On Zen Practice: Body, Breath, and Mind [Paperback]

Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi (Author), Bernard Glassman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2002

For the first time in decades, the teachings formative to American Zen teachers and students are now available in one comprehensive volume. Conceived as an overarching primer on the practice of Zen, this landmark volume address's every aspect of practice: beginning practice, shikantaza, chanting, sesshin, working with Mu, and the nature of koans. Retaining the lively, immediate quality of the previous edition, On Zen Practice is an essential tool for the new generation of Zen practitioners.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Zen Buddhism is renowned for its emphasis on the lineage of its teachers. This solid handbook, edited by the noted Bernie Glassman Roshi, pays tribute to his Zen master, Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi, who assisted in assembling the materials. Maezumi (Appreciate Your Life) was the founding abbot of the Zen Center of Los Angeles (ZCLA) and the successor to three major lines of Zen thought. Before Maezumi's death in 1995, the ZCLA published several anthologies of teachings to cover Zen essentials, known then as On Zen Practice, On Zen Practice II and The Way of Everyday Life. This serviceable and seasoned anthology draws from those 1970s collections of dharma talks and commentaries. It includes topics such as beginning practice, sitting, chanting, bowing and working with koans, and also expounds on various texts. The choices, including the foreword by the esteemed Aitken, come from nine contributors whose Zen devotion spans the last century. This collection is aptly named, for it indeed seeks to clarify Zen's manifestations in the body, breath and mind with generally very short essays in four sections. Appendices include the Zen precepts and a contact list of the White Plum Asanga (those who received the Dharma Transmission in Maezumi's lineage). A peculiar perfume of jumbled time lingers over this collection, but this in no way compromises its usefulness for beginners and adepts.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

"I recommend it to beginners and advanced Zen practitioners. It is challenging, wise, and encouraging." -- Sensei Pat Enkyo O'Hara, founding teacher of the Zen Peacemaker Order

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Wisdom Publications; 1st Wisdom Ed edition (October 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 086171315X
• ISBN-13: 978-0861713158
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #239,822 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Maezumi Was Truly a Great Teacher, February 28, 2004

By 

Swing King (Cincinnati, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: On Zen Practice: Body, Breath, and Mind (Paperback)

Taizan Maezumi Roshi, next to Korean Zen master Seung Sahn, is absolutely my favorite of masters who have lived and taught in modern times. In this book Maezumi Roshi covers pretty much every single aspect of Zen training. Like in his other works, Maezumi Roshi is fascinated by Zen master Dogen and spends a lot of time in his works touching upon his wealth of teachings. This book has a section on the significance of bowing in our Zen traditions, and what it truly means when you are prostrating yourself. Full prostrations is one form of Zen practice that I have seen various westerners in some ways resent. I myself didn't exactly love it when I first visited a Zen center. In this work, Maezumi Roshi uses Master Obaku, founder of one of the 5 schools of Zen in Japan, as an example on the importance and meaning behind bowing.

"Master Obaku, the teacher of Rinzai, was famous for his frequent admonition to his students: "Don't expect anything from the Three treasures." Time after time he was heard to say this. One day, however, Master Obaku was observed in the act of bowing and was challenged about his practice. "You always tell your students not to expect anything from the Three Treasures," said his questioner, "and yet you have been making deep bows." And in fact, Master Obaku had been bowing so frequently and for so long that a large callous had formed on his forehead at the point where it touched the floor. When asked how he explained this, Master Obaku replied, "I don't expect. I just bow."

That's some very cutting advice Obaku is giving there. In my own lineage, we have always been instructed to take each bow on as though it is your only bow. Just that. Then you get up, and you bow again. Only hapchang (gassho). Let us just bow. This is the wonderful simplicity of Zen practice, while bowing prostrations are rigorous and physically demanding, we receive that simple instruction: Just bow. It makes things less complicated for us. It brings forth our Buddha mind, or our "only practice mind." So come take a walk with Taizan Maezumi Roshi, won't you? I wish you do, for he was a true bodhisattva that lived among us.

5.0 out of 5 stars Brought me to tears, December 15, 2011

By 

B. Mitchell "Sekha.n2" (California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: On Zen Practice: Body, Breath, and Mind (Paperback)

I read this after years of practice and the writing brought me to tears many times as it connected so strongly with my own experience. I highly recommend this book for people interested in Zen practice.