Describe your latest work. When I started working on Plant-Thinking in 2008, I had no idea that the project would turn out to be as broad as it did....
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The book has a casually warm and friendly tone that will appeal to wide variety of readers.
Drawing on sources as diverse as the Bible and stand-up comics, Ford reflects on his more than four decades walking the Path—and the Big Questions asked and answered (in his words: “sort of”). He examines the nature of Awakening and what it means to work toward it—helping us see, in the words of one chapter title, “Some of What Zen Practice Is, and a Little of What It Isnt”; he offers a wise perspective on the nature of spiritual directors and enormously helpful counsel on “What to Look for When Looking for a Teacher”; and give us a seasoned look at the core practices of Zen (shikantaza and koan study) within the key principles of not knowing and “sitting down, shutting up, and paying attention.”
This book explores the always fascinating issues of karma and rebirth from the deconstructing perspective of Zen—in a way that will find resonance with both conservatives and the vast audience of Stephen Batchelors Confessions of a Buddhist Atheist.
And perhaps most significantly, the last section of the book takes a fresh and nuanced look at the Buddhist Ethical Precepts—which
Synopsis:
Using vignettes and anecdotes from his own life—as well as quotations drawn from sources as varied as the Bible, Yiddish aphorisms, and stand-up comedy—Zen teacher and Unitarian Universalist minister James Ishmael Ford shares the gifts won over his lifetime of full-hearted engagement with the Zen path. “I've found myself broken open,” Ford says, “and found in that opening my fundamental connection to the whole world.”
What's more, If You're Lucky, Your Heart will Break breathes new life into the Buddhist ideas of karma and rebirth—as well as the Buddhist precepts of ethical action—and finds for them kinship in other spiritual endeavors. Even the most cynical of hearts will find resonance in Ford's compassionate presentation of basic human truths.
Geri Larkin, September 1, 2012 (view all comments by Geri Larkin)
I save the softest part of my heart for truth tellers -- not the people who shout from the rooftops necessarily -- but those among us who quietly and steadfastly stand in the face of harm and say, "That's not true". James Ford is a truth teller. He tells the truth about Zen - that it isn't anything special, true, but it can change a life nevertheless. This is a book with stories about his own spiritual path with its ups and downs, heartbreaks and joys.
He has written one of those books you'll want read and keep so you'll have it to pull off of a bookshelf on a stormy night when your mind is consumed with, "What was I thinking?!" James will talk you down and witness your starting all over again. And again. Oh, and again.
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The book has a casually warm and friendly tone that will appeal to wide variety of readers.
Drawing on sources as diverse as the Bible and stand-up comics, Ford reflects on his more than four decades walking the Path—and the Big Questions asked and answered (in his words: “sort of”). He examines the nature of Awakening and what it means to work toward it—helping us see, in the words of one chapter title, “Some of What Zen Practice Is, and a Little of What It Isnt”; he offers a wise perspective on the nature of spiritual directors and enormously helpful counsel on “What to Look for When Looking for a Teacher”; and give us a seasoned look at the core practices of Zen (shikantaza and koan study) within the key principles of not knowing and “sitting down, shutting up, and paying attention.”
This book explores the always fascinating issues of karma and rebirth from the deconstructing perspective of Zen—in a way that will find resonance with both conservatives and the vast audience of Stephen Batchelors Confessions of a Buddhist Atheist.
And perhaps most significantly, the last section of the book takes a fresh and nuanced look at the Buddhist Ethical Precepts—which
"Synopsis"
by Firebrand,
Using vignettes and anecdotes from his own life—as well as quotations drawn from sources as varied as the Bible, Yiddish aphorisms, and stand-up comedy—Zen teacher and Unitarian Universalist minister James Ishmael Ford shares the gifts won over his lifetime of full-hearted engagement with the Zen path. “I've found myself broken open,” Ford says, “and found in that opening my fundamental connection to the whole world.”
What's more, If You're Lucky, Your Heart will Break breathes new life into the Buddhist ideas of karma and rebirth—as well as the Buddhist precepts of ethical action—and finds for them kinship in other spiritual endeavors. Even the most cynical of hearts will find resonance in Ford's compassionate presentation of basic human truths.
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