If you've ever wondered what it is like to spend time at a Zen monastery, here is the perfect guidebook for you. The host, Jack Maguire, author and storyteller, is also a student at Zen Mountain Monastery in Mt. Tremper, New York. The foreword by John Daido Loori, abbot of that establishment, outlines the Eight Gates of Zen, "a comprehensive training matrix designed to help students clarify the nature of the self." At the heart of this is zazen, which he calls "the digestive process of Zen practice."
Maguire profiles some residents who live full-time in Zen monasteries and gives an overview of the workshops, talks, projects, and training provided to the public. He sees these places as providing a physical home for living in a spiritual manner. Zen monasteries connect students and practitioners with sangha (Buddhist community) and access to teachings that have been passed down through the centuries.
Whether discussing the dress code, the different modes of teacher-student relationships, the relevance of Zen to creativity via brush painting and calligraphy, the body practices of aikido or kung-fu, or the spiritual nature of work, Maguire emphasizes how they are all related to the discovery of the buddha nature, "the inherent perfection buried deep within us beneath layers of conditioning."
The author relishes the way time is structured in a Zen monastery as he takes us through a 24-hour period. Waking Up by Jack Maguire also includes a guide to Zen Buddhist places throughout North America and a glossary of terms.