Blowing Zen: Finding an Authentic Life, Revised updated edition

by Ray Brooks

As a young, up and coming electrical engineer living in England, Ray Brooks had everything he could want—a high paying job, late nights, and fast cars. All he was missing in his life was the meaning.

A series of events brought him to Japan, where he met a man who played the shakuhachi, an ancient Japanese flute. That fortuitous interaction motivated Brooks to embark on a journey to learn this very difficult instrument.

Through playing the shakuhachi, he began to understand the Zen discipline that is a crucial aspect of Japanese culture. This understanding greatly changed his outlook on life, putting him in touch with his authentic self.

Blowing Zen’s humor and its irresistible story of cultures converging lets the underlying message come through without life is about finding your true calling, not just what brings you superficial joy. Brooks’ spontaneous approach to the collaboration of art, mind, body, and spirit is inspiring and instructive.
This uplifting memoir has been entrancing readers since its release in 2000, and it is now being re-released with a new chapter and lots of photographs.

This is the expanded and revised edition with photos.

Genres: Music, Zen, Nonfiction, Biography, Japan, Religion, Philosophy

287 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

The Shadow that Seeks the Sun is a thought-provoking memoir of the author’s search for unconditional freedom.

Immense gratitude to the Hall of Mirrors group: Facebook, Rupert Spira, Francis Lucille and Krishnamurti, and all those teachers whose names I have failed to mention here. Their teachings helped shape and sharpen my ability to reproduce the talks with Rudra's into a coherent and understandable way for the reader.

Links of interest at www.raybrooks.org

With affectionate humor, the narrator, Ray, introduces an unforgettable cast of characters who inhabit the banks of the River Ganges in Rishikesh, India.

Interwoven throughout these lively stories are nine insightful conversations that take place between Ray and Rudra, an intriguing Anglo-Indian man he met by chance on the ghats. With Rudra’s guidance, these simple, yet profound, talks challenge the author’s long-held spiritual beliefs by pointing directly to that which is ever-present but completely overlooked—our true nature.

Immense gratitude to the Hall of Mirrors group: Facebook, Rupert Spira, Francis Lucille and Krishnamurti, and all those teachers whose names I have failed to mention here. Their words and ideas helped shape and sharpen my ability to reproduce my talks with Rudra's into a coherent and understandable way for the reader.


The authors previous works are, "Blowing Zen: finding an authentic life and "Ich ging den Weg der Zen Flote: a spiritual biography.


Ray is also a musician and recording artist, internationally known in the world of shakuhachi music. He has studied with many great shakuhachi masters and performed throughout Japan and overseas.

Dianne is the co-writer of The shadow that seeks the sun.

Reviews

[Duc Do · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is such a joy to read. An honest account of how an amateur would "stumble" upon the shakuhachi - one of the most difficult musical instruments to master - then went on to to be guided by this instrument to encounter extraordinary people and zen, and find an authentic way of life through musical mastery.

This book is another testament to the fruits of the inner discovery journey that, sooner or later, beckons all of us. I would love to hear the author Ray Brooks play the shakuhachi live some day. From what he wrote here, he is one of a kind.

This book is a treasure that needs to be passed on to the next reader or musician. And next.

[Mage · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read

[Arthur J · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book to be very uplifting. Having met the author, who lives in Victoria for six months of the year. It gave me an insight into what goes into writing a spiritual book.

[Rick Jackofsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very well-written memoir with an inside-out view of Japanese culture.