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Mel Ash

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The Zen of Recovery Kindle Edition

by Mel Ash (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.6 247 ratings

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A practical synthesis of AA’s Twelve Steps and Zen’s Eightfold Path.

In this compelling blend of East and West, Mel Ash shows how Zen mind and practice connect to the heart of recovery. Courageously drawing from his lifetime of experience as an abused child, alcoholic, Zen student, and dharma teacher, Ash presents a practical synthesis of Alcoholics Anonymous’s Twelve Steps and Zen’s Eightfold Path.

You don’t have to be Buddhist to appreciate the healing power of The Zen of Recovery. The book makes Zen available to all seeking to improve the quality of their spiritual and everyday lives. It also includes practical instructions on how to meditate and put the book into action. Its message will help readers live more profoundly “one day at a time.”

Editorial Reviews

Review

“The effectiveness of the Twelve Step program is well established, but its power is vastly enhanced when the systematic techniques of Eastern meditation are incorporated into the Eleventh Step. The Zen of Recovery represents a pioneering effort in addressing this important issue.” —Shinzen Young, senior teacher, Vipassana Support Institute, Los Angeles

“This most exciting book brings together the wisdom of Zen with the spirituality of recovery. It speaks to the problems of life in an exciting, dynamic, and practical approach—a must-read.” —Father Leo Booth, author of When God Becomes a Drug

About the Author

Mel Ash is a writer, artist, and teacher/performer with a lifelong interest in transformative experience, cultural change, and consciousness. A former authorized Zen teacher in an Asian tradition, he has taught workshops nationally on Zen, Beat spirituality, and alternative psychology.

Present during many cultural shifts, he attended Woodstock as a young teenager, worked at a punk rock paper in the eighties, and is currently active in contemporary alt. culture, exploring the cultural dimensions of spiritual action.

In addition to Shaving the Inside of Your Skull, he is also the author and illustrator of The Zen of Recovery (1993) and Beat Spirit (both published by Tarcher/Putnam). He is currently researching and working on his new book.

He is active in Providence's First Unitarian Church, lives with Sarah Owens-Ash, a Boston radio personality, his two sons, many cats, one newt (no, NOT THAT ONE!), and occasional wayfarers in Providence's "International Neighborhood."

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00M16RTG4
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Open Road Media; 1st edition (July 29, 2014)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 29, 2014
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 3637 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 257 pages
Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 0874777062

Best Sellers Rank: #658,164 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #214 in Codependency (Kindle Store)
- #266 in Zen Buddhism (Kindle Store)
- #758 in Zen Spirituality

Customer Reviews:
4.6 247 ratings

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Brian

Twelve Steps for every (or no) belief.

Reviewed in the United States on October 21, 2017

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"The Zen of Recovery" is a book for those seeking recovery for drugs, alcohol, or suffering from the human condition. There is far more than simply the twelve steps in this book.
Having witnesed the transforming power of the twelve steps firsthand but never really being in love with the "Big Book", this was a breath of fresh air! "The Zen of Recovery" has absolutely reinvigorated my recovery and is teaching me how to live in today, free of expectations and fear, in a way I never could in the program previously.
I'm in absolutely no way a basher of AA literature or any belief system. We all must find what works for us and our recovery. I found recovery in the rooms, twe've steps and the literature. I simply arrived at a place where I could no longer move forward in my spiritually in the manner I was doing my recovery.
This book smooths out the edges for me that I found in "Alcoholics Anonymous" and speaks to me in a language I understand. The spiritual principles are the same in this book as AA literature just in a way that works for me. It has become my "Big Book" and I actually look forward to reading from it daily instead of having to discipline myself to read AA literature.
There is no criticism in " The Zen of Recovery against traditional AA or any higher power or belief system. In fact Mel Ash speaks about Bill W and the program with reverence. No conflict. No argument. Just Zen. What else could there be?

