EclecticWanderer reviewed A heart blown open by Keith Martin-Smith
Review of 'A heart blown open' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
We are the sum of our experiences, and some of us have had more experiences than others! Jun Po Dennis Kelly’s is one such soul. A difficult upbringing and an interesting set of counter-culture career choices provide much of the context for the first half of the book. Throughout all of this, however, is his quest to reconnect with a mystical experience (my words) that he had as a child. I particularly enjoyed the second half of the book -- so much so that I changed my rating from 3 to 4 stars -- where Jun Po travels to India twice, becomes involved with Zen Buddhism, and eventually becomes a abbot and lineage holder of a Rinzai Zen tradition. There are entertaining stories of meeting eccentric spiritual leaders, and several profound recollections of transcendent experiences by Jun Po. The end of the book talks about the development of his Mondo …
We are the sum of our experiences, and some of us have had more experiences than others! Jun Po Dennis Kelly’s is one such soul. A difficult upbringing and an interesting set of counter-culture career choices provide much of the context for the first half of the book. Throughout all of this, however, is his quest to reconnect with a mystical experience (my words) that he had as a child. I particularly enjoyed the second half of the book -- so much so that I changed my rating from 3 to 4 stars -- where Jun Po travels to India twice, becomes involved with Zen Buddhism, and eventually becomes a abbot and lineage holder of a Rinzai Zen tradition. There are entertaining stories of meeting eccentric spiritual leaders, and several profound recollections of transcendent experiences by Jun Po. The end of the book talks about the development of his Mondo Zen Hollow Bones order as a way to accelerate awakening.