That Is Not Your Mind!: Zen Reflections on the Surangama Sutra

Zen teacher Rosenbaum (What’s Wrong with Mindfulness) delivers a thorough introduction to the Surangama Sutra, the Buddhist text in which the Buddha’s attendant Ananda gets seduced by a courtesan and, horrified that he nearly broke his vow of chastity, requests instructions from the Buddha that comprise much of the rest of the sutra. Rosenbaum highlights the sutra’s three key themes: everything is an illusion, liberation depends on seeing things as they are and not how they relate to the observer, and one’s actions must conform to enlightened ideals. The author explores the Buddha’s “five delusions of the mind,” which include the false binary of pleasure and pain and the illusion that one can avoid a thought once it’s in one’s head. Rosenbaum adds to the sutra’s instructions on mantra chanting and sound meditation with his own suggestions for deepening practice, recommending that readers pay attention to sounds and silences while meditating and place one’s hands over one’s heart to foster self-love. Rosenbaum does an admirable job of summarizing the sutra’s teachings, respecting the source material and explaining its wisdom to readers with humanity and compassion. Buddhist practitioners should take note. (Aug.)