Entering the Monastery

by Renshin Bunce

I lived in and around San Francisco Zen Center for 12 years. During that time, I kept an online journal on The Well, one of the earliest of the social networking sites. This book is composed of those journals, offered in a response to the question asked by many people who come to one of Zen Center's "What's it like to be a monk in modern America?"

Genres: Memoir

237 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 13, 2014

Reviews

[Cecelia · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars because the segment of the life, her life that Reshin Bunce unfolds before the reader is me as well as she, and more appropriately is she with insights into getting beyond the stuck me... Nice slogan-like nuggets of Buddhist wisdom..."Always examine/investigate the self over and over until we see the cause of our suffering is the self and move away from it; "Everything Changes"; renunciation and moving forward; talking less; walking into a room with vulnerability, quiet and a soft face without answers. The author questions and ponders her multi-year monastic path in blog-journal entries. She shows us her struggles with the rules, the collective living compromises and inter-community personality clashes, her obstinance and her joyful acceptance, connection and personal study. There are no solid answers to her self-inquiry, just daily awakenings that morph and leave her more open to whatever happens.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Renshin Bunce sets out to answer the question "what is it like to become a Buddhist monk in today's American society?" She takes the reader through that experience with humor, insight, humility and courageous frankness. Highly recommended.