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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 294.3927092
EAN num: 9781590304709
ISBN number: 1590304705
Label: Shambhala
Manufacturer: Shambhala
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 480
Printing Date: May 08, 2007
Publishing house: Shambhala
Release Date: May 08, 2007
Sale Popularity Level: 350885
Studio: Shambhala
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Product Description:
David Chadwick, a Texas-raised wanderer, college dropout, bumbling social activist, and hobbyhorse musician, began his study under Shunryu Suzuki Roshi in 1966. In 1988 Chadwick flew to Japan to begin a four-year period of voluntary exile and remedial Zen education. In Thank You and OK! he recounts his experiences both inside and beyond the monastery walls and offers insightful portraits of the characters he knew in that world—the bickering monks, the patient abbot, the trotting housewives, the ominous insects, the bewildered bureaucrats, and the frustrating English-language students—as they worked inexorably toward initiating him into the mysterious ways of Japan. Whether you're interested in Japan, Buddhism, or exotic travel writing, this book is great fun.
To learn more about the author, David Chadwick, visit www.cuke.com.
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Rated by buyers 
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Having read previous books on Western Zen including the author's biography of Suzuki and "Shoes Outside The Door", I was already familiar with the history of the San Francisco Zen Center and read this book primarily to learn more. "Thank You And OK" is a good personal account of travel in Japan but that is not why I read it. I'm inclined to take Zen students seriously so I consider the "An American Zen Failure" part of the title to be false modesty. I don't see why anyone would meditate for years and become a Buddhist if they didn't get it.
On the other hand, Chadwick chose to write a humorous travel journal and only occasionally goes deeper into the Zen experience. It may be that he was writing with a particular audience in mind but it seems too guarded concerning one's inner experience.
But since trying to judge the depth of another's spiritual gifts is pointless and unworthy, one of my criticisms of Zen, I won't continue. American Zen needs to adopt an American character and stop looking to Japan for inspiration. Maybe we should drop the Zen altogether and just graft a few of its insights onto good old American Transcendentalism, although that is not entirely home grown. Personally I have no problem weaving American culture into my spirituality since the unconscious mind naturally weaves experiences into a significant personal mythology.
Rated by buyers 
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American Zen practitioner David Chadwick went to Japan in 1988, lived in a monastery for six weeks, taught English for two years, then went home and wrote a book. His description of monastic life is a fascinating account of a world about which little is written in English, the rest of his life less so. Chronicles of language teachers in Japan fill the cut-out bins of discount book sellers.
There have been some small changes in the twenty years since Chadwick trained at Shogoji, a Soto Zen temple in Kumamoto prefecture (which the author makes a thin endeavor to veil by changing the name to Hogoji). A sodo (a dedicated mediation hall) and shuryo (study hall) have been added, and cooking is now done with gas instead of wood. But otherwise life on the mountain remains much the same. There is still no electricity, the kitchen is dangerously dark, poisonous centipedes are hunted with murderous intent, and practice remains remarkably sterile.
One of Chadwick's Zen mates, an American monk with a decade of Japanese Zen experience, confides that "the purpose of training in Japanese Zen temples isn't to help you along the path to enlightenment - it is to cultivate you into a refined and obedient Japanese priest for Japanese temples." Having attended the 2008 training at Shogoji, this reviewer can verify that the purpose of the training remains precisely the same. (See my blog, FullThangka, for more on that experience.)
Chadwick's memory of an incident at the San Francisco Zen center is particularly revealing of the decline in Zen training. A gathering of senior American priests requested Katagiri-sensei, an important player in the introduction of Japanese Zen to the United States, teach them how to do dokusan, the practice of private interviews with students. Katagiri-sensei said he couldn't help them. That he had never been taught himself. That his teachers never taught dharma. They would have to figure it out for themselves, as he had.
There's certainly something to be said for being the source of your own enlightenment. The Buddha said as much in his parting message. But where, then, is the need for temples and priests?
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Rated by buyers -
Well-written, detailed account of a 'failure' Zen Buddhist in Japan. The book divides itself between Chadwick's time practicing in a Zen temple and his daily life teaching in Japan, providing just the right balance of spirituality and down-to-earth living. Though the author is Buddhist, his writing style is so engaging and humble that anyone with an interest in what it's like living in East Asia should find the book interesting. For example, I've never lived in Japan, but I have lived in China and South Korea, and Chadwick's observations and stories about neighbors, food, class discussions, visa issues, and other cultural discoveries are both funny, sympathetic, and spot on. One of my favorites on the subject of living abroad.
Rated by buyers 
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David Chadwick is a long time zen student. What particularly stands out in this excellent account of his time in Japan is his utter honesty and straightforwardness. The book is rather entertaining, as only David can be, as well as informative of the struggles and joys of an American trying to practice Zen in Japan. I know you will enjoy reading this account by David, an ordained priest in the Soto Lineage of Shunryu Suzuki roshi.
Rated by buyers -
It is a sad sign that such an amazing book should be out of print. This is one of my favorite books of all times. David Chadwick chronicles some of his experiences living in Japan, very first in a country temple being refurbished by him and a few other Japanese and American monks, and then living in a larger city where he lives subsequent to a monastery while teaching English on the sly. (He intertwines the two periods in alternating chapters, so it is not a linear story. It works much better than it should.) He has a remarkable eye for detail; his descriptions of the birds signing, of the flora by the side of the road, of the Japanese biting catepillars, and of the various comical and not-so-comical people he encounters are wonderful and help make you feel as if you are right along side him, walking down the country road or witing to be digested by and pass through the Japanese bureacracy. This is Zen in action - not mystical philosophy, just living and fully experiencing every day! I laughed out loud many times (occasionally so hard tears came to my eyes), and was deeply moved by various stories, most importantly his experiences with Katagiri Roshi, his friend and teacher who dies before the book is over. I have thrust my copy of this book into a lot of hands over time, and I am only sorry that it is not easily available to buy for more people so I can share this wonderful experience with them.
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