Opening to Oneness A Practical and Philosophical Guide to the Zen Precepts

In Opening to Oneness, Zen teacher Nancy Baker offers adetailedpath of practice forZen students planning to take the precepts and for anyone, Buddhist or non-Buddhist, interested in deepening their personal study of ethical living. She reveals that there are three levels of each precept: a literal level (don't kill, not even a bug), a relative level that takes moral ambiguity into account(what if it's a malaria-spreading mosquito?), and an ultimate level-theparadoxicallevel of nonduality, in which the precepts are naturally expressed from a state of oneness.
Full of nuance, intelligence, and compassion, the first half of the book addresses the ten grave precepts mostly from the relative level, including instructions for how to practice these preceptsindividually and in pairs or groups.
The second half of the book takesa deep dive into looking at the precepts from the ultimate perspective, largely through anexploration ofthe writings ofDogen, the thirteenth-century religious genius who founded the Soto Zen school.
At once comprehensive and innovative, Opening to Oneness will take its place alongsideclassics like The Mind of Clover, The Heart of Being, and Being Upright as acherishedguide to Zen Buddhist ethics.