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Rating: 
Summary: Precepts as self-expression, not as rules
Review: Editor Sara Jenkins compiles questions, answers, comments, and confrontations between Zen teacher Cheri Huber and some of her students during a retreat focusing on the first ten Buddhist precepts. The way precepts are used in Zen practice has been likened to runway lights: they are there for you to use when the path isn't clear. Cheri Huber, who trained in the Soto tradition and has a very distinctive, insightful style, takes this even further: the precepts are not rules at all, they are doorways onto your personal practice, to identifying the deepest beliefs about existence which we defend, and an opportunity for genuine self-expression as we let this go (as opposed to defending my persona, as my conditioning has taught me). A wonderful quality of the book is the willingness to present the students' struggles and frustration with respect for the process of the retreat. Cheri Huber refuses to pretend that she has answers: "Without any authority...maybe we can simply explore what's here."
Rating:
Summary: Precepts as self-expression, not as rules
Review: Editor Sara Jenkins compiles questions, answers, comments, and confrontations between Zen teacher Cheri Huber and some of her students during a retreat focusing on the first ten Buddhist precepts. The way precepts are used in Zen practice has been likened to runway lights: they are there for you to use when the path isn't clear. Cheri Huber, who trained in the Soto tradition and has a very distinctive, insightful style, takes this even further: the precepts are not rules at all, they are doorways onto your personal practice, to identifying the deepest beliefs about existence which we defend, and an opportunity for genuine self-expression as we let this go (as opposed to defending my persona, as my conditioning has taught me). A wonderful quality of the book is the willingness to present the students' struggles and frustration with respect for the process of the retreat. Cheri Huber refuses to pretend that she has answers: "Without any authority...maybe we can simply explore what's here."
Rating:
Summary: "10,000 against us, minus one."
Review: This 135-page book contains transcribed dharma talks from a Zen retreat devoted to the Buddhist precepts. In her Preface to the book, editor Sara Jenkins writes that the precepts are not rules. Rather, "they are more like signposts on the path that leads away from suffering and toward our own goodness" (p. 10). Zen teacher, Cheri Huber, explains that the precepts are "about opening to life. They address areas in which people tend to be closed down; we have a lot of childhood conditioning locked in us around stealing, sex, dishonesty, intoxication, judgment, greed, religion" (pp. 11-12). The talks here are a loving reminder that, although we may live in grown-up bodies, that doesn't mean we know anything (p. 41). This book, like the other engaging Huber books I've read, is about "finding our true nature, our original or authentic self, which has been covered over with conditioning" (p. 83). It is about learning to live "in compassionate awareness all the time" (p. 108) through practice, whether you are a Buddhist or not. In her precept teachings, Huber speaks from the heart with wisdom and clarity. "The best we can do," she tells us, "is to keep bringing our attention back to the present, to our hearts, to what is right here in this moment" (p. 15). Huber approaches the precepts more as a source of spiritual inspiration than as a code of ethics with which to punish ourselves: "there is no separate self" (not killing); "there is not scarcity of resources" (not stealing); "there is no scarcity of love" (not lusting); "there is no need to hide the truth" (not lying); "there is no need to hide from the truth" (not clouding awareness with intoxicants); "there are no victims or perpetrators" (not blaming or criticizing); "there are no winners or losers" (not competing or coveting); "there is nothing in my life that is not part of my spiritual training" (not denying spiritual responsibility); "there are no mistakes" (not to be angry); and "there is nothing in anyone else's life that is not appropriate to their spiritual training" (not assuming spiritual superiority). Huber encourages us to follow these precepts "as a way of looking after our own spiritual well being" (p. 89). This book will appeal to anyone interested in Zen practice. G. Merritt
Rating:
Summary: "10,000 against us, minus one."
Review: This 135-page book contains transcribed dharma talks from a Zen retreat devoted to the Buddhist precepts. In her Preface to the book, editor Sara Jenkins writes that the precepts are not rules. Rather, "they are more like signposts on the path that leads away from suffering and toward our own goodness" (p. 10). Zen teacher, Cheri Huber, explains that the precepts are "about opening to life. They address areas in which people tend to be closed down; we have a lot of childhood conditioning locked in us around stealing, sex, dishonesty, intoxication, judgment, greed, religion" (pp. 11-12). The talks here are a loving reminder that, although we may live in grown-up bodies, that doesn't mean we know anything (p. 41). This book, like the other engaging Huber books I've read, is about "finding our true nature, our original or authentic self, which has been covered over with conditioning" (p. 83). It is about learning to live "in compassionate awareness all the time" (p. 108) through practice, whether you are a Buddhist or not. In her precept teachings, Huber speaks from the heart with wisdom and clarity. "The best we can do," she tells us, "is to keep bringing our attention back to the present, to our hearts, to what is right here in this moment" (p. 15). Huber approaches the precepts more as a source of spiritual inspiration than as a code of ethics with which to punish ourselves: "there is no separate self" (not killing); "there is not scarcity of resources" (not stealing); "there is no scarcity of love" (not lusting); "there is no need to hide the truth" (not lying); "there is no need to hide from the truth" (not clouding awareness with intoxicants); "there are no victims or perpetrators" (not blaming or criticizing); "there are no winners or losers" (not competing or coveting); "there is nothing in my life that is not part of my spiritual training" (not denying spiritual responsibility); "there are no mistakes" (not to be angry); and "there is nothing in anyone else's life that is not appropriate to their spiritual training" (not assuming spiritual superiority). Huber encourages us to follow these precepts "as a way of looking after our own spiritual well being" (p. 89). This book will appeal to anyone interested in Zen practice. G. Merritt
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