{"id":255,"date":"2011-03-16T09:27:30","date_gmt":"2011-03-16T09:27:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/03\/book-review-the-book-of-mu-essential-writings-on-zens-most-important-koan-edited-by-james-ishmael-fo.html"},"modified":"2011-03-16T09:27:30","modified_gmt":"2011-03-16T09:27:30","slug":"book-review-the-book-of-mu-essential-writings-on-zens-most-important-koan-edited-by-james-ishmael-fo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/03\/book-review-the-book-of-mu-essential-writings-on-zens-most-important-koan-edited-by-james-ishmael-fo.html","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: The Book of Mu: Essential Writings on Zen&#8217;s Most Important Koan edited by James Ishmael Ford &amp; Melissa Moyzen Blacker"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/mindfulnessmatters\/mu.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"mu.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/96\/import\/assets_c\/2011\/03\/mu-thumb-350x350-22060.jpg\" width=\"350\" height=\"350\" class=\"mt-image-left\" style=\"float: left;margin: 0 20px 20px 0\" \/><\/a><\/span>Mu is Zen&#8217;s most famous and challenging koan.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><i>The Book of Mu<\/i> (Wisdom Publications) is a collection of essays, contemporary and classic on this ancient mind puzzle and a wonderful introduction to the practice of Zen.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>I have had little exposure to the Rinzai and koan traditions of Zen. I have practiced Soto Zen and Zazen, but never koans. After reading through the thoughtfully collected and contributed essays by James Ishmael Ford and Melissa Moyzen Blacker, I feel that I now have.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Mu is under my skin, working on me, whether I like it or not!<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The koan proceeds something like this: A peasant asks the Zen master Joshu (or Chau-Chou, or Zhaozhou), &#8220;does a dog have buddha nature?&#8221; To this query Joshu replies, &#8220;Mu.&#8221; This seems to be a contradiction. &#8220;Mu&#8221; translates to &#8220;no&#8221; or by extension &#8220;emptiness.&#8221; It seems that Joshu is saying the dog does not have buddhanature, but the Buddha was clear that all sentient beings have buddhanature. What gives?<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Read on to find out. If the koan is interpreted literally it does not make sense, but as a Zen master, Joshu would not have meant it literally.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>This is the type of book that you don&#8217;t have to read cover-to-cover; you can skip around reading essays out of sequence, each circling around the truth of Mu. This truth can&#8217;t be grasped at an intellectual level.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><!--StartFragment--><font face=\"Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\">If metaphor is understanding one thing in terms of another, koans are our most basic metaphors. We use koans to understand one thing &#8212; ultimate reality &#8212; in terms of another&#8211;the words, images, and feelings inspired by the koan. And, as the authors suggest, Mu is the koan of all koans. Thus, Mu is the metaphor of all metaphors.<\/span><\/font><\/div>\n<div><font face=\"Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><br \/><\/span><\/font><\/div>\n<div><font face=\"Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\">Here is an excerpt from Melissa Myozen Blacker&#8217;s essay, &#8220;No is Not the Opposite of Anything.&#8221;<\/span><\/font><\/div>\n<div><font face=\"Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><br \/><\/span><\/font><\/div>\n<blockquote class=\"webkit-indent-blockquote\">\n<div><font face=\"Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\">We are truly cultivating an empty field in which seeds of reality, through hearing teachings and experiencing life as directly as we can, beginning to take root at the deepest place, eventually to blossom into wakefulness&#8211;into the opening of the minds&#8217;e eye. Nothing but Mu, at every moment, filling our conscious and then our unconscious minds&#8211;every thought accompanied by this one word,<i> which functions as a stand-in for a reality that is essentially nameless<\/i>. &nbsp;(emphasis added).&nbsp;<\/span><\/font><\/div>\n<div><font face=\"Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><br \/><\/span><\/font><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><font face=\"Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial\" size=\"4\"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-size: 15px\">This &#8220;standing in&#8221; is the metaphor of all metaphors. The transmission point between lived experience and understood experience; between reality and thought. It&#8217;s the very point where we begin to construct our experience and Mu brings back to this moment just before that construction arises giving us a glimpse of the unconstructed, unadulterated reality that we are.