Description
The classic text on balance, inner calm, and the cultivation of tranquillity using the age-old techniques of Zen masters * Reveals the psychosomatic underpinnings of Zen, Taoism, and other Eastern traditions * Provides an alternative to the "chest out-belly in" postural attitude of the West * Includes translations of the wisdom teachings of three Japanese masters * Shows how the theory and practice of Hara helps us find our essential self When we speak of an individual's state, we are actually referring to something that transcends the duality of body and soul, something that reflects the entirety of a person's being. Because each of us is a unity of body and soul, there is no psychic structure or inner tension that is not reflected outwardly in the form and order of the body. When we find the physical center of the body we also find the psychological center of the soul. According to Zen masters, by correcting posture and breathing to balance this center, one can cultivate inner tranquillity and balance: the state called Hara. In Hara, Karlfried Graf Dürckheim shows the Western world how to overcome the physical and spiritual decay of modern life by adopting the age-old techniques of Japanese Zen masters. By leaving behind the "chest out-belly in" posture and attitude of the West and adopting the belly-centered posture and attitude of Hara, individuals can live a calm, grounded, and more balanced life. Included in this classic text are vital life force practices and translations of the wisdom teachings of three Japanese Zen masters. This book also explores how the practice of Hara emphasizes empirical learning and the cultivation of self-knowledge through the perfection of arts such as painting and archery.… (more)
Library's review
One of the most exhilarating experiences in the world is to discover a new way of thinking. But to do so one has to abandon one's old way of thinking, which is no easy thing.
Durckheim, the well-known philosopher and psycho-therapist, abandons the old dualistic thnking about man in
Contents
Introduction
I Hara in the life of the Japanese
1 Hara in the Life of the Japanese
2 Hara in the everyday Life of Japan
3 Hara as the Purpose of Practice
4 Hara in the Japanese Language
II Hara in its General Human significance
1 Eastern and Wastern Views of Hara
a the General significance of the centre of teh Body
b The European Attitude to teh Belly
c Natural Hara
d The Two Levels
III Man with Hara
1 The Living Form Centred in Hara
2 The Ego and the Vital Centre
3 Malformations of the I
4 Hara as Secular Power
5 Hara in Experience, Insight and Pactice
6 The Strength, Breadth and Closeness Engendered by Hara
7 The Order of Life in the Symbolism of the Body
IV Hara as Practice
1 The Purpose and Pre-requisite
2 The Purpose and Limits of Practice
3 Posture, Breath, Tension-as Staarting Pints of Practice
5 The Practice of Right Posture
6 Sitting with Hara
7 Tension-Relaxation
8 The Practice of Breathing
V Retrospect and Outlook
Appendix: Japanese Texts
1 Okado Torajiro
2 Sato Tsui: the Teaching of the Human Body
3 Kaneko Shoseki: Nature and Origin of Man
Illustrations
Horyuji-Kura; Boddhisattvis
Japanese tea ceremony; The Kabuki Choir
Horyuji-Kondo; Yumechigai-Kwannon
Mater Kenran Umeji; Master Ekyo Hayashi's painting of Kwannon
Mary Magdalene; The Synagogue
Yakushiji-Kodo; Nikko Basatsu
The forebears of Christ; Young Zen monks in meditation
The repentant Buddha; Kakomona meditations