Jon’s Reviews > The Circle of the Way: A Concise History of Zen from the Buddha to the Modern World > Status Update

“In Zen, the teacher is more of a guide or a mentor than a guru, and it’s important to be clear about that.”

“Enlightenment is not about escaping from the world and one’s own suffering, Hakuin says. It is about offering oneself to the world to relieve the suffering of others.”

Dogen paraphrase: “Enlightenment is already present. The function of practice is to embody it.”

Paraphrase of Dogen: “To fully and mindfully engage in practice, to sit in meditation, to keep the precepts, to prepare a meal as a sacred offering and not as a chore, is to step into the circle of practice/enlightenment where enlightenment is forever unfolding.”

“The prerequisite of maleness for enlightenment has been a persistent belief throughout Buddhist Asia.”