Dogen's great spiritual teachings are the foundation of Soto Zen. For the first time, contemporary American women Zen masters in the Soto tradition, join together to reach within Dogen's mind to make his masterpieces accessible and practical for those seeking deeper realization and understanding.

This classic Zen Buddhist collection of 49 koans with commentary by Mumon was originally published in 1934, and later included in Paul Reps and Nyogen Senzaki's popular anthology Zen Flesh, Zen Bones. Due to non-renewal it is currently in the public domain in the US (although other parts of Zen Flesh, Zen Bones are not).

Takuan Soho's (1573-1645) two works on Zen and swordsmanship are among the most straightforward and lively presentations of Zen ever written and have enjoyed great popularity in both premodern and modern Japan. Although dealing ostensibly with the art of the sword,Record of Immovable Wisdom andOn the Sword Taie are basic guides to Zen-"user's manuals" for Zen mind that show one how to manifest it not only in sword play but from moment to moment in everyday life. Along with translations of Record of Immovable Wisdom and On the Sword Taie (the former, composed in all likelihood for the shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu and his fencing master, Yagyu Munenori), this book includes an introduction to Takuan's distinctive approach to Zen, drawing on excerpts from the master's other writings. It also offers an accessible overview of the actual role of the sword in Takuan's day, a period that witnessed both a bloody age of civil warfare and Japan's final unification under the Tokugawa shoguns. Takuan was arguably the most famous Zen priest of his time, and as a pivotal figure, bridging the Zen of the late medieval and early modern periods, his story (presented in the book's biographical section) offers a rare picture of Japanese Zen in transition. For modern readers, whether practitioners of Zen or the martial arts, Takuan's emphasis on freedom of mind as the crux of his teaching resonates as powerfully as it did with the samurai and swordsmen of Tokugawa Japan. Scholars will welcome this new, annotated translation of Takuan's sword-related works as well as the host of detail it provides, illuminating an obscure period in Zen's history in Japan.

This book, from the series Primary Sources: Historical Books of the World (Asia and Far East Collection), represents an important historical artifact on Asian history and culture. Its contents come from the legions of academic literature and research on the subject produced over the last several hundred years. Covered within is a discussion drawn from many areas of study and research on the subject. From analyses of the varied geography that encompasses the Asian continent to significant time periods spanning centuries, the book was made in an effort to preserve the work of previous generations.

The book is in two parts: The first, Body Mechanics, describes our body type, structure, systems, organs and canals, physical conditioning, and stress. The second, Concept, Principle and Technique, describes meditations and breathing, mind and body coordination, mental calm and strength, physical relaxation with power, extending energy of the mind, physical conditioning, mindset, self-defence, and massage. The techniques presented are equally suitable for men and women.A section concentrates on physical training. Detailed attention is given to dynamic and static contractions for strength and endurance, cardiovascular techniques for endurance and strength, and exercises for flexibility and strength. Physical training has the dual function of strengthening the body and strengthening the mind. An important section is on mindset; working on mindset is not only to learn the techniques for conditioning your intuition and develop desirables, such as confidence and awareness, but to feel complete within yourself and realize your value in society.The section on self-defence is not a reiteration of physical techniques frequently taught in self-defence classes or martial arts schools. It relates self-defence to mindset, and the power of mind and body coordination. Attention to these areas, the principles of which are described in other sections, comprises the essence of effective self-defence. Principles to which you should adhere when facing potentially dangerous conflict, and techniques you can use during physical engagement, are also discussed. The final section is on massage. The methods described are an effective way of treating someone who has an ailment and feels low on energy, or simply enjoys being massaged. Fundamental to the technique is the concentration of your intrinsic energy to regenerate or revitalize someone's life power.It is apparent from what can be seen of human effort, mental, physical, and of whatever form, that the motivating driver and the real source of power is the mind. It is also obvious to anyone who has had experience of western and eastern culture that the East is, from its own rich past, ahead of the West in giving concept, method and rationale to an understanding of the relationship between mind and body, mental strength, and the power of mind and body coordination. At the heart of this thinking is zen and it is best seen as the foundation of the Oriental spiritual disciplines, such as the budo, the martial arts of Japan.Intuition, the unconscious mind, or the state of no-mind is the zen mind, the mind that is the focus of the zen method. Intuition cannot be learned, but it can be conditioned, and the techniques for conditioning it can be learned. Zen has been, and is, to budo, an attempt to apply the accumulated knowledge of Confucius, Laotzu, and Buddha to the conditioning of intuition. In the case of budo, zen has been the unifying and driving force. Intuition penetrates the very soul of those who rely on it. It brings a general simplicity that appears to have an unrefined aspect but which is not unrefined. It has been said: The intellect can play with the concept; only the intuition can understand.

