Tuesday, June 20, 2017
by Doug Hironaka
The Living Dharma Centre’s Virtual Book club invites all interested people to read a specific book chosen every three months and sign up for email participation and discussion. Two books for this quarter are listed below.
“Thank you to those who have signed up to join us in the LDC’s Virtual Book Club. This is a gateway to a Virtual Sangha that not only encompasses our country but has reached across the U.S., Hawaii, Europe and Central and South America! We are thrilled to embrace all in our efforts to spread the Dharma.
The summer weather and thoughts of vacation are now upon us and we thought that this is an excellent time for us to offer two books to read along with everyone!
Our next Virtual Book Club Offerings will be two books to choose from.
Firstly, for those serious students of the teachings, we will be looking at “Sermons of a Buddhist Abbot“ by Soyen Shaku, translated by D.T. Suzuki. This was originally published about 100 years ago from a series of lectures this Zen Abbot gave while touring and speaking across the United States. This book contains an illuminating series of talks from this Zen Abbot who explained Buddhism to the Western world by utilizing Western philosophy, religion and psychology to clarify some of the core Buddhistic principles. These explanations the Abbot outlined still help us to this day to understand the Buddhist teachings. Unless you are extremely lucky enough to find a copy of this old book, it is available for free as a PDF file. There may also be available free downloadable sound files of this book.
Secondly, we have a book that has been suggested by one of our original book club members as a beautiful read: “Birds Art Life” by Kyo Maclear, a Canadian author of Japanese and British descent. Here is a quote about the book by Barbara Gowdy “Every now and then you read a book that changes the way you see the world. For me, Birds Art Life is one such book. The writing is marvelously pure and honest and light. At the same time, magically, it is erudite, generous and brimming with meaning and event. Birds Art Life is a book I know I will return to again and again for inspiration and solace”. Kyo Maclear wrote this insightful book as a result oi dealing with the failing health of her father and how she dealt with this tough time in her life. This book is available at Chapters both in-store and on-line for less than $30.
There is no better time for a great read than summertime!! If you are interested in joining our discussions at any time, please email Barb MacCarl at: bm.livingdharmacentre@gmail.com ”
Gassho,
The Living Dharma Centre
unday, June 11 after the service. Please join us as we need as many volunteers as possible – many hands make light work!