Mastering life with Buddha

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mastering life with Buddha is a book by the Austrian philosopher Volker Zotz . It was first published under the title “Freiheit und Glück” in 1987. The book is considered the most popular work by Volker Zotz and currently (2017) the most widely distributed book on Buddhism in German-speaking countries.

history

After its first publication in 1987 by the Peter Erd publishing house , it was published by the same publisher since 1990 with the new title Enlightenment in Everyday Life . The book has been published by Rowohlt Verlag since 1999 under the title Mastering life with Buddha. It is subtitled Buddhism for Practitioners . This edition reached its 16th edition in January 2017. The author dedicated the book to Ernst Pagenstecher and his wife Traude, who introduced Zotz to Buddhism in his childhood.

The book has been translated into several foreign languages. It was published in Spanish in 2006 under the title Buda, maestro de vida . In a 2016 edition in Chinese, Zotz added "an introduction that also deals with the relationship between Buddha, Confucius and Socrates."

Alignment

In the foreword of the book, the author states that this work is not about "Buddhism" in the sense of a religious tradition and that he does not present the Buddha image of a particular Buddhist trend. Accordingly, Benedikt Maria Trappen evaluates the work as an "unorthodox textbook and exercise book for everyone who decides to give direction and meaning to his life." Zotz sees the Buddha in this book not as a founder of religion, but as a philosopher or wisdom teacher, whose A statement of relevance for all of humanity is: "Buddha perhaps became a founder of religion rather unintentionally, if one follows Volker Zotz's interpretation of the Buddha's words in Majjhimanikaya 22, that he viewed his teaching merely as a means to an end," writes Jan Veninga, who Mastering life with Buddha subjected to a scientific analysis.

content

Zotz treats the teachings of the Buddha according to sources from the Pali tradition. He divides these into philosophy , ethics and meditation . In addition to an outline of the Buddha's teachings, the book recommends numerous practical experiments, as commentators such as Peter Riedl point out: “After each chapter there are clearly structured instructions for the exercise. The teaching and the method are the teachers here; dependencies on someone who knows better are not created. Those who keep to it get ahead, this is not just a promise, it can and should also be checked. "

The book is divided into two forewords from 1987 and 1997, seven chapters and a final section entitled "Ausklang". The first chapter, the example of Gautama, treats the life of the Buddha as a symbol of self-realization that is possible for every human being. The second chapter Law and Freedom is devoted to the laws of existence and free life. In the third chapter, entitled Karma , Zotz presents, among other things, practical methods of realigning one's existence through training one's own thinking. In the fourth chapter Death and Rebirth , Zotz develops a largely symbolic interpretation of the Buddhist doctrine of reincarnation , which he does not apply to a time after death, but relates it to the present life in an existentialist way. The fifth chapter, Ten Shackles , discusses ways in which one can break away from constraints and restrictions. The sixth chapter is devoted to the practice of meditation . In a seventh chapter, Five Rules , the author turns to ethical questions.

effect

The success of the book has often been explained with its strong practical relevance. Oliver Bottini writes : “Volker Zotz, professor of Indology and Japanese Studies with research and teaching assignment in Japan, transfers the teachings of the Buddha into everyday life (and for this largely dispenses with the theoretical superstructure and the historical development of Buddhism). Extremely easy to read, practical and close to the reader. ”The religious scholar Johann Figl emphasized the widespread use of the book among people who are interested in Buddhist practices of meditation. The book is very well received in these circles. For Gerhard Weißgrab , who has been President of the Austrian Buddhist Religious Society since 2006 , it played an important role in his turn to Buddhism. The book is also often used in the disciplines of psychotherapy and coaching . The Komyoji educational institution was based on Mastering Life with Buddha, an advanced systematic correspondence course on the teachings of the historical Buddha Siddhartha Gautama .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Volker Zotz: Freedom and Happiness. Buddha's teachings for daily life . Munich: Verlag Peter Erde 1987 ( ISBN 3-8138-0090-3 )
  2. ↑ Volker Zotz: Mastering life with Buddha in the 10th edition
  3. ↑ Volker Zotz: Enlightenment in everyday life. Munich: Verlag Peter Erd 1990 ( ISBN 3-8138-0175-6 )
  4. ↑ Volker Zotz: Mastering life with Buddha. Rowohlt Verlag, Reinbek near Hamburg 1999
  5. ↑ Extraordinary people. Mediator in the Christian-Buddhist dialogue. Wiesbadener Kurier of December 18, 2008, p. 28 (Interview with Volker Zotz about Ernst and Traude Pagenstecher)
  6. ↑ Ellago Ediciones, Valencia 2006 (translation: Juanjo Priego Borrego)
  7. ↑ Cf. "New publication." In: Der Kreis No. 275/276 (November 2016), p. 69
  8. ↑ Benedikt Maria Trappen : “Freedom. Awareness. Responsibility. Volker Zotz. A life for intercultural dialogue. ”In: Friedhelm Köhler , Friederike Migneco , Benedikt Maria Trappen : Freedom. Awareness. Responsibility. Festschrift for Volker Zotz for his 60th birthday. Munich: Edition Habermann 2016 ( ISBN 978-3960250098 ), pp. 17–40, quotation pp. 25–26
  9. ↑ Jan Veninga: With Buddha to work. Imparting Buddhist self-help skills in dealing with work-related life issues in everyday western work. Munich 2009 ( ISBN 978-3-640-48550-5 ), p. 23
  10. ↑ Peter Riedl in an article about the book in: Cause & Effect No. 28 (1999), pp. 76-77
  11. ↑ The content will be presented after the 15th edition in 2015
  12. ↑ Oliver Bottini : The great OW Barth book of Buddhism. OW Barth Verlag, 2004, ISBN 3-502-61126-2 , p. 524
  13. ↑ Johann Figl : Buddhism in everyday life. Eastern Practices in Western Culture. In: Robert Hettlage and Alfred Bellebaum (eds.): Religion: Searching for traces in everyday life. Springer-Verlag 2016 ( ISBN 9783658027704 ), pp. 203-231
  14. ↑ Gerhard Weißgrab : "Brief thoughts and congratulations in the highest esteem and humility." In: Friedhelm Köhler, Friederike Migneco, Benedikt Maria Trappen: Freiheit. Awareness. Responsibility. Festschrift for Volker Zotz for his 60th birthday. Munich: Edition Habermann 2016 ( ISBN 978-3960250098 ), pp. 41–43
  15. ↑ See e.g. B. Björn Migge : Handbook of Coaching and Advice: Effective models, commented field display, numerous exercises. Weinheim 2007 ( ISBN 9783407364531 )