Hazy Moon Newsletter

The Great Heart Way

Shishin Roshi's and Shinko Sensei's new book The Great Heart Way was published by Wisdom Publications in January 2007.

	"Shishin Wick's and Shinko Perez's Great Heart Way shows that the practice to see our true nature includes our feelings, our personalities, and our humanity. This book, the generous fruit of the authors’ many years of teaching and practice, is highly persuasive, deeply intelligent, and full of heart." -- Bernie Glassman, author of Infinite Circle
Purchase the book at Wisdom Publications Learn more about the Great Heart Way and Great Heart retreats

Other reviews:

"The Great Heart Way describes how liberation and healing go hand in hand through the practice of paying compassionate attention to what bubbles up from the unconscious and the wounds of our childhood. The authors offer us many illuminating examples, both ancient and modern, of a path offering inner reconciliation and peace." -- Deborah Bowman, Ph.D., clinical psychologist and founder of Naropa University's Transpersonal Counseling Psychology program

"The Great Heart Way will help people to resolve deep-seated issues that may not otherwise be accessible through traditional meditation alone." -- Joan Halifax, Roshi, Ph.D., author of The Fruitful Darkness

"This tender, practical, and optimistic guide to personal empowerment helps us to release fixed images of ourselves and even transform negative karma. With personal anecdotes and useful exercises, this is an accessible program for a healthier, happier, and well-balanced way of thinking." -- Mandala

"The Great Heart Way is an eminently practical and optimistic approach to self-realization and personal well-being. Practitioners' anecdotes and exercises bring Wick and Perez's method to life in a way that is accessible and inviting." —- Jean Smith, author, Now! The Art of Being Truly Present

"An important book that adapts Zen to American culture. I highly recommend this book for all spiritual seekers." —- Anne Seisen Saunders, Abbot, Sweetwater Zen Center

"Plain-spoken and profound." —- Paul Genki Kahn, LCSW, DCSW, Zen priest, and Director, Community Care Behavioral Health

"Incisive, important, and without pretense. It is a skillful offering, adaptable by individuals as well teachers and leaders of groups." —- Pat Enkyo O’Hara, PhD, Abbot, Village Zendo

"I find that the Great Heart method skillfully addresses the fundamental issue of practicing with hidden emotional issues. The value of Great Heart is that it lays out a clear method with vivid and compelling evidence of how it works. I wholeheartedly endorse this book." -— Wendy Egyoku Nakao, Abbot, Zen Center of Los Angeles

"Zen meets self-help: the two authors, both Zen Buddhist teachers, present an adjunct technique to meditation that offers therapeutic benefits. Their "Great Heart Way" combines meditation, introspection and journaling to uncover hidden roots of psychological problems and resolve the issues. [...] The heart-mind connection the book champions is solid Buddhist teaching, and the meditation approach is convincing because it is rooted in a deep base of Eastern wisdom. The authors offer a fresh and creative application of Zen that can benefit people who are psychologically stuck." —- Publishers Weekly

Book of Equanimity

Shishin Roshi's collection of commentaries on the classic koan collection The Book of Equanimity was published by Wisdom Publications in 2005.

"The Book of Equanimity is one of the most brilliant and subtle texts in the Zen tradition. Shishin Wick's commentaries on this timeless series of koans illuminate the ancient wisdom of the east for our modern scientific world. There are few today who could shed this kind of light for the Western reader in the 21st century." --Dennis Genpo Merzel, Roshi, President of the White Plum Asanga and Kanzeon International

Purchase the book at Wisdom Publications

Excerpts from other reviews:

"The legacy of Taizan Maezumi Roshi's teachings lives on in 'THE BOOK OF EQUANIMITY: Illuminating Classic Zen Koans' by his student, Gerry Shishin Wick. The Book of Equanimity is as central to koan practice in the Soto Zen tradition as the better-known 'Blue Cliff Record' is in the Rinzai tradition. ... At the beginning of the twenty-first century, Shishin Wick gave a series of talks on each of the hundred cases to Zen students in Colorado, and now with this new publication he offers his commentary and translation to a wider audience. Shishin Wick was trained as a physicist and oceanographer, and his scientific background comes through in his rigorous examination of each case. His poetic sensibility is also evident in the book, such as in his commentary on 'Joshu's Dog,' which describes the noble futility of the bodhisattva vow, by using the image of someone attempting to fill up a well with snow. He draws upon examples ranging from the scholarly (comparisons with other koan collections) to the everyday (a friend's paralyzed dachshund) to show the importance of The Book of Equanimity in the Zen tradition and its relevance to the lives of his students and readers." -- Buddhadharma

"Gerry Shishin Wick is a Zen teacher of long experience and uncommon depth of practice. Every student of Zen would do well to read this fine book and anything else he writes." -- Robert Jinsen Kennedy, author of Zen Spirit, Christian Spirit

"Wick's brilliant book helps us crack the mystery of the legendary Zen koans that have been driving Dharma students crazy or to enlightenment for centuries. I myself have found it very interesting and useful, both for myself and for Dharma students. It is a real contribution to Buddhist literature in the Western world, further opening the treasure trove of this great wisdom tradition." -- Lama Surya Das, author of Awakening the Buddha Within: Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World and founder of the Dzogchen Center.

Dharma Talks

A selection of Shishin Roshi's dharma talks.

• Patience
• Parental Mind
• I Alone Am the World Honored One
• Enter Zen From There
• How To Be Satisfied
• Mr. Sei's Horse