Description:
In Dean Sluyter's clever The Zen Commandments, the author lays down 10 guidelines for living a more present life and experiencing moment-to-moment awareness. Some of his "commandments" are Zen interpretations of the 10 laws Moses brought down from Mount Sinai; others have nothing to do with the prophet's inscribed tablets. In one example, Sluyter takes the Fourth Commandment--Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy--and gives it a Zen twist: The whole idea of Sabbath is a temporary withdrawal from limited worldly activities in order to connect to the limitlessness that some people call God. Here ... we're learning to be in a state of utter rest seven days a week, 60 seconds a minute, transcending and silently witnessing all physical and mental activities, even while performing them." Through the moment-to-moment awareness that Zen demands, we constantly stay in touch with God, or the Infinite (or whatever individuals choose to call it), Sluyter reminds us. Other Zen commandments are more contemporary and have nothing to do with biblical precepts. Perhaps one of his most useful guidelines is his enjoinder to "Notice the Moment": On our journey through life, we think of the time we spent walking down the hall from Office A to Office B as intermission, dead time, mere connective tissue. But there is no intermission. The show never stops. Every moment is the only moment. Sluyter sprinkles his chapters with eclectic quotes from Bob Dylan, Indian gurus, Miles Davis, Franz Kafka, even Bill Clinton. This is a lively book and one that will almost certainly give you pause in your day, whether it's to simply stop and take a breath while rushing through your morning routine, or to notice the roadside flowers while stalled in rush-hour traffic. --Demian McLean
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