Buddhism Is Not What You Think: Finding Freedom Beyond Beliefs by Steve Hagen

Buddhism Is Not What You Think: Finding Freedom Beyond Beliefs Reviews

• 
  Roisin

  "Whatever you hold to, let it go.
  Step into this moment.
  Come back to just this.
  It takes some effort.
  But come back, come back, come back to just this.
  Just see what you've been ignoring for so long".
  
  This is how Steve Hagen ends this immensely comforting and insightful book. I picked up this book during 2013 after some personal struggles that left me feeling a lot of things, both physical and emotional, none of which were comfortable, or pleasant or things that I wanted to be experiencing. Earlier that year I'd been to a training workshop on Acceptance and Commitment therapy and was inspired by it to learn more about this alternative way of thinking where thoughts do not have precedence over our behaviour, but are seen as something that can be heard and left behind if that is what would be most helpful in that moment, and in the long-term. A major component of ACT is learning mindfulness skills. Learning the ability to be aware of thoughts, emotions and body sensations for what they are. Sitting with those feelings and really feeling them. Instead of buying into our thoughts about them, which is just the way our minds work.
  
  When I don't feel well or happy I like to look at books. They are comforting. I like the musky smell. They way the paper feels in my hand. I like looking at words on paper. This is what I was doing that day when I came across this book. It was sitting on my parents bookshelves and I just picked it up, took it to my room and decided to read it.
  
  "This is not a feel-good self-improvement book" was the first thing I read. Which is just what I needed. Because when bad things happen and you're miserable, and you have zero energy, and you're in pain, you don't want some douche bag telling you that life is 100 percent the choices you make and that you have the power to be who you want to be and achieve your wildest hopes and dreams. And God fordbid that
  Rhonda Byrne comes along and tells you that you brought this all on yourself because you "thought too negatively". It's just not helpful. It's saying "you are in control" and when you're life is out of control, heavily dictated by circumstance or you feel blocked in with no where to turn. You don't want someone to say "it's all your choice". You want someone to say "life is shit sometimes, and that's okay because it's the the way life really is. That is reality. This is reality". This is what Steve Hagen told me.
  
  He also told me that I am not my mind, and that my mind is not me. He told me that I am not separate from the world around me, that the only certainty in life is change, that even the very molecules in my body completely change, technically making me something different, and yet I remain the "same". I am always changing from one moment to the next. He told me that every moment is a new moment. He told me that all we have is now. That the future and the past do not exist except in our minds. And he told me many more things that were insightful and helpful and reflected what I already felt instinctively about life but had forgotten amid it all. He also told me a lot of things that I did not know, and I am grateful to him for this.
  
  Somewhere along the way I stopped reading it. I think I was unwell and couldn't focus on it. So I left it for a while. And then I came back to it, and I was glad that I had, because just reading this book made me feel better about life. It made me feel like life is okay. And once I got through it all. Once the moments I was having were filled with a strange thing called happiness it made me feel that life, that reality, is wonderful. It made me feel that the very act of existing, of being, of this world, of experiencing anything at all is a miracle.
  
  
• 
  Pooja Kashyap

  Simple and free flowing book, Buddhism Is Not What You Think written by Steve Hagen talks about what reality is as per Zen Buddhism. The author resonates one central point in the entire book and that is, reality is about direct experience of the real time than mere feelings and thoughts, which happen to be in constant flux in conscious and subconscious level in human mind.
  
  Through various real life examples, Hagen illustrates the point of perceiving awareness of the current instances that is taking place in the ever-changing present moment. The author tries to delve into ontological and epistemological dimensions by referring how masses or common people generally perceive reality.
  
  In the most articulate manner, Hagen has been successful in bringing about the concept of understanding of emptiness, impermanence, and nonduality. Very deftly, he has been able to present the flaw of human mind that fabricates ‘reality’ by past thoughts or experiences in a way that we tend to accept them as actual reality, which essentially is not the case.
  
