Novice to Master: An Ongoing Lesson in the Extent of My Own Stupidity

Rating:
Summary: The Title Says It All
Review: 3.75 Stars

The title says it all - An Ongoing Lesson In The Extent of My Own Stupidity

For me this book came my way at a good time. The point in meditation practice where you start to wonder if you're doing this right - where - to put it simply - you just feel like an idiot - just sitting there - just breathing - and feelin' none the wiser -

The book is about the life of Soko Morinaga - and parts of his journey from novice to master.

The best parts of this book are the funny stories of this Master as he was coming up - as he was learning - these stories are funny and relatable.

It's a quick read, parts are funny, parts make you think and do that "nod" and most of the book makes you realize that you're not alone in feeling like an idiot sometimes - in life before, after and even during meditation.

This is a very good book - not great - but enjoyable and very good.

Rating:
Summary: the simplicity of wisdom
Review: on the day that i received this book, i found that i had read it from cover to cover in matter of a couple of hours. roshi morinaga's words left me with the realization that, although his widom may appear to be quite simple, it takes a lot of learning from erroneous mistakes throughout one's life in order to put zen training into action. after blazing through this book i had found myself drawn to give it another read a couple of weeks later. reading it again, i became aware that the roshi's simple wisdom was not to be taken in stride but to be pondered more deeply. the translation of his words is unpretentious and terse, the way zen literature, in my opinion, is best transmitted. roshi morinaga opens our eyes to the initial tribulations of a zen novice such as the feelings of inadequacy in comparison to one's zen teacher, the stubborn fight that the ego plays among other things. i would strongly recommend this book for the serious zen student. may it help us all see our teachers in a more human light.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining and Honest
Review: Rinzai Zen master Soko Morinaga talks to us in very funny and frank language about the strains he's encountered in his own Zen training over the years. We are left without any doubt that he began as bemused and puzzled as you and I are perhaps in our own current practice. And it's ongoing! He is a Zen master, but still experiencing the limits of his own stupidity. It's wonderful news for you and I! We can take a sigh of relief now!

There is one particularly hilarious segment where he discusses pissing. He began addressing an audience who received a short break between talks. Out of concern for them Morinaga said, "Did you all have time to urinate?" The audience seemed a little stunned by this question. Maybe they were surprised that the person saying this was a monk. "Pissing is something that no one else can do for you. Only you can piss for yourself." He said this in front of this pretty large audience, and they all broke out in laughter! Yet this is a very critical statement. Dogen Zenji once had said something along very similar lines. He had been out in the field one day and a young monk said, `master, you should not be out here in the hot field doing work, you are master. You should go inside, leave the work for me." Dogen replied with something like, " If you did it I would miss the experience, I must work for myself." This is not a word for word account, but you get the picture.

I cannot capture all of the wonderful teachings you will find in this book for you in such a short review. You will have to purchase it and see for yourselves. This book makes practice abobe anything else, FUN! Enjoy yourselves! Zen master Soko Morinaga makes my sides hurt all throughout here. But the most precious part of it all, is how insightful it is. Not only does it make you laugh yourself silly, but it helps us all come closer to tackling the great question of life and death. Enjoy this book.

Rating:
Summary: authentic
Review: The best darn zen book I've ever read. It has 2 or 3 pearls of wisdom applicable to anyone's life experience while also giving a detailed picture of traditional Japanese zen training at one of the oldest and most prestigious monasteries in Japan. Hard realities are delivered with a gentle demeanor unlike none I've ever encountered before.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Primer on the Way Life Should Be Lived
Review: This book is an excellent intro to the way one should approach life. It is of particular interest to me because I'm in a business where things can rapidly seem to overwhelm me. If you are very busy and need something to snap you back into the present, read this.

Rating:
Summary: authentic
Review: This posthumous memoir follows the life of Soko Morinaga Roshi (1925-95) from novice to Zen master, teaching us lessons of dedication, sacrifice and determination along the way. Soko Roshi served in the Japanese Army at the start of World War Two, before training in the monastery at Daitokuji from 1949 through 1963, and his life as a soldier seemed easy when compared to his difficult monastic training. His approach to Zen practice is refreshingly honest; meditation offers no quick fixes, he tells us, nor shortcuts to liberation. Confronting death daily is the only way, he tells us, to live life fully. In the end, this short book is not so much a memoir about Soko Roshi's forty years of "stupidity," as a book of lessons encouraging us to measure the extent of our own stupidity.

G. Merritt

Rating:
Summary: Wisdom in "Stupidity."
Review: This posthumous memoir follows the life of Soko Morinaga Roshi (1925-95) from novice to Zen master, teaching us lessons of dedication, sacrifice and determination along the way. Soko Roshi served in the Japanese Army at the start of World War Two, before training in the monastery at Daitokuji from 1949 through 1963, and his life as a soldier seemed easy when compared to his difficult monastic training. His approach to Zen practice is refreshingly honest; meditation offers no quick fixes, he tells us, nor shortcuts to liberation. Confronting death daily is the only way, he tells us, to live life fully. In the end, this short book is not so much a memoir about Soko Roshi's forty years of "stupidity," as a book of lessons encouraging us to measure the extent of our own stupidity.

G. Merritt

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: What an incredible book -- funny, moving, smart, real. It should be required reading in school instead of "The Crucible" or "Last of the Mohicans"