Untrain Your Parrot: And Other No-nonsense Instructions on the Path of Zen

Only Elizabeth Hamilton could write this book - and probably only Elizabeth Hamilton would want to! It's a perfect expression of her unique style of Zen teaching - the culmination of her years of study with Joko Beck refracted through her quirky humor and completely un-authoritarian teaching style. Dharma books sometimes seem to be written in the same generic voice of gentle mindfulness - but who wants a homogenized Dharma? Elizabeth can't be mistaken for anyone else. Her style may at times seem maddeningly eccentric - all those acronyms & techniques aren't always to my taste - but Zen masters aren't cut out with cookie-cutters and we should cherish those who truly speak in their own voice. This book is a treat. Enjoy meeting a teacher like none other.

Untrain Your Parrot is all of the above, as is the author. Elizabeth Hamilton has a gift for vibrant prose. Her mixed metaphors will make you laugh out loud, and her talent for a precise, deeply accurate phrase had me gasping with insight. Best of all is her recognition and compassion for the everyday strategies of the ego. Her Zen teaching blends this clear light of recognition with practices that help to cultivate loving kindness towards oneself and the world. The book is immensely practical in suggesting exercises, meditation practices, and lists for examination--bound to appeal as techniques to a wide range of people (find what works for you!) Elizabeth nonetheless emphasizes strongly the importance of a daily sitting practice to help hear what your parrot is telling you. Her own energy and kindness shine through in this book.

As a teacher, I immediately recognized the sound pedagogy in Elizabeth Hamilton's . It comes as no surprise to discover, during the course of reading the book, that Hamilton has been a college professor in the field of music. She applies her teaching skills to her writing on Zen. Her years of experience teaching and living Zen make for a truly wonderful handbook that one can consult again and again. The exercises in the book are applicable to everyone. I particularly like the suggestions for journal writing, which are inspiring. Finally, there is also Hamilton's sense of humor. When did we forget that Zen humor has a unique place in history, recognition of the Absurd some 1200 years before the West? Thanks to Hamilton, we may enjoy a revival of laughter as part of Zen practice.

We know how important our self-talk is from the story of composer Sergei Rachmaninoff, one of the 201 stories we tell in "Extraordinary Comebacks: 201 Inspiring Stories of Courage, Triumph, and Success". After the "failure" of his First Symphony, severely depressed, he stopped composing for three years. Eventually his psychiatrist turned to re-programming his patient's self-talk, prescribing this mantra: "You will begin your concerto. You will work with great facility. It will be excellent." The composer repeated it to himself, over and over. It worked. The result: his Piano Concerto No. 2, one of his greatest works, a comeback concerto, if you will. Should you need similar counsel, author Elizabeth Hamilton (btw a classical musician herself) may serve as a similar sage and enlightened companion. There are nuggets of diamonds strewn throughout this wide-ranging Zen commentary, one or more will resonate, some may change your life. Particularly interesting: her discussions of "zen ego," yielding or not yielding to anxiety and quotes from notables in fields from American writers to hiphop to physics to Zen masters new and old and everything in between. The chapter titled "Untrain Your Parrot" took up just 10 pages, and could have been developed even further, but takes a bit of a back seat to Hamilton's broader survey of Zen perspectives. Worthwhile volume, and worth re-reading and coming back to.

I've known Elizabeth Hamilton for over fifteen years, and after reading "Untrain Your Parrot", I can see how this book is obviously both a fruit of her practice and a living manifestation of it. Particularly, she brings a unique combination of clarity and street smarts. There is a consistent emphasis on the Big Picture, while at the same time an insistence on the specific practices that make that picture clear. And perhaps most of all, there is a delicate and delightful balance of heartfelt aspiration and down-to earth humor. There is much to be learned here; as well, you may even enjoy the process.