Expect Nothing. Clarice Bryan. Читать онлайн. Newlib. NEWLIB.NET

Автор: Clarice Bryan
Издательство: Ingram
Серия:
Жанр произведения: Здоровье
Год издания: 0
isbn: 9781462916825
Скачать книгу

      

Image

      EXPECT NOTHING

       A ZEN GUIDE

Image

      EXPECT NOTHING

       A ZEN GUIDE

      CLARICE BRYAN

      JOURNEY EDITIONS

       BOSTON • TOKYO • SINGAPORE

      This edition published in 200 I by Journey Editions, an imprint of Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd., with editorial offices at 364 Innovation Drive, North Clarendon, VT 05759 U.S.A.

      Copyright © 200 I Clarice Bryan

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission from journey Editions.

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

       Bryan, Clarice

       Expect Nothing: A Zen Guide / Clarice Bryan.

       p. cm.

       Includes bibliographical references.

       ISBN: 1-58290-039-6

       ISBN: 978-1-4629-1682-5 (ebook)

       1. Religious life—Buddhism. 2. Religious life—Zen Buddhism. 1.Title.

       BQ5395 .B69 200 1

       294.3’444—dc21 00-D55562

      Distributed by

      North America

       Tuttle Publishing

       Distribution Center

       Airport Industrial Park

       364 Innovation Drive

       North Clarendon, VT 05759-9436

       Tel: (802) 773-8930

       Tel: (800) 526-2778

       Fax: (802) 773-6993

       [email protected] www.tuttlepublishing.com

      Asia Pacific

       Berkeley Books Pte Ltd

       61 Tai Seng Avenue, #02-12

       Singapore 534167

       Tel: (65) 280-1330

       Fax: (65) 280-6290

      Japan

       Tuttle Publishing

       Yaekari Building 3rd Floor, 5-4-12

       Osaki Shinagawa-ku,

       Tokyo 141-0032

       Tel: 81 (03) 5437 0171

       Fax 81 (03) 5437 0755

      Designed by Dutton & Sherman

      05 04 03 02 01 00 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

      Printed in the United States of America

      THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO MY MOTHER, CLARICE DAVIS ZION, WHO, WHILE APPRECIATING AND ENCOURAGING ALMOST EVERYTHING, EXPECTED NOTHING. I WISH I’D REALIZED THIS WHILE SHE WAS STILL ALIVE.

      CONTENT

       Introduction

       PART I TEACHERS

       One ▪ Just Living

       Two ▪ One of My Greatest Teachers

       Three ▪ Growing Up

       Four ▪ Animals

       Five ▪ Cats and Birds

       Six ▪ Play’s the Thing

       PART II PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL RELATIONSHIPS

       Seven ▪ Lovers

       Eight ▪ Parenting

       Nine ▪ Friends

       Ten ▪ Neighbors

       Eleven ▪ Private Enterprise

       Twelve ▪ Government Work

       Thirteen ▪ Teaching

       Fourteen ▪ Fairness and justice

       PART III CULTURAL EXPECTATIONS

       Fifteen ▪ Stereotypes

       Sixteen ▪ The Facade of Bodies

       Seventeen ▪ Consumerism

       Eighteen ▪ Retiring into Life

       Nineteen ▪ Dignified Dying

       PART IV BEYOND NOTHING

       Twenty ▪ Miracles

       Twenty-One ▪ Changing

       References

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      I gratefully acknowledge the many people who have contributed in so many ways to my life and the writing of this book.

      I extend special thanks and my great respect to my teachers, Thich Nhat Hanh and Sogyal Rinpoche, who are unaware of their great influence on me. I am deeply grateful for encouragement and support from Lynn Warner and Phyllis Wilner. I extend my very special thanks to Patsy Givins, whose editorial advice has been extremely valuable to me. I offer heartfelt appreciation to Jan Johnson and Robyn Heisey of Tuttle Publishing for their excellent guidance.

Image

      INTRODUCTION

      How do we act in the world? How do we call forth the world without harming ourselves, other people and the world itself? How do we carry as little baggage as possible into each moment, and accumulate as little baggage as possible in each moment? How do we enter into each moment of the present with a clear conscience and a clear consciousness, gently holding and realizing the world and our life?

      I’m just a beginning Buddhist, but in trying to grasp the meaning of not grasping, I have found an intermediate step of not expecting. Seek and ye shall find ... ask and it shall be given—more and more expectations everywhere you look. I have spent much of my life being distracted by what could be.

      I have been the great expecter!

      Putting expectations on myself is one thing, but putting expectations on others is a travesty. I burden someone else with my needs for their behavior. I create unneeded and usually unwanted goals for others and then expect them to understand my disappointment and sometimes my anger when they don’t live up to my goals. It is really my expectations that fail, not the other people, but, of course, I blame them.

      I have been a rabid perfectionist most of my life. I practiced perfection. I expected everything I did to be perfect, and I expected everything everyone else did to be perfect—by my standards of perfection, of course, not theirs.

      Slowly, I am learning that people are different—especially that they are different from me. They have different time concepts, different food preferences, different religions, different cultural behaviors, different politics, and talents, and philosophies.