"Somebody comes into the Zen center with a lighted cigarette, walks up
to the Buddha statue, blows smoke in its face, and drops ashes on its
lap. You are standing there. What can you do?" This is a problem that
Zen Master Seung Sahn is fond of posing to his American students who
attend his Zen centers. Dropping Ashes on the Buddha is a delightful,
irreverent, and often hilariously funny living record of the dialogue
between Korean Zen Master Seung Sahn and his American students.
Consisting of dialogues, stories, formal Zen interviews, Dharma
speeches, and letters using the Zen Master's actual words in
spontaneous, living interaction with his students, this book is a fresh
presentation of the Zen teaching method of "instant dialogue" between
Master and student which, through the use of astonishment and paradox,
leads to an understanding of ultimate reality.