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About the Book
About Suzuki Roshi |
 Books
by Taigen Dan Leighton
For more up to date info on Taigen's books, go to the book page on his California website. See the Dharma Books page on the Ancient Dragon Zen Gate web site Taigen's Peace and Justice Page Taigen Dan Leighton has moved to Chicago
His Chicago group's website is Ancient
Dragon Zen Gate |
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Saturday May 19, Taigen will be giving the morning (10 am) public Dharma talk at San Francisco Zen Center, 300 Page Street, speaking about the book with book signing and discussion to follow. He will also be giving a talk about the book Wednesday evening, May 16 at the Institute of Buddhist Studies, in Berkeley, now housed in the impressive new Jodo Shinshu Center building at Durant and Fulton. Their announcement: "Dogen and the Lotus Sutra: The Mahayana worldview of
Zen" As a religion concerned with universal liberation, Zen grew out of a Buddhist worldview very different from the currently prevalent scientific materialism. Indeed, Zen cannot be fully understood outside of a worldview that sees reality itself as a vital, dynamic agent of awareness and healing. In his lecture Dr. Leighton will explicate that worldview through the writings of the Zen master Eihei Dogen (1200-1253), considered the founder of the Japanese Soto Zen tradition, which currently enjoys increasing popularity in the West. Taigen Dan Leighton is the Guiding Dharma Teacher for Ancient Dragon Zen Gate in Chicago. An alumni of the GTU doctoral program, an adaptation of his dissertation has been published by Oxford University Press as Visions of Awakening Space and Time. Leighton remains an Adjunct Professor at IBS via online courses. He is also now an Adjunct Professor at Loyola University, Chicago. This event is free and open to the public. [Note: I am told that all are welcome to show up without RSVPing; they encourage that to get some idea of numbers for the reception afterward.]
Faces of Compassion: Classic Bodhisattva
Archetypes and Their Modern Expression . Revised Edition.
Formerly published as Bodhisattva Archetypes:Classic Buddhist Guides to
Awakening and Their Modern Expression. This book provides a practical introduction to the psychology of Bodhisattva practice, imagery, and imagination through the seven major archetypal bodhisattvas celebrated in East Asian Buddhism. Surveys of the iconography, basic Schools and teachings, colorful folklore, cultic history, and their primary liberative practices are presented for figures such as Manjushri, the sword-wielding prince of wisdom; Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion known as Chenrezig in Tibet, Kannon in Japan, and Guanyin "Goddess of Mercy" in China; Jizo, the monk/earth mother guardian of the afterlife and of hell beings; Maitreya, the next future Buddha, celebrated in China in his incarnation as Hotei, the fat "laughing buddha"; and Vimalakirti, trickster and vastly enlightened lay-disciple of the historical Buddha. In addition, modern culture figures who exemplify aspects of the archetypal qualities and spiritual values and strategies of the different bodhisattvas are suggested, including persons ranging from Einstein, Dr. King, Gandhi, and Mother Teresa, to Bob Dylan, Gloria Steinem, Muhammad Ali, Elie Weisel, Toni Morrison, Rachel Carson, Thomas Merton, Tom Jefferson, Helen Keller, and Clint Eastwood. Praise of Bodhisattva Archetypes: "Vigorous and inspiring, Bodhisattva Archetypes guides the reader into the clear flavors of the awaking life within both Buddhist tradition and our broad contemporary world. This is an informative, useful, and exhilarating work of deeply grounded scholarship and insight." --Jane Hirshfield, author of Woman in Praise of the Sacred "Such a useful book. Mr. Leighton clarifies and explains aspects of Buddhism which are often mysterious to the uninformed. The concept of the Bodhisattva--one who postpones personal salvation to serve others--is the perfect antidote to today's spiritual materialism where "enlightened selfishness" has been enshrined as dogma for the greedy. This book is useful as a fine axe." --Peter Coyote, actor and author of Sleeping Where I Fall "I appreciate Taigen Daniel Leighton's elucidation of the bodhisattva as archetypes .... In naming, describing, and illustrating the individual bodhisattvas, his book is an informative and valuable resource." --Jean Shinoda Bolen, M.D., author of Goddesses in Everywoman and Gods in Everyman "In Bodhisattva Archetypes Taigen Leighton provides us with a clear-as-a-bell introduction to Buddhist thought, as well as a short course in Far Eastern iconography and lore that I intend to use as a desk reference. What astonishes me, however, is that along the way he also manages, with surprising plausibility, to portray figures as diverse as Gertrude Stein, Bob Dylan, and Albert Einstein, among many likely and unlikely others, as equivalent Western expressions of