From ljacobs at shambhala.com Thu Jul 20 14:54:14 2006 From: ljacobs at shambhala.com (Leonard Jacobs) Date: Thu Jul 20 15:00:17 2006 Subject: [Kenwilber] news from Shambhala Publications Message-ID: <44BF9916.25678.2BBAE02F@ljacobs.shambhala.com> Dear Friends: We have some exciting news to share about Ken Wilber and his work and writings. But this e-mail is mainly about other Shambhala publications. This month's new books are an ecumenical bunch, including titles in Buddhism, Christianity, and Judaism. WANTING ENLIGHTENMENT IS A BIG MISTAKE: TEACHINGS OF ZEN MASTER SEUNG SAHN compiled and edited by Hyon Gak The late Korean Zen Master Seung Sahn was never limited by the constraints of language. The fact that he was not terribly fluent in English didn't inhibit his teaching in the slightest, as any English speaker who had the good fortune to attend one of his dharma talks can attest. He deployed a small arsenal of phrases in a way that skillfully cut through the clouds in his listeners' minds--and that, as a side effect, usually made them laugh. He taught through his deeds as well as his words, and sometimes simply though his compassionate presence. Getting that kind of teaching down on paper is a challenging task, but Hyon Gak has succeeded at it remarkably well in this book. He presents not only his teacher's words but his actions, through anecdotes and stories of great power. This is the first book of Zen Master Seung Sahn's teachings to be published since his death in 2004, and it includes material that reveals a little- known side of him: his courageous efforts to speak the truth to power. The last chapter, "Letter to a Dictator," consists of a message he addressed to South Korea's president Chun Du-Hwan, the military dictator responsible for the deaths of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people in the 1980s. In the political climate of the time, the letter was plainly an act of bravery; but it was also, as you would expect, pure dharma teaching as well. http://www.shambhala.com/html/catalog/items/ISBN/1-59030-340-7.cfm A MONK'S ALPHABET: MOMENTS OF STILLNESS IN A TURNING WORLD by Jeremy Driscoll, O.S.B. Father Jeremy Driscoll is a Benedictine monk who is also a poet and theologian--and a kind of jet-setter (for a monk), as he divides his year between the diverse worlds of his monastery in rural Oregon and the Pontifical Athenaeum Sant' Anselmo in Rome, where he is a professor. A MONK'S ALPHABET is a collection of his meditations on a variety of topics close to his heart. They are meant to be read in random order rather than consecutively, so that you can be surprised by his thoughts just as he was when they arose. He has given each of the 187 miniature essays an arbitrary title and arranged them alphabetically, from "Airplane" to "Zaccheus," in order to emphasize the randomness with which he hopes the reader will approach the book. Here are a couple I opened to at random: CLUMSY. All my longing, all my restlessness, my worry, my sense of failure--perhaps all of this is just my clumsiness at finding myself in contact with the divine and eternal realities in which I am immersed. I mean God. I am immersed in God through the finite forms he has created and placed among us for touching his infinite form. Of course, one is all mixed up at first. EGG. We hardly think of it when we do it, but to do it without breaking it a knowledge is required that is acquired. I mean picking up an egg with the right force. Too much and it would break all gooey in my hand. Too little and I drop it. But surely many other things are like this, and the egg is its image. The egg as an image of moderation! I need to learn this. Moderation is an acquired knowledge of not too much and not too little, and its application changes according to circumstances. Not to break the egg and not to let it drop--the goal of my life. http://www.shambhala.com/html/catalog/items/ISBN/1-59030-373-3.cfm INVITING GOD IN: CELEBRATING THE SOUL-MEANING OF THE JEWISH HOLY DAYS by Rabbi David Aaron "I tried being an atheist," the comedian Henny Youngman once said, "but I gave it up--there were no holidays." Mr. Youngman likely meant "holiday" in the sense of vacation, but in the Jewish tradition, the holidays aren't really days off at all, but occasions of celebration and commemoration as a spiritual practice. The Hebrew word for holiday is "moed," which actually