the pathless path

I’m pleased to announce that my latest book, Half Asleep in the Buddha Hall, is now available!

Here are some details, as well as a link to our store.

 Just the other day I was talking with a client who told me that, basically, her life was over. Bad marriage, unfulfilled social life, nothing excited her anymore.

Here’s the weird part—she’s only 30!

And not, sadly, unusual. I get it. I’ve learned another way, and taught it to my clients.

If you are confused, lost, sick and tired of the rat race, and want to find depth, intimacy, and clarity, read on!

My newest book, Half Asleep in the Buddha Hall, will

• help you find the peace, centeredness, and contentment you have been seeking.
• explain how to develop and deepen your self-knowing, "cut yourself some slack," and discover how to be with your life as it unfolds.
• give you tools for developing peace and contentment.

Curious? Let’s explore my new book!

Here are a few key concepts:

• First, external systems that seem to have supported people in the past (things like family, church, community, etc.) have been on life-support for at least the last two generations.
• Second, we are bombarded with what I call the "be more, have more, happiness" model—this model suggests that what we have and how we are seen by others leads to more satisfaction.
• Third, we have discovered that externals—(validation, piles of stuff, etc.) lead nowhere. All we end up with is stress and the desire for more.

For centuries, certain people have grasped the only authentic way to step out of the game, and to fully live in the present moment.

In Half Asleep in the Buddha Hall, I bring you into direct contact with the wisdom of the East, and especially the light of Zen. I help you to find wisdom and depth there. The Zen stories, for example, help support you on your walk.

I liberally sprinkle these teaching stories with examples and lessons from my almost 30 years of Counselling experience, melding the old with the new.

You are able to see and do—you discover a way of being in the world that is both powerful and gentle.

Let me tell you more. You have already begun the only adventure worth your time and effort—the adventure of being wholly and fully yourself!

Take a moment to read a few of the many reviews of Half Asleep in the Buddha Hall.

This book is a veritable smorgasbord of exercises, tips and tales. Like its author, this book is novel, lighthearted, earnest, quirky, and very helpful.

~ Bennet Wong & Jock McKeen Co-founders,  The Haven Institute

We tend to view life according to the beliefs of our tribe. That is, our way of looking at the world is largely influenced by our upbringing and culture. We view the world from within our small circle and think we know the world, but step outside of the circle and we can see from a very different perspective. Not only does the rest of the world look different, but from this new vantage point we also gain new perspectives into our own life.

In Half Asleep in the Buddha Hall, through traditional and new Zen stories, Wayne C. Allen opens up concepts largely unfamiliar to most Western trained minds. This book, both profound and yet easy to understand, will gently open your mind to a greater perspective, an expanded awareness if you will, that will bring you to a deeper understanding of yourself and the world around you.

As an avid proponent of life-long learning and self-development, I offer my highest recommendation for Half Asleep in the Buddha Hall to all who are interested in their personal evolution. A greater perspective awaits you!

~ Dennis "Boogie Jack" Gaskill

Wayne Allen entices us to look at how we examine who and what we are as we go through our day to day lives. But more than that, he compels us to go well beyond examining ourselves, and actively DO the things that will bring us contentedness. Replete with anecdotes, stories, examples and, profound introductory pieces, this book engages us to look deep within ourselves, while remaining simple. Gentle humor and genuine honesty are used to keep the reader thinking, feeling, doing and being.
Read it….live it.

~ Debashis Dutta, Coordinator,
Human Services Foundation, Conestoga College, Kitchener, Ontario

HALF ASLEEP IN THE BUDDHA HALL is all about helping you to discover what it means to live life with depth, compassion, and assurance.

So, I hear you asking, what’s in the book, and why is it so special?

Half Asleep in the Buddha Hall is designed to help you to see the wisdom that is contained in simplicity, in "not knowing," and in fully living your life. Forever, Zen has pointed the essence of life—to clarity, presence, and having a sense of humour:

As you read, you will discover:

• ways to step back and see the operation of your distinction-making mind.
• three keys to stop being lost in your head – live in the here and now.
• the difference between a desire and reality how to wake up, grow up, and get over yourself.
• the importance of realizing you have no self.
• why your history is just that – a story.
• the lesson of the laundromat.
• the dangers of thought loops.
• what real baggage tells us about emotional baggage.
• how AirMiles can lead to waking up.
• when beliefs are obstacles.
• a load of intelligence is a dangerous thing.
• how one word sets you free from fear (hint.. it begins with a "p")
• why intentions and dreams rarely satisfy the 4 Truths that save your life.
• 5 ways to live in the present, persistently.
• how to escape from Indra’s net
• 6 Methods to make better choices breaking the egotism habit through self-responsibility
• why Yogi Berra is a Zen master
• 10 exercises in Zen being
• 10 ways to relate with depth and compassion

Half Asleep in the Buddha Hall is designed to help you to wake up.
As I write in the Introduction –

I want to encourage you to step back from Western culture and belief systems, for no particular reason other than to give you a chance to air out your mind. This is meant to be like walking around a statue. The front and the back may seem different, but it is the same statue, seen from a different perspective.