the bodhisattva archetype. His discussion provides the sort of informed daring we need to make Buddhism our own." --Zoketsu Norman Fischer, Co-Abbot San Francisco Zen Center, author of Jerusalem Moonlight "Like boys flying kites, spiritual writers tend to let their teachings jounce high in the clouds somewhere. Not so Taigen Daniel Leighton. He resolutely reels them down. In Bodhisattva Archetypes he presents Buddhist ideas and ideals embodied in flesh-and-blood people, examples whom we can love, admire, emulate: a stroke of genius. The result: A sparkler among contemporary Buddhist writings." --Brother David Steindl-Rast, O.S.B., author of Gratefulness the Heart of Prayer *********** Other Books by Taigen Dan Leighton: Cultivating the Empty Field: The Silent Illumination of Zen Master Hongzhi translated by Taigen Daniel Leighton with Yi Wu. (North Point Press, a division of Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1991) ISBN: 0-86457-475-3 to order from publisher call: (888)330-8477 Hongzhi—twelfth century Chinese Zen master who was predecessor of the famed Japanese spiritual writer Dogen—is celebrated in Zen literature as one of its most artistically graceful stylists. In these inspirational writings Hongzhi uses nature metaphors and poetical prose to articulate the experience and awareness of silent illumination, the nondual objectless meditation commonly known to modern Zen students as "just sitting." The introduction places his writings in the Zen tradition, including a discussion of the five ranks and the dialectics of Zen philosophy. Comment on Cultivating the Empty Field : “An inspiring book and an important document in the Zen tradition. While Chinese poetry and philosophy is loaded with metaphors drawn from nature, few poets employ metaphors in such an engaging manner as does Hongzhi.” Tricycle magazine*********** The Wholehearted Way: A Translation of Eihei Dogen’s "Bendowa" with Commentary by Kosho Uchiyama Roshi translated by Taigen Daniel Leighton and Shohaku Okumura. (Charles E. Tuttle Co., 1997) ISBN: 0-8048-3105-X to order from publisher call: (800) 526-2778Zen Master Dogen (1200-1253) is widely considered one of the most profound, poetic, and insightful writers of the Buddhist tradition. This book includes an annotated translation of Dogen’s primary essay about the essential meaning and spirit of Zen meditation, along with an extensive, down-to-earth, and entertaining commentary by a prominent modern Japanese Zen Master, Uchiyama Roshi. Comments on The Wholehearted Way : “This book will take Dogen Zenji’s teachings on practice/enlightenment into the 21st century. ... presented with such clarity and precision by Shohaku Okumura and Taigen Dan Leighton that we enter Dogen Zenji’s presence as though in dokusan.” Zenkei Blanche Hartman, Abbess of San Francisco Zen Center “A fine introduction to the spirit of Zen, both past and present. Dogen’s famous text on Zen practice comes alive. ... The translation well captures both the sense of Dogen’s original text and the clarity and humanity that have made Uchiyama Roshi one of the most attractive Zen teachers today.” Carl Bielefeldt, Professor of Religious Studies, Stanford University *********** Dogen’s Pure Standards for the Zen Community: A Translation of "Eihei Shingi" translated by Taigen Daniel Leighton and Shohaku Okumura; Edited with Introduction by Taigen Daniel Leighton. (State University of New York Press, 1996) ISBN: 0-7914-2710-2 to order from publisher call: (800)666-2221This book is a complete translation of "Eihei Shingi," the major writing by the great thirteenth century Japanese Zen master Eihei Dogen about monastic practice and the role of community life in Buddhism. In addition to detailing procedural guidelines and instructions for monastic forms, in this work Dogen, noted for his profound and poetic insight, focuses on the appropriate attitudes and psychology for practitioners in community, and provides a collection of koans, or teaching stories, about spiritual community life. Along with the translation, the book includes a substantial introduction, informative annotation, and glossaries of persons mentioned in the stories and of traditional technical terms. Comment on Dogen’s Pure Standards for the Zen Community : “A very careful and readable translation of a very important work by Dogen which has just begun to receive attention. ... A ‘must read’ for those interested in studies of Dogen, Zen, and Japanese Buddhism.” Steven Heine, Professor of Religious Studies, Florida International University *********** For further inquiries e-mail Taigen directly. |
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Visions
of Awakening Space and Time: 
DOGEN'S EXTENSIVE RECORD: A TRANSLATION OF THE EIHEI KOROKU.
Translated by Taigen Dan Leighton and Shohaku Okumura; Edited and
introduced by Taigen Dan Leighton; Foreword by Tenshin Reb Andersen; with
introductory essays by Steven Heine and John Daido Loori (Wisdom
Publications, 2004) Check it out on Taigen's