  The book is interspersed with teachings of ancient Zen teachers, some of them are Huang Po, Shunryu Suzuku, Suzuki Rosi, Dogen Zenji, Ju-ching, Hakuin, Linji (Rinzai), Foyan, Kuei-shan, Ts’ao-shan, Nagarjuna, Kanadeva, Keinzan Jokin (the second of the great founders of Zen sect in Japan, had compiled stories of ancient Zen ancestors) to name a few.
  
  I liked the way Hagen has spun his interpretation of Emily Dickinson’s This Will Never Come Again and transactional interpretation of quantum mechanics in different sections under the third segment of the book.
  
  My curiosity towards Zen Buddhism compelled me to buy this book, and I find this book extremely helpful in ways of understanding the thought process of Zen Buddhists. I enjoyed it thoroughly, recommended for those who want to take a dip into the thought ocean of Zen Buddhism.
  
  I’d also like to add some of the profound quotations that I came across while reading:
  
  “Nothing stands on its own. Nothing has its own being. Each thing is inseparable from, and inter-identical with, all that it's not.”
  
  “Thus perception is an objectless Awareness since, when we just see, what is truly seen involves not objects but the Whole. Nothing actually forms as an object; nothing stands apart. No matter where we look, there's just this.”
  
  “We think there only has to be sound for there to be sound. We overlook that there must also be silence for there to be sound. And because of sound, there is silence. Were there no sound, how could there be silence?”
  
  “What makes human life--which is inseparable from this moment--so precious is its fleeting nature. And not that it doesn't last but that it never returns again.”
  
  “If it's Truth we're after, we'll find that we cannot start with any assumptions or concepts whatsoever. Instead, we must approach the world with bare, naked attention, seeing it without any mental bias - without concepts, beliefs, preconceptions, presumptions, or expectations.”
• 
  Amy

  I really like this book; in fact, I reread it this fall.
  
  The concepts behind Buddhism are so elegantly simple, yet I find them difficult to absorb and digest. I guess that's the challenge, right?
  
  Hagen writes in a clear and straightforward way, illustrating major points of the religion with everyday examples to which the average Western reader can relate. I find him to be an inspiring and thought-provoking teacher, and I would recommend this book as a good place to start if you are interested in Buddhism.
• 
  Chris Bassett MD

  If there’s one thing Hagen has taught me, it’s that you can only get so far by reading. Perhaps the best thing you’ll get from his books is a sense that you’ve read enough, that you’ve read it all before and it’s time to just do it. That doesn’t speak well for his writing - or does it?
• 
  Mic

  I prefer quites over reviews:
  53
  According to Bodhidharma (and to Zen), if we make enlightenment—or enlightened people—into something special and set them apart from others and from ourselves, we abuse them. In the process, we also abuse ourselves. Thus enlightenment becomes remote, otherworldly, mysterious, and (seemingly) virtually impossible to realize.
  Zen is about freeing ourselves from such deluded thinking.
  
  57-58
  Try to nail down what anything is. You can’t. It’s like trying to answer the question, “Is that you in your baby picture?” What can you say? You may say, “Yes, that’s me.” But obviously it is not. You’re not a baby. But can you say, “No”? Who is it in the picture, then?
  And if you say, “That was me,” how could you still be you if you’re six times bigger and far more articulate? Indeed, what does “you” refer to? And if you say, “It’s both me and not me,” what can this mean? Have you ever seen anything that both is and isn’t what it is? And if it’s neither you nor not you, what are we even talking about? If we really look carefully, such simple, everyday questions as these can set our minds spinning.
  There’s nothing absolute about our objects, ever, even though we usually think there is. We quietly assume a cup is a cup is a cup. But where can we draw the line between the cup and everything else? If you pay very close attention, you’ll see that you can’t.
  
  68-69
  The sound of the bell is inseparable from everything that came before and that will come after as well as from every- thing that appears now. This includes your eardrum, which vibrates in response to it. It includes the air, which pulses with varying waves of pressure in response to it. It includes the stick that strikes the bell. It includes the metallurgists, past and present, and those who learned to extract metal from ore and those who fashioned the bell. And it includes that ancient furnace, that supernova obliterated long ago in which this metal formed. Remove any of these—indeed, remove anything at all—and there can be no sound of the bell. The sound of the bell is thus not “the sound of the bell.” It is the entire Universe.
  
