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Today we are interviewing Tracy J Thomas, author of the nonfiction/motivational book "Zen in the Garden: Finding Peace and Healing Through Nature."
Tell us a bit about yourself.
I am an award-winning photographer, artist, author, and educator living in Northern California. I received my M.F.A. in Photography from the Academy of Art University, San Francisco and my work has appeared in mainstream publications, galleries, and personal collections around the globe. I am a contributing author to the 2012 Seal Press anthology "Dancing at the Shame Prom: Sharing the Stories That Kept Us Small and served on faculty at the San Miguel Writer's Conference and on the "Women Write Their Lives" speaker's panel in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.
Describe the purpose of your book in a few sentences.
"Zen in the Garden" came about in the midst of my treatment for skin cancer. It is my way of sharing the healing power of nature through the Zen philosophy of mindfulness. My goal when writing this motivational book was to encourage spiritual awareness through helpful anecdotes and inspirational nature photography. My hope is my readers will slow down and experience the transformational beauty that exists in the small details that surround them on a daily basis.
Who do you think would most appreciate "Zen in the Garden"?
Anyone who is experiencing the stress of a fast-paced, noise-filled life and would like to take some constructive steps towards attaining peace and healing.
What inspired you to write a book about promoting peace, healing, and happiness through the Zen philosophy?
The past few years have been difficult for me. For the first time in my life I experienced health issues that resulted in a lot of stress and fear of the unknown. I found myself consumed with thoughts of "what if" and struggled to find peace of mind. One day in the midst of this stress I grabbed my camera and decided to take macro photos in our garden. I became so mesmerized with the minute details and beauty unfolding before me that I literally forgot about my fears and felt my body let out a deep sigh of relief as I relaxed into the moment. This became my daily routine during my treatment. When I became housebound I would meditate on my nature photographs and soon realized I felt the most peace and happiness when I thought about beautiful moments in my life. I began to write down my thoughts and felt moved to share these things with others who might also feel stressed. Thus the book was born.
What is it about the Zen philosophy that helps people find peace amid a chaotic life?
The practice of mindfulness, living in the moment, is a beautiful and simple concept. This is the aspect of Zen philosophy that has always resonated the most with me personally. Our busy, chaotic, and noisy lives cause us undue stress and anxiety which can lead to illness. Our minds tend to work overtime and are often overwhelmed with shame and regret for things in our past and fear of things we think might happen in the future. When we become overwhelmed with these thoughts, there is little room to enjoy the moment and we miss out on an enormous amount of beauty. The Zen philosophy of mindfulness allows us to clear our minds of all the unnecessary muck, thus releasing stress, and helps to bring about a spiritual awakening to the moment at hand.
How did you make the Zen philosophy approachable for people who have never practiced Buddhism?
I myself am not a practicing Buddhist in the traditional sense although I have studied books by Buddhist authors and do utilize meditation as a daily practice. For me the concept of mindfulness was transformational. For years I suffered from a mind that just wouldn't quit. I was always stressed about the past or worried about the future. When I spent time in nature, whether climbing a mountain peak or planting my garden, it always helped to alleviate that stress and quiet my mind. When I would leave those places the overwhelming stress would return. It wasn't until I began to practice mindfulness in all circumstances of life that the stress became manageable and I began to experience more peace and happiness. The book is written in a practical way that provides anecdotes to ponder, inspirational photographs to meditate on plus gardening tips and nature challenges to encourage readers to take action and begin to experience the small, beautiful things in life. Mindfulness is one of the basic tenets of Zen philosophy that doesn't require years of study and this book presents the concept in everyday terms.
How do you think reading your book will impact people?
My hope is readers of "Zen in the Garden" will begin to recognize the small beauties in each moment and realize the importance of living our lives right now. None of us truly know how much time we have so why waste it away on stress and negative energy?
What do you have in mind for your next writing project?
I am currently working on several books. The next in line for publication is another motivational book on the concept of compassion that will challenge readers to perform one compassionate act daily for thirty days. The working title is "30 Days of Grace: Changing the World Through the Act of Compassion."
More InformationBuy the book on Amazon
Visit the author's Amazon author page
Today we are interviewing Eric Arnow, writer of the bumblebuddhist blog.
Tell us a bit about yourself.
I find myself in a 66 year old body, born of an American Reformed Jewish family, majored in German literature.
After graduation in 1970, I fulfilled my aspiration to study Zen at the San Francisco Zen Center, where I had lived, worked and studied after college.
In 1984, I decided that I needed to learn about how money worked, and went into the life and health insurance business. Worked in that industry for about 18 years.
I got tired of that, and In 2004, went to Thailand, where I felt freer to pursue meditation practice. I stayed at many temples in Thailand, Burma, and eventually, starting in 2010, many Chinese Buddhist temples and monasteries.
Following successive financial crashes, 2000 dot com crash, recession in 2003, crash in 2008, commodities crash 2011-the present time, I decided to get into the ecommerce business, to shore up my finances.
So currently, I am starting an online business, continuing my Zen practice, and also, bearing witness to the ongoing paradoxical evolution/devolution of the world, culturally, spiritually, politically, economically. In a small way, attempting to alert people to a reality outside of what people are bombarded with by 'The Mighty Wurlitzer'. (That is the CIA's term for its total control over 90% of the media and information content in the USA.)
What sparked your interest in Zen and Buddhism?
