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Before Buddha Was Buddha: Learning from the Jataka Tales, by Rafe Martin
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Review
“Storyteller and Zen teacher, Rafe Martin, offers a fresh set of stories to contemplate – and what stories they are! These amazing old tales enter the heart directly and prepare our minds for the wisdom of the author’s contemporary commentary. His deeply felt connection to these ancient Buddhist tales enhances his message to all of us, and integrates traditional teachings with our lives today. Before Buddha Was Buddha is a pleasure to read. Plus a close reading reveals not only wise teachings but also valuable insights into ancient metaphors and symbols.” (Pat Enkyo O’Hara Roshi, Abbot of the Village Zendo NYC, Founding Teacher of the Zen Peacemaker Family)“Before Buddha Was Buddha is a most welcome addition to contemporary Zen Tradition – Zen in the Art of the Jatakas! It offers us a source of inspiration and courage when we must face the “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,” seeing them not as interruptions or obstacles, but as the Way itself. With this book, Rafe Martin has made it possible for us to go directly to the Big Boss, (the Buddha himself), before his supreme awakening, and learn how he, too, struggled to find his way when he was swamped by the “the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to.” An excellent and most useful book!" (Danan Henry Roshi, Founding Teacher, Zen Center of Denver)"Before Buddha Was Buddha is clearly the result of decades of practice and insight. Written by a very mature teacher, it can help spiritual practitioners deepen their understanding of the nature of Mind. As a lifelong student of Zen Buddhism, I am personally impressed and inspired by it!" (Hogen Bays Roshi, Co-Abbot Great Vow Zen Monastery and Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple Portland, Oregon)“As a teacher of Eastern philosophy to diverse students, I’ve struggled with how to present the abstract, challenging, and sometimes counter-intuitive concepts that Buddhism presents in a way that brings them to life in a classroom. Karma, impermanence, dependent co-arising and the rest, can feel colorless without narratives to ground them. Rafe Martin’s illuminating, thoughtful, and inspiring new book on the wisdom of the ancient Jataka tales does just that: reveals how the core ideas of Buddhism actually play out in the realities of our lives. This is just the book my students need to put flesh on the Buddhist bones. I recommend it enthusiastically!” (Dr. Abigail Levin, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Niagara University)"This is a delightful book—read it for the stories as well as the gift of life it presents. Rafe Martin reveals a way of play as well as fully exploring the deepest corners of our human hearts." (James Ishmael Ford, author of Introduction to Zen Koans)“The Long Maturation, in which we align our behavior, speech and thought with what we realize in our ongoing Zen practice, is a vital yet so often ignored aspect of that practice. With Before Buddha Was Buddha, Rafe Martín Sensei gives us rare and valuable guidance in this process, using the examples of the Buddha’s previous lives as told through the Jataka Tales. An important book for anyone doing spiritual training!” (Mitra Bishop Roshi, founding teacher of Mountain Gate-Sanmonji)"Before Buddha Was Buddha is an alarm clock for the soul. Its words wake you up and lead you out into bright daylight. Its clarity and maturity brings Buddhism down from the realm of the gods and makes the profundity of this Path an actual lived reality. Thank you so much!" (Richard Wehrman, poet, artist, author of Talking To The Wind and Light Was Everywhere)“Rafe Martin offers a book that exactly meets the needs of modern Buddhist practitioners. Zen Master Dogen wrote that the enlightened ones of the past were like us and we will, in the future, be like them. But what were they like? With this book, Sensei Martin shows us that even the most supremely enlightened being, the Buddha himself, had difficult moments in former lives. He felt anger, loss of faith in himself, fear, lust. He made errors and lacked courage. He was, in other words, human—just like us. But he also had tremendous resilience, and a determination to keep practicing through whatever hardship and pain might come his way. This is deeply affirming of our own humanity and is also something we desperately need to hear in these trying times. Whether you are a Buddhist or not, Before Buddha Was Buddha is an uplifting, important book.” (Sunyana Graef Roshi, founding teacher and spiritual director of Vermont Zen Center, as well as spiritual director of Casa Zen, Costa Rica.)“Compelling, charming, and often surprising, the gem-like stories found in Before Buddha Was Buddha: Learning from the Jataka Tales, alongside Rafe Martin’s excellent commentary, offer a welcome window into the teaching of Buddhism and the oral tradition that shaped it over many centuries. A valuable resource for anyone seeking a deeper understanding.” (Dinty W. Moore, author of The Mindful Writer)"Those who thought the jatakas were just morality tales for another age should, given Before Buddha Was Buddha, take a fresh look. Rafe Martin draws upon his insight, his knowledge of the jatakas, and his long immersion in the Dharma to create, through these stories and commentaries, vivid constellations we can use to navigate our own dark times." (Bodhin Kjolhede Roshi, Abbot and Spiritual Director, Rochester Zen Center)
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About the Author
Rafe Martin is a lay Zen teacher in the Harada-Yasutani koan line. He is founding teacher of Endless Path Zendo, Rochester, NY, and is also an award-winning author and storyteller whose work has been cited in Time, Newsweek, NY Times, and USA Today. He is the recipient of the prestigious Empire State Award for the body of his work, as well as multiple American Library Association Notable Book Awards and Parent’s Choice Gold Awards. He has been featured at such storytelling events as the Joseph Campbell Festival of Myth and Story, The Sierra Storytelling Festival, and the National Storytelling Festival. He is the father of two grown children and lives with his wife, Rose, in Rochester, NY.
