Zen in the Vernacular: Things As It Is

(Paperback)

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Buddhas core teachings explained in accessible, everyday language

Shows how Zen offers a creative problem-solving mechanism and moral guide ideal for the stresses and problems of daily life

Shares the authors secular, vernacular interpretations of the Four Noble Truths, the Three Treasures, the Eightfold Path, and other fundamental Buddhist ideas

During the nearly 3,000 years since the Buddha lived, his teachings have spread widely around the globe. In each culture where Buddhism was introduced, the Buddhas teachings have been pruned and modified to harmonize with local customs, laws, and cultures. We can refer to these modifications as gift wrapping, translating the gifts of Buddhas teachings in ways sensible to particular cultures in particular times. This gift-wrapping explains why Indian, Tibetan, Vietnamese, Japanese, Chinese, and Indonesian Buddhism have significant differences.

In this engaging guide to Zen Buddhism, award-winning actor, narrator, and Zen Buddhist priest Peter Coyote helps us peer beneath the Japanese gift-wrapping of Zen teachings to reveal the fundamental teachings of the Buddha and show how they can be applied to contemporary daily life. The author explains that the majority of Western Buddhists are secular and many dont meditate, wear robes, shave their heads, or believe in reincarnation. He reminds us that the mental/physical states achieved by Buddhist practice are universal human states, ones we may already be familiar with but perhaps never considered as possessing spiritual dimensions.

Exploring Buddhas core teachings, the author shares his own secular and accessible interpretations of the Four Noble Truths, the Three Treasures, and the Eightfold Path within the context of his lineage and the teachings of his teacher and the teachers before him. He looks at Buddhas teachings on our singular reality that appears as a multiplicity of things and on the self that perceives reality, translating powerful spiritual experience into the vernacular of modern life.

Revealing the practical usefulness of Buddhist philosophy and practice, Zen in the Vernacular shows how Zen offers a creative problem-solving mechanism and moral guide ideal for the stresses and problems of everyday life.

Author Bio

Peter Coyote is an award-winning actor, narrator, and teacher. Recognized for his narration work, he narrated the PBS series The Pacific Century, winning an Emmy Award, as well as eleven Ken Burns documentaries, including The Roosevelts, for which he won a second Emmy. In 2011 he was ordained as a Zen Buddhist priest and in 2015 received transmission from his teacher, making him an independent Zen teacher. The author of several books, including The Lone Ranger and Tonto Meet Buddha, he lives in northern California.