Authors:
Publisher: 2005
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
Edition:   Format: Paperback   Series:
ISBN (Pages): 1932360948 (272)
Summary: In this eye-opening memoir, Lisa Crystal Carver recalls her extraordinary youth and charts the late-80s, early-90s punk subculture that she helped shape. She recounts how her band Suckdog was born in 1987 and the wild events that followed: leaving small-town New Hampshire to tour Europe at 18, becoming a teen publisher of fanzines, a teen bride, and a teen prostitute. "Spin" has called Suckdog's album "Drugs Are Nice" one of the best of the '90s, and the book includes photos of infamous European shows. Yet the book also tells of how Lisa saw the need for change in 1994, when her baby was born with a chromosomal deletion and his father became violent. With lasting lightness and surprising gravity, "Drugs Are Nice" is a definitive account of the generation that wanted to break every rule, but also a story of an artist and a mother becoming an adult on her own terms.

Authors:
Publisher: 2003
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
Edition:   Format: Paperback   Series:
ISBN (Pages): 0743444299 (320)
Summary: Now in her 50s, Mineko Iwasaki was one of the most famed geishas of her generation (and the chief informant for Arthur Golden's "Memoirs of a Geisha"). Her ascent was difficult, not merely because of the hard, endless training she had to undergo--learning how to speak a hyper-elevated dialect of Japanese and how to sing and dance gracefully while wearing a 44-pound kimono atop six-inch wooden sandals--but also because many of the elaborate, self-effacing rules of the art went against her grain. A geisha "is an exquisite willow tree who bends to the service of others," she writes. "I have always been stubborn and contrary. And very, very proud." And playful, too: one of the funniest moments in this bittersweet book describes a disastrous encounter with the queen of England and her all-too-interested husband.
Revealing the secrets of the geisha's "art of perfection," this graceful memoir documents a disappearing world. "--Gregory McNamee"

Authors:
Publisher: 1999
Genre: Buddhist
Edition: 1st ed   Format: Hardcover   Series:
ISBN (Pages): 0767901045 (448)
Summary: ""He's big Suzuki, I'm little Suzuki.""
In the literary world, Shunryu Suzuki has always played second fiddle to D.T. Suzuki. With David Chadwick's biography of this extraordinary man, Shunryu Suzuki will take his rightful place as one of the progenitors of American Buddhism. Chadwick, a long-time student of Suzuki's, takes us back to Suzuki's childhood, his entry into monastic life at age 13, subsequent trials with his ornery master and in the notoriously strict Eiheiji Monastery, as well as life as a houseboy with a British tutor to the Chinese emperor, marital tragedies, and the political minefield of World War II while he served as abbot of his own temple. The overarching theme of Suzuki's teaching is practice--in a community setting--and when he takes over a temple of aging Japanese Americans in San Francisco, his practice begins to attract younger Americans. The second half of "Crooked Cucumber" relates the phenomenal growth of the San Francisco Zen Center and becomes a biography of the growing community and its members, inasmuch as the center was Suzuki's life. A monk who was thought to be as useless as a crooked cucumber, under the pen of Chadwick turns out to be a brilliant, witty, tireless patriarch of American Zen. "--Brian Bruya"

Authors:
Publisher:
Genre: Buddhist
Edition: First Edition   Format: Hardcover   Series:
ISBN (Pages): (163)
Summary: Here you will find our morning service, and several other chanting services. Also includes selected readings by Master Rinzai, Obaku and others. Revised, beautifully designed and printed, bound in the traditional Japanese sutra book style. In English, and Japanese Romanized text, for chanting and study. Cloth with protective slipcase.

Authors:
Publisher: 2003
Genre: Buddhist
Edition: 1st ed   Format: Hardcover   Series:
ISBN (Pages): 0060008946 (272)
Summary: "Buddhism and punk rock," writes former skate punk, drug addict, and petty thief and current Buddhist meditation instructor Noah Levine in his memoir "Dharma Punx", "obviously have some huge differences." No argument there. "But," he continues, "for me they are both part of a single thread that has been stitched through every aspect of my life." Judging by Levine's childhood, it's amazing there's any salvageable material with which to stitch. He was suicidal at age five, smoking pot and drinking beer while crashing headlong into the Bay Area punk scene by the 8th grade, and in and out of jail as a wayward teen who stole VCRs from neighbors to finance a crack habit. After he hit bottom and embraced a Buddhist path similar to that endorsed by his father, author Stephen Levine, the trappings of his previous life were largely rejected. Except for the punk rock, which Levine channeled into a Buddhist worldview. The firs! t section of the book is harrowing as Levine details his descent into addiction and does so with a simple matter-of-fact approach that makes his tale all the more compelling. Levine is a potent central character, always sympathetic even when he's neither likable nor completely forgivable. Later sections lack the same impact and consist largely of travelogues of the author's journeys around the world in search of spiritual satisfaction along with attempts to reconcile the disparate worlds of punk and Buddhism. Nonetheless, it is satisfying to see Levine return to the juvenile halls where he was once incarcerated, this time as a counselor. While there is nothing especially unique about the literary genre of reformed addict memoir, it's a genre that rarely involves punk rockers or Buddhists. Levine's unique and skillfully related journey will appeal to punks, Buddhists, and anyone interested in the idea of redemption. "--John Moe"

Authors:
Publisher:
Genre: Buddhist
Edition: First Edition   Format: Hardcover   Series:
ISBN (Pages): (107)
Summary: The only one of its kind with English translation and Japanese Romanized text, for chanting and study. Beautifully designed and printed, bound in the traditional Japanese sutra book style. Includes notes. Cloth with protective slipcase.