means a "date" or a "meeting." So you could say a holiday is a kind of date with God. Each of these "dates," according to the wise and witty David Aaron, celebrates a particular theme of God's relationship with humanity. Passover, for example, celebrates God's unconditional love; Yom Kippur celebrates forgiveness; Sukkot and Simchat Torah celebrate wholeness, spontaneity, and anticipation. Rabbi Aaron also looks at the holy days of Shauvot, Tisha B'Av, Rosh Hashanah, Chanukah, Tu B'Shvat, and Purim. "All the Jewish holidays connect us with the drama of Jewish history," he says. "Remembering what was in the past awakens us to see what is in the present and what can be in the future. Each holiday celebrates a critical ingredient in the recipe for a loving relationship with God and our fellow human beings-- freedom, responsibility, fallibility, accountability, forgiveness, spontaneity, integrity, wholeness, intimacy, anticipation, hope, and trust. Each holiday on the Jewish calendar is a date with God. Each holiday is an opportunity to relive the dramatic events that occurred on those days--to remember and celebrate God's timeless love for us." http://www.shambhala.com/html/catalog/items/ISBN/1-59030-337-7.cfm Until next month, Dave O'Neal Senior Editor Ken Wilber and Traleg Kyabgon in a public event in NYC! In a rare public dialogue, Ken Wilber and Traleg Kyabgon will meet on September 8th and 9th in Manhattan to discuss the place of Buddhism and spirituality in the modern world. For details on how you can attend, please see http://www.evam.org. You can buy any of the books listed above--and many other Shambhala books--at a 20 percent discount by ordering online at our website: http://www.shambhala.com. You can also order by phone by calling, toll-free 1-888-424-2329, or by writing us at: Shambhala Publications, Inc., P.O. Box 308, Back Bay Annex, Boston, MA 02117- 0308. Drop us a line at editors@shambhala.com! We love to hear from you. And if you ever want to change or delete your e-mail address, please send a note to emailList@shambhala.com. If you need to change your address, please send your old e-mail address in addition to your new address. From ljacobs at shambhala.com Thu Jul 20 14:54:14 2006 From: ljacobs at shambhala.com (Leonard Jacobs) Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2006 14:54:14 -0400 Subject: [Kenwilber] news from Shambhala Publications Message-ID: <44BF9916.25678.2BBAE02F@ljacobs.shambhala.com> Dear Friends: We have some exciting news to share about Ken Wilber and his work and writings. But this e-mail is mainly about other Shambhala publications. This month's new books are an ecumenical bunch, including titles in Buddhism, Christianity, and Judaism. WANTING ENLIGHTENMENT IS A BIG MISTAKE: TEACHINGS OF ZEN MASTER SEUNG SAHN compiled and edited by Hyon Gak The late Korean Zen Master Seung Sahn was never limited by the constraints of language. The fact that he was not terribly fluent in English didn't inhibit his teaching in the slightest, as any English speaker who had the good fortune to attend one of his dharma talks can attest. He deployed a small arsenal of phrases in a way that skillfully cut through the clouds in his listeners' minds--and that, as a side effect, usually made them laugh. He taught through his deeds as well as his words, and sometimes simply though his compassionate presence. Getting that kind of teaching down on paper is a challenging task, but Hyon Gak has succeeded at it remarkably well in this book. He presents not only his teacher's words but his actions, through anecdotes and stories of great power. This is the first book of Zen Master Seung Sahn's teachings to be published since his death in 2004, and it includes material that reveals a little- known side of him: his courageous efforts to speak the truth to power. The last chapter, "Letter to a Dictator," consists of a message he addressed to South Korea's president Chun Du-Hwan, the military dictator responsible for the deaths of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people in the 1980s. In the political climate of the time, the letter was plainly an act of bravery; but it was also, as you would expect, pure dharma teaching as well. http://www.shambhala.com/html/catalog/items/ISBN/1-59030-340-7.cfm A MONK'S ALPHABET: MOMENTS OF STILLNESS IN A TURNING WORLD by Jeremy Driscoll, O.S.B. Father Jeremy Driscoll