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The Hidden Lamp: Stories from Twenty-Five Centuries of Awakened Women Kindle Edition

by Susan Moon (Author), Zenshin Florence Caplow (Editor), Reigetsu Susan Moon (Editor), Format: Kindle Edition
4.7 out of 5 stars 178
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The Hidden Lamp is a collection of one hundred koans and stories of Buddhist women from the time of the Buddha to the present day. This revolutionary book brings together many teaching stories that were hidden for centuries, unknown until this volume. These stories are extraordinary expressions of freedom and fearlessness, relevant for men and women of any time or place. In these pages we meet nuns, laywomen practicing with their families, famous teachers honored by emperors, and old women selling tea on the side of the road.

Each story is accompanied by a reflection by a contemporary woman teacher--personal responses that help bring the old stories alive for readers today--and concluded by a final meditation for the reader, a question from the editors meant to spark further rumination and inquiry. These are the voices of the women ancestors of every contemporary Buddhist.
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  1. Print length
    581 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Wisdom Publications
  5. Publication date
    October 21, 2013
  6. File size
    2741 KB
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Editorial Reviews

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"An amazing collection. This book gives the wonderful feel of the sincerity, the great range, and the nobility of the spiritual work that women are doing and have been doing, unacknowledged, for a very long time. An essential and delightful book." -- John Tarrant, author of Bring Me The Rhinoceros And Other Zen Koans That Will Save Your Life

"Record of the Hidden Lamp is a gift to all Dharma students, men and women. In this magnificent and fresh compilation, we learn about the feminine and its central place in Buddhist teachings and practice." -- Pilar Jennings, author of Mixing Minds

"A treasure. Earthy, challenging, often irreverent, always inspiring the reader to dig deep for the truth that leads to awakening. Not only for women, this collection presents the rich feminine perspective for all sincere dharma practitioners." -- James Baraz, cofounding teacher Spirit Rock Meditation Center, author of Awakening Joy: 10 Steps to Real Happiness

"How beautiful and strong, the voices of these wise women, made intimate and modern in this ancient Zen form." -- Jack Kornfield

"This is an invaluable resource for practitioners and seekers everywhere. These are treasures unearthed." -- Sharon Salzberg, author of Lovingkindness and Real Happiness

"You will return to this collection again and again for a dose of its abundant insight, encouragement, steadfastness, warmth, and wit." -- Colleen Morton Busch, author of Fire Monks

"Teachings leap off these pages - a wake-up call for the 21st century." -- China Galland, author of Love Cemetery

"An important contribution to Buddhist literature that provides a more complete understanding of Buddhism and Buddhist history." -- Steve Hagen, author of Why the World Doesn't Seem to Make Sense

About the Author

Reigetsu Susan Moon has been practicing in the Soto Zen tradition for 35 years, and is a lay teacher with the Everyday Zen Sangha. Her previous books include the cult classic The Life and Letters of Tofu Roshi and This is Getting Old: Zen Thoughts on Aging. For many years she edited Turning Wheel, the journal of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. She teaches writing workshops, is a serious student of photography, and an enthusiastic grandmother. She lives in Berkeley, CA.



Florence Caplow is a Soto Zen priest in the Suzuki Roshi lineage. She has been practicing Vipassana and Zen for twenty-five years, and is a dharma teacher, field botanist, essayist, and editor. She is an itinerant monk, generally found somewhere west of the Rockies. She recently coedited and contributed to an anthology of nature writing, Wildbranch, and her essays can be read in Tricycle, Inquiring Mind, and on her blog: Slipping Glimpser, Zen Wanderings and Wonderings.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00F21WW9O
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Wisdom Publications (October 21, 2013)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 21, 2013
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2741 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 581 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 out of 5 stars 178

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  1. Susan Moon

    Susan Moon

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    SUSAN MOON is a writer, editor, and Buddhist teacher in the Soto Zen tradition. Ever since she set out from her childhood home to get lost on purpose at the age of 10, she has been searching far and wide for the meaning of life and sharing what she learns with others. Her books include This Is Getting Old: Zen Thoughts on Aging with Humor and Dignity; the groundbreaking collection, The Hidden Lamp: Stories from Twenty-Five Centuries of Awakened Women, with Florence Caplow; and What Is Zen? with Norman Fischer. Her most recent book, Alive Until You’re Dead: Notes on the Home Stretch, is a collection of essays about the surprising perks of mortality. Susan is a contributor to Lion’s Roar, Tricycle, and other publications. She lives in Berkeley, California, and practices at the Berkeley Zen Center and with the Everyday Zen Sangha. For many years she has taught and led Zen retreats in California, elsewhere in the U.S., and internationally. She also adores her grandchildren.

