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WORK TITLE: Zen in the Age of Anxiety: Wisdom for Navigating Our Modern Lives
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PERSONAL
Born in CA; married Linda, 1966; children: two.
EDUCATION:Stanford University, B.A.; attended Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, 1967; holds a Ph.D.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, psychologist, and former nonprofit executive. Zen Buddhist priest, ordained 1978; People Incorporated, St. Paul, MN, CEO; Minnesota Zen Meditation Center, Minneapolis, president, 1978-83, guiding teacher, 2002—.
RELIGION: Zen Buddhist.WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Tim Burkett is a writer, psychologist, ordained Zen Buddhist priest, and former nonprofit executive. He graduated from Stanford University and also studied at the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. For many years, Burkett served as the CEO of People Incorporated, a large nonprofit organization based in St. Paul, MN. He has long been affiliated with the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center, working as its president from 1978 to 1983 and serving as its guiding teacher, beginning in 2002.
In 1964, Burkett first began studying Zen Buddhism. His teacher was Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, under whom he continued learning for many years. In an interview with a contributor to the Sweeping Zen website, Burkett described his first meeting with Suzuki. He stated: “I had the distinct feeling that I could trust this little Japanese man. I believed that if I developed this meditation practice, I could once again experience ‘the peace that passeth understanding’ described in Evelyn Underhill’s book and make it the foundation of my very being.” Burkett continued: “About six months after I began sitting with him, Suzuki told me that he would like to start a group in the Palo Alto area where I lived. So I started a weekly group in a Stanford student’s house and Suzuki came down every week to sit with us and give a talk. At first there were only about three of us.” Regarding the benefits of Zen Buddhism in general, Burkett told the same interviewer: “I deeply believe that with determination and discipline, it’s possible for everyone to make ‘the peace that passeth understanding’ the foundation of their lives. And I also believe that even people with less determination and discipline can intermittently experience a ‘peace of mind’ that is very healthy. As a result of engaging in the self-emptying process of zazen we all become more available to help others who are in need or in pain.”
Nothing Holy about It
In 2015, Burkett released his first book, Nothing Holy about It: The Zen of Being Just Who You Are. In this volume, he shares the teachings of Suzuki and provides his own take on those lessons. Topics in the book include, self-improvement, compassion, maintaining one’s practice, commitment, and shaping one’s attitude toward the world. Burkett expounds on key principles in the Buddhist tradition, including that people are inherently good. He acknowledges that all people struggle with certain issues, but those do not take away from our underlying goodness. Burkett shares his belief that people were enlightened before birth and that we can all access that enlightenment through practice. He encourages readers to learn lessons for their mistakes, rather than judge themselves for making them. He discusses fear as it relates to one’s spiritual path, and he emphasizes the Zen Buddhist principle of giving back to one’s community.
Reviewing the book on the Spirituality & Practice website, Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat commented: “Burkett has gathered together an amazing assortment of stories, koans, poems, and memories of Shunryu Suzuki that are both enlightening and a pleasure to read.” The Brussats added: “Just dipping into Nothing Holy About It will reframe your view of Zen.” Jonah Raskin, critic on the Huffington Post website, remarked: “Divided into five parts, with eighteen chapters, Nothing Holy About It, might be read in one sitting or two, but it’s perhaps best taken a bit at a time and savored little by little. Otherwise it can feel like a long, drawn-out sermon.” Raskin concluded: “Burkett’s book offers valuable lessons. … There are also insightful comments about working with homeless people in Minnesota.”
Zen in the Age of Anxiety
In Zen in the Age of Anxiety: Wisdom for Navigating Our Modern Lives, Burkett again offers life lessons based on the principles of Zen Buddhism. He begins by discussing the nature of suffering and identifying its origins. Burkett suggests that the mind is responsible for making one suffer. It is naturally inclined to create narratives around one’s experiences, and it has the tendency to frame those experiences in a negative light. Burkett notes that understanding the mind and stopping it from creating these narratives can improve one’s mental health and outlook on life. Additionally, he recalls his close relationship with Suzuki and shares the monk’s teachings. Burkett also cites cultural elements that illustrate Buddhist principles.