Authors:
Publisher: 2003
Genre: Buddhist
Edition:   Format: Paperback   Series:
ISBN (Pages): 086171380X (224)
Summary: This is nor your average Zen book full of feel good stories designed to lull readers into beautiful dreams of peace and wonder. It's a book written in an open, accessible style with biting humor that spares no one.

Authors:
Publisher: 1996
Genre: Buddhist
Edition:   Format: Hardcover   Series:
ISBN (Pages): 0517703777 (171)
Summary: In the tradition of Jon Kabat-Zinn's Wherever You Go, There You Are, one of America's most provocative and celebrated Buddhist teachers presents a distillation of Zen wisdom that can be used equally well as a manual on business, spiritual practice, or cooking.

Authors:
Publisher:
Genre: Buddhist
Edition: First Edition   Format: Paperback   Series:
ISBN (Pages): 1882795004 (108)
Summary: Zen Mountain Monastery Daily Liturgy Manual In Zen liturgy we manifest as a tangible reality that which is known to us intuitively. This book is a collection of chants used during services and ceremonies at Zen Mountain Monastery. A chapter by John Daido Loori, Roshi anchors the book and presents an introduction to this powerful practice. 108 pp. Hardcover or paperback.

Authors:
Publisher: 2003
Genre: Buddhist
Edition:   Format: Paperback   Series:
ISBN (Pages): 0060957549 (176)
Summary: If you can imagine Zen Existentialism, "Not Always So" is it. Part instruction manual for Zen practice and part philosophical meditation, Shunryu Suzuki's teachings emphasize being-in-the-world. He does not point toward a singular enlightenment-event as a burst into higher consciousness. Rather, he suggests a more experiential enlightenment that finds meaning in a full awareness of the present. For example: "If you go to the rest room, there is a chance for enlightenment. When you cook, there is a chance for enlightenment. When you clean the floor, there is a chance to attain enlightenment."
Shunryu Suzuki was an important emissary of Zen Buddhism to the United States. Establishing a Zen center in San Francisco in the 1960s, he attracted many noted pupils, including this book's editor, Edward Espe Brown. In fact, "Not Always So" is Brown's collection of Suzuki's teachings during his last years, in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
No doubt some readers will want to wrestle with the often paradoxical nature of Zen teachings. And those from the Western philosophical tradition may find vast differences between the Western system that takes its cue from Descartes' "cogito" and the Eastern one that emphasizes the destruction of the ego. Says Suzuki: "It is just your mind that says you are here and I am there, that's all. Originally we are one with everything." While the book does not wrestle with cultural-philosophical differences, it is nevertheless a good introduction to Zen. Suzuki's teachings tend to flow from simple stories, usually drawn from his own experiences. It's almost entirely free of the jargon that clutters many books on Buddhism, and the teachings are communicated with clarity and brevity. "--Eric de Place"

Authors:
Publisher: 1994
Genre: Buddhist
Edition:   Format: Hardcover   Series:
ISBN (Pages): 0804819777 (311)
Summary: I got this as my first book on tape. I had always thought it would take away from the book to listen to it read by someone else. But on my drive from upstate NY to Philly to visit my parents, I decided to get a book on tape. I was so into this book that i could hardly pay attention to my driving. The five hour drive was a breeze while listening to this. I was there before I knew it. Also, as a practicing Zen Buddist, I found this to be a wonderful story and it helped me find a few things I was missing. I bought the book now and I'm re-reading it. I think that anyone, Zen buddist or not would enjoy this tale of a person's growth, and feel the sorrow of her untimely death

Authors:
Publisher: 1991
Genre: Buddhist
Edition: 1st ed   Format: Paperback   Series:
ISBN (Pages): 0877735204 (280)
Summary: I bought this book several years ago and it has proven an invaluable reference. For anyone wanting to deeply study Buddhism and Buddhist sutras this book is very helpful. The entries are clear and accurate, with extensive cross-references. There are entries for each of the major sects of Buddhism as well as various doctrines and teachers. Like one reviewer above, I too was at first nonplussed by the "and Zen" in the title. Then I re-read the first page, "Guide to Using This Dictionary," where it explains that "Zen, although frequently considered to be one among many schools of Buddhism, had its own independent development to such an extent that it is here treated as a separate subject area. This also corresponds to its own understanding of itself as 'outside the orthodox teaching.'" There has been an occasional time when I cannot find a Sanskrit or Pali term in the Dictionary, but for all the basics, this book is excellent.

Authors:
Publisher: 2005
Genre: Buddhist
Edition: Unabridged   Format: Audio CD   Series:
ISBN (Pages): 1591792444 ()
Summary: Pema Chödrön examines the question, "What is the root of happiness?" She guides the listener through effective meditations and practices to face their feelings with courage, patience, and compassion, dissolve the barriers to our hearts, and cultivate a sense of happiness.

Authors:
Publisher: 2000
Genre: Buddhist
Edition:   Format: Paperback   Series:
ISBN (Pages): 1570623449 (148)
Summary: Much like Zen, Pema Chodron's interpretation of Tibetan Buddhism takes the form of a nontheistic spiritualism. In "When Things Fall Apart" this head of a Tibetan monastery in Canada outlines some relevant and deceptively profound terms of Tibetan Buddhism that are germane to modern issues. The key to all of these terms is accepting that in the final analysis, life is groundless. By letting go, we free ourselves to face fear and obstacles and offer ourselves unflinchingly to others. The graceful, conversational tone of Chodron's writing gives the impression of sitting on a pillow across from her, listening to her everyday examples of Buddhist wisdom.