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Being without self: Zen for the modern world
Being Without Self is based on lectures given during retreats worldwide, so they are inspiring, insightful and practical. This book provides an invaluable corrective to contemporary Buddhist and Zen practice, as well as a profound challenge to those of other faiths or no faith at all. Finally, a book on Zen Buddhism that speaks directly from –and points clearly to– the living source itself.
"From the outside, what do these questions look like? That's right, like some metaphysical, convoluted, abstract, esoteric, new age hocus-pocus. I can assure you, however, from inside – when it is your own living, burning doubt – it is most simple. Nay, unavoidable.
But it's true: such questions are usually passed over. Is that because they are so esoteric or abstract? Or could it be because they are so damned close we fail to acknowledge them? If these questions still seem esoteric or complicated, perhaps that is because they have not yet been seen up close, seen into, seen through. Are they distant, or does self keep them at a distance?"
Jeff Shore (1953) is Professor of Zen in the Modern World at the Rinzai Zen-affiliated Hanazono University in Kyoto, Japan. He has completed Zen practice in the Rinzai training monastery of Tofukuji in Kyoto after 25 years under the head abbot Keido Fukushima.
"From the outside, what do these questions look like? That's right, like some metaphysical, convoluted, abstract, esoteric, new age hocus-pocus. I can assure you, however, from inside – when it is your own living, burning doubt – it is most simple. Nay, unavoidable.
But it's true: such questions are usually passed over. Is that because they are so esoteric or abstract? Or could it be because they are so damned close we fail to acknowledge them? If these questions still seem esoteric or complicated, perhaps that is because they have not yet been seen up close, seen into, seen through. Are they distant, or does self keep them at a distance?"
Jeff Shore (1953) is Professor of Zen in the Modern World at the Rinzai Zen-affiliated Hanazono University in Kyoto, Japan. He has completed Zen practice in the Rinzai training monastery of Tofukuji in Kyoto after 25 years under the head abbot Keido Fukushima.
- GenresZen
205 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2008
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25 people want to read
About the author
Jeff Shore
6 books[There is more than one Jeff Shore in the GR database. This is Jeff^^Shore, American lay Zen teacher and the authorized dharma heir of the late Zen Master Keido Fukushima.]
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 6, 2017
For anyone seriously interested in Zen Buddhism and one of its central concepts, anatman, or no-self. Jeff knows. And it shows. Plain language, written with humor.
March 4, 2025
A reliable guide to Zen.
Jeff Shore is now in his early-70s (albeit looking much younger). Born in the Philadelphia area, he was a mediocre, troublesome student who found inspiration, as he describes it, in a discarded copy of D. T. Suzuki's An Introduction to Zen Buddhism. He somehow got into college, double-majoring at Temple University in religion and philosophy, going on to the University of Hawaii's graduate program in philosophy. There, he experienced Zen practice at a retreat with Robert Aitken's zendo.
He was side-tracked after graduating, returning to Philadelphia to work as research assistant at Temple University before deciding to throw himself into a Zen monastery in Japan. While this worked for him, it was brutal. He writes: "A real Zen monastery is a last resort. If you have any other alternative, provided it is not destructive, do it."
Jeff spent many years completing the formal Zen training curriculum, including koan study. He then stayed in Kyoto, teaching as Professor of Zen in the Modern World at the Rinzai Zen-affiliated Hanazono University. He has dedicated much of his spare time to leading Zen retreats around the world (US, UK, Netherlands, Germany, etc.)
This is a collection of Jeff's essays, mostly concerned with the practical aspects of Zen practice (how to sit, breathe properly, manage mental distractions) leavened with stories and anecdotes taken from the Zen literature.
I often sideline text that strike me as worth returning to, but found myself making few such marks in this book. Admittedly it was my second reading, and perhaps I had already absorbed most of Jeff's advice the first time round. One section that I did highlight is from Jeff's summary of his own path:
"Let the fruit naturally ripen by living a proper life and maintaining a steady, ever-maturing practice, devoted to it without concern for results or benefits. Don't be preoccupied with or deluded by insights or experiences, however wondrous they may seem. Don't turn the practice, experiences, or insights into something, anything. They can inspire; they can also misguide.
"Then, when the fruit is ripe, it naturally drops from the tree. The moment of its dropping is not foreordained, or forced. And when it drops, what happens? It simply becomes nourishment for others."
Other Jeff Shore books:
Great Doubt by the Chinese Ming dynasty Zen master Boshan, together with Shore's commentary on the teachings (2016).
Backwater Reeds: Zen Buddhist Dharma Talks for the 21st Century (2024)
Jeff Shore is now in his early-70s (albeit looking much younger). Born in the Philadelphia area, he was a mediocre, troublesome student who found inspiration, as he describes it, in a discarded copy of D. T. Suzuki's An Introduction to Zen Buddhism. He somehow got into college, double-majoring at Temple University in religion and philosophy, going on to the University of Hawaii's graduate program in philosophy. There, he experienced Zen practice at a retreat with Robert Aitken's zendo.
He was side-tracked after graduating, returning to Philadelphia to work as research assistant at Temple University before deciding to throw himself into a Zen monastery in Japan. While this worked for him, it was brutal. He writes: "A real Zen monastery is a last resort. If you have any other alternative, provided it is not destructive, do it."
Jeff spent many years completing the formal Zen training curriculum, including koan study. He then stayed in Kyoto, teaching as Professor of Zen in the Modern World at the Rinzai Zen-affiliated Hanazono University. He has dedicated much of his spare time to leading Zen retreats around the world (US, UK, Netherlands, Germany, etc.)
This is a collection of Jeff's essays, mostly concerned with the practical aspects of Zen practice (how to sit, breathe properly, manage mental distractions) leavened with stories and anecdotes taken from the Zen literature.
I often sideline text that strike me as worth returning to, but found myself making few such marks in this book. Admittedly it was my second reading, and perhaps I had already absorbed most of Jeff's advice the first time round. One section that I did highlight is from Jeff's summary of his own path:
"Let the fruit naturally ripen by living a proper life and maintaining a steady, ever-maturing practice, devoted to it without concern for results or benefits. Don't be preoccupied with or deluded by insights or experiences, however wondrous they may seem. Don't turn the practice, experiences, or insights into something, anything. They can inspire; they can also misguide.
"Then, when the fruit is ripe, it naturally drops from the tree. The moment of its dropping is not foreordained, or forced. And when it drops, what happens? It simply becomes nourishment for others."
Other Jeff Shore books:
Great Doubt by the Chinese Ming dynasty Zen master Boshan, together with Shore's commentary on the teachings (2016).
Backwater Reeds: Zen Buddhist Dharma Talks for the 21st Century (2024)
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews