Naked in the Zendo: Stories of Uptight Zen, Wild-Ass Zen, and Enlightenment Wherever You Are

by Grace Schireson

A collection of charming and funny stories on how to turn the awareness we find on the meditation cushion into wisdom for every day.

We need to remove our ego's clothing to truly see ourselves and the world as they are. Grace Schireson's stories about her Zen journey--from child to grandmother--share deep insight about how we can find awareness, feel it in our bodies, and experience it wherever we are. Grace's path is at times ordinary--with stories of youthful naiveite ("Will Zen Get You High?"), parenting ("You Exist; Therefore, I Am Embarrassed"), and pets ("The Honorable Roshi Bully Cat")--and groundbreaking--with stories of her studies with Suzuki Roshi ("What's Love Got to Do with It?"), Keido Fukushima Roshi ("Don't Bow"), and more. Each story, whether humorous or poignant, highlights the power of awareness to transform our lives and the remarkable work of this pioneering woman in American Zen.

Genres: Nonfiction, Buddhism, Zen

184 pages, Paperback

Published November 26, 2019

Reviews

[Andy McLellan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book! Grace Schireson is a well-known elder in the Zen community of some fifty years standing in practice terms. She has already written several well-received books, one on Zen women, and this feels like a more personal collection of stories and teachings.

In fact, this book feels like sitting down with Grace Sensei and a cup of tea, hearing about her life, her practice, and the lives and practice of those around her.

There are funny stories, and the title alludes to one, more serious stories, and stories of loss and struggle.

In the end, though, the message is clear. Zen is not something separate or other. Zen is life right here, right now, just as it is. And there is something immensely comforting in that.

[Emma Eiram · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grace is a pretty skilled storyteller, and an even more skilled zen practitioner I’m sure. Her writing was both entertaining in its stories, and inspiring in it’s new to me ideas and methods for a meditation practice and a present awareness of life.

If one aspect of the book left me uneasy, it was the feeling of betrayal from the men of the zen Buddhist community that she has encountered. Perhaps it was a good reminder that (to paraphrase Thich Nhat Hanh), the world is too full of isms, including Buddhism, and what’s important is not the rules or regulations of the ism, but the application of the ideas behind it in your life. Grace’s experience was a good reminder for me that maybe the community experience isn’t fully for me, but that the ideas can be.

[Andrew Rosenberg · Rating 1 out of 5]

I know the author and read part of her boring book. Most of the things that she stars,"happened to me." Dod not. She shaved her head and took male hormones to be in close contact with other women, her choice. She worked at a hospital out of North Fork, California and did group therapy and billed insurance for individual. Grace, alias Jill and sneaky Healy s a fraud. She sued Wang Laboratories for sexual harassment and used her brother to help fabricate stories. Grace is all about, game, money and personal advancement, no qualities of a Zen master. She has turned and condemned her own family.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

An accessible and entertaining collection of essays regarding American Zen practices. Schireson is an insightful teacher and Zen Roshi who provides insight through her humorous personal accounts of her meditation practices. I enjoy how she first came to the Zen Temple seeking a “drug less high,” and she was very much a product of the Northern California hippie scene in the 1960s. Schireson — a clinical psychiatrist, educator, wife, mother, and grandmother — brings considerably more to the table than the blissed out musings of a beat era poet, and applied a rigorous spiritual and academic understanding of doctrine with discipline and pragmatism.

[Brian Wilcox · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of moments of seriousness and humorousness. Schireson opens windows on wisdom for Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike. Here, one will find no support for using Zen as another means of spiritual tripping or mystification.

Schireson exposes her fallibilities and the lessons learned from them. She shows practically how awareness plays and circulates as something more embracing than our ordinary mind, so able to be free of the habitual thoughts that keep us too limited and too asleep to the glory of life and our potentials to live consciously and compassionately.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is just as described -- personal stories with some lessons learned along the way. I enjoyed it. These are not shocking or particularly memorable anecdotes, but they serve they're purpose, and the author is a thoughtful and good writer. Recommended.

I really appreciate the NetGalley advanced copy for review!!

[Sam]

You know when you find your gold standard author(s) for a particular genre, and then no one else can meet that bar?! For me, Thich Nhat Hanh and Sharon Salzberg are those gold standards for books on mindfulness/meditation/zen/Buddhism; this one doesn’t meet that reaaaaaaally high bar so it’s a DNF for me.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this well enough, but it didn't really speak to me. I've been very stressed out and somewhat distracted lately, so that could also be why. I'm undecided as to whether I'll donate it to the library or keep it, so I'll keep it for now.

[Heather Bennett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Naked in the Zendo is a interesting and sometimes humorous book. The book is well written and makes a few decent points.