Christopher Ives

Discover how hiking can be a kind of spiritual pilgrimage—calming our minds, enhancing our sense of wonder, and deepening our connection to nature. Evoking the writings of Gary Snyder, Bill Bryson, and Cheryl Strayed, Zen on the Trail explores the broad question of how to be outside in a meditative way. By directing our attention to how we hike as opposed to where we’re headed, Ives invites us to shift from ego-driven doing to spirit-filled being, and to explore the vast interconnection of ourselves and the natural world. Through this approach, we can wake up in the woods on nature’s own terms. In erudite and elegant prose, Ives takes us on a journey we will not soon forget. This book features a new prose poem by Gary Snyder.

Hiking as Pilgrimage

Zen on the Trail

Discover how to explore and deepen your connection to nature with a rich array of do-anywhere meditations. Meditations on the Trail offers a rich array of do-anywhere meditations that will help you explore and deepen your connection to nature, and yourself, in new ways, making the most of your time on the trail. This small book—perfect for throwing in a daypack or a back pocket as you head out for the trail—is filled with practices to take you into the heart of the natural world and uncover your most vibrant self. You’ll return home grateful, more aware of interconnection, and maybe just a little wiser. “For walkers of all paces and geographies, this lovely book is a helpful guide for savoring moments on the trail, and feeling how deeply related we are to all existence.”—Stephanie Kaza, author of Conversations with Trees: An Intimate Ecology

A Guidebook for Self-Discovery

Meditations on the Trail

"Going for a long hike or spending time in nature can be like a pilgrimage, a journey into the sacred. In Meditations on the Trail, Christopher Ives offers a rich array of do-anywhere meditations that will help you make the most of your time on the trail and help you return home more peaceful, more filled with gratitude, more aware of interconnection, and maybe just a little wiser. This small book-perfect for throwing in a daypack or a back pocket as you head out for the trail-is filled with practices to take you deep into the heart of the natural world and uncover your deepest, truest, most vibrant self"--

Zen Awakening and Society considers the relationship between Zen and social ethics by examining ethical facets of Zen practice and satori, as well as the traditional socio-political role of Zen in Japan, ethical reflection by key Zen thinkers, those resources and pitfalls in Zen relevant to ethics, and possible avenues along which Zen Buddhists could begin to formulate a self-critical, systematic social ethic.

Zen Awakening and Society

John B. Cobb

Masao Abe is widely acknowledged as a leader in the worldwide dialogue on Buddhism. A profound scholar of Buddhism and of Christian theology, his critical and constructive reflections culminate in the seminal essay that is the cornerstone of this volume. Seven eminent scholars respond to the challenge of Abe's construal of Kenotic God and Dynamic Sunyata.Ó Abe demonstrates powerfully the dynamism of the Buddhist appreciation of the divine Emptiness at the heart of Being. His essay suggests how the doctrine of sunyata can provide a needed corrective to the reified understanding of God prominent in Jewish and Christian traditions. Abe opens the way for new and deeper engagement of these traditions with the wisdom of Buddhism. Leading Christian and Jewish theologians--Thomas J. J. Altizer, Eugene Borowitz, John B. Cobb, Jr., Catherine Keller, Schubert M. Ogden, Jÿrgen Moltmann, and David Tracy--respond to Abe's challenge. From perspectives as diverse as American feminism, post-Holocaust Judaism, process thought, and hermeneutics, they reply to Abe's proposals for considering God to be intrinsically self-emptying. Abe responds to these essays in a conclusion. Provocative and illuminating, The Emptying God shows how interfaith dialogue, at its very best, provides materials for the mutual transformation of all traditions.

A Buddhist-Jewish-Christian Conversation

The Emptying God

Despite the importance of Ichikawa¿s writings, this volume is the first by any scholar to outline his critique. In addition to detailing the actions and ideology of Imperial-Way Zen and Ichikawa¿s ripostes to them, Christopher Ives offers his own reflections on Buddhist ethics in light of the phenomenon. He devotes chapters to outlining Buddhist nationalism from the 1868 Meiji Restoration to 1945 and summarizing Ichikawa¿s arguments about the causes of Imperial-Way Zen. After assessing Brian Victoria¿s claim that Imperial-Way Zen was caused by the traditional connection between Zen and the samurai, Ives presents his own argument that Imperial-Way Zen can best be understood as a modern instance of Buddhism¿s traditional role as protector of the realm. Turning to postwar Japan, Ives examines the extent to which Zen leaders have reflected on their wartime political stances and started to construct a critical Zen social ethic. Finally, he considers the resources Zen might offer its contemporary leaders as they pursue what they themselves have identified as a pressing task: ensuring that henceforth Zen will avoid becoming embroiled in international adventurism and instead dedicate itself to the promotion of peace and human rights.

Christopher Ives

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