The Eight Gates of Zen: A Program of Zen Training (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Several years ago while I was practicing at the Zen Center of Los Angeles, my teacher and I worked on a book entitled The Way..." (more)
Key Phrases: home departure physically, whole phenomenal universe, bodhi mind, Zen Mountain Monastery, Three Treasures, Dogen Zenji (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Loori (Riding the Ox Home: Stages on the Path of Enlightenment) is the abbot of the Zen Mountain Monastery in the Catskills, a former photographer and a writer for mainstream Buddhist publications such as Tricycle and Shambhala Sun. As such he is perfectly suited to produce this in-depth Zen training text specifically tailored to the needs of Americans. This volume part map, part manual and part philosophical essay is especially useful for those within a Buddhist community, though a special chapter, "Lotus in the Fire," extends insights toward solo practitioners. Sensitive to Western needs for progress measurement, Loori delineates 10 stages of practice, moving from novice to teacher. The eight "gates" of the title are sitting meditation (zazen); face-to-face meetings between teacher and student; academic study; rituals; morality and ethics as reflected in the Buddhist precepts of behavior; art; the body; and work all extensions and functions of Zen practice. Sufficiently deep, yet clear and easy to read, this has the potential to become a fundamental handbook broadening practice in this country beyond basic zazen and sutra study. It has illustrations, a practical appendix, glossary and a solid reading list geared to the various stages of practice. Ultimately and rightly, Loori paraphrases Gary Snyder, concluding, "Zen is not Japanese and it's not Chinese. It is American. It didn't come from Asia; it has always been here. It is a way of using your mind and living your life and doing it with other people."
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Originally published by Dharma Publications in 1992 as the Zen Mountain Monastery's training manual, this republication introduces a broader audience to the order's eight areas of concentration Zazen, Zen study, academic study, liturgy, right action, art practice, body practice, and work practice. At Zen Mountain, both lay and monk students focus on these spheres through ten stages corresponding to Master K'uo-an's classic Ox-Herding Pictures. Loori, author of the popular Heart of Being and Riding the Ox Home: Stages on the Path of Enlightenment, offers readers still seeking a spiritual way a foretaste of practice devoted to rigorously preserving the core values of Zen while adapting to the realities of its Western expression. Those already following Zen will benefit from many new insights, as well as a translation of Dogen's Mountains and Rivers Sutra, the monastery's daily ritual, a checklist for Zazen, and recommended readings. Recommended for public and academic libraries. James R. Kuhlman, Univ. of North Carolina at Asheville Lib.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Shambhala; 1 edition (September 10, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570629528
• ISBN-13: 978-1570629525
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #167,028 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What is this Book? I'll tell you. , April 8, 2009

By	Michael Kaup "Renaissance Man" (New York, New York) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The Eight Gates of Zen is an introductory tool for initiates of the Mountains and Rivers order of Zen Buddhism. While The Eight Gates started this way, it has had mass appeal and has been influential to Zen practitioners alike. John Daido Loori Roshi is the current Abbot of this order and this book serves as a framework for the practice. The Eight Gates of Zen contains information about the Mountains and Rivers Order, and information about Zen practice in the Mountains and Rivers Order. Daido uses the classic ten Ox-herding pictures as a tool to elucidate the progress of Zen training from an Initiate to a fully realized Master. While Daido talks about this sequence of "steps" he only uses this as a tool for westerners who hold a compulsion to know where they are in a learning sequence. There are no clear "stages," as the stages seamlessly flow from one to the next as a continuum.
Next Daido discusses what he and the Mountains and Rivers Order call "The Eight Gates" of Zen training. The Eight Gates are:

1. Zazen, the traditional style of Zen meditation.
Zazen, has always been the cornerstone of Zen practice. This conserves the path of extensive meditation practiced by Sakyamuni, who realized himself while in Zazen.

