Bøger af Arthur Braverman

Bronx Park is a coming of age novel, taking place in Pelham Parkway, The Lower East Side of Manhattan and in the Far East. The life of Herb Sandler, a troubled youth, is described through the voices of two of his closest friends Bobby and Sally. Both friends abandon Herb--Bobby when an incident over a girl they both like comes between them, and Sally when Herbs drug abuse and involvement in a free love commune become too much for her to handle. When Herb's journal mysteriously comes into Sally's hands many years after they've separated, a search for her old friend brings new realisations into Herb's world .

Dharma Brothers: Kodo and Tokujoo is based on the lives of two Japanese Zen Masters, how they grew from two ordinary boys, walking very different paths to become extraordinary men, and the deep spiritual bond between them. It is also the story of Japan from 1880 to 1965, of two personal accounts of Zen journeys to enlightenment, and of love and friendship. The story follows the lives of these two Dharma brothers, set against a backdrop of the Japanese-Russian War of 1905, and the rise of fascism in Japan in the 1930s. Kodo was an orphan, brought up in a harsh environment, while Tokujoo was the son of a well-to-do businessman. They both spent years studying in the most stringent Zen monasteries and became life-long friends. Each struggled to find his way clear of the circumstances in which he had been reared. Each sought a way of life offering more meaning and truth, ultimately becoming a different exemplar of Zen practice and living Buddhism.

Kozan Kato was a Zen-master who trained in one of the best known Zen monasteries in Japan. He raised a family and taught monks who sought him out in his small temple outside Tokyo. Though he was content to raise a family and grow a small vegetable garden, the word got out that this farmer monk was hiding away in his small temple outside of Tokyo. Monks who were looking for a teacher whose approach to Zen resembled that of the ancient Zen-masters, made their way to his temple and asked to be allowed to study with him. Like his friend Kodo Sawaki Roshi, he lived his life with no interest in name or fame.Kozan's warm personality, infectious smile and love of the practice of Zen made people who had contact with him want to try to practice Zen. His name spread throughout Japan despite his attempt to remain a simple Zen monk hiding away in a poor temple in the mountains outside of Tokyo.

Living and Dying in Zazen combines the life stories and teaching of five teachers-Kodo Sawaki, Sodo Yokoyama, Kozan Kato, Motoko Ikebe, and Uchiyama-associated with Antaiji monastery and the story of Bravermen and other Western students coming to grips with Zen, Japanese culture, and themselves. The deification of Zen teachers by their followers has been a problematic issue in American Zen; this book provides a healthy antidote, presenting four men and one woman who have lived and died in Zen within the rich context of their personal lives and their culture, so that we can fully understand what makes a Zen master in Japan.