Nothing Is Hidden: The Psychology of Zen Koans

by Barry Magid

Overview

In this inspiring and incisive offering, Barry Magid uses the language of modern psychology and psychotherapy to illuminate one of Buddhism's most powerful and often mysterious technologies: the Zen koan. What's more, Magid also uses the koans to expand upon the insights of psychology (especially self psychology and relational psychotherapy) and open for the reader new perspectives on the functioning of the human mind and heart. Nothing Is Hidden explores many rich themes, including facing impermanence and the inevitability of change, working skillfully with desire and attachment, and discovering when "surrender and submission" can be liberating and when they shade into emotional bypassing. With a sophisticated view of the rituals and teachings of traditional Buddhism, Magid helps us see how we sometimes subvert meditation into just another "curative fantasy" or make compassion into a form of masochism.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781614290827
Publisher:	Wisdom Publications MA
Publication date:	10/22/2013
Pages:	232
Sales rank:	948,725
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Barry Magid is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst practicing in New York City, and the founding teacher of the Ordinary Mind Zendo, also in New York. He is the author of the Wisdom titles Ordinary Mind and Ending the Pursuit of Happiness.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Chapter 1 Wholeness & Immediacy: "That's Me." 11

Chapter 2 Who Me? Mu 19

Chapter 3 The Unconscious: "Who Put You in Bondage?" 31

Chapter 4 Motivation to Practice: Hakuin and the Sound of One Hand 41

Chapter 5 Tradition & the Third: Huang-po and Gobblers of Dregs 51

Chapter 6 Idealization: Hui-neng and the Original Face 61

Chapter 7 Appearance & Reality: The Physical Body 71

Chapter 8 Change & Unity: Kuei-shan's Buffalo 77

Chapter 9 Traumatic Dissociation: Ch'ien and Her Soul Are Separated 85

Chapter 10 Facing Impermanence: Sun-Faced Buddha, Moon-Faced Buddha 95

Chapter 11 Desire & Attachment: The Old Woman, the Hermit, and the Young Girl 101

Chapter 12 Mutual Recognition: Yun-men's Medicine and Disease 117

Chapter 13 Difference: Liu and Kuei-shan 123

Chapter 14 The Last Word: Hsueh-feng the Rice Cook 133

Chapter 15 Doing Things with Words: Feng-hsueh's Speech and Silence 141

Chapter 16 Intergenerational Karma: Pai-chang and the Fox 147

Chapter 17 Uselessness: The Koan of Just Sitting 153

Chapter 18 Wholeness vs. Wholesomeness: The Precepts 161

Chapter 19 Surrender Submission: No Heat or Cold 171

Chapter 20 Self-Sacrifice vs. Compassion: Torei Enji's "Bodhisattua's Vow" 179

Chapter 21 Alive Or Dead: Tao-shuai's Three Barriers 185

Chapter 22 Endings: Build Me a Seamless Monument 191

Conclusion Insight: Wash Your Bowls 195

Notes 201

References 209

Index 213

About the Author 219

Editorial Reviews

08/12/2013
What is your original face? This is just one question—a Zen puzzler known as a “koan”— among many that psychoanalyst and Zen teacher Magid (Ordinary Mind) uses to explore concerns and issues in mindfulness practice. Rather than engaging with the koans only from an intuitive point of view, Magid examines their literary and psychological dimensions. “What is your original face?” becomes an exploration of insecurity, finding wholeness in life, and of denial of the possibility of equanimity. He challenges common wisdom about the ameliorative properties of Zen practice, noting that while it “deliver on the promise of insight,” it fails to integrate such insight into individual character. Magid presents a nuanced, sensitive, and compassionate analysis of how it is all too easy to fall into idealism, escapism, and elitism with meditation, charging his readers to consider their intentions and motivations. Zen by itself, he argues, is highly unlikely to cure a practitioner of his or her mental afflictions, but his book can help point toward more honest introspection that will yield healing and acceptance. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

"Magid's inspiring book is a warmly human and truly original guide to Zen practice. This book will make your spiritual practice more intimate, more playful and more rewarding."

Grace Schireson

"A distinctive voice in the burgeoning literature fusing Buddhism with Western psychotherapy. Equally at home in both traditions, he speaks with penetrating wisdom that cuts through the various forms of self-delusion that emerge along path of personal growth. This collection of short essays on well known koans has a direct, simple and uncontrived quality to it that points the reader in the right direction with the same elegance as a timeless haiku. There is not a false note here."

Jeremy D. Safran

"Using old koans as a jumping off point, Magid brings a wonderfully unorthodox (and helpful) perspective to traditional Zen teachings. As both Zen teacher and psychoanalyst, Magid unmasks the psychological naivete that is still all too prevalent in contemporary Zen practice, and shows how it can lead to problems for students, and tangled relationships between teachers and students. In each insightful essay, Magid makes a journey from a short koan into far territories of the heart."

Susan Moon

"Sparkling and clear."

Mark Epstein

"This is no mere psychologization of koan practice. Rather, Magid seeks to provide a glimpse into the mind of the koan by exposing and addressing the psychological issues that impede our view. Very revealing."

Mark Unno

“A nuanced, sensitive, and compassionate analysis. This book can help point toward more honest introspection that will yield healing and acceptance.”—Publishers Weekly

“Sparkling and clear.”—Mark Epstein MD, author of The Trauma of Everyday Life

“A distinctive voice in the burgeoning literature fusing Buddhism with Western psychotherapy. Equally at home in both traditions, he speaks with penetrating wisdom that cuts through the various forms of self-delusion that emerge along path of personal growth. This collection of short essays on well known koans has a direct, simple and uncontrived quality to it that points the reader in the right direction with the same elegance as a timeless haiku. There is not a false note here.”—Jeremy D. Safran, Ph.D., author of Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Therapies and editor of Psychoanalysis and Buddhism

“This is no mere psychologization of koan practice. Rather, Magid seeks to provide a glimpse into the mind of the koan by exposing and addressing the psychological issues that impede our view. Very revealing.”—Mark Unno, East Asian Buddhism, University of Oregon

“Magid’s inspiring book is a warmly human and truly original guide to Zen practice. This book will make your spiritual practice more intimate, more playful and more rewarding.”—Grace Schireson, author of Zen Women

“Using old koans as a jumping off point, Magid brings a wonderfully unorthodox (and helpful) perspective to traditional Zen teachings. As both Zen teacher and psychoanalyst, Magid unmasks the psychological naiveté that is still all too prevalent in contemporary Zen practice, and shows how it can lead to problems for students, and tangled relationships between teachers and students. In each insightful essay, Magid makes a journey from a short koan into far territories of the heart.”—Susan Moon, author of This Is Getting Old

From the Publisher