A Publishers Weekly critic suggested: “While Burkett serves as a wise witness to Suzuki’s legacy, his focus on specific generational experiences … will seem dated.” Meg Nola, contributor to the Foreword Reviews website, commented: “The book has a general flowing tone of learning without the heaviness of lessons, and of imparting guidance without rigid directives.” “The book is straightforward yet joyous,” asserted Ty Phillips on the Tattooed Buddha website. Phillips continued: “Zen in the Age of Anxiety feels like a rapturous smile with an old friend. There was no sense of demanding, listen-to-me austerity.” Phillips concluded by describing the volume as “a true gem.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, April 9, 2018, review of Zen in the Age of Anxiety: Wisdom for Navigating Our Modern Lives, p. 73.
ONLINE
Foreword Reviews, https://www.forewordreviews.com/ (May 27, 2018), Meg Nola, review of Zen in the Age of Anxiety.
Huffington Post, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/ (September 1, 2015), Jonah Raskin, review of Nothing Holy About It: The Zen of Being Just Who You Are.
Minnesota Zen Meditation Center website, http://mnzencenter.org/ (September 12, 2018), author profile.
Shambhala Publications website, https://www.shambhala.com/ (September 12, 2018), author profile.
Spirituality & Practice, http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/ (August 13, 2018), Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, review of Nothing Holy About It.
Sweeping Zen, http://sweepingzen.com/ (May 13, 2011), author interview.
Tattooed Buddha, http://thetattooedbuddha.com/ (June 28, 2018), Ty Phillips, review of Zen in the Age of Anxiety.
Tim Burkett
Tim Burkett began practicing Zen Buddhism in San Francisco in 1964 with renowned teacher Shunryu Suzuki (author of Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind). After completing his BA at Stanford University, Tim and his family moved to Minnesota.
Tim’s first book, Nothing Holy About It, discusses how Zen’s core teachings unfold within the ordinary comedies and tragedies of everyday life. In his books, as in his life, Tim reveals how to live in the world with a deep joy that comes from embracing the work and play of this very moment.
Tim is the former CEO of the largest non-profit organization in Minnesota for individuals with mental illness. He is a psychologist, a Zen Buddhist priest, and the Guiding Teacher of Minnesota Zen Meditation Center. He and his wife, Linda, have two grownchildren and two grandchildren.
Guiding Teacher Tim Zentetsu Burkett
MZMC's Guiding Teacher, Tim Burkett, began practicing in spring 1964 with Shunryu Suzuki Roshi while attending Stanford University. At Suzuki's urging, Tim began a weekly sitting group on the San Francisco peninsula later that year, which Suzuki regularly attended. As this group grew in size, it was moved to the converted garage of a sangha member. Suzuki's talks to that group were later edited and published as "Zen Mind Beginner's Mind, which has become a classic text and the gateway for many to enter Zen practice. After completing his BA at Stanford, Tim attended the maiden practice period at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center in 1967. In 1970, Tim and his wife, Linda moved to Minnesota. He was an early member of MZMC and was ordained by Dainin Katagiri Roshi in 1978. Tim was president of MZMC from 1978 to 1983, recieved transmission from Karen Sunna in the Katagiri lineage in 2000, and succeeded Karen as guiding teacher in 2002. He is also a licensed Ph.D. psychologist and retired CEO of one of Minnesota's largest non-profit agencies. He and Linda have two grown children and two grandchildren. MZMC members can schedule dokusan (a one-to-one meeting) with him by contacting info@mnzencenter.org
QUOTED: "I had the distinct feeling that I could trust this little Japanese man. I believed that if I developed this meditation practice, I could once again experience 'the peace that passeth understanding' described in Evelyn Underhill’s book and make it the foundation of my very being."
