In a collection of talks and anecdotes, Jakusho Kwong-roshi, a Dharma successor of Shunryu Suzuki-roshi, presents his approach to Buddhist teaching. Containing photos of Kwong-roshi with his teachers, as well as a selection of his vibrant calligraphy, Mind Sky explores the profound beauty of Zen history and practice, nature, and the philosophy of the ancient Zen master Eihei Dogen.

With an elegant simplicity, Kwong-roshi shows how Zen is experiential rather than intellectual. And with persistent practice, realization is already yours.

Mind Sky: Zen Teaching on Living and Dying, Jakusho Kwong, Wisdom Publications, Paperback, 2022, 208 pp, $18.95

Jakusho Kwong was born in Santa Rosa, California, in 1935, and grew up in Palo Alto. As a boy he worked all summers with his mother in commercial flower growers� fields nearby. During and after his education he was employed in commercial art as a sign painter, and was drawn to calligraphy, particularly zenga, the art of Zen calligraphy.

In 1960 he began to study Zen with Shunryu Suzuki-roshi in San Francisco. He was ordained in 1970 by Suzuki-roshi, who was a direct spiritual descendant of Eihei Dogen. In 1973, two years after Suzuki-roshi died, he founded Sonoma Mountain Zen Center in the mountains near Santa Rosa, California, as an expression of gratitude to his teacher and his commitment to continue the unbroken lineage of Soto Zen. Since his study of the transmission ceremony could not be completed before Suzuki-roshi�s death, he continued for five more years with Kobun Chino Otogawa-roshi. In 1978 he completed Dharma transmission through Hoitsu Suzuki-roshi under the supervision of Hakusan Noiri-roshi, at Rinso-in Temple in Japan, authorizing him as successor in Suzuki-roshi�s lineage.

In 2009, Jakusho Kwong was appointed Kokusaifukyoshi (International Zen Teacher) of North America by the Soto School of Japan, which recognizes Sonoma Mountain Zen Center as an authentic Soto Zen temple. He has taught Zen for nearly fifty years, and founded Zen centers in Poland and Iceland, and he is the abbot of Sonoma Mountain Zen Center, where he lives with his wife, Shinko. His first book, No Beginning, No End, was published in 2003.

Shohaku Okumura (Foreword) is a Soto Zen priest and Dharma successor of Kosho Uchiyama Roshi. He is a graduate of Komazawa University and has practiced in Japan at Antaiji, Zuioji, and the Kyoto Soto Zen Center, and in Massachusetts at the Pioneer Valley Zendo. He is the former director of the Soto Zen Buddhism International Center in San Francisco. His previously published books of translation include Shobogenzo Zuimonki, Dogen Zen, Zen Teachings of Homeless Kodo, and Opening the Hand of Thought. Okumura is also editor of Dogen Zen and Its Relevance for Our Time; and SotoZen. He is the founding teacher of the Sanshin Zen Community, based in Bloomington, Indiana, where he lives with his family.

CONTENTS: Mind Sky: Zen Teaching on Living and Dying
Foreword		xiii
Editor's Preface		xvii
Author's Preface		xxi
Unwinding a Ball of Yarn		1
Emptying into Spaciousness		3
Way-Seeking Mind		13
Just Sitting		19
Levels of Awareness		21
Young Dogen's Resolve		25
Presentness		29
The Texture of Emptiness		35
Water Is Wet		41
Moment to Moment		43
One Unbroken Moment		47
Bussho: The Buddha-Nature		51
Uji: The Quick of Time		59
Katto:Interwining Vines		65
Ten Thousand Ripples		69
Sitting in the Dark		73
Fear		77
Sonoma Mountain Koan		79
Suffering and Pain		83
Form and Reflection		87
Zen Stitching		89
Jukai		93
Shiho: Transmission Ceremony		95
The Spirit of Practice		101
The Nature of Ritual		105
Touching the Water		109
Paul Discoe's Teahouse and Wabi-Sabi		113
Dying with Living		117
Bodhidharma's Transmission		119
The One Great Matter		123
A True Friend		127
The Korean Mala: On Dana		131
Past Time Becomes Present: Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche		135
Dying Well		143
Remembering Mitsu Suzuki		147
Sekito's Hermitage		155
The Great Fire on Sonoma Mountain		165
APPENDIXES		169
	Nagajuna's Twelve Links of Dependent Origination	170
	Unshu Instruction	173
Credits		175
About the Author		177