Steven Deobald reviewed Nothing Special by Charlotte J. Beck
Review of 'Nothing Special' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
This is a surprisingly penetrating book on meditation. I read it immediately following my most intense (and most difficult) 10-day vipassana course and it was precisely what I needed to make sense of my experiences from that retreat.
Beck's writing is very accessible but she drops some not-so-subtle cues to her expectations of meditators who consider themselves "experienced": 15 to 20 years of daily practice. Her understanding of Zazen is more thorough and practical than many other Zen books I've read, noting that at some point a practitioner is "doing zazen all the time." Concepts such as 24-hour meditation and her allegory of repeatedly returning to the locked door in her attic are easy to process intellectually but won't mean much to someone who doesn't have a daily practice yet.
Given Beck's wit and character, I would find it hard to recommend someone wait until she has a serious meditation …
This is a surprisingly penetrating book on meditation. I read it immediately following my most intense (and most difficult) 10-day vipassana course and it was precisely what I needed to make sense of my experiences from that retreat.
Beck's writing is very accessible but she drops some not-so-subtle cues to her expectations of meditators who consider themselves "experienced": 15 to 20 years of daily practice. Her understanding of Zazen is more thorough and practical than many other Zen books I've read, noting that at some point a practitioner is "doing zazen all the time." Concepts such as 24-hour meditation and her allegory of repeatedly returning to the locked door in her attic are easy to process intellectually but won't mean much to someone who doesn't have a daily practice yet.
Given Beck's wit and character, I would find it hard to recommend someone wait until she has a serious meditation practice before reading Nothing Special, but I would perhaps recommend that the book is worth a re-read after one's first Zazen Sesshin or 10-Day Vipassana Course.