Customer Reviews
Excellent manual for meditation - By: , 08 Dec 2005 
One of the best & most under-rated books on zen & meditation, this book is a rare find because it is true to the real meaning of zen: which is that if you sit you will realise everything for yourself, & almost everything else is a distraction. This is a truly great book about 'how' to meditate.
You just know when you read this that the author is not speculating at any point - he has sat & realised everything that he is writing about. There is no second-hand knowledge or regurgitation of other people's ideas. When I bought this over ten years ago, it was a breath of fresh air - most of the other books I had read were just 'background' to Buddhism (e.g. Christmas Humphreys books), rather than 'how to' books.
One anecdote about this book that shows how factual it is... I was reading the book & gave up when it started talking about ichi-nen thought etc because it seemed so complex. Then when I was sitting I saw clearly how thoughts are linked so I thought I would draw a diagram. Then I looked back at this book - it had almost exactly the same diagram!
Can't recommend it highly enough...
A wonderful, wonderful book. - By: Dee Cee, 12 Oct 2004 I first read this bookin 1975, &in those days finding books on esoteric subjects was highly unsusual. On the rare occasions when one did, they were of the mystical variety - "Open the thousand-petalled lotus & raise the serpent to the next chakra." OK, sure thing, but how do I do that. Mr. Sekida's book is written for the westerner who wants to know how but has no personal access to a guru or master to show him. In may ways a forerunner of writers like Master Mantak Chia & Master Yang Ywing-Ming who have published detailed descriptions of Chinese Internal Alchemy & other Taoist Arts, this book guides you through the "how" of sittingin Zazenin detail without losing the mystery & wonder of what is an intensely personal experience. Just writing this review brings me fond memories of the doors which this book opened for me & my eternal gratitude to Mr Sekida. I must pick up my dog-eared copy again, light a candle, ring the prayer bell & continue the quest.
A clear view of the methods of zen and mechanisms of mind - By: peter.yearsley@which.net, 02 Jul 2001 
A personal, analytical look at what you could call the mechanisms of Zen training. The author examines sitting posture, offers advice on breathing patterns that will help on the path towards kensho, & acts as a friendly, but intensely disciplined & experienced advisor to the student. Although zen is a mystical experience, this work is almost completely uncoloured by religion, & doesn't overwhelm the reader with apparently cryptic anecdotes which he's not yet ready to encounter. Sekida does discuss koans, but firmly within the context of their purposein breaking the chains of thought & self. A chapter on "Laughter & Zen" draws comparisons between the release of internal pressure that laughter & kensho both signal: "Internal pressure is ego, & laughter is the cancellation of ego." Towards the end of the book, Sekida opens himself upin a personal narrative showing how zen can grow from seeds sown at any age (his first experience of kensho was during calligraphy classes when he was a child), & how he moved away from & back into zen practice, as every student does. A final chaper, "Stagesin Zen Training" includes a gentle illustration of the Ten Ox-herding pictures ... "Until yesterday you took great pains to develop the solemn state of absolute samdhi & fiercely checked all activity of consciousness. Now you let consciousness gaily open into full bloom." A very helpful book for those sitting, or thinking of sitting, zen.
