[.ca] The Mind of Clover: Essays in Zen Buddhist Ethics (ISBN 0865471584)

Returning to the Natural State:
The author takes the Eightfold Path of Buddhism. It is discussed itme by item, in sufficient detail to show how the sense of self that goes with one's individual personality can be shed. The idea is to continue to act completely natural and to do all those things expected of a human being in one's particular status, position, etc. just as clover grows and behaves exactly as it should in its perticular sstatus and position. Clover has no mind or the functions associataed with the mind; the human being then acts just aa normally as the clover with the additional feature of a mind, but without any more cognitive identity of self than the clover.

A guide to daily practice:
Though I would hardly consider myself an athority of any kind on Zen, I feel I must offer an alternative perspective to the other review. This book is essentially an attempt to show us how to bring what we cultivate in zazen into the everyday world of our jobs and families. Of course there is a discussion of the eight fold path, as well as a discussion of the importance of environmental stewardship, in which context Aitken Roshi employs the clover as a symbol, but it is not a guide to "plant-like mindlessness". That being said, I think this book, like the several other books that I have read by Aitken, is written in a very accessible, broad minded, and compassionate manner. Any who are interested in Zen at any level, or simply interested in interacting with the world around them attentively and lovingly, would benefit from reading this book.