Being Zen: Bringing Meditation to Life

One of the most difficult aspects of the path is my own tendency to complicate life with judgments and the need to control. Bayda's book offers powerful advice on how to best deal with those issues. Just let things be. My favorite phrase from the book, "We can learn at home even in the midst of the muddy waters of our lives" is the basic wisdom of this book. Practice is where you are at any giving point of the day. Bayda's book Being Zen is an excellent guidebook on working on letting be rather than always trying to make things happen. The wisdom of looking at our difficulties as an opportunity to practice is profound as well. Bayda's chapter on how we construct our "substitute life" was also pertinent to me as well. As a public school administrator, it quickly became clear to me how much of what I do each day is shaped by conditioning, or decisions and choices made long ago when I became a teacher. Being aware means I am in touch with these which allows me to be more open in all aspects of my life. This book has so much wisdom in it, I am sure I'll be returning to it again and again.

This little book has given me so much more than what I spent on it.I carry it with me. It wont solve your problems for you, butit will provide a new way of looking at things if you let it. a better way.guess what? I'm happier for having read it.

This book definitely dives a little deeper than other ZEN / Buddhism books I've read thus far. Prior to this book, I read Steve Hagen's "Buddhism Plain and Simple" (I also just purchased his other title, "Buddhism Is Not What You Think" -- soon to be read)... I have to admit, Steve Hagen is much smoother, and more comprehensible in his writing style than Ezra, but now we're getting into personal preference. Either way, I may get another book on Ezra to feel him out further...I would like to add a few notes as I do with all of my reviews; the reason for this being -- if any new readers find my points interesting, then I'm doing my small part of bringing this material to light (prior to purchase). I find this much more useful than going into the whole story about the book.*HIGHLIGHTS, that's what we need...1. To see things for what they are --Not to label `good' or `bad', but simply observe the existence of your feelings, doubts, fears, and all of the wonderful things around you as well. This is the 1st step -- to SEE. Don't hang onto certain feelings and look to eradicate others because they don't make you feel good, just notice your awareness to them. To be in touch with `good', `bad', OR indifferent; and REALIZE they are just feelings, beliefs, etc. Moreover, they are not the real YOU; they are just a small part of the "whole you". In closing, your purpose is to experience the whole, and not get attached to the smaller fragments...2. All things come /go --(Including: our moods, frame of mind, even our worst feelings and thought). All things change. We must realize this truth and then allow these feelings to move on. Do not cling to any of these emotions. Rather, discern their existence, realize where they are coming from and allow them to pass. By practicing this exercise, you are allowing yourself not to get tied down, but to be freed instead...3. You can only learn so much in good times --Conversely, through pain, suffering, anger, and anxiety - we can learn a great deal indeed. Instead of pushing these feelings away, we should embrace them as our teachers that have a lot to offer. Pain is not suffering. Pain simply IS & we must learn to acknowledge & accept this fact of life. When you finally succumb, and realize PAIN IS - then you understand that you shouldn't push away, for you cannot turn your back on your life, your path. Also, at some point you surmise that pain allows you to feel compassion for others too. Ultimately, your heart opens to others who might be suffering.4. Hardships / Obstacles --These are simply `our path' at the present time. With that said we must look at each obstacle and impediment openly and learn what we can through this process. Lastly, we need strength to stay with this particular life and the present moment as it is, as oppose to always running from pain. You cannot run away from life and turn a blind eye. To be present, to be truly present and mindful - we must look at life in its entirety.Be aware - be awake to all that is happening inside and around us...

If it is true, as the adage goes, that good things often come in small packages, then here we have some tangible evidence in the form of this wonderful first book from Zen teacher Ezra Bayda. A "small package" indeed, at under 150 reduced-size pages, and yet brimming with more useful information and sage advice than many a larger book.Much of the useful information contained in Being Zen is concentrated in its opening section, "The Basics of Practice". In these chapters, Bayda first helps us to understand how we are all "skating on thin ice" by investing so much energy in attempting to control every aspect of life, and then offers practical suggestions for using meditation practice as a way of learning how to simply be with what is. One of my favorite take-aways from these "how-to-meditate" chapters involves a technique Bayda calls "three-by-three" in which you gradually expand your sensory awareness to include first your breathing, then the air around you, and finally your physical posture - and then you hold these three distinct aspects in a unified awareness for three full inhalation-exhalation cycles. This is a very effective exercise for grounding yourself in the here-and-now of the present moment.The two sections that follow - "Practicing with Emotional Distress" and "Awakening the Heart of Compassion" - contain a wealth of sage advice. Of particular value for me was the chapter on practicing with anger, a masterful explicitation of this intensely negative emotion as the natural outcome of our unwillingness to be with things as they are. It would be impossible - and perhaps harmful - to try to distill the process Bayda defines for working with anger in one or two sentences here. Instead, I will simply point out that he makes a profoundly useful distinction between "expressing anger" and "experiencing anger" that, once understood, can completely transform one's approach to dealing effectively with the impulse to anger.The book closes with several truly moving accounts of Bayda's experiences as a hospice volunteer, by way of demonstrating both the value and the limits of loving-kindness as a meditation practice, and a powerful free-verse poem he wrote on the occasion of his fiftieth birthday entitled, "What Is Our Life About?", which concludes with the words, "Time is fleeting. / Don't hold back. / Appreciate this precious life."To which I would add, as the conclusion of this review - Appreciate this precious book.

