After the Absolute by Dave Gold

In the Spring of 1992, Richard Rose delivered a lecture entitled "What is Zen" on the campus of North Carolina State University. All manner of people crowded the room to hear Mr. Rose speak about the Absolute and recount stories about his life and struggles on the spiritual path. As Rose points out, "All men are seekers—they differ in the amount of intensity they bring to the search." What would it be like to meet such a man, who dedicated his entire life to the search for God? Surely he must be of the "right stuff," set apart by God to have the grace to become God. Perhaps lotus plants flowered in his footsteps, as they did in Bertolucci's depiction of Siddhartha in the film "Little Buddha." After the lecture I asked Richard Rose: what was it about you that made your life different? Rose smiled: "I was one cow in the herd, one that was facing the other way."

After the Absolute is Rose's story. As part of humanity, the story of his life is common to all of us. As the Russian proverb goes, "God likes you better if you've had an interesting life." Rose certainly has had one—shootouts, brawls, he has married and raised a family, he has plied many trades to make a living. The reader of these pages can take heart that the seeker's life will not be boring.

Then there is Rose the transcendent, Rose who is in touch with the Infinite, the Absolute. As Augie Turak, one of Rose's closest students, describes him in the Documentary Film Mr. Rose—"Rose could turn on a dime from being your peer, a fellow human being, to a being utterly transcendent, transfigured like Christ on the Mountain with Peter. His rainments shone. There is no way you can prepare yourself for that."

Such a man is an incredible mystery. This mystery is what you will explore as you read After the Absolute.

But After the Absolute is also Dave Gold's odyssey. At the onset of the story, David candidly admits "I've no interest in spiritual things." But as the story unfolds, we see a man with a hunger to be awake. Like Rose, Dave Gold leads a life full of adventure—certainly not for adventure's sake—events and obstacles seem to put themselves in his way. In some cases, Rose and Gold are on the same side, as when they are battling the Hare Krishnas. At other times, Gold feels utterly alone. Most of us have felt the same way—at times we feel the isolation of intense self-consciousness, at times we are heroically playing out our role in the drama of life. All of this makes for a fascinating story.

Human beings who have reached the highest possible spiritual state—described in the East as Sahaja Nirvikalpa Samadhi—are rare. Rarer still are genuine accounts from their students which answer the question: What is it like to work with an enlightened teacher? What was it like, living with Rose, sharing his cramped kitchen—that mixture of the miraculous and the mundane? There are, of course, stories from the great Zen Masters of antiquity. Many books have been written about the Buddha, Wang-Po, Hui Neng, and others. But none gives us this dynamic, student's-eye account of life with an enlightened Zen Master. Richard Rose, born in 1917 in West Virginia, is a living Zen teacher. Therein lies the tremendous value of this book. After the Absolute is both the account of a remarkable, enlightened man with a unique teaching system, and the story of each of us—through the transformation of our being as we glimpse that which is beyond our mere personality and mind. Fortunate are those who have met Rose personally, either in the flesh, or through the pages of this book, for they have been moved by his presence, and by his ability to know and touch another person's mind.


After the Absolute by Dave Gold In the Spring of 1992, Richard Rose delivered a lecture entitled "What is Zen" on the campus of North Carolina State University. All manner of people crowded the room to hear Mr. Rose speak about the Absolute and recount stories about his life and struggles on the spiritual path. As Rose points out, "All men are seekers—they differ in the amount of intensity they bring to the search." What would it be like to meet such a man, who dedicated his entire life to the search for God? Surely he must be of the "right stuff," set apart by God to have the grace to become God. Perhaps lotus plants flowered in his footsteps, as they did in Bertolucci's depiction of Siddhartha in the film "Little Buddha." After the lecture I asked Richard Rose: what was it about you that made your life different? Rose smiled: "I was one cow in the herd, one that was facing the other way." After the Absolute is Rose's story. As part of humanity, the story of his life is common to all of us. As the Russian proverb goes, "God likes you better if you've had an interesting life." Rose certainly has had one—shootouts, brawls, he has married and raised a family, he has plied many trades to make a living. The reader of these pages can take heart that the seeker's life will not be boring. Then there is Rose the transcendent, Rose who is in touch with the Infinite, the Absolute. As Augie Turak, one of Rose's closest students, describes him in the Documentary Film Mr. Rose—"Rose could turn on a dime from being your peer, a fellow human being, to a being utterly transcendent, transfigured like Christ on the Mountain with Peter. His rainments shone. There is no way you can prepare yourself for that." Such a man is an incredible mystery. This mystery is what you will explore as you read After the Absolute. But After the Absolute is also Dave Gold's odyssey. At the onset of the story, David candidly admits "I've no interest in spiritual things." But as the story unfolds, we see a man with a hunger to be awake. Like Rose, Dave Gold leads a life full of adventure—certainly not for adventure's sake—events and obstacles seem to put themselves in his way. In some cases, Rose and Gold are on the same side, as when they are battling the Hare Krishnas. At other times, Gold feels utterly alone. Most of us have felt the same way—at times we feel the isolation of intense self-consciousness, at times we are heroically playing out our role in the drama of life. All of this makes for a fascinating story. Human beings who have reached the highest possible spiritual state—described in the East as Sahaja Nirvikalpa Samadhi—are rare. Rarer still are genuine accounts from their students which answer the question: What is it like to work with an enlightened teacher? What was it like, living with Rose, sharing his cramped kitchen—that mixture of the miraculous and the mundane? There are, of course, stories from the great Zen Masters of antiquity. Many books have been written about the Buddha, Wang-Po, Hui Neng, and others. But none gives us this dynamic, student's-eye account of life with an enlightened Zen Master. Richard Rose, born in 1917 in West Virginia, is a living Zen teacher. Therein lies the tremendous value of this book. After the Absolute is both the account of a remarkable, enlightened man with a unique teaching system, and the story of each of us—through the transformation of our being as we glimpse that which is beyond our mere personality and mind. Fortunate are those who have met Rose personally, either in the flesh, or through the pages of this book, for they have been moved by his presence, and by his ability to know and touch another person's mind.
Click here to buy this book from the SKS Order Page