or buy it through the Apple iTunes store

sitar_secretsA couple of weeks ago, I reviewed a CD by Chinmaya Dunster, which I said was a bit “whangy-twangy” due to the style and the instruments he used, which included the sitar. This one is similar in many respects, but this CD is almost exclusively sitar music.

From the cover: “Sitar Secrets is yet another mesmerizing album from ambient sound architect Al Gromer Khan. At once entrancing and meditative, yet seductive and passionate, the intense rhythms and sounds of Sitar Secrets will completely envelop and enthrall you. Excellent for chill-out and progressive ambience, wonderful for yoga and meditation, a unique melding of traditional Indian and modern ambient music.”

There are nine tracks on this CD, ranging between 2:36 up to 14:08 minutes long. The tracks, while all being sitar-heavy and therefore similar, do not all sound alike; some tracks are very distinctive and even have a slight tune to them. This would be yet another excellent addition to a “meditation music” library. If you like the sitar and are looking to add an ambient Indian mood to your meditations, this would be an excellent choice.

I have included links to download this CD in MP3 format directly from Amazon and/or iTunes right now. The physical CD will not be released until the middle of February.

Daily Buddhism, Reviews

Book: Buddhas, Bohisattvas, Khadromas, and the Way of the Pilgrim

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Book: Buddhas, Bohisattvas, Khadromas, and the Way of the Pilgrim: A Transformative Book of Photography and Pithy Sayings
By Simhananda
Orange Palm Publications Inc. 2007, 205 pages
ISBN 9780973443981
Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0973443987/?tag=askdrarca-20

This is a large “coffee table” style art book that is in a consistent format throughout. On the right-hand page is a full-page photo of some Buddha, Bodhisattva, or Khadroma. On the left-hand page are two or three “pithy sayings” written in English, French and Italian. There are also two or three small photos on the left-hand page, usually of different views of the same subject from the right-hand page. Although there are a few photos of humans, and a handful of paintings, the vast majority of photos are of statues, idols, and sculptures.

The Good:

The book has a high-quality hard cover and the pages are made of sturdy, glossy paper that really shows the desire to make this a long-lasting and durable keepsake. The images, especially the full-page ones, are astounding. Extremely colorful and sharp, most of these just exude history and reverence. Some of the art looks well-maintained and new, while many are flaking paint or are otherwise showing their age. Some are so old that the faces and features are gone. Buddhism is up to 2500 years old, and there is real history shown here. Whether the images are Buddha, a bodhisattva, a mythical daemon, or a painting of a legendary figure, you know that each image has a wondrous story to tell.

The Bad:

Unfortunately, that story isn’t told. The ‚Äúpithy‚Äù sayings, while wise in themselves, have little to do with the images. Do you really like the images on the page you are looking at? Well good luck identifying it; there is no list of sources, no explanation, no titles, not even a name or location for any of the images. They sure are pretty pictures, but there is no way to identify any of them. What the publishers were thinking when they decided to leave everything unidentified, I cannot fathom. The only reason I can imagine for this lack is that due to the triple-language translations of everything, it might have complicated things somewhat.

I will admit that I am not a student of Eastern art, but there were very few images here that I recognized; these are not the same old photos of Buddha that you’ve seen elsewhere, which makes the lack of labeling even more galling. If you enjoy sculpture or photography, and want to see some really beautiful photos of ancient art that you very possibly haven’t seen before, then give this one a look. The photos really are outstanding.

Bottom Line: Beautiful, but essentially useless as a reference.

Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0973443987/?tag=askdrarca-20

Daily Buddhism, Reviews

Book: The Tao of Now, by Josh Baran

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Book: The Tao of Now
By Josh Baran
Reviewed by Brian Schell
Publisher: Hampton Roads, 400 Pages, ISBN 9781571745842
Buy from Amazon

Note: This book was previously published under the name “365 Nirvana Here and Now.”

“The Tao of Now: Daily Wisdom from Mystics, Sages, Poets, and Saints” is essentially a huge collection of wisdom quotes from all kinds of people, not necessarily just Buddhists. Quotes from Rumi, Buddha, Jack Kornfield, Pema Chodron, Thich Nhat Hanh, Dogen, Jesus, as well as many literary notables. Edited and compiled by Josh Baran, a former zen monk and Soto Zen teacher. These are “wisdom quotes,” not necessarily religious quotes, so you get ideas from every faith and outlook.

This isn’t the sort of book you read through from cover to cover. It’s fun to just flip through and read a page at random. There are 365 quotes, making it possible to go through one quote a day for a year with this book. Although these are not koans in the traditional sense, most are reasonably short and deep enough to allow for some real contemplation.

The introductory section is short, and explains much of the author’s background and reasons for writing the book. I especially like his reasons for being a “former” monk. He got up and walked out of the monastery one day. I suspect this happens quite a lot, and his reasons are interesting. He also points out in the introduction that some of the quotes in the book are contradictory, but that doesn’t necessarily make them wrong. You just need to think about where the original speaker was coming from contextually.

I’m not going to say this is a “must have” book, but it’s fun, informative, and does contain a lot to think about.

Daily Buddhism, Meditation, Reviews

Review: Seeds of Kindness Beads

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Loving Kindness BeadsReview: Seeds of Kindness Beads
By: http://www.seedsofkindness.biz

“May you be happy, may you be healthy, may you be peaceful, may you be safe.”

A couple of months ago, I reviewed the book “The Gift of Loving Kindness.” In the introduction of the book, one of the authors mentions that she sells beads. When I contacted her for more information, she kindly sent along a sample set for review.

What you get: A string of Loving Kindness Beads, hand-made and strung together while the assmbler wishes loving kindness upon the new owner and the word in general. As we have already discussed, loving-kindness generally involves well-wishing for yourself, for others, and for the world, by reciting, “May you be happy, may you be healthy, may you be peaceful, may you be safe,” in several variations. You will notice in the picture that there are four large beads, one for each step of the L-K meditation. Note that these are not mala beads, these are uniquey designed for the 4-step L-K “mantra.”

Along with the beads comes a nice little drawstring bag to keep the beads, but I noticed the bag has a “Made in PRC” (China) tag inside. There is also a CD which includes a walk-through on the ideas of loving kindness, use of the beads, and a 20-minute guided meditation session. The CD will be very helpful to newcomers to Loving-Kindness meditation.

Each strand of beads is unique and hand-assembled, and the ones currently on their website are priced between $45 and $90. Although it’s perfectly possible to do loving-kindness meditation without the use of beads, I can easily see this as an excellent gift. The accompanying CD makes an easily accessible introduction to L-K meditation, and the beads are something “real” to work with while meditating, which might make meditation more appealing to beginners.