2. Zen Study, face to face teachings between Teacher and Student.
Zen has always been about the "special transmission outside the scriptures, words or letters." Zen holds that this "mind to mind" transmission takes place over the course of training, and to the degree that a fully realized Master holds the same Buddha mind as Sakyamuni himself. This transmission can be traced back from current Zen Masters, through to Sakyamuni.

3. Academic Study, of the Sutras related to Zen training, other schools of Buddhism, Buddhist history, psychology and philosophy.
While realizing the Buddha Mind is not dependent upon the Scriptures, this does not mean they are not important for training. It simply means that they cannot be relied upon at the expense of the other areas of practice. Zen came to be a separate school of Buddhism at a time when Buddhist practice had decayed to being mere academic study. In response, Zen emphasized Zazen. While the emphasis of Zen is Zazen, the Scriptures are an integral part of practice.

4. Liturgy, learning the Zen rites, rituals, and their meaning.
Liturgy includes recitation of Sutras, Mantras, and Gathas at various points of the day, as well as specific rites and rituals. Liturgy helps to remind practitioners of why things are important, and why they are done.

5. Right Action, the moral end ethical teachings set in the Buddhist precepts.
Cultivating Compassion, Wisdom, and Enlightenment, and enacting them in ones every act. This is learning to practice the way of a Bodhisattva.

6. Art Practice, as an extension of Zen practice.
Art practice has extensive history in Zen. In China, and Japan, Painting, Calligraphy, Poetry, Flower Arrangement, and others have been an integral part of Zen training. Especially because Zen is about "special transmission outside the scriptures, words, or letters," art practice has frequently been a method of communicating from the Student to the teacher, that which cannot otherwise be communicated.

7. Body Practice, as an extension of Zen practice.
Body practice is largely inspired by Master Dogen. He emphasized that there is no distinction between the spiritual and the mundane. For Dogen, even showering, and the use of the lavatory were part of Zen practice. In the Eight Gates body practice is everything from use of the lavatory, to brushing ones teeth, to doing yoga, archery, running, or any number of physical practices. Body practice is time to just be in the body, it is moving Zazen.

8. Work Practice, as an active function of Zazen.
Work practice is about realizing the "one-pointedness" of mind in our daily work activities. Work practice traces back to Zen monks who on a daily basis, worked out in the rice field, or some other practice necessary for support of the Monastery. Work Practice is about realizing one's true self in everything we do.

None of the Eight Gates are new. They have been practiced by Zen monks, and lay practitioners for over one thousand years. However, specifically outlining these eight areas of practice, using them to create a formal practice both Monastic, and lay, is new, revolutionary and a uniquely American Zen. Wherever Zen is cultivated, it adapts to the present time, and circumstances, as it did in China, as it did in Japan, and as it is now doing in America. For those who find The Eight Gates to "not be Zen," I highly recommend taking more time to learn about the history of Zen Buddhism.
While Zen practice has always been about the individual's experience (you can't force someone to do Zazen or think FOR them), it has also always been about the special mind to mind transmission from Teacher to Student, carrying the Buddha mind into the future.
Also included in The Eight Gates of Zen are descriptions of the Path of the Monastic, and of the Lay student, and appendices containing Recommended Reading, some of the Daily Liturgy, the Mountains and Rivers Sutra, Zazen Checklist, an introduction to the Zendo, the Precepts, and a Glossary.

17 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the REAL THING!, November 15, 2002

By	Jay Weik (Toledo, OH) - See all my reviews

With so many books on 'Zen' coming out all the time, it is important that this work be held up as a contemporary expression of the authentic teachings of Zen. Not 'self-styled zen', not 'anything I do is zen,' not 'easy way watered down zen,' but the real thing. You will love it!

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Eight Gates of Zen, August 28, 2008

By	Erich Dieter Groebe (Springfield, Missouri United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

An amazing, step-by-step guide especially written with the novice in mind. The book is easy to understand and very clear in explaining how one developes a personal practice in the Zen tradition. This should be on of the Top 10 books in every Zen Buddhists library and of great interest to all others.