&nbsp;<\/span><\/font><\/div>\n<div><font face=\"Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial\" size=\"4\"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-size: 15px\"><br \/><\/span><\/font><\/div>\n<div><font face=\"Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial\" size=\"4\"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-size: 15px\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Book-Mu-Essential-Writings-Important\/dp\/0861716434\/ref=pd_sxp_f_i\">Pre-order The Book of Mu now on Amazon<\/a>&nbsp;and read an excerpt from the detailed review in the magazine <i><a href=\"http:\/\/bdtest1.squarespace.com\/web-archive\/2011\/2\/3\/does-a-dog-have-buddhanature-well-yes-and-no.html\">Buddhadharma: The Practitioner&#8217;s Quarterly.&nbsp;<\/a><\/i><\/span><\/font><\/div>\n<div><font face=\"Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial\" size=\"4\"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-size: 15px\"><i><a href=\"http:\/\/bdtest1.squarespace.com\/web-archive\/2011\/2\/3\/does-a-dog-have-buddhanature-well-yes-and-no.html\"><\/a><br \/><\/i><\/span><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-size: 15px\"><br \/><\/span><\/font><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mu is Zen&#8217;s most famous and challenging koan.&nbsp; The Book of Mu (Wisdom Publications) is a collection of essays, contemporary and classic on this ancient mind puzzle and a wonderful introduction to the practice of Zen. I have had little exposure to the Rinzai and koan traditions of Zen. I have practiced Soto Zen and&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":268,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12,7,9,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-shelf","category-buddha-101","category-metaphors-for-mindfulness","category-mindfulnesss","category-recommended"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Book Review: The Book of Mu: Essential Writings on Zen&#039;s Most Important Koan edited by James Ishmael Ford &amp; Melissa Moyzen Blacker - Mindfulness Matters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/03\/book-review-the-book-of-mu-essential-writings-on-zens-most-important-koan-edited-by-james-ishmael-fo.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Book Review: The Book of Mu: Essential Writings on Zen&#039;s Most Important Koan edited by James Ishmael Ford &amp; Melissa Moyzen Blacker - Mindfulness Matters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mu is Zen&#8217;s most famous and challenging koan.&nbsp; The Book of Mu (Wisdom Publications) is a collection of essays, contemporary and classic on this ancient mind puzzle and a wonderful introduction to the practice of Zen. 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I have practiced Soto Zen and&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/03\/book-review-the-book-of-mu-essential-writings-on-zens-most-important-koan-edited-by-james-ishmael-fo.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mindfulness Matters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-03-16T09:27:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/mindfulnessmatters\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2011\/03\/mu-thumb-350x350-22060.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dr. Arnie Kozak\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Book Review: The Book of Mu: Essential Writings on Zen's Most Important Koan edited by James Ishmael Ford &amp; Melissa Moyzen Blacker - Mindfulness Matters","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/03\/book-review-the-book-of-mu-essential-writings-on-zens-most-important-koan-edited-by-james-ishmael-fo.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Book Review: The Book of Mu: Essential Writings on Zen's Most Important Koan edited by James Ishmael Ford &amp; Melissa Moyzen Blacker - Mindfulness Matters","og_description":"Mu is Zen&#8217;s most famous and challenging koan.&nbsp; The Book of Mu (Wisdom Publications) is a collection of essays, contemporary and classic on this ancient mind puzzle and a wonderful introduction to the practice of Zen. 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I have practiced Soto Zen and&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/03\/book-review-the-book-of-mu-essential-writings-on-zens-most-important-koan-edited-by-james-ishmael-fo.html","og_site_name":"Mindfulness Matters","article_published_time":"2011-03-16T09:27:30+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/mindfulnessmatters\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2011\/03\/mu-thumb-350x350-22060.jpg"}],"author":"Dr. Arnie Kozak","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/03\/book-review-the-book-of-mu-essential-writings-on-zens-most-important-koan-edited-by-james-ishmael-fo.