Charlotte Joko Beck (1917–2011)

My manual for Zen meditation and understanding.

The format of Everyday Zen is a series of transcripts of talks that Joko has given to students during intensive meditation retreats or during regular Saturday morning programs at the Zen Center of San Diego, which she heads.

Joko is a rarity in American Zen--American, not Asian; female; mother of 3 children; she had an independent career from which she retired. She started Zen when a mature adult. As a result, she brings a different, practical show more perspective to Zen, not always found in American zendos; I can speak from personal experience to that.

Beck lives in today's world, not 11th or 13th century Japan. She understands, as the Introduction puts it, that the "chop wood, carry water" idiom of medieval Eastern practice has to be translated, for Westerners, into "make love, drive freeway." She can speak to a modern, Western student in a way that those following the monastic model of Japanese Zen can not or find difficult.

Beck is a practical, no nonsense teacher. One of her objectives is to destroy in her students the romantic notions that many people bring to Zen. While psychological change probably will occur, it's not the object of Zen, nor or special "powers". Joko is relentless in refusing to give her students what she calls "cookies"--false hopes or pretenses for starting what is really a way of life. Joko is excellent, as a result, in defining what Zen is NOT, which turns out to be remarkably useful to a student. She understands that Americans, in particular, want to be "fed" enlightenment, preferably by listening to a teacher tell them how to live or by reading it in a book. Joko constantly demolishes these notions.

The book organizes the essays (for that is what they turn out to be) into sections: Beginnings, Practice, Feelings, Relationships, Suffering, Ideals, Boundaries, Choices, Service. Each gives practical advice on meditation and living. While she is insistent that no book can take the place of practice, still this one is invaluable as a manual for those of us who do not have access to a teacher. It really is a "how to" book rather than a series of inspirational messages. I have found it invaluable in my own life.

Too bad there is no rating higher than 5 stars. show less

One of the very best books on zen I´ve ever read.
A clear voice that stems from years of zazen practice desects subjects from the middle of our everyday life. They are presented as the ground for continious awakening in our very lives. The warm "no bullshit" approach to themes as love and relations makes this a good book to demystify and refocus practice to the actual happenings in our lives. It will attract the lover of buddhism and at the same time effectively remove the false hopes of a show more distant wonderland. show less

Once again, Joko challenged me to think about aspects of my life that I would rather not focus on, and I can do nothing but thank her for it. Nothing Special has a lot of the same themes as Everyday Zen, but I liked the organization of this one better. It's arranged in short "chapters" that read like individual essays, each with a theme.

I would recommend it to anyone curious about Zen.

This book came to me during a very difficult time in my life and was like a life raft. It changed my attitudes and thereby my life. Charlotte Joko Beck is not the warm and fuzzy teacher that Pema Chodron can be, but the cool water in your face teachings were just what I needed.