Sumeru News — Zen

Just putting the finishing touches on Mountains and Rivers Sutra: Teachings by Norman Fischer, edited by Kuya Minogue, due out in March 2020. The Mountains and Rivers Sutra is one of 93 essays of Dogen, the great 13th century Zen Master, collected in a work called, The Shobogenzo. “Shobogenzo” means, “Treasury of the True Dharma Eye.” Dogen’s essay expressing the reality of the enlightened mind in the poetic natural imagery of his time is a classic of spiritual literature and an essential text for deep Zen practice to this day. In these talks given at the Upaya Zen Center in 2012, Norman Fischer presents Dogen’s medieval essay in language understandable to us...

Currently editing The Zen Priestess and the Snake by Ilia Shinko Perez Roshi, due for autumn publication.

Pleased to report I've received the final manuscript and am ready to start production for Mountain and Rivers Sutra: Teachings of Norman Fischer Transcribed and Edited by Kuya Minogue A Weekly Practice Book Here's a brief introduction to the book from Kuya, the editor... In 2015 and 2016, I transcribed talks about Dogen’s Mountain and Rivers Sutra that Norman Fischer gave at the Upaya Zen Centre in 2012. I divided his talks into 52 short essays, added a practice suggestion to each essay and published them in my bimonthly column, “A Zen’s Eye View” in our local newspaper. The Creston...

Here’s what I’ve been working on... A PATH THROUGH RED MAPLES: The Harmonious Way of Tendai Buddhism, by Dosho Ray Parchelo (Innen) This is a collection of Dharma talks, presentations, and other material exploring the history and practice of the Tendai lineage in Canada. Planning for publication in mid-Autumn. THE STORY OF ZEN by Rick McDaniel This is Rick’s sixth book on the history and practice of Zen (and the fourth being published by Sumeru). When westerners begin to practice Theravada or Vajrayana Buddhism, they have a pretty good idea of the Buddhist context. However often when people in the...

AMERICAN SUTRA: A story of faith and freedom in the Second World War  by Duncan Ryūken Williams Harvard University Press, 2019 ISBN 9780674986534 7.4 x 10.5 in, 400 pages, illustrated   Buddhist identity in America is a chimerical thing. Many have tried to grasp its image, only to find its nature fragmented into seemingly irreconcilable facets. Many a heated argument has resulted from debates about which interpretation is correct. Without a solid understanding of the history of Buddhism in America, such debates are rather like walking through a hall of mirrors at the carnival – fun but distorted. By the same...