"About six months after I began sitting with him, Suzuki told me that he would like to start a group in the Palo Alto area where I lived. So I started a weekly group in a Stanford student’s house and Suzuki came down every week to sit with us and give a talk. At first there were only about three of us."
"I deeply believe that with determination and discipline, it’s possible for everyone to make 'the peace that passeth understanding' the foundation of their lives. And I also believe that even people with less determination and discipline can intermittently experience a 'peace of mind' that is very healthy. As a result of engaging in the self-emptying process of zazen we all become more available to help others who are in need or in pain."
Zentetsu Tim Burkett interview
Sweeping Zen May 13, 2011 Eido Shimano Collection, English Interviews, Genpo Merzel Collection, Interviews Leave a comment 2,038 Views
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zentetsu-tim-burkett-profileTim Zentetsu Burkett (b. 1943) is a Soto Zen teacher and abbot of the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center (MZMC). He is a licensed psychologist with a Ph.D. in Psychology and executive director of People Incorporated, a non-profit that provides services for mentally-ill people. Tim came to Zen practice in 1964, studying under Shunryu Suzuki-Roshi; he then opened a center in the Bay Area for Suzuki-Roshi that next year. In 1970 he and his wife moved to Minnesota and there Tim continued his practice with the late Dainin Katagiri-Roshi, who ordained him a priest in 1978. From 1978 to 1983 he served as President of MZMC and received Dharma transmission from Karen Sunna in 2000 (herself a Dharma heir of Katagiri-Roshi). Burkett-roshi has named two Dharma successors to date: Lee Lewis and Rosemary Taylor.
Website: http://www.mnzencenter.org/
Transcript
SZ: How did you first come in to contact with Zen teachings? What about it made it stick with you – what spoke to you?
TB: While a junior at Stanford I read The Teachings of the Mystics by Evelyn Underhill and was fascinated by the possibility of an undivided reality of peace and calm beyond the movement of the thinking mind, which was a central tenet of her book. I began reading other books and focused on Zen in particular because it seemed the most stripped-down of any religious belief or dogma. I quit going to classes and I read these books over and over, I started going into spontaneous trance states. At spring break I went to see friends in Salt Lake City. I told a friend of theirs about my pursuit and the possibility that there was a deeper way of being based on an experience of oneness with all of life. She listened to me very attentively and then said quietly, “I’ve never read about it, but I have had that experience myself.” We talked for an hour or so and then she got up to leave. She looked at me directly and said, “I think you are this far away,” holding her thumb and forefinger about an inch apart. After she left, I walked down the hall and suddenly the thinking mind stopped and “Tim” died completely. There was an experience of bliss and joy with a sense of oneness that went on unabated for three or four days.
By the time I got back to Stanford, this experience had turned into a memory rather than an ongoing awareness. I decided to look for a teacher and looked up Zen in the San Francisco phone book. There was a Zen Bar and a Zen Center. I decided to try the Zen Center first. I went to the address listed and asked to see the Zen teacher —a little man who turned out to be Suzuki Roshi welcomed me and spent an hour or so with me. When I told him about my experience, he said, “That’s good, but it’s not Zen.” I was a little taken aback by his answer. He took me into the zendo and showed me how to sit. I began trying to sit at Stanford and also commuting to sit with the group in San Francisco whenever possible.
SZ: What was the impression left with you at that stage? You started your own sitting group not long after that in the San Francisco area.
TB: I had the distinct feeling that I could trust this little Japanese man. I believed that if I developed this meditation practice, I could once again experience “the peace that passeth understanding” described in Evelyn Underhill’s book and make it the foundation of my very being. About six months after I began sitting with him, Suzuki told me that he would like to start a group in the Palo Alto area where I lived. So I started a weekly group in a Stanford student’s house and Suzuki came down every week to sit with us and give a talk. At first there were only about three of us, but then I put an article in the Palo Alto Times and about 10 people showed up!
