FREEDOM FROM THE KNOWN Paperback – January 1, 2010

K answers many of life's questions in a way that is careful and engaging. After I read this title, I went out and bought a few copies and lent them out to friends. Many of them didn't get around to reading it, and after a year or so, I casually began asking them what they thought. Most said they had read some of it, found it uninteresting or offensive, and then had put down.At first, I thought K's book was an earth-shattering title that everyone should read. I began reading many books on Buddhism, and practicing meditation. A few years later, I came back to FFTK with a different view. K is a man who reached enlightenment, but when he puts his ideas into words, much is lost in translation. He feels that he can't explain enlightenment, so he explains what it isn't. He even points this out in his book. He says can't point to the right way, because that's up to the listener, he can only point out the wrong ways. Unfortunately, this makes his views come across as negative or nihilistic.What's important in reading K or any book on Buddhism is to try and understand the experience of the writer. If one day, you read this title and go around quoting K, trying to prove others wrong because you've read K and he hasn't read K, then you're defeating the purpose of reading the book altogether. You have to see beyond the words and ask yourself: what kind of person says something like K says? What drives these words, these ideas? What understanding has he come to that brings him to this point?That said, I don't know how effective K is at helping one learn "the Way", "Zen", or whatever you'd like to call it. The important thing is he doesn't give it a name. FFTK is a an engaging read which encourages new viewpoints, and if you are ready to ask yourself many questions when you read it, then you can learn many things. If you read it like a pulp novel, then you'll get little out of it. If you're reading it to compare and contrast with your own viewpoints, then K will become very vicious and you'll probably put it down. The way you read this book will probably be the way you approach many things in your life, so watch carefully.Transformation and Healing: Sutra on the Four Establishments of MindfulnessZen Mind, Beginner's Mind (Shambhala Library)Zen Flesh Zen Bones: A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen WritingsEssays in Zen Buddhism, First Series

- Best read ever, so simple, yet so complex when it comes to your understanding, in some degree, because he is trying to get you to question yourself, and not accept any ideals. Its truly amazing, and I already find myself wanting to read this book again after finishing it just because it is such a nice read, and the process isn't always fully grasped the first or second time even. It is a perspective on life I have never quite ever approached before. and It is through my own understanding and not Jiddu's.- Definitely recommend this book! Something else amazing in the book, is that it is approached by understanding, not so much thought or concepts that you cling onto with thought and memory. If you truly learn and understand from the book, you will see so many ways in which thought takes over, and how you can get yourself trapped. This book clears up a lot about our habits and nature of the mind, and our impulses, and if you can approach them with a better understanding you will be able to know what you'd wanna do from there with a more clearer mind, instead continually obscured by the past and future of fear and pleasure, desire and thought. This is a concept even, but he puts it in such an open way, where there is still the journey you must take to go into it.- He practically lays out a palette for you to explore on your own, based off of your own understanding.If you're not trying to understand or work the process of relating to what he says, then the whole read is a blur. It is only when you apply yourself, and question yourself as you read, and take moments of understanding and awareness, that you become engaged in the reading and can actually feel a grasping of the words.

Finally understood what true "freedom" of thought meant. Not the Meme that's portrayed in media by conspiracy college students "THE MAN IS CONTROLLING YOU!!!" mantras. His philosophies are not "RELIGIOUS" or "super natural" in anyway. It's a critical analysis on independent human decision making.Are we really free from conditioning from literally hundreds of years of formation by culture? He poses the question and elegantly shares his perspective on it. Are we the ones making the decisions or have our decisions been made already through our environment / local culture / ideas (i behave like a green person and make green person actions, because i was born in a green area--- and so on) Are our thoughts truly free or is it limited/controlled by culture, beliefs, and systems.Fundamentally changed my views on life and becoming a contrarian---- but not in a snobby way. It's necessary to always take a step back and view things (much similar to a fish in a fish bowl not knowing that it is in water, because it has been in water all its life). North Korea comes to mind immediately. Even in 1st world countries our thoughts are shaped in certain ways by systems without knowing it by cultural systems, organizations, and people. Is it bad? Well, possibly. Are we truly independent decision makers? I'd say no.The book is worth checking out. It's a work of art.In the end, I can't fulfill what he asks of being 100% true freedom of thought. The world would be paradise if that were the case, but I do not live in a world that's built for that.