The Eight Gates of Zen: A Program of Zen Training

An excellent book on Zen, Zazen, and Buddha Nature. An outstanding outline of what it means to truly live Zazen, and the ways and means of discovering what you already are.

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

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.

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!