  75-76
  We can look deeper—to an awareness characterized by Thoreau’s famous quote: “In wildness is the preservation of the world.”
  In the city, for better or worse, everything is planned. Every- thing is put there for some purpose—for good or ill, convenience or decoration.
  Nature, on the other hand, is unintentional. Nature doesn’t try to do anything, produce anything, or accomplish anything. Nevertheless, nature does produce a great deal. But nature produces things in a radically different way than human beings generally do. Most human actions come out of our intentions, our desires, our attempts to bring about certain situations, and our yearning to prevent other situations from occurring. In contrast, what nature produces is without purpose, intention, or will. This is because there is nothing outside of nature for it
  to act on or for or against.
  So I would modify Thoreau’s words and say that in wild-
  ness is not only the preservation of the world, but the revelation of the world.
  Often we imagine that there ’s some particular thing or entity—God, say—that made the world and that now runs it. With such a notion in place, we soon start talking about this entity as if it had attributes like us—as if it had wants and de- sires. We talk of the “will of God.” Soon we’re developing ideas of how people should comply with God’s will.
  But if we look carefully at this, we’ll discover that this is just our putting our ideas of God—that is, our will—onto un- willed nature, onto Reality. If we think of God—or whatever overarching principle we might have in mind—as being “out there,” we should realize that all we are doing is projecting our own attitude, our own view, our own small mind, on the world and on others.
  The intention and will that we find surging within us, which all too often govern our minds and justify our motivations for doing this or not doing that, come about because we ’re locked up in our petty egos, because we forsake the Reality of the Whole. We see ourselves separate and removed from the Whole—and from everything else “out there.” Thus we feel compelled to do something about our situation, which only furthers our discontent.
  We feel we have to protect this well-loved thing we call “me” or “I.” And we also want to please this I-creature. And so we find ourselves filled with longing and loathing.
  This is delusion. It’s what most often characterizes our minds. We don’t recognize that our way out of such sorrow is simply to see—not to fix something “out there.”
  
  
  98
  Once this moment is seen for what it is, there ’s no more believing in a universe consisting of a tiny, isolated “you” that is distantly viewing everything “out there.” There’s no more need to protect and defend yourself against “out there” or to get, earn, or coax good things from it.
  This is liberation, enlightenment, freedom of mind. It’s the very opposite of resignation; it’s the dissolution of the desire to get everything you want or to do whatever you please.
  You already have the capacity to see Truth right now. You don’t (and can’t) get this capacity from another—not from me, from this book, from Buddha, or from anything or anyone else. How could you possibly get what you already have?
  No one can pin you down; no one can call you back. Just as no one binds you, no one blinds you.
  
  114-115
  To act or not act is not the real question. For the awakened, what comes first is simply being awake—seeing what’s going on. And in seeing what’s going on in this moment, appropriate—that is, natural—action can occur.
  Kuei-shan said, “Why interfere?” When we act out of see- ing, we are no longer interfering with the world; instead, we are operating the way the natural world operates—out of the Whole, out of Totality.
  For the awakened the primary concern is simply to see what is taking place and to act in accord with it.
  This is how the awakened differ from those of us who are caught up in delusion. It’s a very subtle, quiet, and gentle point, but its implications are total. Realizing this creates a complete transformation of heart and mind.
  Enlightenment is nothing more than this: to be fully present, to see the grasping nature of our own minds, and not to act out of that grasping. It’s to see ourselves not as separate, not as lacking, not as in charge, not as weak and helpless.
  When we ’re no longer acting out of a sense of self—out of our wants, our fears, our worries, our obsessions—we’re no longer being driven by the compulsion to arrange everything in a way that feels comfortable and satisfying.
  The truth is, you’ll never succeed at getting things arranged just so. You’ll never live happily ever after. You’ll never please and protect yourself for more than a fleeting moment. In fact, if you look for it, you’ll never even put your finger on just what it is that you’re trying to please and protect. So why interfere?
  If we look carefully at what’s going on in each moment, we’ll see there’s nothing we need to take hold of—indeed, there ’s nothing we can take hold of.
  All of this doesn’t mean that we can’t or shouldn’t act. It doesn’t mean we can’t plan or think or believe or hold ideas. It does mean that we don’t have to be deceived by this or taken in by that.
  For the awakened, motivation has shifted. The motive now is simply to be awake from moment to moment and to deal with every fresh and new situation as it arises. We step into each situation not knowing but with our eyes open to what’s actually taking place. We act from there. Seeing each new moment as it arises creates action that is in accord with how things are now.
  
