Book Review

Zen of Gambling: the Ultimate Guide to Risking it All and Winning in Life

Sports Gambler, Wayne Allyn Root. Published by Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin. (2004)

By David Zander, Anthropologist

On a recent visit to the wonderful new Brookdale library in Minnesota, (constructed by a Chinese American firm, Shaw-Lundquist, and much frequented by local Asian Americans) I glanced at the prominent display of new non-fiction near the entrance. A new book caught my eye  “The Zen of Gambling: the Ultimate Guide to Risking it All and Winning at Life”,  with three fat smiling Buddha casino poker chips on the front cover, and smiling picture of poster boy, author, Wayne Allyn Root on the back jacket against a Las Vegas skyline. Wayne Root throws around sub headings like ‘the zen of Vegas,’ writes about taking vitamins, meditating, exercising. Wow he is the new Tarzan of get rich schemes. But he is at the other end of a continuum from any true practitioner of Zen.  Wayne loves Las Vegas, not the Zen masters, zazen or the Naropa Institute. He describes Las Vegas as ‘the sexiest city on earth,’ and unabashedly writes how God has been good to him – he prayed for a wife, and she appeared ‘a statuesque blonde goddess out of the pages of Playboy.’’ ‘God is great!’ concludes Root. Is he a self deluded charlatan or are we witnessing some merger going on here between Christianity and Materialism?   A more accurate title for his practice might be ‘Contrarian gambling’.  Root sees no problem with ‘a zen of gambling’ and uses the term ‘the spiritual gambler’ but Americans might find fault if we transpose the title closer to home with ‘the Ten Commandments of Gambling’.  Does his God really approve when he compares his beautiful wife Debbie to a playboy bunny?
 
I could wax on with a scathing, polemical review of Root. However, I have to admit that within this self help genre he does write well and he warns readers about the real dangers of casino gambling, where the odds are stacked against them. Root knows about sports gambling, and writes philosophically about a concept he calls contrarianism. He tries to teach his readers how to take calculated risks. He has a chapter on taking care of one’s health. He says he exercises, does yoga, prays and meditates.
 
But ultimately, sad to say, Wayne Allyn Root knows nothing of deep practice of Japanese Zen or Tibetan Zen Buddhism or even American Zen, other than a reference to the best seller title Zen and the Art of Motor Cycle Maintenance. Root is at the other end of a continuum from any true lifetime practitioner of Zen.  His title is a crass rip-off.  He markets the Zen of Gambling for its slick title.  If you want to understand Zen or Asian Buddhism, don’t bother with Root.   However, if you want to understand why much of the world hates America, start with Mr. Root. In some ways he is the epitome of an ugly American, an entrepreneurial A-type personality sun bathing in his own self declared brilliance and egoism, with very little awareness of how others might perceive him as crass, culturally insensitive,  masquerader muddling the waters of those on a spiritual quest. I personally find fault with his worldview. For a practitioner of Zen, hell or Maya would be living with Root as a room-mate. He is a disturbing product of his culture. It’s a disturbing glimpse of someone who has built a life based on sports betting. But then, who am I to say, someone might just achieve enlightenment from reading chapter ten in this book! I leave to a Zen master to judge whether this would this materialistic or spiritual enlightenment.