SZ: You were with Katagiri Roshi for quite some time. How do you remember him?
TB: I came to Minnesota six years after beginning practice with Suzuki. I had known Katagiri Roshi in San Francisco; he and his young wife even came to my wedding in 1966. I remember him in the way you might remember an older brother who has considerable wisdom and some weaknesses. He had a great smile and a high level of determination. I think that knowing that my primary allegiance would always be to the teaching of my root teacher, Suzuki, was hard for Katagiri. As he got older, he seemed to emphasize the tradition and doing things “Dogen’s way” more than when he was younger. For instance, he told us that a priest should wear his uniform when on duty, like a policeman or a fireman, and that didn’t resonate personally with me. Although he had ordained me as a priest in 1978, I didn’t even think of myself as a Buddhist, per se. And I am still like that at my core, although I try to pass on the tradition as best I can. I do respect it deeply.
SZ: On that point, do you think Katagiri-roshi felt overshadowed by Suzuki-roshi?
TB: Definitely-especially when he was in San Francisco. I remember during a talk he gave here in Minnesota him saying, “Every time I go out to San Francisco, Suzuki-roshi’s picture is getting bigger and bigger.” He meant that both literally and figuratively because first they were putting pictures of him up and then they had a statue of him made. I think that is one of the reasons he liked Minnesota, why he liked having his sangha here. Here he wasn’t in anyone else’s shadow and he found that, in most instances, he could just be his own person. That was liberating for him as a teacher and enabled him to blossom.
SZ: Given some of the recent controversies surrounding teachers like Eido Shimano and Genpo Merzel, what do you think can be done to address the question of ethical conduct in our Western sangha? They seem to just be cropping up lately.
TB: These are two examples of teachers who have been around for many years with a pattern of doing things which are totally unacceptable. As spiritual communities, we all need to have ethical norms which are monitored by some group who have authority like the board of directors of each sangha. We may also need to develop some body beyond each individual sangha board, itself, to address and monitor behavior. In the state of Minnesota, where I am a licensed psychologist, psychologists didn’t uniformly clean up their acts until the licensing board put in place some very straightforward criteria with high ethical expectations and boundary limitations for those working in the field. Clients may file complaints with this board at any time they think a violation might have occurred.
I do belong to the Soto Zen Buddhist Association though I haven’t attended a meeting for the last few years, so I don’t know where they are exactly on this, but I do know there’ve been conversations ongoing about this issue. Sooner or later I hope we will evolve something within our culture which will go beyond each sangha’s board. One of the reasons something like this is probably needed is that the board in any sangha is made up primarily of the head teacher’s students.
In the early years of therapy, in fact, until about 25 years ago, there was a lot of ethical boundary violation going on, particularly in the area of sex. I think it goes all they way back to Freud. Hopefully, it won’t take professional Zen as long as it took professional psychology to successfully articulate and enforce norms.
SZ: Well, I think you make a good point. Many onlookers feel that one of the most important developments of the 20th century has been the meeting of Buddhism and Western psychology. I mean, I find Buddhism to be an extraordinarily beautiful and useful tradition but I do think, particularly in our culture, it can learn a thing or two from psychology to help us address some of our issues.
TB: Yeah, I agree.
SZ: How much of what we see happening in these ethical lapses do you feel can be attributed to leadership style and governance? In many of these occurrences we see a kind of personality cult develop, where there really is nothing standing between the teacher and his sangha. There is often also a very autocratic form of leadership that enables certain types of harmful behavior.
TB: I think that is an issue. Is the board both promoting and monitoring sensible ethical and behavioral boundaries which protect both the student and the teacher? Our board uses a governance model which emphasizes clear boundaries and a procedure for monitoring compliance.
SZ: Karen Sunna, one of Katagiri Roshi’s dharma heirs, gave you dharma transmission in 2000, and you took over as Minnesota Zen Meditation Center’s Guiding Teacher in 2002. Tell us a bit about her.