  153
  The French have a phrase, la chose bien faite—the thing well made, the thing well done, or the life well lived. Zen practice goes to the heart of this same matter—doing and living well, doing and living fully, doing and living our best.
  Throughout most of our lives, we’re so caught up in this and that, rushing through these wonderful distractions and stages, that we don’t (or can’t) take the time to settle into the mellow light that’s always there and to let freshness suffuse the frame. Thus we miss this simple matter of just doing and living fully.
  Actor Peter O’Toole once told of receiving a coat he had sent to the cleaners. It came back with a note pinned to the inside that read, “It distresses us to return work that is not perfect.”
  This, to me, is what it means to be fully human. Not that we must be perfect or that we can bring everything to perfection or completion but, rather, that it is our concern that we do so.
  This is precisely what Zen practice is about: doing our best. Whatever we ’re doing—whether it be humble or grand—we take care of it all in each moment, from beginning to end. Thus we arrive at completion in each moment.
  
  167
  We live through experience, not through description. Though we want to share our experiences with others, we actually can’t. To share a sunset with someone, there’s no point in de- scribing the sunset (or debating about how best to describe it). Just stand next to the person and watch the sun go down with- out saying a word.
  The ultimate failing of a teacher is to believe that what they tell their students is Truth. When the student takes hold of that belief, such a teacher will be incapable of taking it away and thus letting the student taste freedom.
  Ultimately, we need to abandon any notion that taking hold of some particular thing—some particular idea, belief, ritual, religion, perspective, form of dress, or way of acting—is going to bring us to Truth. Finally we have to stop looking for something to save us, something to stand under, to identify with, to improve us, to make us whole.
  We must abandon understanding and being understood. As we do, we can come into this moment, fully alive and awake.
  
  172-173
  Don’t believe me because you see me as your teacher. Don’t believe me because others do. And don’t believe anything because you’ve read it in a book, either. Don’t put your faith in reports or tradition or hearsay or the authority of religious leaders or texts. Don’t rely on mere logic or inference or appearances or speculation. Know for yourselves that certain things are unwholesome and wrong. And when you do, then give them up. And when you know for yourselves that cer- tain things are wholesome and good, then accept them
  and follow them.
  Another way of looking at this is through the Buddha’s teach- ing of avoiding of extremes. Don’t be a hundred percent gullible; don’t be a hundred percent scornful and dismissive, either. The Buddhadharma urges each of us to be good skeptics—in the classical Greek sense. A good skeptic is slightly gullible: willing to consider and examine any evidence or argument be- ing raised, at least temporarily. They neither swallow it whole nor reject it outright. They continuously observe it, test it, and engage it with interest, curiosity, and openness.
  To dismiss something as bunk before you examine it is the hallmark of a believer, not a skeptic. Those who won’t even examine something are operating out of an agenda, are shut down to actual experience, and are so full of ideas that they can’t see what’s coming at them. For them the world is structured and fixed, and they’re often caught up in their own form of bunk: an insistence on dismissing and devaluing certain propositions or attitudes. This is not skepticism but cynicism.
  In order to cultivate a pure mind, we need to set aside our personal agendas. But this doesn’t mean taking up the personal agenda of someone else—a teacher, for example. No true Dharma teachers would ever direct you to follow their personal agenda. In fact, they really don’t have much of a personal agenda regarding you. Their only concern for you is that you awaken. (As my teacher used to say, the final job of a teacher is to free the student of the teacher.)
  Many of us initially take up the religious life with a lot of high-minded ideas about what we ’re going to accomplish. But that’s only more ego, more business as usual—religious ego- tism. If we truly want to live the religious life, we simply have to drop our agendas—even our religious ones. Only then can we begin to cultivate a mind of true goodness and compassion, which comes out of a concern for the Whole.
  As we live out of such a mind, we become generous, with no sense of giving or of making a sacrifice. We become open, with no sense of tolerance. We become patient, with no sense of putting up with anything. We become compassionate, with no sense of separation. And we become wise, with no sense of having to straighten anyone out.
  
