Zen Fragments: Teachings & Recollections of a Zen Monk in Paris

by Rei Ryu Philippe Coupey

Overview

Zen Fragments is a concise, lively presentation of the teachings of Reiryu Philippe Coupey, a Western Zen monk firmly rooted in the modern world. The book is based on 8 years of oral teachings given during zazen at the Paris dojo, Seine Zen, or in various retreats organized in France and Germany from 2003-2010. These teachings are supplemented by a series of essays written directly by the author and touching upon more personal and often poetic subjects, all of which enhance the core of the teaching he so brilliantly represents.
Philippe Coupey is American born, but first encountered the practice of Zen Buddhism in France through the Japanese monk Taisen Deshimaru. Since 1972, the practice and transmission of Zen Buddhism has been his priority. Thanks to his dedication, we now have access to a demanding teaching derived from a thousand-year-old tradition, and yet totally adapted to our contemporary lives without the need to refer to psychology, vegetarianism and other newly adapted Zen subjects.
This teaching is relevant to humanity today because beyond frontiers, social, ethnic and religious differences, and the gaps we imagine between our inner life and our social duties it urges us to rediscover the essential within ourselves, so that we can approach the world with a continually fresh mind, embracing opposites. And so, beyond the words that make up this book, Philippe Coupey constantly suggests that, as is true within the most ancient traditions, we experience this new spirit for ourselves.
The underlying message here is not to cling to the extremes left/right, good/bad, love/hate, etc. which only leads to the separation of one thing from another, and is the origin of many of society’s biggest problems today.
Frankness of style distinguishes Philippe Coupey’s (and Deshimaru’s) writing from that of many American Zen writers: for example, those in the Suzuki and Maezumi lineages. Like Deshimaru before him, Coupey has never tried to soften the impact of his words, finding the raw, unreserved approach more in keeping with the ancient masters.
Having practiced with his master Taisen Deshimaru until his death in 1982, Philippe has continued to transmit his teaching since that time, in France, Germany and elsewhere in Europe.
He is a member and officer of the International Zen Association (AZI), founded by Master Taisen Deshimaru, and is Master in the Sangha sans Demeure, Seine Zen, which together number 400-500 persons.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781942493983
Publisher:	Hohm Press
Publication date:	10/01/2024
Pages:	200
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.67(d)

About the Author

Philippe Coupey is an American who’s been living in Paris for over three decades. He is a writer and a close disciple of the Japanese master, Taisen Deshimaru (d. 1982), who brought Zen to Europe. He is also a monk and Zen master living alone in the city, continuing the daily practice he was taught, and directing a large European community of monks and nuns. Author of many books of Zen teaching, and commentaries on famous Zenk classic texts. Coupey is also a fiction author writing under the pseudonym of MC Dalley.

Read an Excerpt

“Life is suffering” is the first of the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism.
There are many kinds of suffering. To be born is already to suffer. Then you get old, you fall sick and you die. And of course you suffer when faced with death. But suffering is before all psychology. It depends upon the way you interpret what happens to you in any given situation. If you are afraid, you suffer. If you are always in doubt, you suffer. If you want money and you don’t have any, you suffer. But, all of those things are personal visions and have nothing to do with reality.
For example, it is common thinking to reject illness. But the normal condition is not necessarily being in a disease-free state: one’s normal condition could and probably will include being “sick,” though not a sickness of the head. On the contrary, however, the chronic illness of human beings comes from the head. Being taken in by illusionsthat is what we have to heal. This “illusion sickness” is the chronic sickness of all sentient beings. This is the sickness which gives us dualistic thinking; not just that happiness is separate from unhappiness, but also that illness is separate from good health.
That is why you have to come back to earth, back to base, to the concrete; and whenever you are sick you are confronted with the concrete through basic questions about life and death. These are very difficult moments, but they are also great moments. Hakuin* and Bankei,* masters from ancient times, became so sick that they became enlightened thanks precisely to their sickness. Out of sickness we are able to practice the Way. Sickness and suffering mark the gate of entry, and if there is an exit, they are also the gate of exit.
Suffering is not something useless, at least not for those who know how to use it.