One Bird, One Stone: 108 Contemporary Zen Stories

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Hampton Roads Publishing, Apr 1, 2013 - Religion - 290 pages
“Anyone looking for insightful quotes, humor, Zen wisdom, or even just a good story will find something in these bite-sized anecdotes.” —Tricycle Magazine

Drawn from the archives of major Zen centers in America and interviews with some of the most seminal figures of American Zen, including Philip Kapleau, Bernie Glassman, Gary Snyder, and Walter Nowick, One Bird, One Stone presents the notable encounters between teachers and students, the moments of insight and wisdom, the quotable quotes, and the humor of Zen as it has flowered in America over the last one hundred-plus years.

Murphy, a Zen student and an accomplished writer, conducted numerous personal interviews and distilled over one hundred pithy stories. He covers Zen masters Suzuki, Maezumi, Seung Sahn, Robert Aitken, and Philip Kapleau along with earnest students Gary Snyder, Alan Watts, and Philip Whalen and others.

“Sean Murphy’s eloquent book is thought-provoking and lovely. This collection of 108 new teaching stories in the American Zen Buddhist tradition is a poetic account of the transplanting of Zen Buddhism to this new Western soil and some of the various ways it has taken root here in the lives of a wide spectrum of teachers and practitioners.” —Sharon Salzberg, New York Times–bestselling author and cofounder of The Insight Meditation Center

“The book gives you a profound glimpse into the well of the Zen mind.” —Santa Fe New Mexican

“Stories to inspire the mind and to find the true heart.” —Stephen and Ondrea Levine, authors of Who Dies?

“Intelligent, funny, wise and, best of all, speaks to the heart.” —Rafe Martin, Zen Bow
 

Contents

Acknowledgments
ORIGINAL FACE EARLY ENCOUNTERS
Shaking Hands with Essence Martin Buber and Soen Nakagawa
The Mystery of the Bamboo Early Students
New Mind and Eyeball Kicks The Zen Boom of
THE NEW BODHIDHARMAS
Anyway Do Zazen The Widening Circle
The Turning Wheel
Taking Root
Settling In Points of Practice
Press C Barbara Rhodes
Gesture Reciprocated Zoketsu Norman Fischer 88 Expressing Enlightenment Les Kaye and Dainin Katagiri 89 Hitting the 900YearOld Bell Jean Leys...
The Farther Shore New Direction in American
The Way to Mental Health Erich Fromm
Glossary
Teachers

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About the author (2013)

Sean Murphy is the founder and director of The Sage Institute for the Environment, Creativity, and Consciousness. He has taught at Naropa and frequently with Natalie Goldberg. He teaches meditation, creative writing and literature for UNM-Taos, and also teaches for the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe. His website is www.murphyzen.com.

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