  
  187-188
  One other point about authority: no human being or institution ever has more authority than that granted by other human beings. This means that you are the final authority in terms of whom you give credence to and how you live your life.
  Turning over this authority to anyone else is a kind of spiritual laziness. You’ll be disinclined to pay careful and critical attention to what’s actually going on, and you’ll be left wide open to being manipulated, misled, and scammed.
  The Buddha recognized this and warned against it. For in- stance, he told people not to make any images of him. (And people didn’t at first.)
  You need to realize that you are Buddha. Yet the more we glorify and deify the man we call the Buddha, the more diffi- cult it is for us to wake up. After all, if you make your teachers into gods, how can you realize the Truth that you are fundamentally no different from them?
  In the end, it comes down to this: authority, which is yours already, rests only with direct experience. Ultimately, there is no other place for you to look.
  
  194-195
  The time came when my friend realized Tippy had to be euthanized. He went to get Tippy for the last time. As he came into the room, Tippy was too weak to lift her head, though she tried. But her tail started to wag. She was happy to see her friend and master. Even as she faced death, she was serene.
  Unlike animals, we fool ourselves about death. We think we know that we ’re going to die. But death isn’t something we can know as an idea. What we call “death” is only something we imagine. Real death—Real anything—is always right here, right now. It’s not lurking somewhere off in the future. It occurs—it can only occur—now.
  Animals are not confused about this matter. It is we, with our complex thoughts, who are confused, we who whine about our condition. We do this because we imagine everything set apart from ourselves, here and now.
  But what you or I or anyone thinks doesn’t belong to now. It’s not the Reality we actually live from moment to moment. Birth and death occur right here, right now. Were we to awaken
  to this moment, we ’d find nothing to complain about.
  
  206
  The awakened see Reality as it is. They see that enlightenment is nothing more than not being deceived by the conceptual world each of us creates.
  Consciousness splits the world into this and that and the next thing. The most basic split, of course, is “here I am” and “out there is everything else.” But when we understand what consciousness is and how it functions, we realize that our sense of self and other, of subject and object, is an illusion created by consciousness itself.
  The enlightened person isn’t taken in by such conceptual dualities. Still, it isn’t that the illusion goes away. The illusion still appears, but it’s seen for what it is—an illusion. And this seeing is utterly liberating.
  As the Buddha put it, “Just as a man steps upon a serpent and shudders in fear but then looks down and notices that it’s only a rope, so it was that one day I realized that what I was calling ‘I’ cannot be found, and all fear and anxiety vanished with my mistake.”
  But what, exactly, has changed? In a sense, nothing. “The rope” is still “there”; “the foot” is still “there.” But everything is seen as empty of self. Thus with seeing, the sense of “I” drops away. We no longer have to get in there and manipulate or control.
  Enlightened people don’t suddenly disappear. Neither do they suddenly forget how to eat a meal or drive a car or take care of their children. But they understand that they cannot hurt others without doing injury to themselves. In the end, what is understood is that this is all of one fabric.
  