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  2. Florence Caplow

    Florence Caplow

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    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Florence Caplow is a Soto Zen priest in the Suzuki Roshi lineage, and a dharma teacher, field botanist, seminarian, essayist, and editor. She is an itinerant monk, generally found somewhere west of the Rockies, often in a red biodiesel car informally called the "Metta Jetta." She coedited and contributed to an anthology of nature writing, Wildbranch, and co-edited The Hidden Lamp: Stories from Twenty-Five Centuries of Awakened Women. Her essays can be read in Tricycle, Inquiring Mind, other national journals, and on her blog: Slipping Glimpser, Zen Wanderings and Wonderings.

    See more on the author's page
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Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
178 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

flowingfountain
5.0 out of 5 stars Zen stories about women Zen masters with commentaries by contemporary women teachers
Reviewed in the United States on November 6, 2013
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The Hidden Lamp is instructive, fascinating, and - dare I say it in the traditionally serious Zen world - fun!

The most compelling reason to read this book, in my opinion, is not only that the koans are about women, but also that the commentaries are written by contemporary women from different Buddhist traditions.

The commentaries are from women who have dedicated their lives to the Buddha way. As women, they have embodied understanding of the spirit and intentions of these teaching stories. In this way, these ancient koans have become alive and inspiring and personal.

The Hidden Lamp is a collection of Zen and Chan stories in which women are the sages and masters. When one reads the classical Zen literature, one wonders where the women are. Are they too busy cooking dinner, or is the society so repressive that there are no women who seek to realize the truth of the Buddha Way?

Koans, as most everyone knows, are traditional Zen stories that are intended to provoke investigation and contemplation, resulting in insight into one's spiritual practice and life. But koans are also famously abstruse. Note case number 47 in the Book of Equanimity:

"Attention! A monk asked Joshu, 'What is the meaning of Bodhidharma's coming from the West?' Joshu answered, 'The cypress tree in the garden.'"

Many students, like me, think, "Hmmm. I don't get it." So koans are often considered to be impenetrable puzzles, written by men, that require a commentary....by another man. In another famous koan collection, The Blue Cliff Record, the commentaries are written by tenth and eleventh century men, and these commentaries are equally abstruse!

Consider,however,one of the many examples in The Hidden Lamp that speaks directly to our lives. In one story, Joko Beck is asked if she is enlightened. She laughs and says, "I hope I should never have such a thought!" Peg Syverson, who writes the commentary, found that her practice was transformed when she heard these words. She - like many of us - wish for enlightenment, or some better version of ourselves. In Peg's case she wanted to be an ideal mother, but this caused anxiety, which got in the way of her relationship with her son. So she speaks of letting go of some perfect ideal, and practicing as he/she is, in the middle of her life.