TB: I got to know Karen in 1975. She was one of the founders of MZMC and a wonderful person. Katagiri ordained her a couple of years after he ordained me. I dropped out of Zen Center in about 1986 and did my own thing for about 11 years, finishing my Ph.D., doing shamanic work, and continuing to sit on my own. Then late one night when I was meditating, I clearly saw myself going back to Zen Center. So I did. I sat with Karen, received transmission from her, and then one day when she and I were having breakfast she told me that she was ready to move on and hoped I would take her place. I told her I had a full-time job, which was very important to me in terms of Bodhisattva work, and she suggested I could do both — which I have been doing ever since.
SZ: Do people ever place you on a pedestal as a Zen teacher? How do you handle that?
TB: Sure, people project their ideas on me all the time, but they did that when I was a therapist, too —It goes with the role. I try to tell stories on myself whenever I think people are tripping out about my calmness, wisdom, enlightenment. People need to get used to the fact that spiritual enlightenment and psychological health, stability, or perfection do not necessarily go hand-in-hand.
SZ: Historically, as Buddhism entered every new culture, its expression adapted to the established cultural and social norms. Because Zen is so new in the West, it still retains many of the Japanese forms. How do you see that playing out?
TB: This is a big question for me, and always has been. How can we respect and honor the tradition and our teachers and still manifest our Zen in an American way? In the most recent edition of our newsletter, you can see how I am trying to grapple with this question. Click here to read the Fall 2010 MZMC Newsletter
SZ: Do you believe that we can thoroughly explore Zen without the tradition of Buddhism?
TB: Sure!
SZ: As human beings we like to see what something can do for us, something we can place our finger on. What can Zen practice do for us?
TB: I deeply believe that with determination and discipline, it’s possible for everyone to make “the peace that passeth understanding” the foundation of their lives. And I also believe that even people with less determination and discipline can intermittently experience a “peace of mind” that is very healthy. As a result of engaging in the self-emptying process of zazen we all become more available to help others who are in need or in pain.
SZ: What books would you recommend to someone interested in engaging a Zen practice?
TB: I don’t recommend any books in particular; there are so many out there that are so good. But I am sentimentally attached to the books by and about my root teacher, Shunryu Suzuki.
QUOTED: "While Burkett serves as a wise witness to Suzuki's legacy, his focus on specific generational experiences ... will seem dated."
Zen in the Age of Anxiety: Wisdom for Navigating Our Modern Lives
Publishers Weekly. 265.15 (Apr. 9, 2018): p73.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Zen in the Age of Anxiety: Wisdom for Navigating Our Modern Lives
Tim Burkett. Shambhala, $16.95 trade paper
(160p) ISBN 978-1-61180-486-7
Burkett (Nothing Holy About It), a psychologist and teacher at the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center, explores how Zen Buddhist principles can help readers lead more fulfilling lives. Focusing on the ways the "movie-making mind" creates suffering, Burkett explains why human beings struggle with anger, anxiety, and fear, and shows how a more accurate understanding of the mind and the practice of meditation can promote well-being. Using an informal, friendly tone, Burkett offers dear explanations and examples to illustrate core Zen ideas. In addition to examining what he calls the "most troublesome areas" of "feelings of unworthiness" (sex, money, and failure), Burkett provides a Zen perspective on such topics as humility, experiences of nature, non-attachment, and non-dualism. He also includes many affectionate memories of his studies in the 1960s with Zen monk Shunryu Suzuki, a seminal figure in the beginnings of Zen practice in North America. While Burkett serves as a wise witness to Suzuki's legacy, his focus on specific generational experiences (including songs by the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, and Pete Townshend) will seem dated to some readers. Compiled from Burkett's former talks, this light book will appeal to readers who are new to Buddhism. (June)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Zen in the Age of Anxiety: Wisdom for Navigating Our Modern Lives." Publishers Weekly, 9 Apr. 2018, p. 73. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A535100018/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=2fdfd77c. Accessed 13 Aug. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A535100018
QUOTED: "The book has a general flowing tone of learning without the heaviness of lessons, and of imparting guidance without rigid directives."
