Pagan, Shinto & Spiritual Book Reviews November 2016

Last updated on: November 29, 2016 at 11:46 pm by Megan Manson

Pagan, Shinto & Spiritual Book Reviews November 2016 2016-11-29T23:46:22+00:00 Megan Manson

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Joanna van der Hoeven, Zen for Druids: A Further Guide to Integration, Compassion and Harmony with Nature

(Moon Books, 2016)

The concept of mixing Paganism with Buddhism, and particularly Zen, is certainly not unique. Even at Patheos we have our own “Zen Pagan” Tom Swiss, author of Why Buddha Touched the Earth. Zen for Druids is in fact a sequel; Hoeven first introduced her syncretic beliefs in Zen Druidry: Living a Natural Life, With Full Awareness.

I haven’t read the first book Zen Druidry, which Hoeven advises reading before Zen for Druids. However, I felt Zen for Druids works pretty well as a stand-alone book, especially if you already know the basics of both Druidry and Zen.

Zen for Druids is a guidebook on how to live one’s life according to both Zen Buddhist and Druidic values. It can be a challenge to live a syncretic Buddhist-Pagan lifestyle – they are rather different religions, after all – but Hoeven links the two religions nicely, demonstrating many clear similarities and synergies between them. The book generally handles the two religions together rather than compartmentalising them, which is good. I particularly liked the section on incorporating Zen concepts and ritual into the Pagan Wheel of the Year – this showed how well the two beliefs can be blended.

One feature of Zen for Druids that makes it rather distinctive from many other books on Pagan living is its strong ethical and moral dimension. Buddhist precepts and truths form the core of the lifestyle promoted by Hoeven. This may be off-putting for Pagans who are attracted to Paganism entirely because many forms of Paganism reject classical ideas of rules and morality in religion; however, those who feel that Paganism suffers due to its lack of morals and codes will almost certainly appreciate the guidelines given in Zen for Druids.

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