Acequias and Gates

The publication of Acequias and Gates by Joan Sutherland is a tremendous gift to modern seekers of the Way. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Zen practice, or in bringing a spirit of inquiry and creativity to meditation practice.


This book has two parts that fit together and complement each other. Acequias is a collection of essays by Joan Sutherland, a contemporary American koan Zen teacher (and my own beloved teacher). There are reflections on koans and the gifts they bring to meditation practice, as well as some advice for those who take up company with koans.  Joan’s prose is full of the beauty and richness of the koans, and contains none of the easy formulas that often seem to be the hallmark of contemporary Buddhist writing.

The Gates section of the book is a collection of the Miscellaneous Koans, which I have never seen in print before. For this reason alone the book has tremendous value. The Miscellaneous Koans are traditionally taken up after one has seen into their first koan, and are variously joyous, silly, helpful, and destabilizing. The Miscellaneous Koans have always been the part of the traditional koan curriculum in which innovation is most welcome, and Joan has made many new offerings. In 21st century Western life, most koans are taken up by people who are not monastics and who have full lives with work, family, and community, and this version of the Miscellaneous Koans speaks vividly to contemporary lives.

We are finding in our tradition that koans can be very helpful to people who don’t take up the formal koan curriculum, but who find koan work adds a new dimension of vitality to meditation practice. This book is a good source book for anyone who finds the koan way intriguing, and will give you a lifetimes’ worth of companionship for practice.

Koans in the West are at a crossroads. On the one hand, some of the forms of practice we received from Asia are being updated to speak to contemporary lives, including a full inclusion of women. On the other hand, we need to respect the wisdom of the tradition, and not take our innovation so far that we dilute or lose the essentials of the Way. Acequias and Gates gracefully navigates the need for innovation while also preserving the integrity of the koan tradition.

Acequias and Gates offers a beautiful invitation to practicing with koans, radiant with a feeling of their beauty, creativity, and strangeness. It is also a lovely book, lushly illustrated with the art of Ciel Bergman, and designed by Piper Leigh. And I find the haunting pictograms that accompany the koans to really add another dimension to the work. This is a book that will stay on my nightstand for a very long time, a companion for any circumstance.

The bright road that the ancestors knew is right in front of you, in everything you see and hear.

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To order Acequias and Gates, go to

http://www.blurb.com/user/store/JISutherland

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