Publications

The Circle of the Way Book cover

The Circle of the Way: A Concise History of Zen from the Buddha to the Modern World

By Barbara O’Brien

  • Publisher:Shambhala; Illustrated edition (November 12, 2019)

Zen Buddhism has a storied history–Bodhidharma sitting in meditation in a cave for nine years; a would-be disciple cutting off his own arm to get the master’s attention; the proliferating schools and intense Dharma combat of the Tang and Song Dynasties; Zen nuns and laypeople holding their own against patriarchal lineages; the appearance of new masters in the Zen schools of Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and later the Western world.

 

 

Rethinking Religion Cover

Rethinking Religion: Finding a Place for Religion in a Modern, Tolerant, Progressive, Peaceful and Science-affirming World

By Barbara O’Brien

  • Publisher:Ten Directions (May 20, 2014)

Does religion have something positive to offer the 21st century (and beyond)? Or is it a vestige of the Iron Age that ought to be contained in museums, preferably under bell jars? More critically, is it even possible to be religious and also be a rational and entirely modern participant in 21st-century civilization?