  216-217
  Gradually, however, we can begin to appreciate what the experience of smelling a rose actually entails. It’s of the nature of the mirror itself—that is, that the source of all experience is Mind. As such, the act of smelling—or seeing or hearing or touching or thinking—literally has no location. This non- locality is the very essence of Mind.
  We naively think Mind conveys actual objects to us, as though the objects themselves were Real. Although they may appear this way, no separate objects are ever created and conveyed to us. In fact, such an arrangement is quite literally impossible.
  We know from physics, for example, that the book you’re holding and the hand that holds it are reconstructed (that is, reborn) moment after moment as a blur of rapidly moving molecules and atoms, each exchanging electrons and energy with other molecules and atoms at enormous speed. As a result, in no two instants is there the same book or hand. The whole picture reduces to energy and movement.
  Early Buddhist teachers, who did not have the benefit of modern physics, nevertheless recognized this as total, thorough- going impermanence. Nothing whatsoever abides for a moment. In each instant we find a different picture, a changed universe.
  And why is the physical world this way? Because this is the only way it can be experienced. It’s a mental experience. Mind is the Source.
  But I’m not talking about our common idea of mind, like “your mind” or “my mind.” Your mind and my mind are just more examples of the mentally fabricated and labeled stuff, such as “this book,” “the rose,” “the fragrance,” and all the rest. These all exhibit a reality we cannot deny; yet if we think they are all there is to Reality, we've got it all backward. The multitude of labeled things is not Reality but merely our interpretation—our concepts—of Reality.
  
  241-242
  It’s only in our mental construction of the universe—our conception of it—that we encounter something vast and enduring. In our actual experience, however—that is, what we actually perceive rather than conceive of—all we ever have is here and now.
  Our experience is always in the present. We literally cannot exist in the future or past, only in the timeless moment of infinitely short duration that we call now. We only remember the past and imagine the future, but both of these activities necessarily occur now.
  And where can you ever possibly be but here? Here we conceive of a “there,” but you cannot actually go there. No matter where you “go,” you never leave here.
  What we experience as duration and extension—time and space—results from the way Mind operates. Consciousness produces them. Indeed, this is what consciousness is. Consciousness is the division of this otherwise seamless Whole, which transcends space and time, into space and time—that is, into here and there, then and now.
  It’s the various mental constructions that we hold, and hold dear, that appear as time and space, extension and duration. These—and all of the material world—derive from consciousness, which ladles out time and space from a timeless, spaceless sea.
  To the awakened, however, what is Real is this seamless, boundless, spaceless, timeless Whole. The enlightened person sees that this Whole doesn’t have any dimension apart from Mind.
• 
  Rochelle

  Buddhism is Not What You Think-Finding Freedom Beyond Beliefs by Steve Hagen
  In his clear and conversational style, much as he did in Buddhism Plain and Simple, Steven Hagen tackles what is a thorny issue for most people coming to Zen practice hoping to "get enlightened" "feel blissed out by Nirvana" or those who come to Zen practice hoping to "get" anything at all. As he so simply states through 43 chapters, there is no getting what all beings innately possess (Buddha nature) and no becoming what all beings already are (enlightened). Of course, the idea that all beings are by nature Buddha, is deceptively simple, and enlightenment is so bandied about that few people understand at all what the Buddha meant when he said he was "awake." Hence the problems most people have when coming to Zen practice from the mindset of attaining, achieving, or even letting go of their constructs of reality and self. He delves deeply into the practice of 'just seeing' what is literally one's face--namely, every day Reality, with patience and loving kindness of one who recognizes the possibilities of misunderstanding the difference between seeing and perceiving. He also encourages practitioners and those who would consider zen practice to take the Buddha's instructions to heart and to not accept what he, his teacher, Dainin Katagiri Roshi, or any other spiritual teacher declares as Truth until they have examined it for themselves and found it to be beneficial. There are more seasoned readers whose zen literary forays take them into the deeper waters of the great teachings of the likes of Nagarjuna, and perhaps Hagen's book might be considered redundant. However, for a beginner, or a beginner again, this book presents the fundamentals of zen from as many perspectives as Hagen felt might be useful. Zen literature is replete with anecdotes and stories. Hagen's book does not depart from this tradition. However, he uses the stories and tales of past spiritual masters, so often associated with Zen, like an experienced chef would use delicious seasonings in a plain and nourishing soup. Taste and See!!
  
  
• 
  David

  One of the best books you will find on Buddhism. Hagen gives clear descriptions of Buddhist thought and in a way that gives the reader a clear understanding of the fundamental concepts that are key to understanding the Buddha's message. Highly recommended.
• 
  Jolyon

  Terrific book. A lot of practical sense and getting to grips with real Buddhism. I like Steve Hagen's books and have a couple of others—they're all worth reading.
• 
  Tom Blacklock

  This could have been interesting if he hadn't reiterated his only message on every single page. Instead it was just incredibly boring.
  
