The Book of Householder Koans: Waking Up in the Land of Attachments

by Eve Myonen Marko, Wendy Egyoku Nakao

Zen koans, beginning some 1500 years ago, refer to stories or questions arising in encounters between monks and old Chinese and Japanese masters, and include commentaries designed to help the Zen practitioner awaken. Koans like Hakuin’s What is the sound of one hand clapping? are well-known, and the word koan has even gone mainstream. Thousands of classic koans emerged from the lives of monks living inside a Chinese or Japanese culture, and the commentaries on those koans contain poetic elements and images that have proved challenging for many Westerners. The Book of Householder Koans is a collection of koans created by 21st century Zen practitioners living a lay life in the West. The koans deal with the challenges of relationships, raising children, work, money, love, loss, old age, and death, and come from practitioners across three continents, and with commentaries by two Western teachers. The collection is based on the premise that our lives as householders contain situations rich with challenge and grit, the equivalents of old Zen masters’ shouts or blows meant to sweep the ground right from under their students. They become koans, or koan practice, when they jolt us out of our usual way of thinking, when we’re no longer observers of our lives but plunge in, closing the gap between ourselves and the situation we face.

Genres: Zen, Buddhism, Spirituality

240 pages, Paperback

Published February 4, 2020

Reviews

[Marley KD · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a wonderful rich book. It makes plain that the very moments when we’re most stuck, most confused, most bewildered about right/wrong, action/inaction, good/bad, are often just fertilizer of possibility and change. Each chapter is centered on a very specific and often mundane dilemma or challenge a person faced —falling into a climbing rose bush and getting stuck on the thorns, a child who “isn’t measuring up”, noisy neighbors — and what unexpected lesson or opening they got from it. Each chapter ends with questions meant to provoke personal reflection. A wonderful book to savor.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would have liked a better explanation as to what koans are in the introduction but the modern, western take on them are fascinating. I am struggling to think about how I can reflect on these myself but it's another step in the foundation of Buddhism adapting in the West and unfurling a new chapter.

[Melon]

I don't feel qualified to rate this book because it is the first one I've ever read about Zen or Buddhism. I found it randomly somewhere recently, cheap and second-hand, but I found it very interesting. It made me want to learn more, so there's that. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

[Warren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many stories about everyday life makes you rethink how you approach life.

[Anne McCready Heinen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection of essays of familiar situations and issues from daily life beautifully knits together Zen perspectives with our householder existences.

[A.B. McFarland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful brief insightful chapters. You can read one a day for a shift in perspective. Zen-flavored, but even a non-Buddhist could get something out of it.

[Robert Flannery · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable modern koans.
Why is a mouse when it spins?

[Ian Gutierrez · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a wonderful book. Wise and thought-provoking insights into the problems of daily living with a comotemporary Buddhist viewpoint.

[Jeremiah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took me a very long time to complete but that’s not a negative for a book about Koans. Pretty good overall

[IE · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable to read and ponder over a long period, it took me a year to finish this book. It will take me more practice to fully understand these koans.