Afterzen: Experiences of a Zen Student Out on His Ear

by Janwillem van de Wetering

Book Overview

In Afterzen , van de Wetering provides unorthodox solutions to a collection of classical koans found in Walter Nowick's The Wisteria Triangle . Van de Wetering gives them his own distinctive touch of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312204930
• ISBN13: 9780312204938
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
• Length: 194 Pages
• Weight: 0.83 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.8" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

A Breath of Fresh Air

In his previous books, *The Empty Mirror* and *A Glimpse of Nothingness*, Van de Wetering shows us his earnest, serious phase when he seeks out and learns from a Zen master in Kyoto, Japan and later on in Maine, USA. In *Afterzen*, Van de Wetering weaves a delightful tapestry of post-zen stories that show the lighter side of life after involvement with dysfunctional spiritual teachers and centers. Van de Wetering shares his encounters with two types of inappropriate spiritual teachers: (a) the outright, (usually male) rash teachers who drink and womanize and (b) the grim, unyielding and dogmatic teachers who feel they are somehow on a mission. In Maine, Van de Wetering seems to have worked closely with the grim and dogmatic kind. In *A Glimpse of Nothingness* he gives one such teacher the pseudonym of "Peter." In *Afterzen* it seems that he refers to the same person as "Sensei," simply meaning "teacher," a name used in most American Zen centers. Some of Van de Wetering's encounters of his earlier phase are retold in a critical, yet humorous vein in his lighter, "afterzen" phase. The reason Van de Wetering didn't question the behavior of his earlier teachers in his previous books--both the teachers he worked with and the ones he met in passing--is that he simply couldn't. Western Zen students tend to take themselves and their teachers way too seriously. Respect turns into idealization and idealization turns into belief in the lineage myths of supposedly enlightened teachers. In this phase, it is all too easy to silence inner doubts about unwise or uncompassionate behavior in teachers. That spiritual teachers are human, all too human, is a hard lesson to learn in the western Zen environment. Most Zen teachers do not encourage down-to-earth, horizontal relationships with their students. It likely took many a tumble and several years of experience in a dysfunctional center for Van de Wetering to see through the Zen hype, and to come out laughing in the end. Highly recommended reading for anyone who has ever left a spiritual practice center, or who is contemplating intense involvement with one.

If you¹ve ever had an interest in Zen, read this book.

I read Janwillem Van de Wetering's two earlier books on zen years ago, and after seeing David Chadwick's comments on Afterzen, I was itching to read it, and have just finished doing so. What a feast for zen students! Van de Wetering says things that some of us who have been practicing zen for decades have been muttering between our breaths for years but rarely saying outright. I laughed out loud through many of the chapters and was sobered by some of the others. The author muses on his life as a zen student and introduces us to as many gurus, senseis, and rimpoches as one life can encompass, thrusting us headfirst into koans along the way. By the time his story ends, we've been through hell, purgatory, and various heavens. I can't think of a healthier testimony to the fact that zen is alive and well in the West than Afterzen. Those who don't like what Janwillem has to say about zen are entitled to their opinions. I am grateful for the book, and to the author. If you've ever taken seriously the question Who am I and what the hell am I doing here? and sincerely looked for an answer in Eastern or Western skies, don't miss reading this book. It gets all the stars I've got.

masterpiece - just when you thought empty mirror was best

the liners would have you believe that janwillem tells us the answers to koans. what he does do as always, is show his true self. i asked my 13 year old daughter for the answers to the first 2 koans - she immediately gave the 'correct' answers. this book does not answer koans. this book shows where buddha nature leads. the answers are the true questions... john boland

No idealized pretending Zen here.

Van der Wetering, the first guy to write about studying Zen in Japan (that I can think of), then, in America, brings him and us and what's-it-all-about (not let-me-tell-you-where-it's-at) together again. Good stories with the ups and downs reveal his own path with his own wry wit. Check him out