Preface by
Roshi Enkyo O’Hara
Foreword by
Richard Thomas
TUTTLE Publishing
Tokyo, Rutland Vermont, Singapore
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Josephine my mother for getting me started. Thanks to my father who let me turn the attic, garage and porch into art studios. Thanks to Deena Lebow my wife for talking it all over with me and laughing about it. Thanks to Cleo and Kimberly my daughters who helped me to grow up (almost). Thanks to Gloria Lebow my mother-in-law who I should have listened to more. Thanks to Roshi Enkyo O’Hara for creating the Zen circle that I now sit in. Thanks to Sensei Joshin O’Hara for looking at the world in a totally different way.
Dedication
Dedicated to my dog Loki 1998 - 2013. Goodbye little white shadow.
Copyright
©2016 Rodney Alan Greenblat
Contents
Preface
As Buddhism has come to the west, it has brought many and varied teachings, some of which are difficult to comprehend and, most of all, to put into practice in our everyday lives. In this amazing book, author Musho Rodney Greenblat has accomplished an extraordinary feat: he has delivered the essence of the Dharma in a witty, delightful and also very accurate way, making it possible for readers to realize how the teachings function in our lives.
The “Dharma” is a word describing the many teachings of Buddhism. The author, beginning with his own experience, offers us a creative and marvelous window into the central teachings of Buddhism: the Four Noble Truths, the Sutras, the Bodhisattvas, and most of all, the profound teaching of Buddhanature and one’s own role in the world.
Musho – that’s his Buddhist name – has practiced with me at the Village Zendo in Manhattan for many years. He serves as a Senior Student of Zen, giving talks and instruction. Through this experience, he has found a way to communicate many of the hard-to-understand mysteries of the Dharma. Using story, wit, and hilarious images, he gives us ancient Jataka tales, traditional teachings, koans, and 21st century experiences.
Buddhists often say that the Dharma comes in many flavors, but has a single taste: the taste of liberation. So, too, this extraordinary book offers the joys and delights of the many ways of appreciating the teachings, and still also directly renders the teaching itself: how to be free.
Uniquely, the book is full of lively illustrations of serious matter – just like life! Be warned! There are profound teachings here. And just like the title, this one is truly a delight.
Roshi Enkyo O’Hara
Foreword
“LIFE AND DEATH ARE OF SUPREME IMPORTANCE……TIME SWIFTLY PASSES BY AND OPPORTUNITY IS LOST…..DO NOT SQUANDER YOUR LIFE.” - from the traditional Evening Gata.
Wow. Serious stuff.
Indeed, the whole project of Buddhism can seem like heavy furniture in a room suffused with high seriousness of intent. And coupled with our American Puritanism and penchant for self-improvement, the prospect of alleviating our suffering and the suffering of others--a joyful aspiration indeed--can come to seem unnecessarily grim.
Enter Musho Rodney Alan Greenblat, bearing in hand Dharma Delight. If meditation is indeed the seat of ease and joy, Musho is a wonderful companion and guide. His book--a kaleidoscopic cornucopia of Buddhist history, teaching and symbol-- populated with a cast of characters both traditional and original, is a Dharma delivery system powered by pleasure as well as wisdom. Tortoises, pandas and sentient beans join hands with Bodhidharma, Avalokiteshvara and Buddha (in a spaceship, of course) to take us on a journey of liberation. And liberated is how I felt as I wound my way through its colorful and heartfelt pages.
And even though the images in the book are in many ways classical in their depictions of Buddhist iconography and Dharmic code, they are also a reminder of both the great Comedy of life and the hearty laughter of Zen itself --one of the funniest paths to freedom ever invented. As a Zen student I may not yet have realized the sound of one hand, but as an actor, I know very well the sound of two and I send thunderclaps of applause and nine bows in Musho’s general direction. Open his book and become intimate with joy!
Richard Thomas
INTRODUCTION
When visiting the old temples of Japan as a tourist, I had many questions.
My friends in Japan could not answer. Returning to New York City, where I live, I decided to find a Zen temple, do meditation and find out for myself. I discovered a nearby Zen group and started learning to meditate. I attended lectures then a week long retreat. Gradually the big Buddha statues started to speak. The Zen monks sitting facing the wall did not seem so strange.
Then I began to experiment making artwork based on what I was learning and discovering. This book is the result. I’ll start with a little introduction to the Dharma as I understand it:
The Buddha Dharma
“The