Table of Contents

Cover Page
ZEN NAIKAN
Publisher's preface
The author
Introduction
What do I practice?
Naikan practice notes
Essential irst parts of teaching naikan
The Eight Sources The presence of Taoist alchemy in Zen
The First Spring: the mysterious hermit Bodhidharma
The Second Source: The Fifth Patriarch Hó ngrě n and the Secret of Zen
Meditation Contained in the Meditation Sutra
Second part and ninth chapter of the Sutra
The Third Source: The Zhenzhou Pǔ huà Light Body and the Fuke School
The Fourth Source: The Kamakura Era or the First Martial Variable
The Fifth Source: Takuan Sō hō or the Second Martial Variable
Taia
My comment
Taiaki
"The Annals of the Sword Taia"
The Sixth Source: Hakuin Ekaku and Internal Alchemy
The Seventh Spring: Kawaguchi Ekai - Kō no Daikei - Yamada Mumon.
Internal Alchemy from the Meiji Era
The Eighth Source: the Naikan of Strength found in You
How breathing works in daily life and during zazen
Attention on the breath and the western mind
Zazen Susokkan and other introductory techniques
1st exercise - Zazen
2nd exercise - Susokkan
Understand the dantien
Compress Force
Dantien or Hara
Naikan exercises to enhance the perception of dantien/hara
3rd exercise - Body exercise.
4th exercise - Exercise of the word.
5th exercise - Exercise of the mind.
The question of energy
Bioelectromagnetism
Electricity and Magnetism in Human Systems
Zen discipline and the practice of Naikan as an endotropic syndrome of
adaptation
The 5 Energy Levels including Qi and Prā ṇ a
Qi
Praṇ a
Exercises to Enhance the Perception of Qi and its Harmonic
Mobilization
How the embryo of ourselves breathes
embryonic respiration
6th exercise. Qi-Embryonic Respiration I
7th exercise. Qi-Embryonic Respiration II
8th exercise. Prano-Embryonic Respiration III
9th exercise. Prano-Embryonic Respiration IV
Master Hakuin's exercises taken from Yasenkanna and Orategama
10th exercise.
11th exercise.
12th exercise.
13th exercise.
Down in the soles of the feet
14th exercise.
15th exercise.
16th exercise.
17th exercise.
18th exercise.
The Three Secret Keys of Zen Naikan Commented
19th exercise.
20th exercise.
21st exercise.
Spiritual realisation
The Satori
The Signs of Realization of the naikan and The Body of Light
Yasenkanna
Introduction by the Translator-Editor
Prologue
The meeting with Master Hakuyu
What does it mean to "sustain life"
The remedies to sustain life and achieve immortality
Bringing the mind-heart back to the womb
Non-contemplation
How to cultivate mental energy
The complete exposition of the circulation/distillation method of the
“So” elixir
Last farewell to Master Hakuyu
Hakuin Ekaku Orategama
ORATEGAMA I
ORATEGAMA II
A broader discussion of Qi and prā ṇ a
The Qi
The Prana
Lexicon
Zen master Leonardo Anfolsi Reiyo Ekai

ZEN NAIKAN

The ancient alchemy of energy

of Rinzai Zen monks

With 21 Traditional Exercises

 Publisher's preface

By publishing this text, unique in its kind for precision and clarity, I had
a long conversation with the author. A feature of this book is to reveal
the techniques taught by Master Hakuin Ekaku and to explain their use.

Maestro Leonardo Anfolsi Reiyo Ekai has an encyclopaedic knowledge

of these topics but also very practical, that is aimed at precise and - he
himself stressed - de initive results; for a Zen Master, satori is such a
result.

A work of this kind towards the Zen Rinzai initiatory tradition is truly
unique and very precious, and could de ine a dynamic practice of Zen
which, in reality, has been seen and transmitted in its thousand-year
history. For the modern practitioner it could be dif icult to contextualize
Master Hakuin's work and understand if it is possible to make some use
of it, applying its techniques. Moreover, some of these techniques are
clearly intertwined with already known yoga techniques of the tantric
tradition; because of this, the reader may not understand their
usefulness in the Zen environment and how, instead, the Zen approach
deals with them differently.

Being a passionate practitioner myself, I had the precious opportunity

to ask Maestro Leonardo Anfolsi Reiyo Ekai for some essential
speci ications regarding the techniques: this made me understand, once
again, how personal the relationship with practice can be and how
must pass by oral transmission from Teacher to Student. Nonetheless
this book is a unique gift for those who practice alone even if, I want to
reiterate my thoughts, I would recommend participating in one of the
workshops organized by the Master.

The fact of relating to the Master is already in itself an unavoidable

koan for anyone who wants to face Zen, or himself, in a completely
radical way; it is a very simple, direct but personal relationship in
which one acts in a ield of living sharing. Much of the initiatory
knowledge related to these techniques can only be transmitted directly
during the meetings and cannot be recorded or published.

