The Zen Reader

I'll confess it right away...I'm a horrible reader.  On average I probably purchase 6 or so books a year, of those I start maybe 3-4, and I complete maybe 1.  Ahhhhh, that feels better to get that off my chest.

What's horrible is that of the books I start or finish I am always greatly impacted, which of course begs the question, "why doesn't he read more?".  I will say that when we lived in The Netherlands I just about finished the Narnia series while going back and forth on the train from Den Haag to Amsterdam almlost every day.  And considering that I get car sick easily, it certainly speaks to how much I enjoyed reading those books.  While living in Paris I read The DaVinci Code and thoroughly enjoyed it.  There was something so great about reading it in the city it was based which made it even better! I also read more than usual when I was doing sales.  Spending so much time in the car I found myself parking outside a hospital and reading a quick few pages before grinding it out in the world of sales.  During my salesman years I knocked out "Kitchen Confidential", "Three Cups of Tea", "Visionary Business", and I think maybe one more.  Oh I also read "It's Not About the Bike" by Lance Armstrong over Christmas in Germany years ago.  If reading is important, I think I should move my family to Europe. 

Anyways, last night I started reading a book suggested by my cousin Michael that our great uncle, Tucker Callaway, wrote years ago called "Zen Way, Jesus Way".  Until Michael said something I didn't even know it existed!  Tucker was a missionary in Japan for some 20 years.  The fact that he wrote it coupled with the fact that I know very little about him and yet want to know more are the main reasons why I'm reading it.  I'm also very intrigued by the title!  Don't worry, I'm not becoming a Zen Buddhist, "not that there's anything wrong with that!"(thank you Seinfeld), but I honestly wouldn't have the time (and yes I know Zen Buddhist would be shaking their heads to hear me say that).

The first few pages have really been great though, and I'd love to share these Zen poems he placed in the beginning of the book to give a basic understanding to readers like me of the Zen Buddhism lifestyle:

Bamboo shadows sweep

stairs of stone,

But the dust on them

stirs not.

and then this one....

Divine way,

Awesome activity:

To draw water!

To carry firewood!

And here is what the author, my great uncle, wrote regarding these poems....

     "The first poem suggests detachment.  Altough the shadows move, nothing moves.  And this motionless movement moves nothing.  The dust on those moon-flecked stairs is not swept by the sweeping shadows.  There is no effect, for there is no cause.

     If the first depicts detachment, the second poem indicates involvement.  Even such simple tasks as drawing water from a well or carrying an armload of firewood from a forest are performed with an intensity of awareness which causes it to take on a mystical aura akin to holy ritual.

     Complete detachment, total  involvement - both at the same time!  These are the twin characteristics of the Zen Way."

It's amazing how something my great uncle wrote so long ago could come to me at exactly the right time.  To be unmoved by the craziness around me, and yet so connected to each moment at the same time, this is such a beautiful picture to me.  Especially right now. 

I didn't know Tucker that well.  I was really young when I met him.  I remember he looked like Santa.  He often wore a red long sleeve turtleneck as I recall.  Anyhow, I'm sure he wasn't thinking of me as he inked out this book back in 1976 (I wasn't born till 1977).  But your words found there way to me Tucker, and I'm so glad they did.