Wonderland: The Zen of Alice

Overview

An exceptionally original riff on Alice in Wonderland, Daniel Silberberg's Wonderland uses Lewis Carroll's classic story as a jumping-off point to convey the Zen concept of "One Mind". Using a lively mix of tone, quotation, and levels of discourse, he references everything from Timeless Spring and the Diamond Sutra to Kill Bill and ketchup, creating a unique contribution to contemporary American Zen that honors its historic roots while striking out into fresh areas. With stories from his own life as well as from the larger cultural swirl around him, Silberberg reflects on the differences between how we perceive the world and the way it actually is. His take on a variety of Buddhist ideas and concepts is immediately useful and relevant, enabling readers to address many of the issues they deal with in their own practices.

Editorial Reviews

In this short book Silberberg weaves snippets from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland with personal anecdotes, classic Buddhist sutras, koans and popular culture to illustrate Zen approaches to the true nature of enlightenment: "When we get to the other shore, to what I am calling Wonderland, we may experience One Mind." Rather than using Zen to explain Alice, Silberberg playfully mingles, for example, the upside-down logic of the Caterpillar and Mock Turtle with the wisdom of the Diamond Sutra to explain key ideas. A longtime practitioner and former vice abbot of the Kanzeon Zen Center in Utah, the author is adept at explaining Buddhist teachings and ideas, such as the causes of suffering and Siddhartha's search for the truth of existence. Silberberg's description of the Zen path demonstrates more rigor than gentleness, reflecting a "warrior" approach to the search for knowledge that isn't present in all forms of this Eastern philosophy; indeed, a little more clarification about which approaches are specifically Zen among the range of Buddhist practices would have been helpful for the novice. While the Alice analogies are thin, Silberberg's clear writing and in-depth knowledge of his subject make this addition to the "Zen of" genre engaging.

Author Information

Bio of Daniel Doen Silberberg

No bio available for Daniel Doen Silberberg.

Customer Reviews

There are no customer reviews available at this time. To add your review, Register or Sign In to your account using our free eBook Library Software.

Additional Info

Imprint

Perseus Books Group

Filesize

404.19 KB

Number of Pages

120

eBook ISBN

9781935209034