Singing and Dancing Are the Voice of the Law: A Commentary on Hakuin's “Song of Zazen” - Softcover

Lahn, Bussho

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1948626780 ISBN 13: 9781948626781

Publisher: Monkfish Book Publishing, 2022

Synopsis

“This is one of the best books on Zen and Zen practice that I have read in years. Busshō uses a well-known Zen song/poem to elucidate the key features of Zen meditation, practice and life….It brings the famous Zen master’s teaching alive while also showing how it is relevant to Zen practice in the 21st century." ―Tim Burkett, author of Nothing Holy About It and Zen in the Age of Anxiety

Foreword Book of the Year Finalist (Nonfiction: Religion)

Singing and Dancing Are the Voice of the Law introduces us to one of the great works of Zen literature, “The Song of Zazen.” Zen teacher Busshō Lahn illuminates Hakuin’s enigmatic poem in plain language, unpacking it and applying it to contemporary life. His book offers a wealth of information on the context and content of this eighteenth-century work, clearly evoking its themes of abiding wisdom, meditation, compassionate self-regard, and our own everyday life’s potential to express deep spiritual truth.

Short stanza by short stanza, this exceptionally readable and deeply engaging book shows how the poem’s teachings and invitations are as applicable now as they were when they were first written nearly three centuries ago. Lahn offers readers an intuitive and progressive path of exploration of their spiritual lives, regardless of their faith tradition.

About this title

About the Authors

Busshō Lahn is a Zen teacher who leads the Flying Cloud Zen community and is a senior priest at Minnesota Zen Meditation Center. He is also a speaker, retreat leader, and spiritual director. Busshō sees his tradition through a modern but reverent lens, believing that the heart of Zen is accessible to all who seek it. His work imbues secular psychological understanding with needed spirituality and traditional Buddhist material with needed freshness. You can learn more about Busshō at www.flyingcloudzen.org.

Tim Burkett began studying Zen in 1964 with Shunryu Suzuki, author of Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, and was ordained as a Zen priest in 1978 by Dainin Katagiri, author of Returning to Silence and other books. Tim has been the guiding teacher at the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center for the last 19 years. Tim is the author of Nothing Holy About It (Shambhala) and Zen in the Age of Anxiety: Wisdom for Navigating Our Modern Lives (Shambhala, 2018), which was selected as one of the 100 best spiritual books of 2018.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

INTRODUCTION

by Tim Zentetsu Burkett

 

            It may seem weird to refer to a book on Zen, or any spiritual teaching, as one that you can’t put down. But this was my exact experience after opening this book by Busshō Lahn. Having finished it, I feel deeply grateful for both Hakuin’s poetic expression of a joyous stillness which is at the center of all being, including yours, as well as Busshō’s thoughts about how to access it. Busshō shows time and time again how, Hakuin, in spite of his reputation as a tough and often cranky Zen master, had a heart-mind both as soft as a baby’s and as open as a spring wildflower. As Busshō points this out, he also shows us his own heart-mind. 

            A feature of this book, which makes it stand out from the hundreds of books that come out every year with a Buddhist meditation orientation, is Busshō’s adeptness at moving between ancient Buddhist teaching and contemporary non-Asian wisdom. He cites a diverse mix of contemporary Americans like David Brooks, writing about Lady Gaga, lyrics by the rock band Duran Duran, and even a psychologist with expertise in dealing with trauma.

            A second feature which makes it stand out is the way it displays the core teachings of Zen with delightful stories from its development in China and Japan, and Zen’s grounding in practices that were brought to China from India more than 2000 years ago, including The Five Remembrances. He clearly elucidates these one by one, showing how their regular recitation has impacted his own spiritual practice and life. He even explains Buddhist terms like karma, which often seem complex and confusing, with both clarity and cogency.

            As Busshō elaborates on the wisdom displayed in these two features, he punctuates this with a core refrain: We can only discover and open up to the deep wisdom of heart-mind through from a persistent and patient commitment to Zen meditation (zazen).

            You may want to read this book from cover to cover in one or two sittings, as I did, or you may prefer to open it and dip into any part of it. It’s that good. Hakuin and Busshō have formed a partnership that spans nearly four centuries to show us in myriad ways how to open up to our very own heart-mind, the heart-mind of the universe.

—Tim Zentetsu Burkett, Guiding Teacher, Minnesota Zen Center

Edition details

• Publisher: Monkfish Book Publishing
• Publication date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1948626780
• ISBN 13: 9781948626781
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 220