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From: mva@mandrake.bellcore.com (Madhav Apte)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.eastern
Subject: Re: Zen Buddhism (Is a teacher necessary?)
Message-ID: <1990Nov29.005705.6149@nas.nasa.gov>
Date: 29 Nov 90 00:57:05 GMT
References: <1990Nov20.033319.15098@nas.nasa.gov> <1990Nov28.010537.27869@nas.nasa.gov>
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In article <1990Nov28.010537.27869@nas.nasa.gov> jimt@yeats.intel.com (Jim Travers) writes:
>unx.sas.com!sascmc@mcnc.org (Chris Conn) writes:
>>    Do you think a teacher is really necessary to practise Zen?
>>    Does a person have to be involved with a teacher or a group in order
>>       to consider themselves a Zen Buddhist?
>
>       "Everyday Zen: Love and Work," by Charlotte Joko Beck, Harper and Row,
>            1989.
>

I would like to second the vote for this book.  It is by far my
most favorite book (out of say, maybe 20 or so books) on zen.
The other two books mentioned before, "the way of zen" and "three
pillars of zen" are very good - no question about that.  But
Joko gets to the sorta questions that an everyday person 
comes up with, and attempts to answer them.  And she doesn't
beat around the bush; nor load you with theory.  Buy it, borrow
it, somehow get to a few pages of it  - you will like it.
-Madhav