ZEN IN THE AGE OF ANXIETY
WISDOM FOR NAVIGATING OUR MODERN TIMES
Tim Burkett
Shambhala (Jun 5, 2018)
Softcover $16.95 (184pp)
978-1-61180-486-7
Through companionable wisdom and focused practice, Zen in the Age of Anxiety is a guidebook for applying Zen principles to our troubled and harried lives.
The book explores the paradox of the centered peace of Zen beliefs in the chaos of modernity. As both a psychologist and a Zen Buddhist priest, Tim Burkett’s vocations pair a broad knowledge of human behavior with the compassion, humor, and openness of Zen.
A student during the 1960s, Burkett is one of a generation of rebels and idealists who have now become mentors and sages. His tone is warm and wise as he recalls personal experiences and freely admits his own shortcomings, contrasting them with Zen teachings and legend.
The book is divided into two primary sections: “Wounding and Splintering” and “Suturing and Healing.” Through regular meditation, true self-love, and love for others, there is hope for healing what is damaged, stressed, addicted, or addled.
Taking Zen meditation and fluidity to a neurological level, the book details how minds that are refreshed and broadened through meditation are less likely to atrophy or experience the effects of aging. Unhealthy and ego-driven behavioral triggers can be reprogrammed, with psychologically and physically positive results.
Each chapter concludes with a “Doing the Work” series of exercises to apply the concepts to everyday life. Topics include love and sexuality, the environment, attitudes toward money, fear of failure, and acceptance of life as well as death. The book has a general flowing tone of learning without the heaviness of lessons, and of imparting guidance without rigid directives.
Ultimately, Zen and the Age of Anxiety shows that power resides in an individual’s willingness to change and to seek a more expansive and communal consciousness.
Reviewed by Meg Nola
Religion 2018
QUOTED: "The book is straightforward yet joyous."
"Zen in the Age of Anxiety feels like a rapturous smile with an old friend. There was no sense of demanding, listen-to-me austerity."
"a true gem."
Zen in the Age of Anxiety {Book Review}
Some books feel like a warm hug; some are sandpaper on a hot day.
By Ty Phillips
As an avid reader, both of Buddhist texts and popular science books, things can tend to blur together.
My personal library is tipping over 1000 books, and a third of these are on Buddhist teaching and history. It is a rare case when a book jumps out at me and holds me for almost a solid single reading.
Zen in the Age of Anxiety, by Tim Burkett, happens to be one that did.
I am not ashamed to admit I find a lot of Zen books to be dry, like chewing cardboard. I understand Zen is very much the art of pure simplicity. Sit and just sit. Yet for personal taste, the reading outside of a chosen few texts like Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind are well, dull.
Burkett’s book however, although very simple, is vibrant in the way that cherry blossoms offer breathtaking beauty by just being cherry blossoms. The book is straightforward yet joyous. It is a celebration of the pure awareness of life and living in the present moment with the present action.
His history of teaching, and lifelong practice, offered a beautiful array of stories and relatable prose. Even in his 70’s, the text read fresh and open. There was a sense of joyous liberation to it that felt very much like his teacher’s explanation of keeping a beginner’s mind.
Some books feel like a warm hug; some are sandpaper on a hot day.
Zen in the Age of Anxiety feels like a rapturous smile with an old friend. There was no sense of demanding, listen-to-me austerity. His book will sit on the top shelf among the few favorites I reference often. It was a pleasure to read and is a text I cannot recommend enough.
It set itself apart from other modern favorites in one way that I appreciated: it touched on the art of living, without the need for shock and vulgarity. Sex, cooking, study, laughter, it was all there and it was all without airs and click-bait mentality. A true gem.
QUOTED: "Burkett has gathered together an amazing assortment of stories, koans, poems, and memories of Shunryu Suzuki that are both enlightening and a pleasure to read."
