Reflections on Zen Training: Methods and Philosophy

I shall closely study this text, primarily, from Islamic perspective and secondarily from other perspectives, such as more philosophicaland more scientific perspectives: Zen Training, Methods and Philosophy byKatsuki Sekida.

Get the book, to help me and to help the author, and also to follow the discussion, from here:  

I shall present the theories, as stated, behind theexercises in ways that are acceptable to mainstream Islamic theology, Jamhuur,and to Muslims in general.

I will also present the material as well in a way that is acceptable to scientifically and philosophically minded people; the author had already done a good job in this respect.

This is not a good thing for a student to say as far as his teachers are concerned, but I think students can sometimes present good ideas to their teachers or at least they can raise some good questions ordilemmas.

I shall rely extensively on my own practices and reflections, spanning over 7 years period of intensive daily meditations and reflections.

My primary work is to present the exercises recommended in the book in ways that have worked for me, without undue difficulties.

I shall update this mission as more information becomesavailable.

If ego is conceived as Hawa or desire, then ego accordingto the author is “a succession of physical and mental events or pressures,which appear momentarily and as quickly pass away." Sekida, p34.

I think this description of ego applies to ideal ego that realizes itself without being impeded.

One can also conceive the possibility of such pressures building up and eventually causing the individual to act in this or that way, to to laugh again and again, for instance,  or to become angry and so on.
 
Some people may conceive ego as succession of images or voices and their concurrent physical and non-physical acts, such asmovements and emotions.

If  hawa is extinguished, then one finds himself or herself in Fitrah, original disposition, a disposition in which one is able to do what is known, ma'ruf, that is what people would say is good, refrain from that which is denied in public, Munkar.

As one extinguishes ego, precisely speaking lower ego,-nafs can be seen as as ego, in Islamic theology- by using methods recommended in the book, such as breathing and posture, one gains, as the author affirms, anegoless ego, Sekida, p34 .

In other words, one cannot be without ego as long one lives,there is always something, but one thing is better than another.

For instance, being disposed to be kind to others and yet being firm on what is reasonable and prudent is better than being disposed to be mean or too kind to others.

It ought to be noted, with utmost importance, that too much of anything is not good to human health and welfare.

One may conceive a condition in which one is calm both physically and mentally; nothing is going on; all mental and physical events have have long passed; this is a break from active physical and mental life. The name for this state, according to Buddhists, is samadhi. In this state one is physically immobile and mentally serene.

Sufis call it Fana, gone.

This state may simply be called duma'nina or being calm.One may reach this state by simply reading the Noble Quran or other sacred literature, but to sustain this state for an extended period of time, or to make it your modus operandi, breathing and posture techniques may be necessaryto some, but not to others.

I declare without slightest equivocations that I found the method to be necessary to enter samadhi or fana.

However, this state is different from that of being sleep; in samadhi or fana one is awake but he or she is not aware of current time or space, where one’s feet are located, for instance,?Sekida,p29.

The author mentions also causation being one of the things that one is not aware when one is in samadhi or fana. I am not sure what that mans. If ego is seen as a cause that say causes a person to feel or think about something or even do something in a particular way, then one is free from such influences when one is samadhi or fana. In samadhi or fana, ego as we know it, a succession of physical and mental events that come and quickly pass away, is no more. One has transcended, youmight say, beyond time, space and causation.

This state that lies beyond time, space and causation,the author calls it, pure existence. Some Sufis call it siir fillah, that is travel in God, most high.

Immediately preceding Sufi thesis has primordial ecstasy or blissful feel or imagination of some sort; this is a preliminary evidence to suggest the Sufi thesis has merit.

Human psyche that grew up in Muslim milieu appears to warrant such thesis without equivocations. The conviction that indeed this is the case comes in the form of thrill or ecstasy, to repeat, that one feels or thinks about as one affirms the aforementioned thesis.

In more scientifically and philosophically minded people,the name of this state may just be stillness, mental and physical events have long passed. There is nothing going on at the time. All events have ceased to occur. This is emptiness or Fana.

As one returns from samadhi, fana, gone, one remains,baqa. Baqa, literally means has remained.

So, what does samadhi or fana looks like. The state, the author affirms, is analogous to that we notice when we are in the heart of mountains, where impressive stillness and silence prevails, a way fromcivilization and its noise, Sekida p30.