Zen Cancer Wisdom: Tips for Making Each Day Better - Softcover

Friedman, Suzanne

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1614291233 ISBN 13: 9781614291237

Publisher: Wisdom Publications, 2014

Synopsis

With a much-needed sense of levity, Daju Suzanne Friedman teaches the art of keeping one’s body, mind, and spirit together while living with cancer.

"Layman Wang once asked his attendant,'What would you do if a dragon suddenly arrived here?' His attendant answered, 'I wouldn't pay attention to anything else.' This is how it feels when you've been diagnosed with cancer. Your attention and focus shift dramatically towards just this one thing. While single-minded focus can be beneficial, it is also important to remember that you are more than your diagnosis, and that there is more to life than being a patient." --from the introduction

In Zen Cancer Wisdom, Daju Suzanne Friedman--Zen teacher, Chinese medicine doctor, and Qigong specialist--shares the inspirations, insights, and humor that helped her to continue to live fully in the face of cancer. With sections devoted to soothing the spirit, harnessing the mind, nourishing the body, and qigong stretches for soothing aches and pains, Friedman provides thoughtful guidance on topics ranging from hair loss and constipation to coping with stress and learning to laugh again. Each chapter begins with an anecdote drawn from the Zen tradition, followed by personal reflection, and a brief guided practice specifically for cancer patients. Pocket-sized, with short, buoyant chapters, and meditation exercises designed to be practicable anywhere in only a few minutes time, Zen Cancer Wisdom is the perfect companion book for cancer patients.

About this title

About the Author

Daju Suzanne Friedman was a Zen teacher in the Hollow Bones Rinzai Zen Sangha. Having first encountered Zen at the Nagaoka Zen Juku, a Rinzai Zen monastery in Japan, she went on to become a doctor and professor of Chinese medicine doctor and professor, as well as a scholar or Daoism, and a qigong master. Daju taught Daoist qigong and spirituality at two Chinese medicine schools in the San Francisco Bay Area. She lead Hollow Bones Zen meditation and services in San Francisco as well. She twice survived cancer, and studied and played the shakuhachi (Japanese Zen bamboo flute) as a meditative practice. Suzanne passed away in March of 2014.

Review

"A refreshingly up-beat, humorous, compassionate treasury of practical wisdom for those living with cancer." Author: Willa B. Miller, coauthor of The Arts of Contemplative Care

"This remarkable book combines the deep and authentic wisdom of Zen ancestors’ pithy teachings with the everyday practical intelligence required to live with cancer. If you are ill, this book is required reading, but it is also recommended for those of us who face aging and mortality--everyone. This book brilliantly addresses living fully each day while facing a life that ultimately veers beyond our control." Author: Grace Schireson, author of Zen Women

"As a person living with chronic illness, this book has become one of my most valuable resources. It’s a rich and comprehensive guide to opening our minds to our life as it is and for soothing our struggling bodies." Author: Toni Bernhard, author of How to Be Sick and How to Wake Up

"Daju Suzanne Friedman gives us a wise, practical and compassionate fusion of modern and ancient Zen mind body approaches that allow one to live with cancer." Author: Herbert Benson, MD, author of The Relaxation Response

"Something truly astonishing can happen when we are pushed to the edge of our life. Daju Suzanne Friedman met her cancer diagnosis with the courage of everyday Zen. She leads us through the mundane and the horrific with such steadfast wisdom that her book reminds us what is possible for our lives as we engage the inevitable challenges of old age, sickness, and death." Author: Rodney Smith, author of Awakening

"As straightforward as a Zen Master, and as compassionate as a Bodhisattva, Daju gently unveils the path of living with cancer. This is a healing jewel, studded with ancient wisdom and good humor. I will be giving this to many friends as a companion on the way of doing illness." Author: Roshi Pat Enkyo O’Hara, author of Most Intimate: A Zen Approach to Life's Challenges

Edition details

• Publisher: Wisdom Publications
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1614291233
• ISBN 13: 9781614291237
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 320