  The message is in the title - don't bother reading the book.
• 
  Erjon 7

  One of the best ways to be introduced to the Dharma.
• 
  Masum Hasan

  Buddhism is REALLY not what I thought!
  The author beautifully sheds light what being enlightened really is not. You might be asking what it is then? The answer is: that is the wrong question to ask!
  
  Here are some key points I've found most important,
  First thing first, Buddhism is not a belief system, a follower is not required to believe in anything supernatural. Buddha was a human, who found out that our suffering is caused by our craving to get happiness.
  Imagine our life as a beach, there are two types of waves flowing in towards us, "happy wave", and "unhappy wave". For all our life we try to get wet in the happy wave, and stay away from the unhappy wave. We crave the happy wave so much that we do anything to get it, and anything to get away from the unhappy wave. And all our problems, arise from this craving. So instead of craving for this happy wave, Buddhism suggests you to lay down on the beach, and welcome any wave that comes to you, and not to be bothered.
  
  The first rule, is life is painful. Face it, don't run away from it.
  
  Though this book debunked some important misconception of Buddhism, it does not clearly suggest what the Buddhist way is. It is a bit hard to follow at the beginning, and I will not recommend it to complete beginners. But it's much better read once you get some idea about Buddhism for this book to debunk.
• 
  Heather Yockey

  Liked the tempo of this book.
• 
  Pieter Seuntjens

  This is the second book of Steve Hagen I have read. Just like the first one, I am immensely grateful to have read it. I remember being stuck on a boat in Indonesia for half a day, reading his first book and having multiple 'kensho' experiences while reading and gazing up around me. The wisdom that these books provide... Thank you Steve for deepening my Buddhist and overall life knowledge. Wish you all the best. 🙏
• 
  R Neal

  Beautifully written - I'm learning a lot. A very detailed deposition of modern Buddhism that debunks the western-hemisphere initiated misunderstandings and biases towards the ONLY life philosophy that Albert Einstein mentioned as being worthy of further consideration.
• 
  Steve

  It's all flux, and there's only now.
  I really think his previous book (Buddhism Plain & Simple) is great. This one was enjoyable, but a bit too "self-help-y" for my taste.
• 
  Tyson Adams

  Enlightenment or your money back!
  
  How can we see the world in each moment, rather than merely as what we think, hope, or fear it is?
  How can we base our actions on reality, rather than on the longing and loathing of our hearts and minds?
  How can we live lives that are wise, compassionate, and in tune with reality?
  And how can we separate the wisdom of Buddhism from the cultural trappings and misconceptions that have come to be associated with it?
  
  Steve Hagen's Buddhism is Not What You Think is pretty straight forward. He sets out to answer the above four questions whilst addressing the title of the book. And he does this in the introduction. The rest of the book is pretty much just examples to drive the main point home.
  
  There aren't too many books that wrap their entire argument/premise up quite this quickly. But that probably comes back to the message Hagen is trying to get across about Buddhism and truth. Essentially, we already know truth, but we are too caught up in everything else in life to see it. Thus, Zen practice and Buddhism are about helping get past the distractions.
  
  This was a fairly solid book for advice around Zen practice. But the philosophy aspects I was after were a bit light on.
  
  "We often think we know things when in fact it's only our imagination taking us further and further away from what is actually happening. What we imagine then seems very real to us. Soon we're caught up in our imaginary longings and loathings. But if you're here - truly present - you realize there's nothing to run from or to go after. You can stay calm...Just be with this moment and see what's going on."
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  Ben Zimmerman

  This was thought provoking. The basic idea was to challenge the mental models we create to understand the world and show how they are often us placing ourselves at the center of things. It also talks a lot about how simply being present in whatever you are doing is more important than complicating it with thought. I found that stuff interesting.
  
  I think the thing I disagree with most here is that the author trusts human intuition more than science, unless he can use it to prove his point. I've seen multiple Buddhist authors now give the example of nuclear power as something that science says is safe, but obviously isn't, which I don't agree with.
  
