Zen Master Next Door

These modern day parables in Zen Master Next Door send positive messages that are simple and inspiring. Based in the truth, they are an insightful means to explore our many relationships and how they touch our soul. Relevant and timely, these stories underscore our yearning to live an inspired life and they show that deep-rooted and ancient ideals are as mainstream as our exchanges with our neighbor next door. Today we are accustomed to a busy and hectic life balancing family, job and pleasures. Our spiritual life may be overlooked or may be wedged in with little thought. These parables remind us to think about what we find important. Comfortable and non-threatening, each story takes on meaning regardless of our own faith tradition. Today's readers hunger for messages that connect them with their spirit. With a hint of "tongue in cheek" these stories hearten the reader to stop, listen and capture the sacred in the ordinary. By taking a secular approach but including an array of tenets and mores common in most religions and belief systems, these parables show humankind's commonalities. Our collective humanity, or wisdom, teaches us like any priest, rabbi, preacher or Zen master. For that matter, our neighbor next door. These stories remind us that we live now--not yesterday and not tomorrow. The past is merely a distorted memory while tomorrow is a fantasy. We get lost in both false worlds. We can only take care of our "now" and as we do so, we secure our future and come closer to our Creator. Experiences shape us and if we listen we learn and we understand. We pass understanding to others by our actions--our stories. Stories have been told for thousands of years. In stories we find truth. We need only to listen to the yarn within us and therein lies the potential to live an inspired life. These parables are gentle but strong. They embrace but let go. They are simple and and complex just like our own lives. They are, of course, parables. Susan M. Andrus, The Midwest Book Review As a child, I read Aesop's Fables several times enjoying seeing the characters learn lessons from their environment and their own behavior. Edward Kardos's book, "Zen Master Next Door: Parables for Enlightened Everyday Living", reads like a modern version of my favorite fables as the characters learn valuable lessons around topics such as generosity, aging, compassion, and grace. Salespeople, lawyers, parents, children, and others find themselves in situations where they have an opportunity to learn generosity from their neighbor, simplicity from the Amish man offering wagon rides, compassion from the mechanic who fixes an engine for a reasonable price when times are tough, and respect for diversity from a neighbor, a bus driver, and a teacher. A group of quotations written by Kardos and others follows each short story related to the lesson being illustrated. On generosity Kardos writes, "A full glass can take no more. Unless we empty it, the chance for more is lost. So it is with us. We are blessed for no reason when we practice grace. As we empty ourselves giving to others, we are miraculously filled with what we need." In the final chapter, "Listening to Others," Kardos offers more selected quotations on topics such as Knowledge and Wisdom, Doubt, Today ("Never let yesterday use up too much of today." Will Rogers), Hope, Kindness, Forgiveness, and others. Some quotes came from my old friend, Aesop. For an opportunity to read stories filled with lovely descriptions of scenes, characters, and situations, as well as learn lessons pertaining to everyday life, Zen Master Next Door is the book. I'm going to read it again and again.