Katsuki Sekida (1893–1987)

Very few masters of zen have been writers; very few writers about Zen have been masters. Katsuki Sekida ws both. His finest work, Zen Training, published in 1975 by Weatherhill, remains one of th emost conprehensive books on Zen ever written in English. Now Marc Allen, a former student of Katsuki Sekida, has carefully culled the finest pieces from the original work and produced a beautifully readable, brilliant guiide to Zen meditation.

A Guide to Zen starts with a lumnious summary of Zen and goes on to give a complete course in Zen meditation. The early chapters focus on carefully explaining the bsics of this practice: correct posture and breathing. The next chapters, 'Samadhi' and 'Pure Existence.' are absolutely unique in Zen literature and invaluable for any serious student. Finally, in the last chapter, 'Stages in Zen Training,' Sekida comments briliantly on a classic of Zen literature: the traditional series of pictures called In Search of the Missing Ox.

Throughout are specific practices, such as 'One Minute Zazen,' and also bright gems that are the result of a long lifetime of meditation and study: Zazen is a matter of training yourself to become a Buddha; rather, to return to being a Buddha, for you are one from the beginning.

Katsuki Sekida (1903-1987) began his Zen practice in 1915 and trained at the Empuku-ji Monastery in Kyoto and the Ryutaku-ji Monastery in Mishima, Japan, where he had deep experience of samadhi early in life. He became a high school teacher of English until his retirement, then he returned to a full-time study of Zen.

He taught at the Honolulu Zendo and Maui Zendo from 1963 to 1970 and at the London Zen Society from 1970 to 1972. Then he produced his two great works, both published n America and Japan by Weatherhill, Inc., Zen Training in 1975 and Two Zen Classics in 1977.

Contents

Editor's Introduction
Chapter One A summary at the beginning
Chapter Two Zazen posture
Chapter Three Breathing in Zazen
Chapter Four Samadhi
Chapter Five Pure Existence
Chapter Six Stages in Zen training
Afterword
Glossary
Notes
Index
About the author… (altro)

Zen Training is a comprehensive handbook for zazen, seated meditation practice, and an authoritative presentation of the Zen path. The book marked a turning point in Zen literature in its critical reevaluation of the enlightenment experience, which the author believes has often been emphasized at the expense of other important aspects of Zen training. In addition, Zen Training goes beyond the first flashes of enlightenment to explore how one lives as well as trains in Zen. 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.… (altro)

The strange verbal paradoxes called koans have been used in Zen training to help students attain a direct realization of truths inexpressible in words. The two works translated in this book, Mumonkan ( Gateless Gate ) and Hekiganroku ( Blue Cliff Record), both compiled during the Song dynasty in China, are the best known and most frequently studied koan collections, and are classics of Zen literature. In a completely new translation, together with original commentaries, Katsuki Sekida brings to these works the same fresh and pragmatic approach that made his Zen Training so successful. The insights of a lifetime of Zen practice and his familiarity with Western as well as Eastern ways of thinking make him an ideal interpreter of these texts.… (altro)