A review by alex_ellermann
Dropping Ashes on the Buddha: The Teachings of Zen Master Seung Sahn by Stephen Mitchell
1.0
'Dropping Ashes on the Buddha' came highly recommended, but left me deeply disappointed.
The book, a collection of letters and talks, is supposed to impart the wisdom of Zen Master Seung Sahn, a Korean Buddhist Zen master who divided his time between Massachuessets, Providence, and New York. Over the course of the book, however, I came to the conclusion that Seung Sahn was a fraud.
The Master attributes powers to Zen that simply don't exist, asserting that Zen masters can do things like fly and walk on water. He makes the practice of Zen, something as simple as water flowing in a brook, seem confusing and unapproachable. Basically, he's putting us on.
You see, a true master of any discipline can make the complex simple. It takes a poseur to make the simple complex, and Sueng adds to the complex by layering it with opacity and self-importance. The Western seeker after Zen would do better to study Thomas Merton's 'Zen and the Birds of Appetite.' Merton's book is approachable, readable, simple. As Zen is simple.
Yes, I'm aware that many contemporary thought leaders swear by 'Dropping Ashes on the Buddha.' But the emperor has no clothes.
The book, a collection of letters and talks, is supposed to impart the wisdom of Zen Master Seung Sahn, a Korean Buddhist Zen master who divided his time between Massachuessets, Providence, and New York. Over the course of the book, however, I came to the conclusion that Seung Sahn was a fraud.
The Master attributes powers to Zen that simply don't exist, asserting that Zen masters can do things like fly and walk on water. He makes the practice of Zen, something as simple as water flowing in a brook, seem confusing and unapproachable. Basically, he's putting us on.
You see, a true master of any discipline can make the complex simple. It takes a poseur to make the simple complex, and Sueng adds to the complex by layering it with opacity and self-importance. The Western seeker after Zen would do better to study Thomas Merton's 'Zen and the Birds of Appetite.' Merton's book is approachable, readable, simple. As Zen is simple.
Yes, I'm aware that many contemporary thought leaders swear by 'Dropping Ashes on the Buddha.' But the emperor has no clothes.