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A Guide to Zen: Lessons from a Modern Master
This book takes the formidable 100,000-word classic Zen Training by the great master Katsuki Sekida and extracts its finest gems. Marc Allen has carefully chosen the passages most relevant to today, producing a readable work of six chapters covering the basics of posture, breathing, and training, and presenting various pieces of Zen literature and meditation pictures. The result is a complete course in Zen from a modern master — as one would receive in a traditional Zen center — simply and beautifully written.
160 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 15, 2024
"Pick up the silent rock from the depths of the sea, and without getting your sleeves wet, bring it up to me"
A simple book on the basics of Zen and sitting Zazen, extrapolated from Zen master Katsuki Sekida's work by Marc Allen. The chapters cover proper sitting technique, breathing, meditation, and offers several koans and their interpretations. A nice glossary at the back too, including the words that go hand in hand with Zen practice. I would like to add this book to my personal library, as there are sections that I feel I would like to be able to reread. Although this book covers the basics, I think a beginner might find this a little heady unless they are already familiar with Buddhist teachings. Maybe not.
A simple book on the basics of Zen and sitting Zazen, extrapolated from Zen master Katsuki Sekida's work by Marc Allen. The chapters cover proper sitting technique, breathing, meditation, and offers several koans and their interpretations. A nice glossary at the back too, including the words that go hand in hand with Zen practice. I would like to add this book to my personal library, as there are sections that I feel I would like to be able to reread. Although this book covers the basics, I think a beginner might find this a little heady unless they are already familiar with Buddhist teachings. Maybe not.
February 5, 2013
The first paperback publication of A Guide to Zen: Lessons from a Modern Master by Katsuki Sekida. Originally published in 2003, this is a distillation of Sekida's 1975 Zen Training, a classic work ranked alongside Suzuki Roshi's justly renowned Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. Edited by the long-time Sekida student Marc Allen, the Guide is everything you need to know about Zen--in a nutshell.
I'm not a Zen man myself. I find the aesthetics infinitely appealing, but the practice itself does not call to me; sitting nose-to-nose with a blank wall strikes me as too reductive an experience, too pure for this one extremely fallible human being. I personally find vipassana to be more compassionate as a practice, kinder and gentler, even..., well, more Buddhist. But that's a matter of personal judgment and choice. More important, A Guide to Zen is a marvelous little handbook, rich in insight and practical tips for the determined sitter. From posture to breath to samadhi entry to "pure existence," it's a step by step, easy-to-use instruction manual that manages to find clarity even in some of the fairly impenetrable aspects of Zen thought. As the Sekida quotation featured on the back cover notes, Zen "is the hushed silence of the snow-clad Himalayas. Or it can be likened to the eternal silence of the fathomless depths of the sea." It's a matter of utterly inarguable beauty.
I'm not a Zen man myself. I find the aesthetics infinitely appealing, but the practice itself does not call to me; sitting nose-to-nose with a blank wall strikes me as too reductive an experience, too pure for this one extremely fallible human being. I personally find vipassana to be more compassionate as a practice, kinder and gentler, even..., well, more Buddhist. But that's a matter of personal judgment and choice. More important, A Guide to Zen is a marvelous little handbook, rich in insight and practical tips for the determined sitter. From posture to breath to samadhi entry to "pure existence," it's a step by step, easy-to-use instruction manual that manages to find clarity even in some of the fairly impenetrable aspects of Zen thought. As the Sekida quotation featured on the back cover notes, Zen "is the hushed silence of the snow-clad Himalayas. Or it can be likened to the eternal silence of the fathomless depths of the sea." It's a matter of utterly inarguable beauty.
April 13, 2017
An absolutely phenomenal book on zen and zazen. It is short and simple and sweet but some parts require reading and re-reading to fully comprehend. Meditation/zazen practice helps with the concepts but if you've never started or need motivation this book is perfect for you. It even offers a 'one minute meditation' you can try if you're apprehensive. How can you beat a zen master's lifetime of experience and writings distilled down into a large-font 100 page book for us western dummies? To quote another zen author Brad Warner, "Your life is yours alone, and to miss your life is the most tragic thing that could happen. So sit down, shut up, and take a look at it." Just try it. It will change your life as well as everyone that comes in contact with you for the better.
December 15, 2024
The book starts with a very concise explanation as to why one might start Zen, using the word "thrownness" which I like very much. It frames suffering as a sort of alienation that comes from the concoction of the personal ego.
The solution is zazen. Like the majority of Zen authors, to my knowledge, the breath and posture is heavily emphasised, though the author claims to make a unique contribution with his claim (and explanation through concrete exercises) that the mind and breath and intimately connected, and a key aspect of advancing spiritually is the ability to breathe slower and slower so that eventually the breath is barely perceptible.
At the end of the book, the Oxherding pictures are used as a model for the spiritual path. Hakuin's four stages of knowing are also used. This means that one deepens ones samadhi until one goes through emptiness and emerges the other side as an awakened one.
Overall, the book left me wanting to read more of the author, because it was interesting but also because this book only offers the bare bones (though perhaps that's all that's needed?). Sekida also relies on wisdom from deep samadhi to lead to ethical and skilful action, so I believe he didn't place enough emphasis on conscious following of the precepts initially and having the strong conviction that the precepts should be guided with ones life. He also presents a model of 'progress', which some Zennists may question. Yet at the same time, just what the ultimate aim is wasn't entirely clear to me either.
The solution is zazen. Like the majority of Zen authors, to my knowledge, the breath and posture is heavily emphasised, though the author claims to make a unique contribution with his claim (and explanation through concrete exercises) that the mind and breath and intimately connected, and a key aspect of advancing spiritually is the ability to breathe slower and slower so that eventually the breath is barely perceptible.
At the end of the book, the Oxherding pictures are used as a model for the spiritual path. Hakuin's four stages of knowing are also used. This means that one deepens ones samadhi until one goes through emptiness and emerges the other side as an awakened one.
Overall, the book left me wanting to read more of the author, because it was interesting but also because this book only offers the bare bones (though perhaps that's all that's needed?). Sekida also relies on wisdom from deep samadhi to lead to ethical and skilful action, so I believe he didn't place enough emphasis on conscious following of the precepts initially and having the strong conviction that the precepts should be guided with ones life. He also presents a model of 'progress', which some Zennists may question. Yet at the same time, just what the ultimate aim is wasn't entirely clear to me either.
February 9, 2023
A lot of great practical nuggets of information to apply to the practice from a straightforward perspective. The examples using the 10 ox paintings was very enjoyable and a lot of the information on the breathing and core musculature was super insightful
February 17, 2019
A nice quick easy read with some good vocabulary words. I appreciated the stages in zen training and the steps to be taken to get there.
April 29, 2019
Tremendous book! I have nothing else to say. It is an easy read and very informative. Highly recommend!
December 16, 2016
A very good summary of Sekida's work. In fact, there are pages where I could swear this guy just copied Sekida verbatim.
November 15, 2015
A lot of good information regarding meditation. The book is fairly easy to read and understand.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews