Turning Words: Transformative Encounters with Buddhist Teachers Sale Pick A Best

by Hozan Alan Senauke, a friend of Shugen Roshi’s, who recently passed in December, 2024

A poignant portrait of spiritual relationships in the naverse worlds of American and global Buddhism, through stories of over 30 luminaries including His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh, Joan Halifax, Joanna Macy, and more.

Across more than thirty-five years of practice in Zen and socially engaged Buddhism, Alan Senauke has had a range of remarkable encounters with Buddhist teachers and spiritual friends. Here he collects stories of moments in which someone’s words, actions, or presence opened his mind and heart in a new way. Touching on meditation, insight, social action, race, family, community, and more, these vignettes build like a chorus and convey lessons such as taking one’s work seriously without taking oneself seriously, letting things fall apart, and using oneself up on behalf of others.

The book’s stories and accompanying photographs feature many of the greatest Zen teachers, engaged Buddhists, and global Buddhist leaders of our day, including Robert Aitken, Bernie Glassman, Shodo Harada, Dainin Katagiri, Jarvis Masters, Ven. Sheng Yen, Sulak Sivaraksa, and many more—with a special section devoted to the teachings of Senauke’s primary teacher, Sojun Mel Weitsman.

 Paperback, 152 pages

About the Author
Hozan Alan Senauke was ordained as a Zen priest at Berkeley Zen Center in 1989, receiving Dharma Transmission from Sojun Mel Wel Weitzman at Tassajara in 1998. After serving as Tanto (Head of Practice) and then as Vice-Abbot at BZC, Hozan was installed as Abbot in January of 2021. From 1991 he was in the leadership of Buddhist Peace Fellowship and the International Network of Engaged Buddhism. He also served as president of the Soto Zen Buddhist Association. Hozan is founding director of Clear View Project, offering Buddhist-based resources and support, with a focus on Indian Dalit Buddhists, Myanmar and the Rohingyas, and prisoners in the U.S.