The koans in The Hidden Lamp are straightforward and refreshingly understandable, and as mentioned, the commentaries are relevant and inspiring.
32 people found this helpful
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M. Speight
5.0 out of 5 stars My heart is full, my head, empty.
Reviewed in the United States on October 27, 2023
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Women lead the way, in life, in spirit, in leadership, in wisdom.
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Daniel M. Kaplan
5.0 out of 5 stars A Gem Worth Polishing
Reviewed in the United States on December 26, 2013
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The Hidden Lamp is a fresh breeze through stale forrests. It's an incredibly wonderful collection of , of what? Essays? Dharma talks? Hints? Pointers? It's a great collection of mostly contemporary zen teachers and writers on zen who happen to be female. This is not a point to be lost in the shuffle. As a 'disclaimer', I need to say that I know and have worked personally with at least 2 of the writers in this collection, so it was their contributions that I read first. Unique voices that I have always found personally helpful in my own exploration of the Dharma and my own life. I didn't stop there.
This is not just an important collection because it is a collection of and by women in the Dharma. It's important because of the value of their perspectives. Reading these stories, allowing them to enter one's life as if hearing them in the Dharma Hall, the power of koans and Dharma take on a life of their own, intermingling with each of our lives, enriching them, broadening them, awakening that which does not change and bringing it to the foreground. It is by far THE best collection of zen stories I've seen compiled in some time.
Many of the stories comment on stories I've never heard before. It's fresh.
Perhaps one of the most important contributions America and the West has made to buddhism in general is the recognition that women are not just nameless tea ladies of the past, but vibrant, awakened, specific women of our time, of all time. I am grateful to Zenshin Caplow for taking on this project and for producing such a beautiful collection and I highly recommend it for your study.
16 people found this helpful
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Joyce
5.0 out of 5 stars Wisdom from Women
Reviewed in the United States on June 19, 2014
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Christianity is not the only patriarchal religious tradition. Some Buddhists are attempting to recover the gifts of the wise women of their tradition. This book is a collection of 100 ancient and modern stories with comments from as many Buddhist women. I enjoyed reading one a day for 100 days, letting the wisdom sink in. An example is Joan Sutherland’s reflection on an ancient story which raises the question, “what is helping?” The young woman in the story sees her father fall. She runs to him and throws herself down as well. Sutherland notes that the woman’s action in the story obliterates the idea that there is a helper and a helped. She says that compassion helps liberate the intimacy inherent in any situation. “Usually the most intimate response to another’s difficulty begins with the willingness not to flee. Fleeing can take the form of abandoning the situation, and it can also mean escaping into ‘helping,’ into a whole constellation of ideas about what ought to happen. Intimacy is being willing to stay and accompany and listen, to be vulnerable and surprised and flexible. It’s a willingness to fall with someone else and see what becomes possible when we do.”
18 people found this helpful
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D.Beyer
4.0 out of 5 stars Mostly Hidden Lamp
Reviewed in the United States on November 2, 2018
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The motivation for me to purchase this book came after attending a meditation and Soto Zen Dharma talk. While I appreciate the format of the book, where commentary or reflection is given by a single female Buddhist practitioner following an ancient koan, I would've preferred it debated. Like a poem, there is no single "correct" viewpoint. I am in agreement with Jean La Valley''s approach to practicing koans: "These stories are not about gaining anything. They are about illumination. They are not about rearranging the furniture in the room; they are about turning the light on in the room so you can see what's there." The lighter the room, the better to see.
6 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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C Bellodi
5.0 out of 5 stars Saggezza al femminile.
Reviewed in Italy on November 12, 2022
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Questa collezione è molto bella e scritta bene. 100 storie di donne Buddhiste seguite dalle riflessioni di 100 Buddhiste contemporanee. È un libro che si rilegge volentieri, ed è bello prendersela con calma e meditare su ogni pezzo.
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Felipe
5.0 out of 5 stars Ótimo
Reviewed in Brazil on July 1, 2020
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Ótimo livro com koans sobre mulheres iluminadas, e excelentes comentários sobre mulheres praticantes da atualidade. Muito bom.
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balraj
5.0 out of 5 stars Good Book on Women Wisdom and Spirituality
Reviewed in India on August 1, 2019
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Good Book on Women Wisdom and Spirituality. Develop compassion and a strong desire to be enlightened to join the sangha.
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Josema
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book with a female voice
Reviewed in Spain on September 23, 2016
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I know the tradition of koan - Soto zen style and this books includes brief comments (1-2pages) on a story with a Zen or a Buddhist background. It is the kind of book to be used one per week, that is 2 years, of remote control counseling, mentoring.
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H. A. Weedon
5.0 out of 5 stars Wise, Inspirational, Comforting - You Name It!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 15, 2016
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Here we have an inspirational pick up and dip into at any time kind of work. Although my dad was good at explaining things, and I'm grateful to him for that, it's my mother's witty quips that have stayed with me down the years and this book is like that. Genuine knowledge is one thing; 'clever Dicks' are quite another. Sadly, the world is full of them. The tales in this wonderful book show how 'clever-dickism' can be swiftly annihilated by an inspiring variety of commonsense observations from females of varying ages from mere girls to old women; and, of course, they are 'women' because mere 'ladies' are too refined to be of any use under the circumstances envisaged here.

The commentaries on the tales, all written by women, are in the nature of being guides helping readers to develop their own interpretations best suited to their individual needs. Men can benefit just as much as women from this work, which is an inspiring debunker of all kinds of cocksure, know-all attitudes, which are sadly all too prevalent in the world around us, leading to prejudice, misunderstanding and cruelty. This wonderful collection is the perfect antidote to all that.
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