Biographical Background
S. Leonard Scheff is an AFT Board Member, a graduate of Boalt School of Law at UC Berkeley, and practicing attorney in Tucson, Arizona. He is a Zen Buddhist and has attended several of the public teachings by H.H. the Dalai Lama including the five day workshop in Tucson in 1993, and a more recent 2006 teaching. He has organized this "Letting Go of Anger" seminar with input by John Tarrant Roshi since 1993. While the seminar is based on Buddhism through the teachings of the Dalai Lama, he believes these same principles are universal in all spiritual traditions. In addition, Mr. Scheff has attended and lead numerous Gestalt Workshops.
The Cow in the Parking Lot: A guide for transforming anger for a happier more effective life
You are at the opening of a new shopping center on the edge of town. You have been looking for a parking space for ten minutes. At last, right in front of you, the back-up lights come on. You turn on your turn signal and wait. From the other direction a jeep pulls into the space. Not only that, but when you honk, the driver gets out, smirks, and gives you the finger. Are you angry? You bet you are. Perhaps angry enough to want to ram his car.
Now change the scene ever so slightly. Instead of a brash jeep driver, a cow comes from the other direction and settles into the space. When you honk, she looks up and moos. Are you angry? Probably not. Most people are amused. What the difference?
This book by Leonard Scheff hopes to convince you, based on Buddhist teachings in a contemporary context that there is no difference. It will attempt to demonstrate how you can free yourself from your conditioning and beliefs that lead to anger and all of its unpleasantness. The approach of this book can be summarized as:
Anger is like hitting your hand with a hammer. If you stop, you will feel better.
John Tarrant
John Tarrant is a psychotherapist and director of Zen training. Born in Tasmania, his first spiritual interests were eclectic, shaped by English literature, the Latin mass, and Australian Aboriginal culture.
A student of Buddhism who has trained in several major traditions, Mr. Tarrant is a lineage holder in Zen and teaches extensively in both the United States and Australia. In addition, he holds a Ph.D. in psychology and practices Jungian psychotherapy with a special interest in healing and the arts.
The Light Inside the Dark: Zen, Soul, and the Spiritual LifeIn this book, Zen teacher and Jungian psychotherapist John Tarrant brings together ancient Eastern traditions and the Western view of the soul to offer a new understanding of our inner landscape.
The Light Inside the Dark shows us how we can look into our darkest experiences and find the sources of joy there. In leading us on the journey of the interior life--the part of us that lies below the everyday life of work, family, and the physical world--Mr. Tarrant shows how we can overcome the dichotomies of inner and outer, light and dark.
