Original Face, Original Heart: Zen Reflections on the Way of Lovingkindness
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Original Face, Original Heart: Zen Reflections on the Way of Lovingkindness
Sale price
$18.99
Regular price $22.99
Buddhist lovingkindness (metta) is not love in any conventional sense, but a radiant and non-dual benevolence stemming from the deepest reaches of our being and an acknowledgment of our interconnectedness with all life and all things. Seeing with metta gives rise to the realization that, just as we ourselves seek happiness and try to avoid the causes of unhappiness, so too do all beings. Taking this recognition to heart gives rise to the sincere desire that all beings be free from every form of pain, misfortune, and distress. The manifest embodiment of this aspiration – the things we do, and don’t do, to bring this wish to life – forms the content of the Metta Sutra. Exploring the meaning and implications thereof forms the contents of this book.
The perspective adopted by this work – American Soto Zen – provides a unique vantage point from which to explore this much-loved text. Metta is not much remarked upon in traditional Zen teaching, yet it is a central thesis of this book that its spirit remains omnipresent. To substantiate this claim, this commentary draws upon the words of masters past and present and draws out themes from Zen’s foundational teachings. Much like observing astronomical phenomena like supernovae and nebulae in different wavelengths of light, reflecting on the Metta Sutra from a “Zen perspective” reveals features not visible from other points of view.
The perspective adopted by this work – American Soto Zen – provides a unique vantage point from which to explore this much-loved text. Metta is not much remarked upon in traditional Zen teaching, yet it is a central thesis of this book that its spirit remains omnipresent. To substantiate this claim, this commentary draws upon the words of masters past and present and draws out themes from Zen’s foundational teachings. Much like observing astronomical phenomena like supernovae and nebulae in different wavelengths of light, reflecting on the Metta Sutra from a “Zen perspective” reveals features not visible from other points of view.