Just This Is It: Dongshan and the Practice of Suchness A Book talk and Signing Taigen Dan Leighton, Sunday morning Dharma talk, April 19 Taigen's new book, Just This Is It: Dongshan and the Practice of Suchness (Shambhala), discusses the teaching stories of the 9th century Chinese Soto founder Dongshan. These colorful stories concern the practice of engaging the tender freshness of Reality amid our busy lives. Taigen's playful comments and those of modern figures such as Lewis Carroll, Rimbaud, Jack London, and Bob Dylan illuminate aspects of self and non-self, the immediacy of the path, and the practice nourishment offered by Dongshan. Books will be available for sale and signing. Taigen Dan Leighton is Ancient Dragon Zen Gate guiding Teacher and a Dharma heir in the lineage of Suzuki Roshi, and has practiced in Japan as well as America. His previous books include Zen Questions: Zazen, Dogen, and the Spirit of Creative Inquiry; Faces of Compassion: Classic Bodhisattva Archetypes; and Visions of Awakening Space and Time, and he is co-translator of several Zen texts including Dogen's Extensive Record and Cultivating the Empty Field. He is also a social activist and teacher of comparative religions, who has taught at Loyola University Chicago and elsewhere. Sunday, April 19, 10:10 am, following 9:30 Zazen Ancient Dragon Zen Gate, 1922 W. Irving Park Road, Chicago