is a Benedictine monk who is also a poet and theologian--and a kind of jet-setter (for a monk), as he divides his year between the diverse worlds of his monastery in rural Oregon and the Pontifical Athenaeum Sant' Anselmo in Rome, where he is a professor. A MONK'S ALPHABET is a collection of his meditations on a variety of topics close to his heart. They are meant to be read in random order rather than consecutively, so that you can be surprised by his thoughts just as he was when they arose. He has given each of the 187 miniature essays an arbitrary title and arranged them alphabetically, from "Airplane" to "Zaccheus," in order to emphasize the randomness with which he hopes the reader will approach the book. Here are a couple I opened to at random: CLUMSY. All my longing, all my restlessness, my worry, my sense of failure--perhaps all of this is just my clumsiness at finding myself in contact with the divine and eternal realities in which I am immersed. I mean God. I am immersed in God through the finite forms he has created and placed among us for touching his infinite form. Of course, one is all mixed up at first. EGG. We hardly think of it when we do it, but to do it without breaking it a knowledge is required that is acquired. I mean picking up an egg with the right force. Too much and it would break all gooey in my hand. Too little and I drop it. But surely many other things are like this, and the egg is its image. The egg as an image of moderation! I need to learn this. Moderation is an acquired knowledge of not too much and not too little, and its application changes according to circumstances. Not to break the egg and not to let it drop--the goal of my life. http://www.shambhala.com/html/catalog/items/ISBN/1-59030-373-3.cfm INVITING GOD IN: CELEBRATING THE SOUL-MEANING OF THE JEWISH HOLY DAYS by Rabbi David Aaron "I tried being an atheist," the comedian Henny Youngman once said, "but I gave it up--there were no holidays." Mr. Youngman likely meant "holiday" in the sense of vacation, but in the Jewish tradition, the holidays aren't really days off at all, but occasions of celebration and commemoration as a spiritual practice. The Hebrew word for holiday is "moed," which actually means a "date" or a "meeting." So you could say a holiday is a kind of date with God. Each of these "dates," according to the wise and witty David Aaron, celebrates a particular theme of God's relationship with humanity. Passover, for example, celebrates God's unconditional love; Yom Kippur celebrates forgiveness; Sukkot and Simchat Torah celebrate wholeness, spontaneity, and anticipation. Rabbi Aaron also looks at the holy days of Shauvot, Tisha B'Av, Rosh Hashanah, Chanukah, Tu B'Shvat, and Purim. "All the Jewish holidays connect us with the drama of Jewish history," he says. "Remembering what was in the past awakens us to see what is in the present and what can be in the future. Each holiday celebrates a critical ingredient in the recipe for a loving relationship with God and our fellow human beings-- freedom, responsibility, fallibility, accountability, forgiveness, spontaneity, integrity, wholeness, intimacy, anticipation, hope, and trust. Each holiday on the Jewish calendar is a date with God. Each holiday is an opportunity to relive the dramatic events that occurred on those days--to remember and celebrate God's timeless love for us." http://www.shambhala.com/html/catalog/items/ISBN/1-59030-337-7.cfm Until next month, Dave O'Neal Senior Editor Ken Wilber and Traleg Kyabgon in a public event in NYC! In a rare public dialogue, Ken Wilber and Traleg Kyabgon will meet on September 8th and 9th in Manhattan to discuss the place of Buddhism and spirituality in the modern world. For details on how you can attend, please see http://www.evam.org. You can buy any of the books listed above--and many other Shambhala books--at a 20 percent discount by ordering online at our website: http://www.shambhala.com. You can also order by phone by calling, toll-free 1-888-424-2329, or by writing us at: Shambhala Publications, Inc., P.O. Box 308, Back Bay Annex, Boston, MA 02117- 0308. Drop us a line at editors at shambhala.com! We love to hear from you. And if you ever want to change or delete your e-mail address, please send a note to emailList at shambhala.com. If you need to change your address, please send your old e-mail address in addition to your new address.