The strange verbal paradoxes called koans have been used traditionally in Zen training to help students attain a direct realization of truths inexpressible in words. The two works translated in this book, "Mumonkan "("The Gateless Gate ") and "Hekiganroku (The 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. They are still used today in a variety of practice lineages, from traditional zendos to modern Zen centers. In a completely new translation, together with original commentaries, the well-known Zen teacher 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 both Eastern and Western ways of thinking make him an ideal interpreter of these texts.

This is an excellent summary of ten original yoga systems, in which the Author, Ernest Wood, who speaks from more than forty years of experience in Eastern Philosophy, tells us in a very well written and easy to understand language about the teachings and philosophy of these major yoga systems. At the same time, he has also endeavored to preserve the perfect authenticity and clearness of the original teachings of these ten different well-known Oriental schools of yoga teaching and practice. The ten yoga systems are: Raja Yoga, Gita-Yoga, Gnyana-Yoga, Hatha and Laya Yogas, Bhakti and Mantra Yogas, Buddhist Yoga, The Chinese Yoga or Zen, and finally the Sufi Yogas, which includes discussions on Maulana Rumi, Omar Khayyam and other well-known Sufi poets and mystics.

This book provides an intuitive insight into the heart of Zen through a translation of Seng-Ts'an's poem, Hsin Hsin Ming. Reading through the pages you will become familiar with the basic principles of Zen with an interesting collection of perspectives from Quantum Physics to more traditional views of Taoism. These different thoughts are brought together to serve the reader a rewarding experience. Hsin Hsin Ming by Seng-Ts'an is the Zen Poem that is often referred to as the poem of nothing. While very short, it is the fusion of Lao Tzu's Taoism and Buddha's Buddhism into what is known as Zen. It is like a waterfall that you listen to. It says nothing but speaks the unknown to those who can hear it. Become like a temple to hear the what isn't being said. This is to know the meaning of this poem. The central message of the Hsin Hsin Ming is to point directly to the mind by giving up judgments and opinions so you can see the Oneness and the Nothingness of what reality really is. The poem professes the need to live life with equanimity, to practice living in a state of non-duality while in this dualistic world. It is a guide to the path of Enlightenment. It isn't about trying to attain anything, rather it is about losing false views and perceptions. To remove all that the ego so desires to cling to. The path to enlightenment is the realization that there is nothing to find, nowhere to go, nothing to achieve. There is no need to search for God for God has been within you always. God, itself is your true self, your true being. It is nothing more than waking up from the dream. "Upon returning home on a cold winter night, I begin my evening by building a fire in the fireplace to chase away the chill. Once I have gathered the logs and placed them so, I start the fire. At the birth of the flames starting to flicker among the logs, it is in that moment I know that I am releasing all the memories that have been stored up in that tree. I know that I am releasing the sunshine that gave warmth to that tree, that tree from whence the firewood came. I know that I am releasing the clouds that gave it shade, the rain that quenched its thirst, the soil from which it received its nourishment, and all those enjoyments that the tree experienced so joyfully, like those memories of the autumn breeze caressing its leaves and the still of the moonlight on a winter night while that tree stood stoic in deep contemplation. And in the knowing of giving shelter in the spring and being a refuge to the song birds and the animals that called it home. Yes, while I witness the flickering of those flames, I see all of this and more, for the log in the fire is more than what it seems. It is at once an explosion of all its life's experiences and joys, and a reminder of what we leave behind, for this log has shown me, how even I, am connected to it all."

