Bernie Glassman

Zen master Bernie Glassman compares Jeff Bridges's iconic role in "The""Big Lebowski "to a Lamed-Vavnik: one of the men in Jewish mysticism who "are simple and unassuming, and so good that, on account of them, God lets the world go on." His buddy Jeff puts it another way. The wonderful thing about the Dude, he says, is that he'd always rather hug it out than slug it out. For more than a decade, Academy Award-winning actor Jeff Bridges and his buddhist teacher, renowned Roshi Bernie Glassman, have been close friends. Inspiring and often hilarious, "The Dude and the Zen Master "captures their freewheeling dialogue about life, laughter, and the movies with a charm and bonhomie that never fail to enlighten and entertain. Throughout, their remarkable humanism reminds us of the importance of doing good in a difficult world.

In "Infinite Circle," one of America''s most distinctive Zen teachers takes a back-to-basics approach to Zen. Glassman illuminates three key teachings of Zen Buddhism, offering line-by-line commentary in clear, direct language: "The Heart Sutra: " the Buddha''s essential discourse on emptiness, a central sutra of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition. "The Identity of Relative and Absolute": an eighth-century poem by Shih-t''ou His-ch''ien, a key text of the Soto Zen school. The Zen precepts: the rules of conduct for laypeople and monks. His commentaries are based on workshops he gave as Abbot of the Zen Community of New York, and they contain within them the principles that became the foundation for the Greyston Mandala of community development organizations and the Zen Peacemaker Order.

Jeff Bridges is one of the worlds most popular actors and his unforgettable performance as The Dude in Coen Brothers film, The Big Lebowski, made him a cult hero. His remarkable career as an actor, performer and songwriter has brought him an Oscar, a Golden Globe and a Critics Choice award. Away from the spotlight, Bridges is a dedicated practitioner of Zen Buddhism and for more than a decade has been close friends with Zen leader Bernie Glassman. It is Glassman who has helped guide Bridges lessons on the path to enlightenment and the two have spent many hours discussing life, love, the movies, creativity, happiness and death. With wit, charm and profound insight, Bridges and Glassman discover the Zen in iconic scenes and lines from The Big Lebowski. With honesty and humour, Bridges explores how his Zen practice and his life experience inform one another as he discusses his loving relationship with his parents, his marriage, his highly successful career and his warm connection with his fans.

Zen practitioner and non-profit community developer Bernie Glassman offers powerful teaching stories that illustrate ways of making peace one moment at a time. Each chapter focuses on an event or person and demonstrates how a particular peacemaker vow is put into practice. Through these stories and Glassmans personal testimony we come to understand the essence of peacemaking.

This introduction to Zen teachings is a watershed book for Zen students, a good study companion and a trustworthy guide (Norman Fischer, author of The World Could Be Otherwise)In Infinite Circle, one of Americas most distinctive Zen teachers takes a back-to-basics approach to Zen. Glassman illuminates three key teachings of Zen Buddhism, offering line-by-line commentary in clear, direct language: The Heart Sutra: the Buddhas essential discourse on emptiness, a central sutra of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition. "The Identity of Relative and Absolute": an eighth-century poem by Shih-tou His-chien, a key text of the Soto Zen school. The Zen precepts: the rules of conduct for laypeople and monks. His commentaries are based on workshops he gave as Abbot of the Zen Community of New York, and they contain within them the principles that became the foundation for the Greyston Mandala of community development organizations and the Zen Peacemaker Order.

The Hazy Moon of Enlightenment takes the reader to the next level of Zen practice, exploring some of the more subtle and sophisticated topics in Zen.The first two parts of the book explore enlightenment and delusion: What is nature of enlightenement? What does it mean to describe enlightenment as sudden or gradual? What is the nature of delusion, and how can watch out for the particular delusion that masquerades as enlightenment? The third part looks at "enlightenment in action"--what it means for someone to living and acting in order with the deep wisdom of enlightenment, and how we can practice learning "learning how to be satisfied" and enjoy serenity and transquility. The final section is a moving and powerful firsthand account of one womans solitary realization of the deepest truths--a story that can become an inspiration for all of us. The contributors to this volume include some the pioneering masters who were seminal in helping Zen take firm root in American soil.

El maestro zen BERNIE GLASSMAN compara el legendario personaje de JEFF BRIDGES en la película El gran Lebowski con uno de los escasos hombres justos de los que habla el Talmud: uno de esos hombres del misticismo judio que son tan simples, humildes y buenos que Dios permite que el mundo siga adelante gracias a ellos. Su colega Jeff Bridges expresa lo mismo, pero de otra manera. Para el, lo maravilloso de El Nota (The Dude) es que siempre prefiere dar un abrazo antes que un puñetazo.El oscarizado Jeff Bridges y su maestro, el roshi Bernie Glassman, han sido intimos amigos durante mas de una decada. El Nota (The Dude) y el maestro Zen es una obra inspiradora y divertida que recoge sus reflexiones sobre la vida, la risa y las peliculas con un encanto y bonhomia que nunca dejan de iluminar y entretener. De principio a fin, su notable humanismo nos recuerda la importancia de hacer el bien en un mundo dificil.