Nothing Is Hidden: The Psychology of Zen Koans - Softcover

Magid, Barry

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1614290822 ISBN 13: 9781614290827

Publisher: Wisdom Publications, 2013

Synopsis

In this inspiring and incisive offering, Barry Magid uses the language of modern psychology and psychotherapy to illuminate one of Buddhism's most powerful and often mysterious technologies: the Zen koan. What's more, Magid also uses the koans to expand upon the insights of psychology (especially self psychology and relational psychotherapy) and open for the reader new perspectives on the functioning of the human mind and heart. Nothing Is Hidden explores many rich themes, including facing impermanence and the inevitability of change, working skillfully with desire and attachment, and discovering when "surrender and submission" can be liberating and when they shade into emotional bypassing. With a sophisticated view of the rituals and teachings of traditional Buddhism, Magid helps us see how we sometimes subvert meditation into just another "curative fantasy" or make compassion into a form of masochism.

About this title

About the Author

Barry Magid is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst practicing in New York City, and the founding teacher of the Ordinary Mind Zendo, also in New York. He is the author of the Wisdom titles Ordinary Mind and Ending the Pursuit of Happiness.

Reviews

What is your original face? This is just one question—a Zen puzzler known as a koan— among many that psychoanalyst and Zen teacher Magid (Ordinary Mind) uses to explore concerns and issues in mindfulness practice. Rather than engaging with the koans only from an intuitive point of view, Magid examines their literary and psychological dimensions. What is your original face? becomes an exploration of insecurity, finding wholeness in life, and of denial of the possibility of equanimity. He challenges common wisdom about the ameliorative properties of Zen practice, noting that while it deliver on the promise of insight, it fails to integrate such insight into individual character. Magid presents a nuanced, sensitive, and compassionate analysis of how it is all too easy to fall into idealism, escapism, and elitism with meditation, charging his readers to consider their intentions and motivations. Zen by itself, he argues, is highly unlikely to cure a practitioner of his or her mental afflictions, but his book can help point toward more honest introspection that will yield healing and acceptance. (Oct.)

Psychoanalyst and Zen scholar Magid provides an accessible and thorough examination of the nexus of Zen koan analysis and the interplay between the conscious and subconscious forces of human psychology. Brief chapters use a specific koan as a starting point from which Magid juxtaposes the history of its tradition in Zen Buddhist practice with contemporary reflections of what can be unpacked from its underlying interpretive possibilities. Readers unfamiliar with Buddhism will be drawn in by the artful explication of Zen morality. Zen practitioners, current and lapsed, will be interested in the discussion of how foibles of Zen masters should not be conflated with the underlying psychological truths Buddhist awareness and presence offers. While valuable to cultural observers, this small book can also serve as a guide for the contemplative and/or psychiatrically perplexed. Pair with Gary Snyder’s Zen-inspired poetry for a dynamic understanding of ancient and modern wisdoms enhancing one another. --Francisca Goldsmith

Edition details

• Publisher: Wisdom Publications
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1614290822
• ISBN 13: 9781614290827
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 232