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Product details
Paperback: 184 pages
Publisher: Wisdom Publications (March 20, 2018)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1614293546
ISBN-13: 978-1614293545
Product Dimensions:
6 x 0.5 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review:
5.0 out of 5 stars
18 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#838,154 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
This book just arrived and I'm already halfway through - and enthralled! Rafe Martin is a master storyteller (truly - he's received numerous awards and accolades for his oral storytelling) and a well-seasoned hand in Zen practice. Now a Zen teacher, Rafe brings his insight and compassionate outlook to an explanation of these ancient stories (Jataka Tales) of the Buddha in his prior lifetimes (as "The Bodhisattva") - making them clear and pertinent to practitioners (like me) in the 21st Century West.Rafe, uniquely, has led numerous "Jataka sesshins" where he has delivered a daily dharma talk on any one of these several hundred Tales in the Buddhist canon. His interest in these stories is decades-old, and his grasp of the many essential teaching points is inspiring. Easy to read (I'm starting to read the book aloud with a friend) and fun to explore, this book will be a helpful companion to anyone on a spiritual path or just trying to live a better, more human, life. Highly recommended!
I have known Rafe for over 35 years, since before he set up the Oxcart Bookstore in the 1970's. In that time I have witnessed his burgeoning fascination, involvement, and (positively meant) obsession with the Jataka Tales. The Jatakas are the stories of the Buddha "before he was Buddha," living through many lives of development, overcoming obstacles, reborn in various forms, struggling and meeting adverse circumstances. "The Buddhas and ancestors were like us; in the future we shall become Buddhas and ancestors." This is Rafe's third long-book treatment of the Jatakas. The first was The Hungry Tigress (1990); then Endless Path (2010); finally the present volume (2018). In the course of these years he received dharma transmission from Danan Henry Roshi as an independent Zen teacher in the Kapleau and Aitken branches of the Harada-Yasutani lineage. The evolution of Rafe's writing from book to book is quite notable. The Hungry Tigress was rather careful and stiff; Before Buddha Was Buddha is much more wide-ranging, confident, sensitive, deeper, and especially freer--more and more individuated. Rafe has always been a serious writer, and this gradual change in voice is certainly a manifestation of what Torei Zenji called the Long Maturation--the deepening integration and actualization of insight in daily life and work--as unmistakable as the refinement of calligraphy throughout the life of a long-lived teacher, steadily growing more skilled, natural, confident, deft, and playful.
This is an important book for Buddhist practice and a great help for practitioners. These stories show the Buddha in difficult life circumstances, not unlike our own. The Buddha, in these tales, could be blinded by the same sticky everyday habits that we have. But he also always pressed forward and that is an inspiration to us all. These stories and Rafe Martin's penetrating commentary, show us that our failings are not absolute and that grappling with them is in actuality what Buddhist practice is about. Highly recommended!
Rafe Martin does something marvelous in this short book of commentaries on 16 Jataka Tales (and 1 koan). In his lucid and colloquial prose, Martin introduces us to an extraordinarily human Bodhisattva prior to his enlightenment as the Buddha—human even when he incarnates as a deer, a quail, a monkey or a parrot. Each tale illuminates the difficulty of the path, the many setbacks he encountered, and his drive to learn from each experience until all learning was extinguished. But in doing so, Martin reveals how much our own issues are of the same substance as the Buddha’s, and how the Buddha’s path is one not that dissimilar from our own. Out of that arises a profound inspiration to continue, to practice, to fully engage in our lives. Martin’s writing is down to earth, and his commentaries illuminating, subtle and yet easy to grasp. He has brought these ancient tales to life, making them relevant to all today, whether you are Buddhist or not.
I have read many books on Buddhism, zen, religion and philosophy. This was the first book, however, that I have read on the Jataka Tales. From what I have read I would imagine that these stories would speak to different people, young and old, the neophyte and adept, those seeking and those otherwise engaged. I have found this book to be insightful and inspiring, written with perspective, clarity and depth. I hope these stories find their way to broader society, as they have clear applicability and value outside of "Buddhism".
The reviewer Hogen Bays, co-abbot of Great Vow Zen Monastery says on the back jacket, “Clearly the result of decades of practice and insight, written by a very mature teacher.†With that I would whole heartedly agree. However, it also is written by someone with the insight of, to quote a lyric from David Bowie, “An absolute beginnerâ€. Therein lies the beauty and intimacy of this book. Rafe Martin shares these jataka tales of the Buddha’s past lives and shows us a Buddha to be beginning again and again, face to face with challenges similar to those many of us must deal with (or not) in our own lives. The tales are amazing, their relevance to us a thousand or two thousand years’ later spot on. But what helps to really bring them home is Rafe Martin’s commentary and his ability to connect these ancient yet timeless jatakas to a host of other classic and contemporary writers and events. The works of William Blake, Leonard Cohen, James Joyce, Bob Dylan and the Brothers Grimm etc. are all quoted and infuse the tales with a language that speaks from multiple sources across the ages. Quite simply; simple, profound and beautiful.
Rich, inspiring tales creatively told. Deserves to be read and re-read. For Buddhists, non-Buddhists and anyone with a glimmer of curiosity about what life's all about -- this one, the last one and the many to come.
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