The Zen of Creativity: Cultivating Your Artistic Life

I have just finished this book, but I know I will read it again and again. Highly recommended for all artists and, in particular, those of us who struggle with the "why" of creative work. No definite answers here, instead a very generous discussion and exploration of the journey.

This book is filled with excellent points that, especially with any Buddhist or Zen background, truly hit home. It gets at issues and the substance surrounding both creativity and the practice of Zen from multiple angles including the artless arts of Zazen, the author's own story, the stories of others, religious examples, and normal explanations. If one doesn't cause some sort of understanding in you the next will, not about the concepts but about the processes that are their essence. This book would be worth reading again, because at a different part of life the message that you need to hear will have changed, but it, or its seed, may still reside within the pages.

This is a wonderful book. My older daughter gave me a copy for Christmas and I have been reading it with rapt attention (a good Buddhist word!) John Daido Loori, who was at one time a physical chemist and is now a Zen priest, shares with us his innermost thoughts on what creativity means to a practitioner of Zen, as well as to himself as a photographer and artist. Indeed, it means a lot! The attention given to seemingly simple tasks is the stuff of the best science, the best art and the best of religion. This book is well worth reading for anyone who would like to understand the creative act, even if they do not follow the practice of Zen. Indeed, "The Zen of Creativity" is a well prepared, but sensible, literary meal to be savored with each page. The chapters are punctuated with quotations from the writings of Suzuki, Thoreau, Koestler, Emerson, Rilke, Dogen, Da Vinci, Gaugain, T. S. Eliot, Whitman and Einstein. Each has been well selected and fits with Loori's prose. The book is written with both seriousness and good humor. While I cannot agree with everything Loori writes (I find his one astrological encounter a bit odd, but than he never explains it as anything other than a strange prediction that somehow came true- I suspect that this had more to do with the astrologers shrewd judgment of personality than the alignment of the stars) I find myself agreeing with over 90 percent of it. He has a way of touching the essential points that I find refreshing in this troubled time. If only religion was always approached in such a reasonable way, we might not be in our current predicament! If you are interested in art, photography, poetry, or Buddhism, or just in getting a fresh perspective on these subjects, this is a book you really should read.

I'm amazed. The Zen of Creativity is a wonderful story about the journey of reknowned Zen Master John Daido Loori into creativity. Told in Mr. Loori's inimicable and engaging voice, it relates touching and often humorous stories from his life. It also offers quite practical exercises to enrich one's creative experience. In short, a must-read for anyone actively pursuing a creative life or simply interested in the subject. Grade A.

This book is a change of pace of artistic method. Precise and evocative, it's more like a cool drink of water on a quiet country afternoon, than the usual, breathless books on creativity that push you to produce, produce, produce. Here the focus is not on squeezing your mind for ideas, but on the quiet observation of oneself and life, and the exact origin of those mysteries we call inspiration, block, connection, as well as exercises to encourage us to trust our inspirations and see through the places we are blocked. It's about trusting yourself rather than about pushing for ideas. All the pushing--it's as if to say that you can be creative and not necessarily have it change the rest of your life. There is the problem of the artist or writer who drinks or uses drugs, perhaps to avoid confronting the need for change. This book is holistic: "...make a choice about what's important, and... let go of all the rest," Loori says (p. 154) in the section about simplicity. When you think about all the pressures that keep us from our creative selves, all the things we think we need that cost time and money, create worries that disturb our minds and block our creative output or influence our work for the worse, when the real problem requires that we go deeper and identify the changes we need to make, even begin to make them with Loori's gentle and persuasive support. You will sense him there, offering himself as guide, and offering his experiences of raising a family, changing career from scientist to photographer to Zen master, founding a monastery where thousands of people have gone for retreats on Zen and Zen arts. A work of art itself, The Zen of Creativity also has beautiful black and white illustrations that are used as examples. If you are willing to slow down and take a close look at your mind and at your artistic process, then I think you will really enjoy this book.