Charlotte Joko Beck

Fresh and never-before published talks on the crux of Buddhist practice and how to uncover wonder in your daily life from legendary Zen teacher and bestselling author Charlotte Joko Beck. As you embrace the suffering of life, the wonder shows up at the same time. They go together. And the more we show up, the more we have a different life.--Charlotte Joko Beck From one of the most influential Western-born Zen teachers, Charlotte Joko Beck (1917-2011), a collection of never-before published teachings exploring our core belief--the hidden, negative beliefs we hold about ourselves that direct our thoughts and behavior and that prevent us from experiencing life as it is. Beck's teachings are powerfully clear, using wry humor, anecdotes, and precise language to explore how our lives present us with daily opportunities to move from thinking to experiencing, from compulsivity to confidence, and from anguish to ordinary wonder. From formal meditation to being present and curious about life and exploring the changing rhythms of practice, Beck's words cut to the heart of Zen wisdom. Whether you are a Zen practitioner or a reader interested in exploring these teachings for the first time, Ordinary Wonder offers the depth and breadth of Beck's experience in an accessible guide to practice amidst the struggles of daily life.

We can use whatever life presents, Ezra Bayda teaches, to strengthen our spiritual practice--including the turmoil of daily life. What we need is the willingness to just be with our experiences--whether they are painful or pleasing--opening ourselves to the reality of our lives without trying to fix or change anything. But doing this requires that we confront our most deeply rooted fears and assumptions in order to gradually become free of the constrictions and suffering they create. Then we can awaken to the loving-kindness that is at the heart of our being. While many books aspire to bring meditation into everyday experience, "Being Zen "gives us practical ways to actually do it, introducing techniques that enable the reader to foster qualities essential to continued spiritual awakening. Topics include how to cultivate: - "Perseverance" staying with anger, fear, and other distressing emotions. - "Stillness" abiding with chaotic experiences without becoming overwhelmed. - "Clarity" seeing through the conditioned beliefs and fears that "run" us. - "Direct""experience" encountering the physical reality of the present moment--even when that moment is exactly where we don't want to be. Like Pema Chodron, the best-selling author of "When Things Fall Apart, "Ezra Bayda writes with clear, heartfelt simplicity, using his own life stories to illustrate the teachings in an immediate and accessible way that will appeal to a broad spectrum of readers.

Charlotte Joko Beck is one of the most popular Zen teachers currently teaching in the West. This beautifully written book is a Zen guide to the problems of daily living, love, relationships, work, fear and suffering. Beck describes how to be in the present and living each moment to the full.

A Zen Center weekend in a book! The delightfully contemporary teacher and bestselling author "of Everyday Zen" shows how to make living itself a spiritual practice and how to discover that the extraordinary is really "nothing special."