"Just dipping into Nothing Holy About It will reframe your view of Zen."
Nothing Holy About It
The Zen of Being Just Who You Are
By Tim Burkett
A reframing of Zen using the teachings of Shunyru Suzuki.
Book Review by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
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Tim Burkett is the Guiding Teacher of the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is also a licensed psychologist and director of a large mental health agency. He was a student of Shunyru Suzuki Roshi and later of Dainin Katagiri Roshi, whose lineage he is a dharma heir.
One of our favorite books about Buddhist wisdom is David Chadwick's Crooked Cucumber: The Life and Zen Teaching of Shunryu Suzuki, and now we have another gem about that legendary Zen master's teachings. This book focuses on the non-holiness of the Zen path. Burkett has gathered together an amazing assortment of stories, koans, poems, and memories of Shunryu Suzuki that are both enlightening and a pleasure to read.
Suzuki was the first Japanese Zen teacher to establish a center in the West, and Burkett became one of his earliest American disciples when he was only 20 years old. Nothing Holy About It is divided into sections on commitment, dealing with one's rough edges; cultivating equanimity and compassion, staying on track, and embracing the world. Among the key teachings are emphasized in the book are:
• Even though we can all use a little self-improvement, we are basically good.
• Since we are all enlightened before we were born, there is no need to search for Buddha nature or to try and be a good Buddhist.
• In the wholeness of life, mistakes and failure are okay; they can be spiritual teachers for us.
• Zen is about everyday life so when we do anything, we do it wholeheartedly.
• Seeing through the fear body and living beyond it are important steps on the Zen path.
• Zen practice is "about taking care of our lives, helping others, and being open to whatever comes up."
Burkett is especially cogent in a chapter on "Training with the Hindrances" where he explores the practices of putting aside, letting go, or just letting be; expanding our field of attention; and cultivating a full awareness of feelings. Most people are used to quick fixes and find it difficult to accept Zen's view that delusion doesn't vanish once we achieve enlightenment.
Living with difficult questions takes patience and perseverance. There is another side to Zen as illustrated in the following:
"When I finished my talk on the mu koan [Does a dog have Buddha nature?], I asked for questions or comments. A guy in the back raised his hand. He said, 'I've had my dog for so long he's like my child. And after all these years, there are two things I know for sure. First, my dog definitely has Buddha nature. No doubt about it! And second, whether he has Buddha nature or not makes no difference to him. Just throw the ball!"
Just dipping into Nothing Holy About It will reframe your view of Zen!
QUOTED: "Divided into five parts, with eighteen chapters, Nothing Holy About It, might be read in one sitting or two, but it’s perhaps best taken a bit at a time and savored little by little. Otherwise it can feel like a long, drawn-out sermon."
"Burkett’s book offers valuable lessons. ... There are also insightful comments about working with homeless people in Minnesota."
THE BLOG 09/01/2015 02:18 pm ET Updated Aug 30, 2016
Buddhism Meets Freud and LSD
headshot
By Jonah Raskin
Nothing Holy About It: The Zen of Being Just Who You Are
By Tim Burkett, edited by Wanda Isle. Shambhala; $16.95. 292 pages.
White, middle class Americans — whether they’re raised Catholic, Protestant, Jewish or in some other religion —almost always seem a bit absurd when they turn to Buddhism, as the African American author James Baldwin recognized years ago when he called the Beat Generation writers, “Suzuki rhythm boys.”
For those who have forgotten or who never knew, D.T. Suzuki, the Japanese author, intellectual and self-promoter, helped to bring Zen Buddhism to the West with a vengeance from the 1930s until the 1950s, when Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, the self-proclaimed “dharma bums,” burst on the literary scene and helped to spread their own idiosyncratic tales of the Buddha.
In the inner Beat circle, only Gary Snyder, a working class kid from the Pacific North West, actually went to Japan to study Zen Buddhism long before it became fashionable to do so.
