Publication
Imprint: London ; New York : Kegan Paul International : Distributed by Columbia University Press, 1996. Context: Originally published in Japanese: Sanzen nyūmon. Tōkyō : Shunjūsha, 1964. Responsibility: Omori Sogen ; introduction by Trevor Leggett ; translated by Dogen Hosokawa, Roy Yoshimoto. OCLC Number: 33207923. Physical: Text : 1 volume : xvii, 290 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm. Features: Includes appendix, glossary, index.
Call number
Meditation / Sogen
ISBN
0710305346 / 9780710305343
Collections
CSS Library Notes
Description: An Introduction to Zen Training is a translation of the Sanzen Nyumon, a foundational text for beginning meditation students by Omori Sogen's approach to Zen was very unique, being very direct and physical as befitting a master of swordsmanship. He was able to illustrate his points by drawing upon the vigorous tradition of Zen and the martial arts that flourished during the samurai era, but his scholarship in both Chinese and Japanese Zen was no less informed and he was able to bring alive many of the traditional teachings stories in a distinctive way.
This text was written to provide a solid introduction to the physical nature of training -- discussing breath, pain, posture, drowsiness, state of mind and physiology -- as well as the context in which Zen training takes on meaning. In the first two chapters he discusses the rationale for zazen, the form of meditation that is the foundation of Zen training. Although seemingly a simple activity, zazen is not just 'quiet sitting', and it is a valuable to see it so thoroughly defined as it is here. The next chapter provides solid instruction on how to sit zazen and how to adjust breathing, posture and state of mind.
This is just the starting point, Introduction to Zen Training is one of the few books to address many of the questions that naturally arise as training begins, ranging from how long one should sit at a time to how to maintain concentration when not sitting. The book ends with commentaries on two zen texts that help to place all of the instruction in context. Hakuin, the renowned Zen master of eighteenth-century Japan, wrote the text Zazen Wasen (The Song of Meditation) -- to make zazen understandable in everyday terms to laymen of his time. Omori Sogen takes the same text and makes it meaningful to our era. He finishes by using the traditional Ten Ox-Herding Pictures to show the rigor and physicality of Zen traning. -- from jacket flap
Table of Contents:
Ch. 1. Why Do Zazen --
Ch. 2. The Aim of Zazen --
Ch. 3. How to Sit in Zen Meditation --
Ch. 4. Things to Pay Attention to during Meditation --
Ch. 5. Physiological Effects --
Ch. 6. Zazen Wasan (A Song of Zazen) --
Ch. 7. The Ten Oxherding Pictures.
FY2021 /
This text was written to provide a solid introduction to the physical nature of training -- discussing breath, pain, posture, drowsiness, state of mind and physiology -- as well as the context in which Zen training takes on meaning. In the first two chapters he discusses the rationale for zazen, the form of meditation that is the foundation of Zen training. Although seemingly a simple activity, zazen is not just 'quiet sitting', and it is a valuable to see it so thoroughly defined as it is here. The next chapter provides solid instruction on how to sit zazen and how to adjust breathing, posture and state of mind.
This is just the starting point, Introduction to Zen Training is one of the few books to address many of the questions that naturally arise as training begins, ranging from how long one should sit at a time to how to maintain concentration when not sitting. The book ends with commentaries on two zen texts that help to place all of the instruction in context. Hakuin, the renowned Zen master of eighteenth-century Japan, wrote the text Zazen Wasen (The Song of Meditation) -- to make zazen understandable in everyday terms to laymen of his time. Omori Sogen takes the same text and makes it meaningful to our era. He finishes by using the traditional Ten Ox-Herding Pictures to show the rigor and physicality of Zen traning. -- from jacket flap
Table of Contents:
Ch. 1. Why Do Zazen --
Ch. 2. The Aim of Zazen --
Ch. 3. How to Sit in Zen Meditation --
Ch. 4. Things to Pay Attention to during Meditation --
Ch. 5. Physiological Effects --
Ch. 6. Zazen Wasan (A Song of Zazen) --
Ch. 7. The Ten Oxherding Pictures.
FY2021 /
Physical description
xvii, 290 p.; 24 cm
Description
"Introduction to zen training" is a translation of "Sanzen nyumon", a text for beginning students by Omori Sogen, one of the foremost Zen masters of the twentieth century. Providing a solid grounding in the physical nature of Zen meditation, this book discusses brreathing, posture, physiology, drowsiness, pain, how to find a teacher, and the differences between the two main schools of Zen.
Language
Original language
Japanese