23 people found this helpful

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Samsara

Intelligent & Insightful

Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2004

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Mel Ash, using Zen as the spiritual component, adapts the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous and zens it up. It's easy to swallow for me because the emphasis is not singularly recovery from alcoholism but also eating disorders, narcotic addiction, etc. The reading is gentle and doesn't underestimate or devalue the audience with sterile language. It gets awfully real world and how we can intermingle our recovery into our lives, which is what I wanted when I entered into recovery.

He talks a lot about how our denial *is* our sickness...from the 12 steps perspective and from the Zen perspective; that even those not in a compulsion may still suffer simply from the predisposed human condition. He speaks of our *dualistic* thinking [good/bad, right/wrong, black/white] as the manifestation of our human condition and more to the extent of our compulsions... How we in our compulsions/addictions are the magnification of the human suffering condition...just to the extreme.

This book is compassionate, intelligent, and worthy of top shelf status. It does not interfere with one's religious views but can enhance anyone's recovery. For me, this book, is what I have been searching for; the combined 12 steps with a spiritual component I can relate to. I really enjoy this book and know it will be favored by me in years to come, as it's more of a living philosophy within recovery and without.

44 people found this helpful

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Laura Stephenson

A great Buddhist recovery book

Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2023

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This is a great book for people of any addiction who would like to use Buddhism to assist in their recovery. Strangely enough, the two dovetail together. I would definitely recommend this book.

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Joe Adams

Opening a new channel in Recovery.

Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2013

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The 12-Steps and Alcoholics Anonymous originated in the very Christian "Oxford Groups" and the Christian thread remains strong. While some of the members of AA complain that the message is being diluted, many find that AA has become more available to non-Christian members. The new interpretation of the 12-Step process with other religious foundations, and the non-deistic paths from express atheism, Buddhism and 'rational recovery' has allowed more people to approach the AA solution to the problems of alcoholism and the other dysfunctions that disease can mask.

Zen Buddhism is particularly harmonic with 12-Step process, with an emphasis on the here and now, and the guidance to focus on immediate actions and attitudes.

This book gives a very solid foundation in the Zen approach and will not tempt believers from their existing faith. Zen is a different flavor of Buddhism that can work in the application of yoru existing faith, or provide a path for those who have had been unsuccessful with previous attempts at sober living.

6 people found this helpful

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T. Simonson

One of my favorites

Reviewed in the United States on February 2, 2013

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I was given this book years ago, read it, loved it, recommended it to so many people that I bought a second copy. I just finished scanning it into my Kindle and read it again. I still think it is excellent. It may be startling to those with no familiarity with or understanding of Zen (or the truths that appear to lie at the heart of all religions and spiritual traditions), though Mel Ash does a great job of not making Zen mystifying. Yes, he got sober through a 12 Step program but then he got truly sober through Zen. The book isn't preachy, dogmatic or tell you what to do. Other than instructions on how to meditate, there are no exercises here. Instead, the book focuses on what it really mean to get sober, face reality, What Is, and how your life will be different if you pursue the spiritual track to the end. In this book is pathos, humor, and serenity. After true recovery, that won't change but their meaning and your ability to handle them will.

2 people found this helpful

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Jen

Helpful Honest Truth & insight on recovery

Reviewed in the United States on November 9, 2020

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This book is amazing, his writing style is wonderful. Mel offers a great deal of knowledge to share with all of us who struggle on this path. There is some true grit and I admire him sharing his truth in his writings with us.

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Lily

and couldn't have come at a better time for me

Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2016

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This book honestly changed my life, and couldn't have come at a better time for me.

I started a 12-step group for children of alcoholics about a year ago, and I was feeling very stuck in my program, mostly as a result of not being able to reconcile step 3 with my more Buddhist/agnostic spiritual beliefs.

Within the first 5 pages of this book I was in tears. I don't think I've ever had a book speak to me in the same way that this one has.

I cannot recommend this book enough for anyone who is working a program and/or is having trouble with the spiritual aspect. It will deepen your program beyond your wildest dreams!

17 people found this helpful

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