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/03\/book-review-the-book-of-mu-essential-writings-on-zens-most-important-koan-edited-by-james-ishmael-fo.html","name":"Book Review: The Book of Mu: Essential Writings on Zen's Most Important Koan edited by James Ishmael Ford &amp; Melissa Moyzen Blacker - Mindfulness Matters","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/03\/book-review-the-book-of-mu-essential-writings-on-zens-most-important-koan-edited-by-james-ishmael-fo.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/03\/book-review-the-book-of-mu-essential-writings-on-zens-most-important-koan-edited-by-james-ishmael-fo.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/mindfulnessmatters\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2011\/03\/mu-thumb-350x350-22060.jpg","datePublished":"2011-03-16T09:27:30+00:00","dateModified":"2011-03-16T09:27:30+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/#\/schema\/person\/5f92cf2ae15fbe04e74ca47527ac68d8"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/03\/book-review-the-book-of-mu-essential-writings-on-zens-most-important-koan-edited-by-james-ishmael-fo.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/03\/book-review-the-book-of-mu-essential-writings-on-zens-most-important-koan-edited-by-james-ishmael-fo.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/03\/book-review-the-book-of-mu-essential-writings-on-zens-most-important-koan-edited-by-james-ishmael-fo.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/mindfulnessmatters\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2011\/03\/mu-thumb-350x350-22060.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/mindfulnessmatters\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2011\/03\/mu-thumb-350x350-22060.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/03\/book-review-the-book-of-mu-essential-writings-on-zens-most-important-koan-edited-by-james-ishmael-fo.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Book Review: The Book of Mu: Essential Writings on Zen&#8217;s Most Important Koan edited by James Ishmael Ford &amp; Melissa Moyzen Blacker"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/","name":"Mindfulness Matters","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Arnie Kozak","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/#\/schema\/person\/5f92cf2ae15fbe04e74ca47527ac68d8","name":"Dr. Arnie Kozak","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/6ab\/6abd6f3205265768510a13d66ac2aff7x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/6ab\/6abd6f3205265768510a13d66ac2aff7x96.jpg","caption":"Dr. Arnie Kozak"},"description":"Recognized as an innovator in the field of mindfulness-based psychology, Dr. Arnie Kozak is northern New England's leading expert in the field. Dr. Kozak's ability to translate ancient healing traditions into pragmatic applications suitable for modern lifestyles through the use of metaphors have made him a strong voice in healthcare and business. Beginning with a journey to India in the 80\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where he took the Bodhisattva vows from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Arnie Dr. Kozak began his lifelong practice in mindfulness meditation. Intent on finding a way to bring the practical healing attributes of mindfulness he began incorporating these techniques in his private practice. In 2002 Dr. Kozak created Exquisite Mind in Burlington, Vermont as a vehicle that could expand his wisdom to larger audiences beyond individual psychotherapy to professionals and corporations, health care providers, public groups and, most recently with Exquisite Mind Golf, amateur and professional golfers. His award-winning new book, Wild Chickens and Petty Tyrants: 108 Metaphors for Mindfulness (Wisdom Publications, 2009) is a thoughtful, funny, and inspiring translation of mindfulness practice through the inventive use of metaphor applicable to our daily lives. In addition to his work with Exquisite Mind, Arnie Kozak, Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist\u00e2\u20ac\u201dDoctorate has been a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Vermont and is a Clinical Instructor in Psychiatry and Medicine, University of Vermont College of Medicine. He has studied and practiced clinical psychology, meditation, and yoga for more than 25 years. He has studied with several meditation masters, including S. N. Goenka, Larry Rosenberg, Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. After receiving his bachelors degree with honors from Tufts University, he was awarded a Presidential Fellowship to get his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University at Buffalo. He completed his training as a Psychological Fellow at the Harvard Medical School. Prior to founding the Exquisite Mind in 2002, Arnie worked ten years in the private sector for the PKC Corporation consulting on mental health content for this revolutionary software company.","sameAs":["http:\/\/exquisitemind.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/author\/akozak"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/268"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}