Being Upright: Zen Meditation and the Bodhisattva Precepts

by Reb Anderson

Book Overview

Being Upright takes us beyond the conventional interpretation of ethical precepts to the ultimate meaning that informs them. Reb Anderson first introduces us to the fundamental ideas of Zen Buddhist... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0962713899
• ISBN13: 9780962713897
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: Rodmell Press
• Length: 232 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Not An Introductory Zen Book

If you are one who intends to "receive the precepts" by whatever ceremony or process your sangha follows, then this is definitely the book for you. It does not presume to dictate precept practice to anyone. As the book makes clear: Practice arises out of one's realization while practice simultaneously fosters realization. The author does discuss targets to aim for. However hard those targets may seem at this point in your life, shooting at a target with no bullseye won't improve anyone's aim. Ultimately, of course, we each set our own targets. One caution: "Being Upright" says it is written for people already in Zen practice. It is for those who are considering making a public, formal statement of their personal dedicated intent to follow specific Buddhist precepts. As the author says, his title refers to "the integration of precept practice and meditation." He makes it clear that it is the Zen meditator who decides whether or when to make the vows to practice the precepts. He also says that while some, in his experience, might make their avowal after six months of meditation practice, most should have sat for three years or more (many, many more in his own case). Don't buy this book if you are looking for an introduction to Zen.

"Enter the Buddha's Way."

Tenshin Reb Anderson is one of the original exponents of American Zen. The Midwestern Anderson became a student of Shogaku Shunryu Suzuki in 1967, staying with him until Suzuki's death in 1971. Having briefly met and received teisho from the dignified Anderson, a model of equanimity and rectitude, at a sesshin he conducted in 2007, BEING UPRIGHT took on a very direct and personal tone for me as I read through it. Although Anderson's personality imbues this book with a kind of "warm reserve," making it perhaps a bit less penetrable than Aitken Roshi's THE MIND OF CLOVER, which discusses the Bodhisattva Precepts as well, the differences in tone are only those as arise between different teachers. The lessons are equally as valid. Reb Anderson's thesis is that the Bodhisattva Precepts are central, as central as, and perhaps even a shade more so, than zazen. Although zazen is considered by many to be the heart-mind ('shin') of Zen, the Precepts are the thoughts and feelings that imbue that heart-mind, an infinitely complex and organic set of principles that underlie each aware moment. In their externals rather like the Ten Commandments, the Precepts arise from, and at the same time are, and also create, the way of right living. A self-perpetuating, closed, and yet infinitely open manner of addressing the world, to be a Bodhisattva, an awakened one who remains in the world but not of it pending the enlightenment of all beings, is to be totally, joyfully, human. Reb Anderson uses traditional teachings, examples from his own tenure as a teacher and as a student, and examples from the life of Suzuki, to underscore the nature of the Precepts and their practical application to American life. An important book for the Zen practitioner, BEING UPRIGHT asks us to be all that we are.

Could not disagree more...

I have to disagree with "turned me off Zen completely." This reader from California is exactly the kind of rookie amatuer that make my days so full of frustration! Which is exactly why, Being Upright by Reb Anderson, was such a welcome distraction in my everyday routine. The book offers up a comprehensive picture of the fundamental teachings of Zen Buddhism. The author turns a complex and perplexing subject into a relaxing, simple journey through the world of Zen. The author and publisher have given us a gem.

great book from a great american zen master

"being upright" points directly to our daily lives and gives inspiration for practicing the all-important buddhist precepts. by expanding on each precept, anderson-roshi shows how they are not black-and-white rules, but not to be ignored either. he shows how our lives can truly be transformed to happiness if we keep mindfulness in our practice and our lives. anderson-roshi brings what many foreign masters of zen can't - an american upbringing. his stories touch home and his words rings true. i highly recommend this book for any student of life, and i thank anderson -roshi for his teaching.