Christopher Ives - Zen on the Trail: Hiking as Pilgrimage

About the Author

CHRISTOPHER IVES is a professor of religious studies at Stonehill College. In his teaching and writing he focuses on ethics in Zen Buddhism and Buddhist approaches to nature and environmental issues. His publications include Imperial-Way Zen: Ichikawa Hakugens Critique and Lingering Questions for Buddhist Ethics; Zen Awakening and Society; Divine Emptiness and Historical Fullness; a translation (with Abe Masao) of Nishida Kitars An Inquiry into the Good; and a translation (with Gishin Tokiwa) of Hisamatsu Shinichis Critical Sermons of the Zen Tradition. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Buddhist Ethics and is serving as cochair of the Buddhist Critical-Constructive Reflection Group and on the steering committee of the Religion and Ecology Group of the American Academy of Religion.

DISCOVER HOW HIKING CAN BE A KIND OF SPIRITUAL PILGRIMAGE CALMING OUR MINDS, ENHANCING OUR SENSE OF WONDER, AND DEEPENING OUR CONNECTION TO NATURE.

Evoking the writings of Gary Snyder, Bill Bryson, and Cheryl Strayed, Zen on the Trail explores the broad question of how to be outside in a meditative way. By directing our attention to how we hike as opposed to where were headed, Ives invites us to shift from ego-driven doing to spirit-filled being, and to explore the vast interconnection of ourselves and the natural world. Through this approach, we can wake up in the woods on natures own terms.

Like John Muir, Chris Ives knows that going out into the natural world is really going inward. This book about pilgrimage is itself a pilgrimage: we accompany the author as he leaves civilization behind to enter the wilderness and encounter his true nature and original face.

DAVID R. LOY, author of Money, Sex, War, Karma

Ives draws from his own Zen practice and spiritual hiking to encourage readers to taste the intimacy of encounter, transience, and the sacred.

PROF. STEPHANIE KAZA, author of Mindfully Green

In this highly informative and personal account, Chris Ives helps us open up spacious vistas that deepen our lives. Along the way we receive rich lessons in Zen philosophy, lore, and practice.

TAIGEN LEIGHTON, author of Zen Questions

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