Tim Burkett, the author of Nothing Holy About It and the abbot at the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center, has spent most of his adult life sitting and meditating. Nothing Holy About It, which was edited by Wanda Isle, offers the distillation of dozens of his talks about Buddhism and what it says to and for Americans.
Born and raised in California, and a child of the counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s, Burkett is also a licensed psychologist and the CEO of People Incorporated, a non-profit mental health organization in St. Paul Minneapolis.
Not surprisingly, his version of Buddhism merges with psychology and psychotherapy. Indeed, Burkett goes so far as to say, “One could argue that Freud was expressing ancient Buddhist concepts without knowing anything about Buddhism.” In Nothing Holy About It, which is in part a spiritual autobiography, he explores his relationships to his demanding parents, schizophrenic sister, suicidal brother, devoted wife, loveable children and grandchildren, as well as his good Christian grandmother who told him, “honor the god in front of you.”
In a way, that ‘s what Burkett has aimed to do his whole life. Nothing Holy About It honors her and all his teachers. It peels away the author’s own skin and in the process offers a series of sessions in psychoanalysis. Indeed, part of the charm of this book is the author’s disclosures about his boyhood and early manhood, his battles with anger, impatience, ennui and more, as well as his attempts to attain some sort of inner peace and enlightenment.
Divided into five parts, with eighteen chapters, Nothing Holy About It, might be read in one sitting or two, but it’s perhaps best taken a bit at a time and savored little by little. Otherwise it can feel like a long, drawn-out sermon.
Some of the most vivid parts of the book reveal Burkett’s feuds with his biological father, a self-defined atheist, plus his complex father-son like relationship with his Buddhist teacher Suzuki Roshi who was born in Japan in 1904 and who arrived in San Francisco in 1959 just as Beats and Beatniks turned to Zen and D.T. Suzuki to attain satori.
Of Suzuki Roshi, Burkett writes that he “was not the first Zen teacher in America. But he was able to spread Zen further than others partly because he accommodated himself to his environment.” He adds, that he was “able to accommodate himself to the Haight-Ashbury subculture that began in 1966-67.”
Burkett’s most provocative comments are probably about the connections between Buddhism and the drug culture that flourished in the Haight-Ashbury in the 1960s.
“Without LSD, it’s doubtful the Zen movement would have caught on in the United States,” he writes. He also describes Richard Alpert, AKA Ram Dass, as a “model” for the counterculture and his book Be Here Now as the “the counterculture Bible.”
My own experiences with Buddhism, both Zen and Tibetan, divagate from Burkett’s. I’m not a therapist or psychologist, nor have I followed Ram Dass or dropped acid in the manner of the hippies, though I tried it twice in 1970. Granted, sitting and meditating, which Burkett urges readers to adopt as a practice, helped me to quiet my own flighty mind, especially when I chose to have brain surgery in 1996.
But I do not sit now and I no longer go to the sangha, or community, to which I once belonged. I did not find the kind of shared, heart-felt values that Burkett describes. “We were not born into Buddhism,” he writes. “Nor are there any cultural benefits to being a Buddhist — no power, status, or networking opportunities.”
In some parts of the community in Northern California where I live, Buddhists network at the sangha. They also boast about their ability to sit, and claim that they meditate better than others. I have even heard Buddhists say to one another, “I’m a better Buddhist than you.” That Buddhists have much the same sense of superiority and arrogance as members of any other religion, Burkett doesn’t really acknowledge. Then, too, Buddhists in Asia have gone to war with other Buddhists.
Still, Burkett’s book offers valuable lessons. “Don’t try to be a good Buddhist,” the author writes. “Just be who you already are.” There are also insightful comments about working with homeless people in Minnesota. “We found that when people who have been on the street a long time are given a warm, safe place to live and three meals a day, they often become disorientated,” Burkett explains. In times and situations like that, Dostoevsky might be as good a guide as the Buddha.