Inside the Grass Hut: Living Shitou's Classic Zen Poem
Enter the mind and practice of Zen: apply the insights of one of Zen's classic poems to your life--here and now.

Destined to become a trusted, dog-eared companion.
Shitou Xiqian’s “Song of the Grass Roof Hermitage” is a remarkably accessible work of profound depth; in thirty-two lines Shitou expresses the breadth of the entire Buddhist tradition with simple, vivid imagery. Ben Connelly’s Inside the Grass Hut unpacks the timeless poem and applies it to contemporary life. His book delivers a wealth of information on the context and content of this eighth-century work, as well as directly evokes the poem’s themes of simple living, calm, and a deep sense of connection to all things.
Each pithy chapter focuses on a single line of the poem, letting the reader immerse himself thoroughly in each line and then come up for air before moving on to the next. Line by line, Connelly shows how the poem draws on and expresses elements from the thousand years of Buddhist thought that preceded it, expands on the poem’s depiction of a life of simple practice in nature, and tells stories of the way these teachings manifest in modern life. Connelly, like Shitou before him, proves himself adept at taking profound and complex themes from Zen and laying them out in a practical and understandable way.
Eminently readable, thoroughly illuminating, Inside the Grass Hut shows the reader a path of wholehearted engagement—with the poem, and with the world. Destined to become a trusted, dog-eared companion.
1117322602
Inside the Grass Hut: Living Shitou's Classic Zen Poem
Enter the mind and practice of Zen: apply the insights of one of Zen's classic poems to your life--here and now.

Destined to become a trusted, dog-eared companion.
Shitou Xiqian’s “Song of the Grass Roof Hermitage” is a remarkably accessible work of profound depth; in thirty-two lines Shitou expresses the breadth of the entire Buddhist tradition with simple, vivid imagery. Ben Connelly’s Inside the Grass Hut unpacks the timeless poem and applies it to contemporary life. His book delivers a wealth of information on the context and content of this eighth-century work, as well as directly evokes the poem’s themes of simple living, calm, and a deep sense of connection to all things.
Each pithy chapter focuses on a single line of the poem, letting the reader immerse himself thoroughly in each line and then come up for air before moving on to the next. Line by line, Connelly shows how the poem draws on and expresses elements from the thousand years of Buddhist thought that preceded it, expands on the poem’s depiction of a life of simple practice in nature, and tells stories of the way these teachings manifest in modern life. Connelly, like Shitou before him, proves himself adept at taking profound and complex themes from Zen and laying them out in a practical and understandable way.
Eminently readable, thoroughly illuminating, Inside the Grass Hut shows the reader a path of wholehearted engagement—with the poem, and with the world. Destined to become a trusted, dog-eared companion.
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Inside the Grass Hut: Living Shitou's Classic Zen Poem

Inside the Grass Hut: Living Shitou's Classic Zen Poem

Inside the Grass Hut: Living Shitou's Classic Zen Poem

Inside the Grass Hut: Living Shitou's Classic Zen Poem

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Overview

Enter the mind and practice of Zen: apply the insights of one of Zen's classic poems to your life--here and now.

Destined to become a trusted, dog-eared companion.
Shitou Xiqian’s “Song of the Grass Roof Hermitage” is a remarkably accessible work of profound depth; in thirty-two lines Shitou expresses the breadth of the entire Buddhist tradition with simple, vivid imagery. Ben Connelly’s Inside the Grass Hut unpacks the timeless poem and applies it to contemporary life. His book delivers a wealth of information on the context and content of this eighth-century work, as well as directly evokes the poem’s themes of simple living, calm, and a deep sense of connection to all things.
Each pithy chapter focuses on a single line of the poem, letting the reader immerse himself thoroughly in each line and then come up for air before moving on to the next. Line by line, Connelly shows how the poem draws on and expresses elements from the thousand years of Buddhist thought that preceded it, expands on the poem’s depiction of a life of simple practice in nature, and tells stories of the way these teachings manifest in modern life. Connelly, like Shitou before him, proves himself adept at taking profound and complex themes from Zen and laying them out in a practical and understandable way.
Eminently readable, thoroughly illuminating, Inside the Grass Hut shows the reader a path of wholehearted engagement—with the poem, and with the world. Destined to become a trusted, dog-eared companion.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781614291442
Publisher: Wisdom Publications MA
Publication date: 07/08/2014
Sold by: SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format: eBook
Pages: 224
File size: 1 MB

