By Claire Parsons

 

I love reading books, especially when a friend makes a recommendation.

The more random and unexpected the better. When The Tattooed Buddha emailed me and asked me to read Do Not Try to Become a Buddha: Practicing Zen Right Where You Are by Myozan Ian Kilroy, I wrote them back accepting without even doing a Google.

Reading the Book Was Immediately and Apparently Valuable

I had only a small amount of experience with Zen and so I didn’t realize the title was a reference to an important text in the Soto Zen tradition. Because I didn’t Google, I didn’t know that Rev. Myozan was a person who helped grow and establish Soto Zen in Ireland or that he was a notable writer and journalist too. From the title alone, I sensed that the book had something for me.

Once the book arrived and I began reading, it didn’t take me long to see that my intuition was correct. As I had hoped, the book really and truly was about practicing Zen right where you are. Or, more literally, it shared the story of how Rev. Myozan learned to practice and build Zen right where he was: in Ireland.

What a Book about Zen in Ireland Offers to People Everywhere

Now, you might wonder why a lawyer in Kentucky—even one familiar with Buddhism who practices and teaches meditation—would care about this. But that part is not that hard to understand. In Do Not Try, Rev. Myozan shares a collection of brief essays about his journey to Zen, his calling to teach, and the struggles and joys of doing so in a predominantly Catholic country.

While the United States is not so religiously homogenous, my local community is. The region where I live is heavily Catholic. I was raised Catholic and though I no longer practice, many of my relatives, friends, colleagues and acquaintances still do. So, when Rev. Myozan shared his struggles about being a Buddhist in Ireland, I could strongly relate to what that was like.

The most beneficial thing I got from reading Do Not Try, however, was not just a sense of validation. I got a challenge too. In the pages of his book, Rev. Myozan identified some areas of growth for his local community, including his Catholic neighbors. What was admirable, though, was that he did so without bitterness or resentment. Instead, you could feel the deep respect and even pride that Kilroy felt for the people in Ireland and its traditions even as he described his efforts to establish new traditions and ways of being.

Reading the Book Inspires Hope

I also truly enjoyed learning about Ireland and Zen and Rev. Myozan’s spiritual journey in Do Not Try. The passages about the people and places in Ireland sometimes made you feel like you were there.

The explanations of the traditions and rituals in Zen Buddhism gave me, a former Catholic skeptical of ritual, a new perspective and appreciation for them. Rev. Myozan’s spiritual journey, that started with reading classic texts in a local bookstore, reminded me a little bit of my own beginnings with exploration of Buddhism.

The good news for Ireland—and any of you who read the book—is that Rev. Myozan’s journey ended up turning into one that spanned decades and continents and led to him becoming a Soto Zen teacher.

If I had to distill the impression Do Not Try had on me down into one word, it would be “hope.”

One of my very favorite sections of the book offers a lesson on this topic that I desperately needed to hear. In that section, entitled, “Hope in the Present Moment,” Rev. Myozan reminds us that hope is not what we wish for in the future, but instead what we do in the present. I felt hope reading Rev. Myozan’s book because it offered a story and teachings that show us how this can be done.

Conclusion: Do Not Try to Become a Buddha Is an Excellent Read

In Do Not Try, Rev. Myozan shows us how much more to Buddhism there is beyond the individual state of enlightenment. He shows us how we can take the teachings, the practices and even the rituals and live them in our own community.

This is true whether your community includes a large population of Buddhists or whether it doesn’t.

Whether you intend to help expand Buddhism into your local community or simply live an ethical, connected, and engaged life, Do Not Try to Become a Buddha is an excellent read. It offers short chapters with accessible language, enjoyable and relatable stories, teachings on ancient practices, and insights for contemporary life.

Thank you to Dana for asking me to read and review this book and giving me a chance to help interview Rev. Myozan on the Podcast. Now, this is your invitation to give this book a read.

 

Were you inspired by this? You may also like:

 

That is Not Your Mind! Zen Reflections on the Surangama Sutra {Book Review}

What’s So Different About Celtic Buddhism?

 

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