The Book of Householder Koans: Waking Up in the Land of Attachments

Zen teachers Marko and Nakao (Appreciate Your Life) update centuries-old koan stories and reflections for modern life in this engaging, empathetic collection. Zen koans are educational dialogues that have become literary devices used to understand and respond to everyday experiences with spontaneity, imagination, patience, and acceptance. The authors argue that koans help readers access Zen judgment principles; when one faces a challenge, one must reject the observer mentality and embrace what is unfolding in the present. Sixty-six brief koans by contributors from around the world and various Zen paths target home, children, work, illness, death, and Zen meditation practice. For example, koans offer spiritual guidance for adult sibling rivalry, letting a screaming child finish her screams while Mom meditates, contemplating the labor and life cycle of food, and taking care of an elderly parent. With its sophisticated Zen Buddhist ideas and reflections, this intricate, stimulating collection of koans offers constructive advice that will appeal to those with at least some experience as Zen practitioners. (Feb.)