Katsuki Sekida

Za Zen - 2da Edicion

The Gateless Gate and The Blue Cliff Records

Two Zen Classics

Methods And Philosophy

Zen Training

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.

Methods and Philosophy

Very few masters of Zen have been writers; very few writers about Zen have been masters. Katsuki Sekida was both. His finest work, Zen Training, remains one of the most comprehensive books on Zen ever written in English. In A Guide to Zen, Marc Allen, a former student of Sekida, presents selections of the original work to produce a beautifully readable, brilliant guide to Zen meditation. Includes a summary of Zen and a complete course in Zen meditation, with specific practices and commentaries on higher states of consciousness and on a classic series of Zen pictures.

Lessons from a Modern Master

A Guide to Zen

This book takes the formidable 100,000-word classic Zen Training by the great master Katsuki Sekida and extracts its finest gems. Student Marc Allen has carefully chosen the passages most relevant to today, producing a readable work of six chapters covering the basics of posture and breathing, stages in training, and Katsuki Sekida's brilliant commentary on the classic series of pictures called "In Search of the Missing Ox." The result is a complete course in Zen from a modern master, simply and beautifully written, building to a tremendous conclusion: "Zen is a matter of training yourself to return to being a Buddha, for you are one from the beginning."

This pioneering guide to zazen—Zen-style seated meditation—provides practical instructions on how to begin or elevate your practice and progress along the Zen path 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.

A. V. Grimstone

Here is a comprehensive handbook for zazen, seated meditation practice, and an authoritative presentation of the Zen path.

Marc Allen

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.

Katsuki Sekida

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