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  • Published: 1 May 2015
  • ISBN: 9781611801941
  • Imprint: Shambhala
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 312
  • RRP: $32.99

Nothing Holy about It

The Zen of Being Just Who You Are



Zen teachings—infused with elements of memoir—by a popular modern teacher who "grew up" at the feet of two of the great figures who brought Zen to America, Shunryu Suzuki and Dainin Katagiri. He employs his reminiscences of those two great masters as teaching anecdotes.

When Bodhidharma, the legendary first ancestor of Zen, was asked about the main principle of his holy teaching, he’s said to have replied: “A vast emptiness—with nothing holy about it!” A millennium-and-a-half later, Tim Burkett finds that the answer still applies: you don’t need to go looking for something holy—buddha nature is right here in front of you. The concise summary of Zen teaching he presents in this book is expressed precisely in terms of what he found right in front of him: beginning with the delightful non-holiness he experienced in the presence of his original teacher, Shunyru Suzuki, and continuing through a lifetime of further teaching experiences.

  • Published: 1 May 2015
  • ISBN: 9781611801941
  • Imprint: Shambhala
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 312
  • RRP: $32.99

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Praise for Nothing Holy about It

"Amidst Tim Burkett's insights into Buddhism and life, there emerges a wonderful, intimate picture of Shunryu Suzuki. I learned a lot from this book."—David Chadwick, author of Crooked Cucumber: The Life and Zen Teaching of Shunryu Suzuki "Enjoy this wonderful, useful, profound yet modest book that expresses the true spirit of Zen. It and its warm-hearted author are blessings for the world, and I am honored and very pleased to introduce them to you."—from the foreword by Norman Fischer, author of Training in Compassion