Wonderland

Book excerpt: Written in the non-traditional, humorous, and slightly irreverent tone of books like Sit Down and Shut Up, and Dharma Punxs, Wonderlandis a highly original riff on Alice in Wonderland, using the classic story as a jumping off point for conveying the Zen concept of ‘One Mind’. Daniel Silberberg’s first book is a unique contribution to contemporary American Zen, which honors its historic roots and yet strikes out into fresh areas. It presents a lively mix of tone and quotation and levels of discourse, from citing Timeless Spring or the Diamond Sutra to Kill Bill and ketchup. With stories from his own life as well as from the larger cultural swirl around him, Daniel Silberberg reflects on the differences between how we perceive the world around us and the way it actually is. Daniel Silberberg’s take on a variety of Buddhist ideas and concepts are immediately useful and relevant. The reader will find that it addresses directly some of the issues they are dealing with in their own practice. The author’s insights and experiences come from his experience leading a large Zen community and from his almost thirty years of Zen Training in the lineage of the highly revered teachers Genpo Roshi and Maezumi Roshi.