About the Author

Ben Connelly is a Soto Zen teacher and Dharma heir in the Katagiri lineage. He also teaches mindfulness in a wide variety of secular contexts, including police and corporate training, correctional facilities, and addiction-recovery and wellness groups. Ben is based at Minnesota Zen Meditation Center and travels to teach across the United States. He’s the author of Inside the Grass Hut: Living Shitou’s Classic Zen PoemInside Vasubandhu’s Yogacara: A Practitioner’s Guide, and Mindfulness and Intimacy.

Table of Contents

Foreword Taigen Dan Leighton ix

Introduction 1

A Note on Chanting and Recitation 7

Song of the Gross-Roof Hermitage by Shitou 11

1 Living Simply in the Changes 13

I've built a grass hut where there's nothing of value.

2 Enjoying the Middle Way 23

After eating, I relax and enjoy a nap.

3 Unwithering Fertility 31

When it was completed, fresh weeds appeared.

4 Here with the Weeds 35

Now it's been lived in-covered by weeds.

5 Who Is This Person? 39

The person in the hut lives here calmly…

6 Cultivating the Way, Inside and Out 43

Not stuck to inside, outside, or in between.

7 Retreat and Living in the World 53

Places worldly people live, he doesn't live.

8 What Do You Mean When You Say "Love"? 59

Reolms worldly people love, he doesn't love.

9 Everything's Included 65

Though the hut is small, it includes the entire world.

10 Ten Feet Square 69

In ten feet square, an old man illumines forms and their nature.

11 Trust, Faith, and Ease 73

A Great Vehicle bodhisattva trusts without doubt.

12 Don't Judge 77

The middling or lowly can't help wondering…

13 Life and Death Is the Great Matter 81

Will this hut perish or not?

14 Who Is the Original Master? 87

Perishable or not, the original master is present…

15 Have You Ever Transcended Space and Time? 91

Not dwelling south or north, east or west.

16 The Foundation of Freedom 97

Firmly based on steadiness, it can't be surpassed.

17 Light on the Mountain 105

A shining window below the green pines…

18 Zen Plays with Irony 109

Jade palaces or vermilion towers can't compare with it.

19 Protection, Shelter, Refuge 115

Just sitting with head covered, all things are at rest.

20 Only Don't Know 119

Thus, this mountain monk doesn't understand at all.

21 Home Is Where You Are 123

Living here he no longer works to get free.

22 Host and Guests 131

Who would proudly arrange seats, trying to entice guests?

23 Buddhism Is Meditation and Kindness 137

Turn around the light to shine within, then just return.

24 What Do You Depend On? 141

The vast inconceivable source can't be faced or turned away from.

25 Meeting Our Teachers 145

Meet the ancestral teachers, be familiar with their instruction…

26 Don't Give Up 151

Bind grasses to build a hut, and don't give up.

27 Freedom from the Past 155

Let go of hundreds of years and relax completely.

28 Lay Down My Sword and Shield 163

Open your hands and walk, innocent.

29 The Joys of the Human Mind 169

Thousands of words, myriad interpretations…

30 One Taste 173

Are only to free you from obstructions.

31 Timeless Intimacy 177

If you want to know the undying person in the hut…

32 Here and Now 181

Don't separate from this skin bag here and now.

Acknowledgments 185

Selected Bibliography 187

Index 189

About the Author 209

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