In Chinese, there is a popular term, Yuan Fen. It is often translated as Destiny, Fate. Or alternatively, Affinity, or perhaps Synchronicity. At the age of 9, I, a kid from a typical middle class family, was watching a dramatization of a party. There was a guy who looked different from the people I was used to seeing. He had a beret, a beard (Unthinkable in 1950's America!), was waving a funny looking cigarette, and talking about 'Zen'. I had no idea at the time, but he was what was being portrayed as a 'Beatnik'. I thought, "What's Zen????. Five years later, I wandered into a corner store, for a treat, was gazing at a paper book rack with dime novel. But there was a book "Zen Flesh, Zen Bones".
I thought, THERE'S THAT WORD!. I bought the book and loved it. When I went to college, I was majoring in German, and found that many of the writers and even scientists, like Heisenberg and his Uncertainty Principle, were raising fundamental questions about life and society. My country was in the process of destroying Vietnam, my family had many problems, too. So I decided that the wisest course to take was to stop, take stock of my own life. A Zen community in San Francisco offered a way to do that, without having to deal with the 'dog eat dog' world that I saw as the usual life path. So I took it.
You've done a lot of traveling through Asia. What are some of the places you've traveled to? How did you select these places?
While many people assume (maybe, if they scratch the surface of the word "Zen") that Zen is a Japanese thing, in fact, Zen developed in China, especially from the 5th-12th centuries. Having read about the places where Zen developed, I had the idea that, to pay my respects to my 'spiritual ancestors', I needed to go, first to Thailand, where Buddhism in its earlier form is still practiced, but more importantly, to the historical places where Zen actually developed. Where the teaching stories, called Koans, actually occurred.
In other cases, because I have an affinity for China, I visited places that are famous from a cultural point of view.
In 2010, I visited (and a shout out to Author and Translator, Bill Porter, aka Red Pine, who introduced me to the Abbot) the 4th Ancestor temple, ( Chinese: Si Zu Si). From there, learned of other places to visit and stay.
In 2012, I also visited the most impressive caves in Gansu Province, at Dun Huang, and associated places, famous for their cave art.
In 2013, I did a pilgrimage of the most important Zen (in Chinese, it is called Chan) Temples, most famous in the development of Chan or Zen Buddhism: Yang Shan Xi Yin Temple, Dong Shan Temple, Huang Bo Temple, Baijiang Temple, Gao An, Linji Temple, and several other important but lesser known temples. Also climbed two of the 5 Mountains Sacred to Chinese Buddhists: Wu Tai Shan " Five Plateau Temple", and Jiu Hua Shan, Or Nine Precious Temple, which was home to a famous Buddhist Saint, called Earth Store Bodhisattva, or in Chinese, Di Zhang Pusa.
To a lesser degree, I also visited some of the more noteworthy places in Beijing, such as the Emperor's Forbidden City, and various other tourist sites.
I'm sure the knowledge and wisdom you've gained from your travels are invaluable and voluminous. What are a few of the things that stand out the most when reflecting on your traveling experiences?
On a social level, I have been totally moved by the kindness and helpfulness and friendliness of Chinese people to me. Everywhere I went, people went out of their way to help me. And families often took me in to stay with them. Temples were very happy to let me stay with them. Sometimes, after I gave them a donation, they would give me a donation!
Another thing I feel is the sense of Culture. Chinese are very aware that they have an ancient culture. They often ask, "do you know about Chinese culture?" People practice calligraphy with Chinese characters. Many practice musical instruments, even the ancient Chinese instruments, like the Gu Qin, or flute.
What do you have planned for your next pilgrimage?
Not sure at the moment.
In your blog, Bumble Buddhist, you document a lot of your travels. Do you have any plans to further share about your studies and travels in a book?
As noted, I have a blog, which I contribute to, though not so much recently. Indeed, people have encouraged me to write a book, and much of the material for it is already written on my blog. It just needs to be organized and edited.
What advice do you have for someone interested in Buddhism?
Buddhism is not a belief system, really, but a way of seeing and being in the world.
A famous Japanese Zen Master, who brought Chan back from China to Japan, said, "To Study Buddhism is to study the Self. To study the Self is to forget the Self. To forget the Self is to be Enlightened by all things."
The Buddha, who lived 2500 years ago, said, "All we are is a result of what we have thought".
And another Chan Master, who had an exchange with a provincial governor over 1000 years ago had this to say, in response to the question, what is the truth of Buddhism. "Do good, do not do bad, purify your mind". The governor responded, "Well, any 3 year old knows that!", to which the master replied, "True, but how many 80 year olds can actually do it."
Think about that story in the context of our current predicament. What government official nowadays would even consider such a conversation?
On a practical level, there are many many books written both by modern Buddhist teachers and writers. A visit to the web along with some curiosity, will yield a lot of information. Youtube has many videos of talks by Buddhist teachers. Those are two approaches to learning 'about' Buddhism. But to really understand Buddhism and especially Zen Buddhism, you have to 'Just do it'.
The Buddha himself was a crown prince, destined to be a world leader. He gave up the luxuries of the palace, and went to get answers to his most pressing questions. Eventually, he determined to 'just sit', quiet his mind---no easy task--- and allow the answer to unfold within.
So I recommend that people practice meditation. Sitting meditation, but also, practicing Mindful Awareness as much as possible, throughout one's daily activities.
A simple google search, "How to practice Chan in daily life" or "how to practice Zen in daily life", will bring up many suggested sites to visit, articles to read, videos and so on. But the key point is, as the last words in the evening of a Zen retreat exhorts us Zen Students:
"Carefully listen everyone! Life and death is a grave matter
All things pass quickly away!
Each of you must be completely alert,
Never neglectful, never indulgent."
Or put another way,
"Row row row your boat
Gently down the stream
Merrily merrily merrily merrily
Life is but a dream"
More Information
www.bumblebuddhist.wordpress.com