Good information. Not a complete success, but good enough to give me some pointers and an easy read.

Wonderful clear writing on Zen without any jargon.

This one of the two or three best books on quiet prayer that I've ever read. Bayda's profound and compassionate understanding of how the human mind, indeed of the human being works, and of how our habits of thought ensnare and restrict us - this is all very helpful. It's a very practical book. He's a Buddhist and I'm a Christian. But just as a Buddhist might write a great book on, say, baking bread - and the book be none the less helpful to Christians for it being written by a Buddhist - so this book on quiet prayer and conversion of life loses nothing for being written by Buddhist. I can't think of a Christian who - were he or she to approach it with an open mind - wouldn't find it helpful, and be a better Christian for it.

A day to day practice method is set out here, with typical issues encountered by the lay practitioner. Ideally read with 'At home in the Muddy water' which covers the same type of approach. Not however necessary to own/read both books as the content and principal approach is similar. Rooted in Joko Beck's approach to Soto Zen practice, helps one to see that "even this is my path'.

I have learnt very much from this book. It's an account of years of practicing meditation and based on real life experience. Unlike other books on this topic, it is written in a simple and powerful way, so much that I have read it again and still use it to remind myself of the profound teachings. Whether you are afflicted by the anxiety of living or simply want to find a different approach to living, this is an excellent book to read!

Love this guy's work. It offers exactly what it says on the cover! He is a friend of Pema Chodron too so if you love her work, you might love this one too....makes a lot of sense, good practical advise and to the point instruction. Enjoyed it :)

Really good beginners book. Definitely recommend and has a great outlook on life. Anyone looking for their beginnersbook try this one.

amazing book

This is a great book who want to practice genuine meditation going deep into life.Life in all aspects even in hard hard dark aspects can and should be paths for awakening our true self- that's surely shown in the book from real life experience. I loved reading this book with great insight into the path of meditation. But I think an enlightened master should not hesitate to focus light on someone's life even if that man is on his or her last days. A spiritual master should shake and awaken and focus light on the way a man is making his life miserable not just listening to his story as friend. It's all about seeing the reality so a master should light up whenever possible.

I loved the pragmatism of Ezra. Her final chapter is nothing more than moving. Thanks for having shared your view with world.

Tout d'abord,permettez-moi cette remarque essentielle : Being Zen, Bringing Meditation to Life, a été écrit par Ezra Bayda (Charlotte Joko Beck a écrit la préface de ce livre). D'autre part, je ne souhaite pas que mon nom apparaisse en entier : serait-il possible de m'appeler simplement 'Kate' ?Ce petit livre, exceptionnellement clair, écrit par un grand méditant, enseignant au Centre Zen de San Diego, m'a immensément aidée, tout au long de sévères ennuis de santé. Il a vivement intéressé nombre de psychologues autour de moi. C'est ce que l'on pourrait appeler un" livre phare".Being Zen nous donne les moyens pratiques d'accueillir les difficultés de la vie, et j'en reste profondément redevable à Ezra Bayda. On sort du désarroi dont on est saisi lorsqu'on se dit : "Il ne reste plus qu'à accepter !"

Points of this book were very useful but I found it to stylised for me

If you have been a practicing Buddhist for even a few years you will find this book pretty lame. Too many Westerners are writing books when they are novice students and not real teachers. I am not saying to blindly follow what Buddhists from traditional Buddhist countries say, but Ezra Bayda is a novice student at best. Nothing against him personally but I found this book a total waste of time. If you are getting a lot from this book you need to seriously look at your practice and make a more concerted effort to learn more. Not really anything to learn here from a Buddhist perspective and barely qualifies as pop psychology. If you are really suffering, in the way Buddha addressed, this is not for you. Learn and study from the masters, take a course from the S.N. Goenka school and get a good psychologist. This is kindergarten Buddhism at best. The West has to wake up to what they are learning from other Westerners and realize they are being duped.

This book is not about ZEn, this book has nothing to do with Zen. At the most, it can be classified as a self-help book. It is full of essays about how to deal with difficult situations in life like anger, distress, anxiety, fear etc, from authors own point of view. The author presents a meditation technique of labelling the thoughts, loving-kindness meditation, other ways to look at thoughts and feelings like asking "what is this" etc, but this is not Zen meditation practice. This is borrowed from western psychotherapy and other buddhist traditions. The book repeatedly mentions authors struggle with his illness and how he overcomes the psychological suffering part of it, by so-called meditative practices, but in reality it's just consoling inan adult manner who knows meditation and buddhist philosophy, that's it.Although Zen has therapeutic effects, its not a therapy for depressed and suffering people. The path of Zen is for those who are psychologically fit and whose sole aim in life is to know the ultimate truth. For people who sole aim has become that. This book is crap. Its title is misleading. The titles of the chapters are misleading. Its not about 'being zen', its about consoling oneself in difficult situations in life.Don't buy this book. Enough said.

Being Zen. Poor writing; weak content; not recommend; substantiated by examples not necessarily true.Author not necessarily who he says he is.