A Temporary Affair - by David Radin (Paperback)

About the Book

"A Temporary Affair is a collection of thirty-one dharma talks given at Sunday morning sittings at the Ithaca Zen Center by David Radin, the center's abbot and founder. These talks were given at a time when Radin's health was severely compromised by end-stage renal failure. In February 2019, he received a kidney transplant from a member of Ithaca Zen Center, to whom the publication is dedicated. These dharma talks continue right up until Radin's admission to the hospital, and contain insights as well as the personal story of how the dharma teachings comforted him and guided him to cope with and even thrive throughout his ordeal. In Radin's own words, "How extraordinary, how blessed, how wonderful, to have met the teachings that free us from suffering when in difficult places." Through these talks, readers can clearly see how Radin put dharma wisdom to use in his own life situation-and be inspired to do so for themselves"--

Book Synopsis

This collection of genuine teachings resonates with an authenticity that comes from Yoshin's many years of practice. It is both profound and practical.

A Temporary Affair is a collection of talks given at Sunday morning sittings at the Ithaca Zen Center by Yoshin David Radin, abbot and founder of the Ithaca Zen Center for the past 40 years. The talks contained here were given at a time when Yoshin's health was severely compromised by end stage renal failure. In February 2019, he received a kidney transplant from a member of Ithaca Zen Center, to whom the publication is dedicated.

The collection of 31 talks contains the insight of the individual dharma talks themselves, as well as the underlying story of how the dharma teachings helped the author cope, and even thrive, with his continuing loss of kidney function. The talks go right up to the days before he was admitted to the hospital. The comfort and guidance he received from the dharma during the times when he was most ill have been a great inspiration to all who know him, as they will to readers. In his own words, "How extraordinary, how blessed, how wonderful, to have met the teachings that free us from suffering when in difficult places." Through these talks the reader can clearly see how he put that wisdom to use in his own life situation, and how they can do so as well.

Review Quotes

"These short discourses by an old Zen priest facing his possible imminent death are relaxed and friendly in tone. They speak directly to the heart of human suffering, the confusion that comes from not understanding what is clearly available for us to feel directly and be liberated. It is a book I keep on my bedside table, at close hand when I need a dose of encouragement." -Sylvia Boorstein, cofounding teacher of Spirit Rock Meditation Center and author of Happiness Is an Inside Job

"Life is amazing when we step out of our thoughts, our selves, and become the mystery alive to itself. With kindness and Zen directness, Yoshin David Radin opens the gate of simplicity and invites us to live here, awake, free." --Jack Kornfield, author of No Time Like the Present

"'You should find your salvation by becoming bored with your suffering...if you can be alone with yourself, you can be comfortable anywhere.' With such unexpected and unpretentious teachings, Yoshin David Radin makes Zen completely available. A Temporary Affair is a treasure house of comforting wisdom, a book you'll go back to again and again to undo the tangles in your mind." --Norman Fischer, poet, Zen priest, and author of The World Could Be Otherwise: Imagination and the Bodhisattva Path

"This is a wonderful book. It is simple. It is clear. There are poetic moments. But, bottom line, Yoshin David Radin speaks to us from the heart of the matter. Here is a Zen life as an authentic life. I highly recommend it." --James Ishmael Ford, author of Introduction to Zen Koans: Learning the Language of Dragons

"With warmth, humor, and gentle authority, Zen teacher Yoshin David Radin shares the fruits of decades of intimacy with the mind to invite us home to the heart. His very real proximity to his own death charges these dharma talks with a kind of tender beauty that touched me to my core." --Mirabai Starr, author of Wild Mercy: Living the Fierce and Tender Wisdom of the Women Mystics and God of Love: A Guide to the Heart of Judaism, Christianity and Islam

"Do we really need another book on Buddhism? YES! But only if that book and collection of talks is Yoshin David Radin's A Temporary Affair. Sitting with this book is like sitting with a roshi and having the wisdom within you mirrored back to you in a way that shatters everything that keeps you from knowing who you are and aren't. Read this book slowly. The talks may be casual, but the truth is anything but." --Rabbi Rami Shapiro, author of The Tao of Solomon: Unlocking the Perennial Wisdom of Ecclesiastes and Judaism Without Tribalism: A Guide to Being a Blessing to All the Peoples of the Earth

"This is a collection of genuine teachings from the heart that resonate with an authenticity that comes from Yoshin David Radin's many years of practice. It is both profound and practical, a fine line that few Zen teachers are able to walk." --Hal Roth, professor of religious studies and director of the Contemplative Studies Initiative at Brown University

"Reading these talks by Yoshin David Radin is sharing one's life with a wise and kind old friend. With his gentle words he dissolves the ridges of the boundaries we presume in our life. With simple words and common images Yoshin shares his experience of dissolving distracted mind, and thereby reveals the boundless heart that is our common unity." --Seiju Bob Mammoser, senior teacher a

About the Author

Yoshin David Radin is abbot and founder of the Ithaca Zen Center where he has taught for the past forty years. Yoshin began Zen practice in 1976 with Joshu Sasaki Roshi. He was ordained a monk in 1983 and an Oshō in 1989. He leads regular sesshin at the Ithaca Zen Center as well as at Rinzai-ji Zen Center in Los Angeles. His writings have been turned into songs or spoken poems which were released in four collections, including Love Songs of a Zen Monk, he was the editor of two books by Zen Master Joshu Sasaki, including The Great Celebration, and he has been published in Tricycle magazine. He lives in Spencer, NY.