Author(s): Joan Sutherland

Philosophy and Religion

An intimate spiritual and literary journey exploring how Zenkoansmake us permeable to the joys and the anguish of this life-and to the primordial mystery we glimpse behind the veil of the everyday. In Through Forests of Every Color, renowned Zen teacher Joan Sutherland reimagines thekoantradition with allegiance to the root spirit of thekoansand to their profound potential for vivifying, subverting, and sanctifying our lives.Herdecades of practicing with koansand of translating themfrom classical Chinese imbues this text witha warm familiarity, an ease still suffused with awe. Interlinked essays on "koansas art," "keeping company withkoans," and "walking thekoanway" intersperse with beautifully translated renditionsof dozens of traditional Zenkoans. Sutherland also shares innovativekoansculled from Western literature, as well as teachings on how to create idiosyncratic koans or "turning words" from the circumstances of one's own life. "First honored is your yearning, the preparation made on faith that there is something that will receive you if you make yourself ready," writes Sutherland of thekoanseeker. "Bathed-attended to, washed free of complications-and then aspiring to the deepest kind of beauty-receptive, brave, dedicated, openhearted. Already you've begun to look like the thing you're looking for."