Albert Low (1928–2016)

'In Zen it is said that one must not confuse the moon with the fingers that points to the moon; no amount of theory wil ever take the place of a few minutes of practice.'

Many good books about the rich literature and philosophy of Zen can be found on bookstore shelves. But there are no books that explain simply, to the interested begininer, how to do Zen-how to sit down and begin to work toward fufillment of the promises of Zen.

An Invitation to Practice Zen answers this need. Its author makes no glib claims or ary promises. He admits that the way of Zen is not an easy one to follow. But for those willing to undertake the work, he offers concise, easy-to-understand, step-by-step instructions on how to incorporate Zen into your dailiy life-how to establish a regular program of practice that will make available the wisdom and insight to be gained from the discipine of Zen.

Albert Low ws born in England and hollds a degree in philosophy and psychology. He studied Zen under Roshi Philip Kapleau and compeleted formal training in 1986, at that time receiving full transmission as a zen teacher. Currently director of the Montreal Zen Centre, Mr. Low is also author of Zen and Creative Management and The Iron Cow of Zen.

Contents

Acknkowledgments
Introduction
Part I Orientation
1 What is Buddhism?
Buddha means awakened one
Buddhism and Shakyamuni
The meaning of this story
The four noble truths
2 The meaning of Zen
Zen, Chan, and Dhyana
So why need we meditate?
The difficulty of meditation
4 Ingrediants of practice
Zazen
Faith, doubt, and perseverance
Part II Practice
5 Beginning to practice
Posture
Practice
The mechanics of Zazen
6 Zen in everyday life
Zen as an end and as a means
Mindfulness at all times
Mistaken beliefs
The inner monologue
The way of the warrior
7 Practice at a center
The importance of guidance
Life at a center
The discipline of Sesshin
Koan practice
Makyo
Chanting
8 Ansewers to comon questions… (more)

Zen practice is more of a journey than a destination. This is all portrayed quite well in this book “What More Do You Want?” by Albert Low. With questions about the practice of doing Zazen and other ideas, this book is for more advanced practitioners. Questions are asked and answers are given. Some of them are remarkably sublime and deep, while some of them are merely about sticking to the practice of doing Zen. The book is fantastic in that sense. With a great deal of experience but no self-important poise, this Albert Low seems like a pretty interesting guy.

In any case, this book is great. It is a good source of quotes and ideas on Zen practice. So I would recommend it if you can find a copy. There really isn’t much else to say about this book, though it doesn’t merely have a question and answer format to it. That may be the lion’s share of the book, but there is also a section on the actual point of becoming enlightened and four Teishos or Talks that were given by the author.… (more)

Many good books about the rich literature and philosophy of Zen can be found ou bookstore shelves. But there are no books that explain simply, to the interested beginner, how to do Zen - how to sit down and begin to work toward fulfillment of the promises of Zen. An Invitation To Practice Zen answers this need. Its author makes no glib claims or airy promises. He admits that the way of Zen is not an easy one to follow. But for those willing to undertake the work, he offer concise, easy to understand, step-by-step instructions on how to incorporate Zen into your daily life - how to establish a regular program of practice that will make available the wisdom and insight to be gained from the discipline of Zen.… (more)