First You Shave Your Head

Rating:
Summary: Judge a book by its cover?
Review: Actually, I LOVE this book: Zen pilgrimage and Korean Dharma history to boot (just my thing}. Traveling with Larkin is like coffee with your best friend just outside the Zen hall -- as close (and enjoyable) as you can get without going in and actually sitting down on a mat yourself.

The only reason I didn't give it five stars (and I almost gave it three) was the back cover, upon which the marketing folks at the publishing house wrote something to the effect of Larkin being the first Western woman to have been honored with a pilgrimage through Korea's temples. Not only is this untrue, but NOWHERE in the text does Larkin herself make such a claim. What she DOES say is simply that her and traveling buddy Haju (also a WOMAN!) were the first Western women some of the Korean monks had ever seen -- which I'm sure was true.

Kind of a big difference there. Either someone at Celestial Arts accidentally misread Larkin's text, or they hoped to sell more books by stretching the truth. Either way is a little disrespectful not only to Larkin, but to the women who made the journey before her.

Rating:
Summary: Judge a book by its cover?
Review: On the subject of growing up, an eminent teacher from Korea once said to his American followers: "First you must kill your parents; then, you must kill Buddha; and then, you must kill me."

Author Geri Larkin is a Dharma Teacher under a different Korean teacher, Samu Sunim. Her first two collections of dharma talks ("Stumbing Towards Enlightenment" and "Tap Dancing In Zen") are inspirational: completely heartfelt, utterly acessible and entertaining for a general reader. She is a single mom in Michigan who is also a serious student of Zen, such that when her teacher tells her she must shave her head for a pilgrimage in Korea, she does it - but prepares by consulting fashion magazines first. No pretentious, other-worldly Zen here.

This travelogue, in which she and an American dharma sister visit Korean temples along with their feisty master, is not Ally McBeal-goes-to-Asia: it is a plunge into the unknown. Korea is still very much another world, and all of the confidence this Zen practitioner had accumulated on her home turf is quickly stripped away by the weather, the rough terrain, the austerities of the trip, and the severe corrections of her teacher and other glowering monks along the way.

She likens the process to beating a shirt clean. She is left not even with humility - everything is taken away, reduced to "don't-know" mind: "The longer and more arduous the trip, the more your heart has a chance to open up until finally, in a moment of utter exhaustion, you realize that's all of you that is left - the heart part. Your mind has disappeared - the one that judges and gets mad and worries and thinks and fantasizes. Instead you are in love with your life, whatever it is. And the whole world is your family with the earth playing the lead role as universal nest, one you are thrilled to share with all takers. I almost forgot. You'll also lose ten pounds without even trying."

But holding on to that isn't it, either. The most wonderful thing this book offers (aside from some choice stories, one of the best being the elderly monk in the mountains who demonstrates how a soccer ball is the best exercise machine you will ever need) is an open-hearted account of a sincere student finding the real faith in practice, in which losing it is getting it and all the merit is given away.

Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Killing the teacher
Review: On the subject of growing up, an eminent teacher from Korea once said to his American followers: "First you must kill your parents; then, you must kill Buddha; and then, you must kill me."

Author Geri Larkin is a Dharma Teacher under a different Korean teacher, Samu Sunim. Her first two collections of dharma talks ("Stumbing Towards Enlightenment" and "Tap Dancing In Zen") are inspirational: completely heartfelt, utterly acessible and entertaining for a general reader. She is a single mom in Michigan who is also a serious student of Zen, such that when her teacher tells her she must shave her head for a pilgrimage in Korea, she does it - but prepares by consulting fashion magazines first. No pretentious, other-worldly Zen here.

This travelogue, in which she and an American dharma sister visit Korean temples along with their feisty master, is not Ally McBeal-goes-to-Asia: it is a plunge into the unknown. Korea is still very much another world, and all of the confidence this Zen practitioner had accumulated on her home turf is quickly stripped away by the weather, the rough terrain, the austerities of the trip, and the severe corrections of her teacher and other glowering monks along the way.

She likens the process to beating a shirt clean. She is left not even with humility - everything is taken away, reduced to "don't-know" mind: "The longer and more arduous the trip, the more your heart has a chance to open up until finally, in a moment of utter exhaustion, you realize that's all of you that is left - the heart part. Your mind has disappeared - the one that judges and gets mad and worries and thinks and fantasizes. Instead you are in love with your life, whatever it is. And the whole world is your family with the earth playing the lead role as universal nest, one you are thrilled to share with all takers. I almost forgot. You'll also lose ten pounds without even trying."

But holding on to that isn't it, either. The most wonderful thing this book offers (aside from some choice stories, one of the best being the elderly monk in the mountains who demonstrates how a soccer ball is the best exercise machine you will ever need) is an open-hearted account of a sincere student finding the real faith in practice, in which losing it is getting it and all the merit is given away.

Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: an amazing doorway
Review: What an amazing journey I took when I read this book. Knowing little to nothing about Korea (ok there was that MASH tv show) and just a tad bit more about zen, I found myself alternating between tenderness and strength as I read through her journeys. A must read for anyone who thinks they are able to handle the rigors of a spiritual practice!