A treasury of writings from Wind Bell, the magazine of the San Francisco Zen Center.

Here is the story of a young man named Jerry who was born in Rail Town (RT) in SW Louisiana. Orphaned at a young age, Jerry has to fight prejudices, poverty, and the mundane life of a poor kid from RT. Read on as he plans his escape from RT, finally escapes and sees the big world. Young Jerry fights in numerous wars, is captured and escapes. Live with him as he becomes a US Marshall, a Green Beret, A CID Agent, and a Counter-terrorist Agent. Go with him as he fights terrorists, battles cancer, fights in wars, and overcomes poverty. Read about his early childhood and the scams he uses to survive in a cruel world without parents, money, or even food. Go with him as he becomes Chief of Security of the most secret agency in the world, parachutes into enemy territory and helps plan to rescue Americans being held by terrorists. Jerry Bell came from humble beginnings and has always maintained his humility and belief in God, family and the American way of Life. Now Jerry wants to tell his adventures in a book called "Wind Across the Rails".

Allie's life has just taken a turn for the worse; not only do her parents fight all the time, but she is failing more classes than not and now she thinks she might be pregnant. Unable to face up to her parents, Allie decides to run away. She hooks up with her old friend Razz, a professional skateboarder, and goes on the road. Razz is ranked number one but constant confrontations with the challenger Slash put Allie in some dangerous situations. With the rivalry heating up, Razz and Allie head toward home—right into the path of a fierce tornado. To survive in the horror and destruction that follow the storm, Allie has to call on an inner strength she didn't know she had. This short novel is a high-interest, low-reading level book for teen readers who are building reading skills, want a quick read or say they don’t like to read! The epub edition of this title is fully accessible. Also available in Spanish.

An inspiring guide to the practice of the Buddhist paramitas or "perfections" from respected American Zen master Reb Anderson. The six paramitas—generosity, ethical discipline, patience, heroic effort, concentration, and wisdom—are among the core teachings of Buddhism across all its schools. For newcomers and seasoned practitioners alike, they are foundational practices to enter and realize the mind of Buddha. In this sincere and powerful book, Zen teacher Reb Anderson offers teachings and practice stories that elucidate and open up each paramita. Taken together, the six “perfections” form an integrated and complete path—the path of the heroic bodhisattva who vows to practice ceaselessly for the welfare and liberation of all beings.

A tour-de-force guide to Zen Master Dogen’s most subtle and sophisticated philosophical premises: that being and time are inseparable. “Impermanence is time itself, being itself—yet time and being are not at all as we imagine them to be. To really understand and fully embrace this point is to live in a radically different world—a world of awakening, inclusion, and love. Zen Master Dogen frames the teaching on impermanence explicitly as a teaching about time—and all of Dogen’s profoundly poetic teachings flow from his seminal understanding of time, as expressed in Uji (Being-Time), the famous—and famously difficult—essay in his masterwork, Shobogenzo. In Uji, Dogen teaches that time itself, being itself, is luminous awakening. It is all-inclusive, all-elusive, ultimately healing, and eternal. In this book, Shinshu Roberts does full justice, as does no other book I know of, to Dogen’s words. She offers interpretation of Uji only after careful consideration and marshaling of many sources—and offers simple everyday examples to illustrate points that seem at first abstruse. If this text causes you to doubt your most cherished concepts about your life, it will have done its work.” —from the Foreword by Norman Fischer Being-Time thoroughly explores Dogen’s teaching on how we practice as Buddhas by understanding the relationship between being and time as it is—and as we perceive it to be. Using Dogen’s Shobogenzo Uji (The True Dharma Eye, Being-Time), Shinshu Roberts offers a twofold analysis of this teaching: the meaning of the text and practice with the text, giving examples how we apply Dogen’s complex teaching to our daily lives.

This was the continent of meridians. Legend has it that after cultivating, one could become a god. Misunderstanding, chasing, and becoming traitors, how could he rely on a secret scripture of the evil sects to rise to prominence in the Cultivation World? Close]

A Sot Zen priest and Dharma successor of Kosho Uchiyama Roshi explores eight of Zen's most essential and universal liturgical texts and explains how the chants in these works support meditation and promote a life of freedom and compassion.

The Encyclopedia of Percussion is an extensive guide to percussion instruments, organized for research as well as general knowledge. Focusing on idiophones and membranophones, it covers in detail both Western and non-Western percussive instruments. These include not only instruments whose usual sound is produced percussively (like snare drums and triangles), but those whose usual sound is produced concussively (like castanets and claves) or by friction (like the cuíca and the lion’s roar). The expertise of contributors have been used to produce a wide-ranging list of percussion topics. The volume includes: (1) an alphabetical listing of percussion instruments and terms from around the world; (2) an extensive section of illustrations of percussion instruments; (3) thirty-five articles covering topics from Basel drumming to the xylophone; (4) a list of percussion symbols; (5) a table of percussion instruments and terms in English, French, German, and Italian; and (6) an updated section of published writings on methods for percussion.