Thank You and Ok!: An American Zen Failure in Japan

(Paperback)

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An American Zen Failure in Japan- The account of an American disciple's experiences inside and outside a Zen monastery. David Chadwick began his Zen study under the legendary Japanese master Shunryu Suzuki Roshi in 1966. Much later, Suzuki Roshi's successor said of Chadwick- 'Years of expensive Zen training gone to waste.' In 1988 Chadwick flew to Japan to begin a four-year period of voluntary exile and remedial education. In THANK YOU AND OKAY! he recounts his experiences both inside and outside the monastery and offers insightful portraits of the characters he encountered - the bickering monks, the patient abbot, the ominous insects, the bewildered bureaucrats, and his idiosyncratic fellow students - as they worked inexorably toward initiating him into the mysterious ways of Japan. No one interested in Zen Buddhism, Japan, or the workings of human nature will soon forget Chadwick's tale.

Reviews

Hats off to Chadwick. . . . His writers skill is evident in everything from skin-crawling descriptions of mukade (dreaded scorpion-like insects) to a benevolent look at takuhatsu, formal monks begging.Publishers Weekly

Written down with good humor and keen observations. . . . This book is not a serious examination of Zen Buddhist practices nor a major study of East-West relations but a rollicking, anecdotal mishmash of incidents about the foibles of monks, abbots, housewives, and fellow students of the authors. Read with this understanding, this book is good entertainment.Library Journal

Vivid, lighthearted, and unself-consciously profound.Kirkus Reviews

"The Catch-22 of Zen."Daniel Leighton, author of Faces of Compassion

Asked why Zen was brought from India to China, master Zhao Zhou replied, 'The oak tree in the garden.' This is exactly what Chadwick gives us hereno grand sweeping statements about the 'real' nature of Zen or Japanjust specific experience rendered with a peculiar intensity that lingers in your memory. The writing is excellent. The artistic integrity is the very finest.Robert Pirsig, author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

"Totally delightfulfantastic couch potato Zen. Chadwick saves you the trouble of going to Japan by making all the mistakes for you."Jack Kornfield

Author Bio

David Chadwick, a Texas-raised wanderer, college dropout, bumbling social activist, and hobbyhorse musician, began his Zen study under Shunryu Suzuki Roshi in 1966. Chadwick now lives in Northern California where he reads, writes, walks, and continues to dabble in Buddhism and related matters.