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Not Always So by Shunryu Suzuki

Not Always So

Practicing the True Spirit of Zen

Shunryu Suzuki, Edward Espe Brown, Zen Center San Francisco

HarperCollins · Print & ebook · June 2, 2009

Practising the true spirit of Zen.

MeditationZen BuddhismZenpersonal development
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Who it’s for
Suzuki’s everyday, paradoxical Zen offers guidance that leaves room for your own way.
Themes
Zen practice, Self-discovery, Personal freedom
Genres
Zen Buddhism, Meditation, Zen

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About this book

Practising the true spirit of Zen. Not Always So is based on Shunryu Suzuki's lectures and is framed in his own inimitable, allusive, paradoxical style, rich with unexpected and off–centre insights. Suzuki knew he was dying at the time of the lectures, which gives his thoughts an urgency and focus even sharper than in the earlier book. In Not Always So Suzuki once again voices Zen in everyday language with the vigour, sensitivity, and buoyancy of a true friend.

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Here is support and nourishment. Here is a mother and father lending a hand, but letting you find your own way. Here is guidance which empowers your freedom (or way–seeking mind), rather than pinning you down to directions and techniques. Here is teaching which encourages you to touch and know your true heart and to express yourself fully, teaching which is not teaching from outside, but a voice arising in your own being.

Zen, Without Rails

Suzuki’s everyday, paradoxical Zen offers guidance that leaves room for your own way.

Come here for

  • Zen teachings with the buoyancy of a true friend
  • Unexpected turns of thought rather than tidy directions

Expect

  • Lectures in allusive, off-centre language
  • Guidance that encourages self-expression over techniques

Where it sits

Zen Buddhism97%
Zen38%
Meditation23%

Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.

Publisher categories

  • Eastern Philosophy
  • Philosophy Overviews
  • Religion & Philosophy
  • Buddhist Practice & Ritual
Show all 8 publisher categories
  • History of Religion
  • Meditations
  • Spirituality
  • Psychology of Religion
Authors
Shunryu Suzuki, Edward Espe Brown, Zen Center San Francisco
Publisher
HarperCollins
Published
June 2, 2009
Format
Print & ebook
Theme
Zen practice · Self-discovery · Personal freedom
Reading lane
Eastern Philosophy