I shall comment on this book based on my own experiences and reflections spanning over 7 year-period in implementing the instructions of the book: Katsuki Sekida, Zen Training, Methods and Philosophy, ed. A. V. Grimstone(Trumbull: Weatherhill, 1985).
Get Katsuki's book to follow my comments.
One of the goals of this book is to present the exercises recommended in the book in ways that have worked for me, without undue difficulties.
Ego according to the author is “a succession of physical and mental events or pressures, which appear momentarily and as quickly pass away." Sekida, Grimstone, 34.
I noted such pressures building up and eventually causing one to act, for instance, too aggressively, throw objects violently at home or at work, for example, or too kindly, to speak in a carrying tone to a habitual aggressor that shows no inclination for atonement; when one is in such state one is less inclined to take a middle path appropriate to a relevant condition. I noted also such ego becoming eventually entrenched and thus determining fate.
If ego is extinguished, then one finds himself or her self in a great disposition, a disposition in which one is able to do what is known to be good or great and refrain from what is not.
I noted also a condition in which one is calm both physically and mentally. Nothing is going on. All mental and physical events have have long ceased to occur. This is a break, obviously ,from active physical and mental life. The name for this state, according to Buddhists, is samadhi; to Sufis is it fana, gone.
Ego according to the author is “a succession of physical and mental events or pressures, which appear momentarily and as quickly pass away." Sekida, Grimstone, 34.
I noted such pressures building up and eventually causing one to act, for instance, too aggressively, throw objects violently at home or at work, for example, or too kindly, to speak in a carrying tone to a habitual aggressor that shows no inclination for atonement; when one is in such state one is less inclined to take a middle path appropriate to a relevant condition. I noted also such ego becoming eventually entrenched and thus determining fate.
If ego is extinguished, then one finds himself or her self in a great disposition, a disposition in which one is able to do what is known to be good or great and refrain from what is not.
I noted also a condition in which one is calm both physically and mentally. Nothing is going on. All mental and physical events have have long ceased to occur. This is a break, obviously ,from active physical and mental life. The name for this state, according to Buddhists, is samadhi; to Sufis is it fana, gone.
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