{"product_id":"the-grass-flute-zen-master-sodo-yokoyama-9781619029132","title":"The Grass Flute Zen Master: Sodo Yokoyama","description":"\u003cb\u003eWhat motivated Sodo-san to spend the last twenty years of his life in a \"temple under the sky\"-- a corner of a public park where he taught passersby what it means to be forever young through the funky tunes he played on his grass flute?\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In \u003ci\u003eThe Grass Flute Zen Master: Sodo Yokoyama\u003c\/i\u003e, we are seeking not only a truer understanding of this well-loved monk, but of \u003ci\u003ezazen\u003c\/i\u003e, Zen meditation, itself. In his search for insights into Sodo Yokoyama's life, Arthur Braverman skillfully weaves a tapestry from seemingly disparate threads--the brief \u003cem\u003etaisho\u003c\/em\u003e period into which Sodo-san was born and where individualism shone; his teachers, both ancient and contemporary practitioners of Zen Bhuddism; the monk's love of baseball; and the similarities Braverman finds between Sodo-san and Walt Whitman, who both found the universal in nature. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThrough conversations with Joko Shibata, Yokoyama's sole disciple, and careful study of his teacher's poetry, an intriguing tension between the personal and the universal is revealed. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Grass Flute Zen Master\u003c\/em\u003e is a meditative examination not of just one life, but of many. The lineage of teacher and prot g  is traced back through generations, contemporaries are drawn up from unexpected places, and Braverman examines his own long journey in Zen Buddhism; confronting his own expectations and surprising disappointments (the monk lived in a boarding house and later took a cab to his park when he could no longer walk the whole way) and the understanding and acceptance that followed. \"When you play the leaf,\" Sodo-san once wrote, \"you'll usually be a little out of tune. That's where its very charm lies...\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Counterpoint LLC\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 01\/10\/2017\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781619029132\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 150\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.45lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.10h x 5.50w x 0.60d","brand":"Arthur Braverman","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":36662417490076,"sku":"9781619029132","price":14.41,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_63b3fd6d-5a93-4b5e-a79b-c6f7857074d7.jpg?v=1603901852","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/the-grass-flute-zen-master-sodo-yokoyama-9781619029132","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}