  The book also talks a fair bit about how science is predicated on belief in the scientific method, while Buddhism is based on knowledge. That knowledge is mostly what you see when you clear your mind of preconceptions and simply see the world as it is. I really don't like this faith only in the observable and intuitive. There are a lot of things that science has adequately proven that are not observable or intuitive to non experts.
  
  The author also tries to prove that logic can cloud the mind in a really lazy way. His main point is that if your core assumptions are wrong even perfect logic will yield false results, which I agree with. He does this by giving one absurdly simplistic example though, then acting like he's proven that logic is a broken tool.
  
  All in all this was a really interesting read. It made me cognizant of the ways I center myself in my worldview and presume to understand more than I probably do. I definitely don't plan on converting to Zen Buddhism any time soon though.
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  Adam

  A handful of months ago, I went on a meditation/mindfulness/Buddhism reading bonanza. I tore through quite a few books on the subject and feel like I got a lot out of them. This book came highly recommended as a good beginner's primer on the subject, and I mostly agree. There's plenty of good information here, and I found myself underlining and marking pages to return to regularly.
  
  For some reason, though, this book took me forever to finish. I would pick it up, read a chapter, put it down for three weeks, pick it up, read another chapter, etc. Finally, I decided I was tired of seeing it on my "currently reading" list and I stopped reading everything else and finished this in a few days.
  
  I think the biggest critique I have of this book is that it feels highly repetitive. Most of the book is telling you the same basic information in slightly different ways over, and over, and over. I think that this subject does warrant some retread in this way, but by the end of the book I felt like there were chapters that were so similar to ones that came before it that they could have been cut down and combined with earlier parts of the book, or removed entirely, and nothing major would have been lost from the message.
  
  Still, the writing here is mostly nice and easy to read, and I found Hagen's take on Buddhism refreshing, relatable, and practical. He recalls numerous wonderful anecdotes, koans, and parables that make his message more clear. I think that if you're a Westerner interested in introducing Buddhist teachings into your life, this is a great place to start.
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  Mattheus Guttenberg

  Enjoyable and introspective. Hagen discusses the spirit of Buddhism from a Zen perspective: the illusion of ego, the breaking of subject-object dualism, the nature of sudden enlightenment, the art of manifesting wisdom in the world, and more. Many of his comments reflected perspectives/attitudes I had already discovered in myself through reading the primary sources (Yuanwu, Huangpo, Huineng, etc.) - but he delivers them in a holistic and polished manner, inspiring the reader to practice Zen more wholeheartedly. By focusing on perception before conception, and on here and now instead of elsewhere and elsewhen, we can liberate ourselves from needless suffering. This book requires some background knowledge of Zen (and Buddhist philosophy), so it is best suited for the intermediate practitioner.
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  Kyle

  There are some fine insights, interesting lore and personal stories, and candid explications here. Unfortunately there is also a lot of tiresome repetition that is doggedly on the nose, and somewhat homely prose that frequently seems to lose track of itself. The really good bits, and there are many, throw the breezy bromides into starker relief, and make me wish the author had taken more care to emulate some of the laconism so reverently featured in so many tales about zen monks. I would still recommend this book as a competent introduction to the fundamental purposes of zen, its unique strength being its frank repudiation of a lot of popular (and arcane) misconceptions (both saccharine and dour), while managing to retain a friendly popular style without veering too far into triteness.
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  Carlos

  The book certainly delivers on the promise of its title. Hagen focuses on Zen Buddhism and stays away from any discussion of cosmology or doctrine, emphasizing that Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) himself kept silent about these matters. He focuses instead on the psychological aspect of Zen Buddhism and the change in perception that it seeks for its followers. Hagen is clear and has excellent analogies to help the reader understand the seemingly paradoxical aims of Zen Buddhism. While certain discussions regarding how science corroborates the Buddhist outlook seemed forced, the vast majority of the book was interesting and thought-provoking.
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  Mamta Mittal

  Couldn't understand half of it.. Particularly after reading conversation with God -1 , I feel it's boring in comparison. It seems to carry the same message but isn't presented well. I am quiet disappointed .