ZEN TRAINING: Methods And Philosophy. Edited, With An Introduction By A. V. Grimstone

Sekida, Katsuki

ISBN 10: 0834801140 / ISBN 13: 9780834801141

Editore: NY & Tokyo. 1997. Weatherhill Inc., 1975

Riguardo questo articolo

brown & b/w illustrated trade paperback soft cover 8vo. fine cond. binding square & tight. spine uncreased. covers clean. faint crease on rear cover. edges clean. contents free of markings. thirteenth printing. nice clean copy. no library markings, store stamps, stickers, bookplates, no names, inking , underlining, remainder markings etc ~.258p.+ about the author. b&w illustrations (contains the famous 10 "oxherding" pictures). reference notes. index. philosophy. psychology. buddhism. zen. meditation. japanese literature. zazen posture. physiology of attention. breathing in zazen. counting and following the breath. working on mu. the tanden. samadhi. koans. three nen~actions and on eon nen. existence and mood. laughter and zen. pure existence. pure cognitions and kensho. kensho experiences. stages in zen training. ~ "THE AUTHOR OF THIS BOOK, Katsuki Sekida, was born in Kochi, a town in the southwest of Japan, in 1893. He began the practice and study of Zen in his early twenties, in circumstances that are partly described in chapter 16 of this book, and has continued this uninterrupted ever since. His experience therefore extends over almost sixty years. Although his study and practice of Zen have been intense and profound, and although he lived and studied for some years in a Zen monastery, Ryutaku~ji, he has always remained a layman, earning his living as a schoolteacher until his retirement in 1945. In his later years he has become greatly respected as a teacher of Zen. These few biographical facts are important to the reader, I believe, since they help to establish that this book is the work of a man who can write of Zen with the authority of prolonged experience and deep study." [from the introduction].

Codice articolo 7122202

Dati bibliografici

• Titolo: ZEN TRAINING: Methods And Philosophy. Edited, With An Introduction By A. V. Grimstone
• Editore: NY & Tokyo. 1997. Weatherhill Inc.
• Data di pubblicazione: 1975
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 0834801140
• ISBN 13: 9780834801141
• Rilegatura: Brossura
• Cataloghi dei venditori:
  • meditation
  • buddhism
  • philosophy

Descrizione articolo

Riassunto

First published in 1975, Zen Training has become a classic of Zen literature. It was one of the first books to demystify religion without debunking it, to explain hitherto esoteric practices in lucid, everyday terms. It offers concrete guidelines for practicing zazen, seated meditation. Posture, breathing, the function of the abdominal muscles, muscle tone, and the mechanisms of wakefulness and attention are clearly and scientifically explained, so that one learns what actually happens in doing zazen, why it leads to certain psychological experiences, and what their significance is. There is also a chapter on koans that goes far to clarify what for many has seemed one of the most frustrating and baffling aspects of Zen. Again, the reader is told how actually to deal with koans and how they operate as catalysts of enlightenment. The author also draws many significant parallels between Zen and Western philosophy and psychology, comparing traditional Zen concepts with the theories of being and cognition of such thinkers as Heidegger and Husserl. Zen Training marked a turning point in Zen literature in its critical reevaluation of the enlightenment experience called kensho, which the author believes has often been emphasized at the expense of other important aspects of Zen training. The aim of zazen is seen not as the achievement of such experiences as satori or kensho but as the attainment of absolute samadhi, that condition of utters stillness in which thought is cut off, the mind is empty, yet one is in a state of extreme wakefulness and awareness. Absolute samadhi is considered the precondition of any kensho experience of lasting value, and indeed as "the foundation of all Zen activities." This book also goes beyond the earlier stages of Zen training to describe the more advanced stages: what happens after kensho, and above all, how one lives as well as trains in Zen.

Recensione

"The first complete English-language handbook for Zen meditation."— Psychology Today "This book will be a classic."— Library Journal "An extraordinarily important book."— Choice "The work on Zen that the West, and perhaps the East, has been waiting for. The best work on Zen training yet in English."— New Age Journal