Modern man has found that material achievements are failing him, but in his escape from despair, he has become an easy prey for the deceptive cult of "Zen-Existentialism." There has emerged a mode of radical "New Humanism" with its emphasis on "human autonomy." In place of the God-man appears the "man-god." There is a search for the "world within," the "limitless inner space," the "expansion of consciousness," and the transcendental experience of "Satori." First published in 1969, this book prophetically anticipated the growth of New Age developments in the decades to follow. Lit-sen Chang directly spoke to the Hippie movement of his day, which was then seeking various means of transcendence through drugs and eastern mysticism.This book also reflects fifty years of bitter experiences of the author's spiritual pilgrimage and shows how he was miraculously delivered by the grace and power of God from his "cul-de-sac." Chang writes of the utter futility of the fantasy of the East, analyzes the root causes of the crises in the West, and points out the doom of auto-soterism after his careful diagnosis of the human problem in cultural, philosophical, religious, and theological terms.

The Buddhist premises, although deceptively simple in their presentation, are highly advanced psychological propositions. Essential Elements of Buddhism presents the foundations of Buddhist thinking in clear terms with some simple diagrammatic illustrations. This new Guide is designed to help a student remember the essential points and the natural flow of the ideas and to lead to a broader, more detailed study.

Dwight Goddard's collection of translations of a cross-section of Buddhist traditions was a fundamental part of the importation of Buddhism into the USA and then, through the work of the Beat Poets that the book influenced, throughout the West as a whole. Goddard had originally been an engineer but after his wife's death, when he was twenty-nine years old, he entered the Hartford Theological Seminary. He was ordained in 1894 and was sent to China as a Congregational missionary. He was interested in non-Christian religions and as a result of this curiosity began to study various denominations of Buddhism. In 1928, at the age of sixty-seven, Goddard encountered Japanese Zen Buddhism for the first time while in New York City. He was so impressed with it that he moved to Japan where he met D. T. Suzuki and studied for eight months with him at the Yamazaki Taiko Roshi of Shokoku Monastery in Kyoto. His time spent in China and Japan made him feel that lay religious practice was not enough and would lead to worldly distractions and he decided to establish a male-only monastic movement named, 'the Followers of Buddha'. It was situated on forty acres in southern California adjacent to the Santa Barbara National Forest and also on rural land in Thetford, Vermont. The religious 'followers' who participated in the fellowship commuted between the centers in a van, spending winters in California and summers in Vermont. The venture was short lived and closed due to lack of followers. His book, A Buddhist Bible, was published in 1932. Translated from writings Goddard found of worth in the traditions of Theravada, Mahayana, Zen, Tibetan and other Buddhists schools of thought, the book soon became popular and it contributed to the spread of Buddhism in the USA in the 1930's and 1940's. But it was in the 1950's that A Buddhist Bible was to make its most lasting impact. By the end of 1953 the famous writer Jack Kerouac had been living with fellow 'Beat Poets' Neal and Carolyn Cassady in a menage a trois situation and the relationship had become untenable for all of those concerned. It had become obvious that it was time for Jack to move on and Neal recommended that Jack read A Buddhist Bible as a way of finding some much-needed spiritual inspiration. Legend has it that Kerouac headed down to the San Jose library and stole a copy before heading back 'out on the road'! It was natural that Kerouac, who had always battled with his Catholic ideologies and his lifestyle of heavy drinking and womanizing, would find some peace through the principles of Buddhism and this came out in his seminal The Dharma Bums which detailed Kerouac and fellow Beat Gary Snyder's differing takes on the Buddhist way of life. Although at first dismissive of his fellow Beats new found outlook, Allen Ginsberg soon followed suit and A Buddhist Bible, together with the collective writings of the Beat Generation on Buddhism, had a big influence on the American generations that followed. Dwight Goddard was unaware of his new-found fame as he died on his seventy-eighth birthday in 1939.

