A collection of charming and funny stories on how to turn the awareness we find on the meditation cushion into wisdom for every day.
GRACE SCHIRESON is a teacher in the Suzuki Roshi lineage empowered by Sojun Mel Weitsman. She has also practiced in the Rinzai tradition and was encouraged to teach koans by Keido Fukushima Roshi. Grace is the author of Zen Women- Beyond Tea Ladies, Iron Maidens, and Macho Masters and co-editor of Zen Bridge- The Zen Teachings of Keido Fukushima. Grace is the head teacher of the Central Valley Zen Foundation, president of the Shogaku Zen Institute, and teaches meditation at Stanford University. She is also a clinical psychologist specializing in women and families.
“Forthrightness, strength, humor, and wisdom are threads that weave
this marvelous book into a powerful tapestry of insight,
inspiration, and teaching.”—from the foreword by Joan Halifax,
author of Standing at the Edge
“Feisty and strong-minded, Grace Schireson has been a force in
American Zen for a long time. In Naked in the Zendo she tells her
story with verve, humor, and deep wisdom. You will enjoy her many
real-life teaching stories, as well as the bracing experience of
meeting an honest-to-god, life-as-it-is Zen teacher, who happens
also to be a daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother,
psychotherapist, and feminist activist. This is a book for our Zen
moment. For sure.”—Norman Fischer, founder and teacher of the
Everyday Zen Foundation, author of The World Could Be Otherwise
“Grace Schireson is a force of nature and a master of wild-ass Zen.
She has studied in Japan and America with Soto and Rinzai teachers.
Schireson Roshi spent years investigating koans with the Rinzai
master Keido Fukushima Roshi and received Dharma transmission from
the Soto master Sojun Mel Weitsman. Naked in the Zendo draws upon
turning points in her life to show critical aspects of our emerging
Western Zen. This is a wonderful book. I highly recommend
it.”—James Ishmael Ford, author of Introduction to Zen Koans
“This is a book about the heart of Zen practice, how to awaken to
vast awareness and then engage that awareness in transforming
distress into freedom and contentment in everyday life. Naked in
the Zendo combines pithy Zen koans with illuminating stories from
the author’s personal life as a wife and mother, from her
adventures in Zen training in the US, and as a woman practicing in
an all-male monastery in Japan.”—Jan Chozen Bays, author of
Mindfulness on the Go
“You’re not sitting on your cushion, says Grace Schireson, to get
good at meditation, but to transform your life. And not necessarily
through the dramatic moments of realization we usually associate
with Zen, but with the flowering of awareness into those seemingly
little everyday acts of kindness and responsiveness. When I was
just starting out in my own practice, I might not have had the
sense to recognize and appreciate such undramatic wisdom. I hope
Naked in the Zendo will inspire this awareness for both new and
seasoned practitioners.”—Barry Magid, author of Ending the Pursuit
of Happiness
“In these clear-headed, clear-hearted stories of American Zen
(serious Zen framed by an American sensibility), Grace Schireson
will grab your attention and open your awareness. Awareness is the
hero of these stories and Schireson is your guide as she tells you
what to hold on to and what to let go of when you engage your
deepest intention to wake up to reality. Schireson is a wise,
funny, and uniquely feminist American Zen teacher whose approach to
practice will enrich everyone.”—Polly Young-Eisendrath, author of
Love Between Equals
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