{"product_id":"grassroots-zen-book-perle-besserman-9781939681690","title":"Grassroots Zen","description":"\u003cp\u003eFuture generations may come to see the publication of \u003ci\u003eGrassroots Zen\u003c\/i\u003e as a pivotal moment in the emergence of a uniquely American Zen.\u003cbr\u003e --Rami Shapiro, \u003ci\u003eMinyan: Ten Principles for Living a Life of Integrity\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSteger and Besserman offer something quite different, and quite welcome. a Zen that comes to terms with, and ultimately transcends, the hierarchical, sexist, otherworldly, and pseudo-militaristic overtones of the Zen tradition. --\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis book will appeal to  all] who are uncomfortable with Zen's hierarchies and moral prescriptions. --\u003ci\u003eShamhbala Sun\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e. Steger and Besserman name and describe a phenomenon that is occurring all over the country: relatively small, democratically run groups of Zen Buddhist practitioners are banding together and sustaining a sangha, or community, free of the hierarchy and formality of the monastery.\u003cbr\u003e--Publishers Weekly\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA short, clear presentation on one way to make Zen less Japanese and more Western.  --Rita M. Gross, \u003ci\u003eBuddhism After Patriarchy\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eGrassroots Zen\u003c\/i\u003e envisions a socially engaged Buddhism where zazen is integrated each day with work, family, and social obligations. Though both authors have practiced traditional Zen for decades, here they eschew the militaristic, patriarchal tendencies of Zen in favor of an egalitarian community of socially mobile members who place less emphasis upon transmission and hierarchy than on individual responsibility.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMarried university professors and authors \u003cb\u003eManfred Steger\u003c\/b\u003e (\u003ci\u003eGandhi's Dilemma: Nonviolent Principles and Nationalist Power\u003c\/i\u003e) and \u003cb\u003ePerle Besserman\u003c\/b\u003e (aka Perle Epstein) (\u003ci\u003eThe Shambhala Guide to Kabbalah\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eJewish Mysticism\u003c\/i\u003e) studied first under the cultural weight of Japanese Zen, then with the light-footed lay master Robert Aitken. Founders of the Princeton Area Zen Group in NJ, they have been teaching their democratic, grassroots-style of Zen for over twenty-five years.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49515387748625,"sku":"GOR012313471","price":11.2,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53007846670609,"sku":"NLS9781939681690","price":19.09,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1939681693.jpg?v=1751282391","url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/products\/grassroots-zen-book-perle-besserman-9781939681690","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}