Albert Low - Renown Zen Master
Article by Jakob Jelling
Albert Low is a Zen master and the author of a numerous books, some of which were published in many countries around the world.
Albert now resides in Canada, but has also lived in South Africa, England, and the United States. He holds a bachelor's degree in Psychology and Philosophy; he is a trained counselor. In 2003, he earned the degree of Doctor of Law at Queen's University in Ontario.
Albert Low was born in England, in 1928. In 1947 - 1949, he served in the Royal Navy. In 1954, he and his wife Jean immigrated to South Africa. In South Africa, Albert started to work in the local monopole news agency - the Central News Agency. Soon he took the post of senior personnel executive. At the same time, he was giving numerous lectures on how to organize business management creatively. His children Anita, Stephen and John were born in South Africa.
Albert left South Africa in 1963, due to his non-acceptance of the apartheid system. He moved to Ontario, Canada, and started working in a large utility company, also as a personnel executive. He continued giving seminars and lectures on the topics that interest him the most - creativity and Zen. During this time his book "Zen and Creative Management" was released - it sold around 75,000 copies. From 1955 to 1966 Albert Low was studying Zen Buddhism. In 1966 he started to practice Zen Buddhism under the guidance of a renowned Japanese master. As time went by, he decided to switch to a new master. In 1976, he left the utility company where he worked, and became an editor at a journal. In 1979, he moved to Montreal, where he became a probationary teacher. In 1986, he was authorized to become a Zen master by his teacher.
Throughout his life, Dr. Low has been studying human nature, psychology, creativity, and spirituality; he has a vast knowledge of Western psychology. He provided spiritual and creative counseling for many years. He has given a number of interviews on radio and television, including the CBC. Albert Low is an author of 11! books, and a contributor to 3 other books. Most of his books can be found in English and French, and many can also be found in Spanish, Portuguese, German and other languages too.
His latest book is "The Origin of Human Nature". His other books include: "Hakuin on Kensho the Four Ways of Knowing", "Creating Consciousness", "The Butterfly's Dream", "The World A Gateway: Commentaries on the Mumonkan", "To Know Yourself", "Zen and the Sutras", "Zen and Creative Management", "The Iron Cow of Zen", "Zen Meditation, plain and simple", and "Hakuin's Chant in Praise of Zazen".
Albert talks about some of his books on YouTube. His books can be found in hardcover and in the form of eBooks. Albert is also an author of a number of teishos.
Today, Albert Low is the director of the Montreal Zen Center, where he teaches over 200 students; he teaches his students spirituality and psychological aspects.
About the AuthorJakob Jelling runs http://www.fengshuicrazy.com which teaches the ancient art of feng shui. Please visit his website to learn more about Albert Low.
3 Zen Buddhism
Not Always So: Practicing the True Spirit of Zen
Practising the true spirit of Zen.
Not Always So is based on Shunryu Suzuki's lectures and is framed in his own inimitable, allusive, paradoxical style, rich with unexpected and off–centre insights. Suzuki knew he was dying at the time of the lectures, which gives his thoughts an urgency and focus even sharper than in the earlier book.
In Not Always So Suzuki once again voices Zen in everyday language with the vigour, sensitivity, and buoyancy of a true friend. Here is support and nourishment. Here is a mother and father lending a hand, but letting you find your own way. Here is guidance which empowers your freedom (or way–seeking mind), rather than pinning you down to directions and techniques. Here is teaching which encourages you to touch and know your true heart and to express yourself fully, teaching which is not teaching from outside, but a voice arising in your own being.
If you can imagine Zen Existentialism, Not Always So is it. Part instruction manual for Zen practice and part philosophical meditation, Shunryu Suzuki's teachings emphasize being-in-the-world. He does not point toward a singular enlightenment-event as a burst into higher consciousness. Rather, he suggests a more experiential enlightenment that finds meaning in a full awareness of the present. For example: "If you go to the rest room, there is a chance for enlightenment. When you cook, there is a chance for enlightenment. When you clean the floor, there is a chance to attain enlightenment."
Shunryu Suzuki was an important emissary of Zen Buddhism to the United States. Establishing a Zen center in San Francisco in the 1960s, he attracted many noted pupils, including this book's editor, Edward Espe Brown. In fact, Not Always So is Brown's collection of Suzuki's teachings during his last years, in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
No doubt some readers will want to wrestle with the often paradoxical nature of Zen teachings. And those from the West! ern phil osophical tradition may find vast differences between the Western system that takes its cue from Descartes' cogito and the Eastern one that emphasizes the destruction of the ego. Says Suzuki: "It is just your mind that says you are here and I am there, that's all. Originally we are one with everything." While the book does not wrestle with cultural-philosophical differences, it is nevertheless a good introduction to Zen. Suzuki's teachings tend to flow from simple stories, usually drawn from his own experiences. It's almost entirely free of the jargon that clutters many books on Buddhism, and the teachings are communicated with clarity and brevity. --Eric de Place
Comments
Post a Comment