cover image The Zen Commandments: Ten Suggestions for a Life of Inner Freedom

The Zen Commandments: Ten Suggestions for a Life of Inner Freedom

Dean Sluyter, Maggy Sluyter. Penguin Putnam, $14.95 (187pp) ISBN 978-1-58542-084-1

Meditation teacher Sluyter (Why the Chicken Crossed the Road and Other Hidden Enlightenment Teachings) draws 10 life ""suggestions"" from the world's religions, scriptures, philosophers, literature and popular culture (in his words, ""any tradition that promotes compassionate outer behavior and enlightened inner awareness""). Sluyter's suggestions involve acting with kindness, noticing the moment, keeping things simple, blessing others and remaining devoted. His sources include Jesus and the Dalai Lama, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Bob Dylan, Monty Python and Ramana Maharshi, the Wizard of Oz and the Prajnaparamita Sutra. The strength of this eclecticism is that the book is extremely well written and joyously entertaining; its weakness is that in finding the commonalties among so many different perspectives, Sluyter omits much of the background that makes those perspectives uniquely true. This approach may be downright jarring to someone who regards a particular belief system seriously. Sluyter's point--that we often make life too complex when we really need to just relax and be--is a simple one, as are pithy maxims such as ""No Appointment, No Disappointment."" For those who find simplicity hard to attain, his chapters also include exercises in meditation. The book enthusiastically suggests that readers experiment and adhere to anything that works for them ""as if your life depended on it,"" because, according to Sluyter, it actually does. (Feb.)