Comments on: Discovering Zen

By: Tyler Durden

Tyler Durden — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 19:34:53 +0000

Hi Steve,
I found your page, when I did what you did: googling “zen” and “fight-club”.

Whilst I have watched Fight Club about ten times and Zazened for roughly 4 years (i am taking a break right now) I do agree to the Quality of Alan Watts – especially his early books.

The book Hardcore Zen is just like the title an oxymoron. Hard core what? “uh, you’ve been in a punk band, but now you have grown and you gained s.th. like punk wisedomn.” I wish that would be what the book’s about. But the author hasn’t grown at all – he’s believes are so superficial that any punk on any local urban train station would frown – or hopefully punch him in the face for being so misleading.

And what’s that fight club online marketing – “coppy blogger” about? Some people trying to be smarter and having a good “underground” image about themselves? Take this:

If you sell cars you are a car sales person.

If you work for a bank you are a banker.

If you do online marketing – you are a marketing guy or a nerd.

YOU ARE NOT TYLER DURDEN! Get the point?

Zen tries to make you able to see yourself more clearly.

Aggression like Fight-Club adds a little spice to it.
I still don’t know how it fits together. Maybe one is Yin and one is Yang?

(Let’s find out and destroy some propperty!)

Sorry – didn’t mean to say that – you probably get your site banned now.

By: Daiji

Daiji — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:34:49 +0000

Ok, this is really late, but i came across this page and wanted to add a comment for any other folks who come here. Allan Watts was not a Zen master. He wasn’t even really a practitioner. He was a philosopher who wrote some good stuff, but if you really want to gain any understanding of Zen, should should practice. If you want to read about Zen, consider reading books by Zen practitioners. Not saying not to read Allan Watts. Good stuff, but Zen is discovered by experience.

By: May 2007 - Blogtipping Personal Development Bloggers

May 2007 - Blogtipping Personal Development Bloggers — Tue, 01 May 2007 10:09:27 +0000

[...] I’ll finish the month with Steve Olson’s Steve-Olson.com. Steve takes hard looks at the public face of personal development, how our thoughts and beliefs impact us politically and socially. Steve, your posts are thoughtful and insightful. Your heart shows through each one. You talk about issues that many people would rather ignore, and people from a wide spectrum of positions involved in what you talk about. Keep it up. I have a question, not a tip. Why does John Chow keep putting I Love Steve Olson ads on your site? [...]

By: Joseph Bernard

Joseph Bernard — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 18:26:24 +0000

Hi Steve, I have resisted seeing Fight Club because the ads didn’t appeal to me because there is already enough violence going around. I now feel an openess to check the film out. My passion is consciousness and I have studied with a great zen teacher named Thich Nhat Hahn, his books are wonderful and his book called Old Path, White Clouds is one of the most wonderful contemplative books ever written. I explore these topics and more on my blog about peace and consciousness at http://www.explorelifeblog.com

By: Motivational Speaker

Motivational Speaker — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 23:34:23 +0000

Great Post Steve! I loved Fight Club for the same reasons.

Congratulationals also on your mention over at Problogger today.

Keep up the great writing mate.

Craig Harper

By: Davide

Davide — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 19:55:35 +0000

I’m discovering Zen cultivating bonsai trees
When you practice bonsai cultivation your mind frees and you get that sense of awarness typical of meditation.

I also wrote a couple of articles about Zen and bonsa on my blog.

By: lee

lee — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 12:47:09 +0000

Steve! Great post! I “discovered” zen myself about thirty years ago. Various forms of Buddhism have permeated my thoughts about life ever since. You’ve also got some great comments here! What a great group of readers!

By: Rick Cockrum

Rick Cockrum — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 12:01:40 +0000

Take a look at the work of D.T. Suzuki, too, Steve. He had a lot to do with bringing awareness of Zen to the U.S.

By: Tony D. Clark

Tony D. Clark — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 00:02:22 +0000

Steve – Hardcore Zen is one of the truest and most dead-on books I’ve ever read. Brad Warner gets it. No BS, no fluff.

I’ve loaned out several copies, that I never got back (do we ever really “loan” a book?) Everyone I gave it to either loved it or hated it, with little gray area.

I’ll be interested to hear what you think.

By: Charles Adkins

Charles Adkins — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 22:47:09 +0000

Well if you are interested in studying the intersection of zen, consciousness and the martial arts, you might want to tune into the story of the first non-Asian ever to win the international full-contact tournament, in China, in 1978.

Peter Ralston created Cheng Hsin to communicate the effortless power that arises in alignment with natural principles and open consciousness. He shares much of his story in a very accessible way in his newest book, Zen Body-Being, An Enlightened Approach to Physical Skill, Grace and Power.

You can check it out at http://www.chenghsin.com.

Apologies if I sound too much like a commercial, I’ve worked with Peter for more than 20 years, and as a regular reader and fan of yours as well I’ve been dreaming of how I might get some sort of connection point made.
So since your interest is firing up along these lines, I thought I’d just share it enthusiastically. Peter is the real thing when it comes to consciousness and skillful interaction. I hope you get a chance to take a closer look.