
Bring Me the Rhinoceros
And Other Zen Koans That Will Save Your Life
Shambhala · Print & ebook · November 11, 2008
A provocative and playful exploration of the Zen koan tradition that reveals how everyday paradoxes are an integral part of our spiritual journey Bring Me the Rhinoceros is an unusual guide to happiness and a can opener for your thinking.
We earn from qualifying purchases.
- Who it’s for
- Traditional Zen koans meet playful reflection on happiness, belief, and the art of unmaking.
- Themes
- Zen koan tradition, Happiness through unmaking, Questioning beliefs
- Genres
- Zen Buddhism, Zen, Meditation
Nearest books
Matched by what the books are about, then ordered by what their readers also loved. Most of these share its genres: Zen Buddhism and Zen.
UnbornBankei53% match
The Platform SutraRed Pine, Hui-Neng50% match
The Three Pillars of ZenPhilip Kapleau Roshi, Philip Kapleau58% match
The Way of Chuang TzuThomas Merton, Dalai Lama XIV49% match
Through Forests of Every ColorJoan Sutherland72% matchAlso shares Meditation
Ordinary WonderCharlotte Joko Beck, Brenda Beck Hess65% matchAlso shares Meditation
The Miracle of MindfulnessThich Nhat Hanh, Vo-Dihn Mai52% matchAlso shares Meditation
SilenceThich Nhat Hanh, Dan Woren60% matchAlso shares Meditation
For younger readers: A Pebble for Your Pocket, Wisdom Tales From Around the World, Wide Awake
Start with three books, and this one can be the first.
Members get a new edition every morning: a route out from their books to essays, research and talks, with the reason for each.
Start with this bookAbout this book
A provocative and playful exploration of the Zen koan tradition that reveals how everyday paradoxes are an integral part of our spiritual journey Bring Me the Rhinoceros is an unusual guide to happiness and a can opener for your thinking. For fifteen hundred years, Zen koans have been passed down through generations of masters, usually in private encounters between teacher and student.
Continue reading
This book deftly retells more than a dozen traditional koans, which are partly paradoxical questions dangerous to your beliefs and partly treasure boxes of ancient wisdom. Koans show that you don’t have to impress people or change into an improved, more polished version of yourself. Instead you can find happiness by unbuilding, unmaking, throwing overboard, and generally subverting unhappiness. Author and Zen teacher John Tarrant brings the heart of the koan tradition out into the open, reminding us that the old wisdom remains as vital as ever, a deep resource available to anyone in any place or time.
Paradox, Opened
Traditional Zen koans meet playful reflection on happiness, belief, and the art of unmaking.
Come here for
- Paradox that loosens familiar beliefs
- Ancient wisdom with a playful edge
Expect
- More than a dozen traditional koans, retold
- A contemplative invitation to unmake unhappiness
Where it sits
| Zen Buddhism | 92% |
|---|---|
| Meditation | 30% |
| Zen | 27% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Zen
- Buddhist Practice & Ritual
- Zen Buddhism
- Authors
- John Tarrant
- Publisher
- Shambhala
- Published
- November 11, 2008
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- Zen koan tradition · Happiness through unmaking · Questioning beliefs
- Reading lane
- Zen