Ultimately, my wish is that you expand your repertoire regarding how you choose to view, understand, and live your life. This book will suggest a moment-by-moment path to deeper, committed, and purposeful living.

You will learn the practicalities of living a full and rich life:

Another way of putting “All that we are is the result of what we have thought” is “You are what you cling to.” We cling to stuff—beliefs, people, objects—for fear of what will happen, or who we will be, if we let them go.

Yet, all that our desperate clinging gets us is disillusionment and desperation. Non-clinging happens as we disentangle the mind from its obsession with our thoughts and beliefs. To drop clinging, we need to differentiate between moment-by-moment situations, and our judgements and stories about them.

The [moment of awakening] like all of life, happened in the ‘Now.’ In a sense, our enlightenment comes when we realize that the only way to enjoy life is to enjoy the endless ‘Now.’ Just as there is no fixed ‘goal,’ there is no thing called enlightenment—no fixed state you arrive at. There is just one moment after another of enlightened acting. Or, put another way, I have no life, no fixed thing called ‘my life.’ I have a string of ‘Now,’ which is a moment-by-moment unfolding. I can simplify the process of coming into the Now by simply interacting with the moment.

I do this by choosing to step out of my head, my imagination, my pretending that I have a life, a past, a future. I step into this moment, and realize that all there is, is this moment. I then choose how I relate to it.

Commit to walking a path that leads nowhere, walked by no one. One step and one step, this path is always walked in the now-here, (because there can be no destination, only the walk, until, paradoxically, you reach the end for all of us—death.) This wisdom path is lived with attention to every detail, every interpretation—yet with the recognition that ‘no one’ is walking, ‘no one’ is interpreting. Thinking that there is a ‘you’ in all of this is your ‘stuck tail’—your ego identifying with the role of interpreter, walker.

I know. What the heck is he talking about?

My intent is to suggest letting go of your present way of seeing and being, so that you might self-less-ly walk the ‘wisdom path.’ Yet, nothing changes in the ‘real’ world. You still have to make a living and have a life.

So what does change? Your focus, attitude, and your commitment. Instead of mindlessness, or griping, or complaining, you do what you do— you attend to right now—here, and here alone. You chop wood, carry water, with total, mindful attention.

And then, as your ego pops up, smile and think, ‘caught tail.’ Let go, give yourself a shake, and go back to playing—being.

Or, you can choose to keep pretending that anyone cares, and that rescue is at hand. 95% of the population buys into that delusion. Drop me a line if this delusion works out for you, eh?

I suspect that ‘no-one’ will reply…

In Zen, we speak of discipline. The key discipline is ‘non-following,’ or non-attachment. You let each non-helpful thought go by not clinging to it. Now, of course, as with Beth, such thoughts will arise until you die.

Following such thoughts leads to paralysis by analysis. This paralysis seems inevitable, until I notice that repeating dysfunctional thought patterns causes the paralysis. I am ‘lost in thought,’ and the cure is to stop myself—not by more thinking, but by acting. Less thought, more action. Remember: you cause yourself problems by over-thinking and under-doing. Pick a way to be, and then just be it. Swing for the fences, letting the critical thoughts fade into background noise.

And here is the point!

By now, I trust that you ‘get’ what this book is about—that you create your reality, and populate your reality by telling yourself stories. The stories are about you, others, and the world. You understand that your stories are just stories—are about as ‘real’ as nursery rhymes—and realize that you are on the pathless path.

My goal is to support you on your walk, to help you find peace and satisfaction – and most importantly, to help you to have the kind of fulfilling, rich, and meaningful life you want.

This 200 page book will change your life.
We guarantee it!

Half Asleep in the Buddha Hall is available at our Company Store.
You can price and pay for the book in your local currency.

This Endless Moment is available as
◊ a paperback book ($20.00),
◊ as a pdf downloadable e-book ($16.00.)
You can choose your format at the Company Store.

Preface and Introduction

Table of Contents

Sample Chapter