"while the poems in this volume certainly stand alone, experienced as a sequence, they transport you on a spirited, worthwhile journey: a journey in which, you will recognize yourself-encouraged, empowered, enlightened, and smiling inside and out, a journey where the greatest human mysteries just seem matter of fact-transparent. the thinking here is all so clear and true, it sounds simple. this is poetry so straightforward, prose lovers will enjoy it, and poetry lovers will discover craftsmanship so solid and steady that it feels effortless. one simply cannot imagine a better way to say what these words do. truth told in such an understandable and fresh voice, this is poetry that will be remembered." kathy hirshon, artist

THE ZEN OF SELLING The Way to Profit from Life's Everyday Lessons For professional salespeople on the go, wading through a '500-steps-to-success' manual or trying to memorize sales rules are poor ways to learn. Salespeople know that nothing beats the impact of a real-life story. Now every important sales secret has been clarified and crystallized in this short, lively, and compelling collection of 17 stories. From handling harsh rejection to closing a tough sale, the stories use real-life contexts and fully fleshed out characters to illustrate fundamental selling rules. The truths that emerge in The Zen of Selling are universal, cutting across the sales spectrum of products, industries, experiences, and styles. Both enlightening and entertaining, the book is ideal for experienced salespeople who want a quick, fun to read refresher and for newcomers seeking an innovative primer on the essentials of selling.

Part memoir, part almanac, and part primer on meditation, Entering Zen is addressed to anyone who might wish to take up the practice of meditation, or deepen an existing practice, or explore the nuances and complexities of the Zen tradition. The seventy-five essays in this collection first appeared as columns in the Alfred Sun, the community newspaper of Alfred, New York. Ben Howard is Emeritus Professor of English at Alfred University and a longtime practitioner of Zen and Vipassana meditation. His previous books include Leaf, Sunlight, Asphalt and the verse novella Midcentury.

"Examining one's life is arguably the central distinguishing characteristic of being human, and this wise and wonderful book is the perfect answer to Socrates's warning that the unexamined life is not worth living. Readers who merely read through the book's fascinating anecdotes will be entertained, but they will be seriously shortchanging themselves, for it is the guiding questions that provoke and inspire serious self-examination. As the calendar-like format of the book implies, these questions should be savored and pondered no faster than one page of questions per day. Levy and Parco continue to challenge our thinking as they did in their previous two Thinking Deeply About books. Echoes of Mind presents common topics in an uncommon way that encourages both reflection and introspection. Spending time with this book will be reassuring and yet challenging, even at times uncomfortable-but in all cases, rewarding."

Daryl J. Bem, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus of Psychology
Cornell University

Koans are an indispensable tool on the path to enlightenment. They reveal Truth through presenting the reader with a paradox that can only be solved by changing one's attitudes. The venerable Koans of the past, those that have been handed down through the generations are written in the language of the past. The reader needs to be able to fully enter into that archaic language if they are to benefit. This book re-represents the Koans in modern language, accessible to all. It will not please the traditionalists, but it will make the wisdom contained therein accessible to a whole new generation of seeker. Each koan encapsulates a profound truth for reflection. Zen counsels the lessening of the ego, not the strengthening of it as consumer culture would urge. Instead of making a name for ourselves in society, we should listen to the voice of pines and cedars when no wind stirs, in other words become no-thing, entering instead the field of pure being that is behind the phenomenal world.

The two great streams of Zen Buddhism are the Soto sect, known as the School of Silent Illumination, and the Rinzai school of rigorous koan study. Dogen established Soto Zen in Japan, and his work is widely known in the West with many of his books translated into English. Hakuin is credited with the modern revival of the Rinzai sect and is its most important teacher. His life has been a great inspiration to the students and practitioners of Zen in the West, and his writings offer great authority and practical application.Norman Waddell has devoted a large part of his life to translating and publishing work by and about Hakuin. This collection of six diverse and independent works contains five pieces never before translated into English, some of which have been until quite recently unknown, even in Japan. A rich and various gathering, the offerings here will be important to seasoned practitioners as well as attractive to newcomers to Zen and spiritual seekers of all faiths.