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Rating: 
Summary: extremely useful
Review: Bayda sucessfully merges a bit of Zen and a bit of Vipassana-style mindfulness into a way of meditation practice and life practice. The book is stripped of almost all Buddhist terminology. There is no mention of karma, reincarnation, codependent origination, and any other Buddhist terms. What you get is a manual for learning to see yourself plainly and non-judgmentally without our usual hidden agendas, strategies, ego clinging, duplicity. Especially helpful are the chapters on Practicing with Fear, Practicing with Distress, Practicing with Anger. I tried the methods outlined in "Practicing with Distress" on a day when a small catastrophe popped up at work. I stayed with my breath and tried to notice the physical reactions going on. When you do that, you can actually begin to non-judgmentally notice the mind churning out thoughts.The chapter about Bayda's experience working with hospice patients was very moving, but they weren't just an anecdote. He successfully pointed how the experiences deepened his practice. The chapter on loving kindness meditation was also interesting. It's more commonly used by teachers in the Vipassana tradition, like Sharon Salzberg, Jack Kornfield, Sylvia Boorstein, so I was suprised to see it here. Bayda uses the method not to create some special mind-state, but to see where he has blocked off his being from experiencing what's going on in the moment. In summary, this is a good book if you are new to meditation and are looking for a way to approach spiritual practice that is free of Buddhist terms. I think people of any religion find this book useful. It outlines tools for seeing the reactive patterns and habits that narrow our lives and that inhibit meaningful interactions with the world.
Rating: 
Summary: Very helpful for dealing with the pressures of everyday life
Review: Being Zen contains many helpful techniques that have helped me flesh out and truly understand my belief system. I've also found that in practicing these meditation techniques I have become more aware of the relationship between my thoughts and emotional response to these thoughts. I've learned how to deal more effectively with upsetting emotions. Practical psychology today oftens leads people to feel the need to fight against strong negative emotions. I've found however that its more effective to take this advice in this book: compassionately watch and just be with any negative emotions that arise, and watch how easily they dissapate.
Rating:
Summary: CLEAR AND HEARTFELT
Review: BEING ZEN provides a practical, heartfelt approach for addressing the messiness of everyday life - our difficult situations, our anger and confusion, and most of all, our fears. Ezra Bayda does this without losing sight of the bigger picture of our basic connectedness. In fact, the basic theme of the book is about moving from our "cocoon world of protectedness" to living in a genuine way.
Spiritual practice has to withstand the unrelenting quizzes of daily challenge. Bayda has certainly had his share, as described, for example, in his own struggles with fear, self-doubt and illness. These and other examples are used as a basis for describing very specific and practical tools for using the challenges of everyday life as opportunities to become free. And he does so in a very clear and down-to-earth way, making this immediately accessible to the reader.
Rating:
Summary: What Our Life Is About
Review: If you have been looking for a clear, precise description of Zen practice then this book is for you. It is a road map to the top of the mountain written in simple but often poetic language by a man who knows who he is, who has certainly found his path, and who now gives himself to others like "a white bird in the snow".
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