Rocco Fontana
 The author

Leonardo Anfolsi was trained by Master Engaku Taino under the aegis
of Master Taishitsu Yamada Mumon, the most beloved Buddhist Master
in contemporary Japan and Dean of the Hanazono Imperial University,
who ritually received Leonardo Anfolsi when he was a young monk.

The XXII Gomo Tulku Sonam Rinchen was recognized as a Master by

the Tibetan Lama. In fact, he was also trained in the secret teachings of
Tibetan Buddhist Masters such as Kalu Rimpoche (1905-1989),
Chő gyal Namkhai Norbu R., Nyoshul Kenpo R. (1932–1999), and the
Bonpo Master Tenzin Namdak R.. He received the six Naropa Yoga -
which he practiced assiduously - from HH the Dalai Lama in
Dharmasala in 1990, receiving complete instructions.

He teaches meditation and Buddhism in American and Italian schools

and holds conferences and workshops on the Zen-naikan technique
which he borrowed from the tradition of his own Zen lineage. He has
carried out institutional activities for UBI, the Italian Buddhist Union,
under whose aegis he is organizing the Mumonji Project.

His debut as a writer took place with a spiritual autobiography in an

ironic key (Bananananda 1989), a best seller edited and published by
Franco Battiato, L'Ottava Edizioni (republished by Fontana Editore); he
shared that necklace with the nobel prize winner Natsume Soseki, with
texts from the Su i scriptural tradition and Gurdjieff's classics. He
continues his work as a writer with texts on Buddhism and Zen, and as
a lecturer throughout the world, being appreciated for the cheerful note
and erudition of his speeches.

He directs the international journal of operational alchemy Nitrogeno

and the related project collaborating with Fontana Editore.

He collaborates with artists and entrepreneurs by training them and

working in that same ield as a publicist, an example of which is Opera
Unica, written together with Marco Bagnoli, Alessandro Magini and the
curator Sergio Risaliti, Mondadori Arte Electa 2016. He participated in
2007 as a multimedia artist in the exhibition space dedicated to the
celebration of Joseph Beuys for the 52nd Venice Biennale.

He has been trained since the eighties as an expert in naturopathy, a

task that connects to that of Minister of Worship. In the nineties he was
called to direct the therapeutic section of the Bolognese Naturist
Association, the most followed, articulated and advanced natural life
structure in Europe at the time, a pioneering reality for those times
which consecrated various protagonists of physical culture, Yoga,
philosophy and medicine today.

For direct information: contactesterni@gmail.com

 Introduction

“When one learns to be quiet and simple, without torments, the ancestral
energy spontaneously conforms to this, producing an integral and
pervading qi-energy[1]. If this energy is kept inside how could I get sick?
The point is to keep this qi-energy within, pervading and supporting the
entire body[2] so that between the 360 points and 84,000 pores there is
not the width of a hair without it. Know that this is the secret to
preserving life.” - Hakuin zenji
Zen naikan brings to its practitioner harmonious well-being,
continuous joy, the irmest aid to healing, and encourages the highest
spiritual attainment.

Zen naikan is a gift that comes from Zen Buddhism of the Rinzai school,
from monks and lay people dedicated to the realization of the strength
of the spirit, mind, energy and body.

While technological prostheses external to us are developed due to the

materialistic mentality, zen naikan encourages us to make ourselves
ardor, strength, source knowledge and freedom.

Historically, Naikan Zen had various sources within the Rinzai stream
and we still have examples of this dynamic Zen teaching in China today;
the word naikan was speci ically used by Master Hakuin Ekaku, only
three centuries ago, to de ine a method of energy cultivation associated
with a new concept of dynamic meditation practice suitable both for
laymen, who carry out an active life in society, and for monks
practitioners.

At the age of eighteen, in 1977, I had the honor of being welcomed in

sanzen - in the secret room where the koans are debated - by Maestro
Luigi Mario Engaku Taino in the zenshinji temple, and so I was
welcomed two years later in sanzen also by Master Yamada Mumon; it
was precisely in this place that I had the clear experience of what the
strength of the dantien could be made manifest in an eighty-year-old
man, who had been ill since his youth. Everyone remembers Master
Mumon for his inexhaustible energy, despite having only one
functioning lung, and how much power he expressed with his ki-tentai,
that is with the expression of his qi[3].

It is certainly thanks to the strength that Master Mumon knew how to

manifest, as well as to his human qualities and his open-mindedness,
that he became both the regent of the Rinzai school in Japan (Rinzai
shu), the dean of the Hanazono Imperial University[4] as well as who -
facts in my eyes more important - to be the irst Zen Master to dialogue
with the West and with the Christian world, but also capable of
welcoming those irst Westerners who asked to enter monastic
training; and all this while Master Mumon became a celebrated
calligrapher as well as a reference for the contemporary Japanese
secular world.

By practicing and studying the Zen methods of both the Rinzai school
(lı́njı̀), and the Soto school (caodong), as well as vajrayana and
dzogchen, I began to appreciate the ingenuity of Hakuin, who was able
to read subliminal teachings in the traditional Mahayana sutras codi ied
in a dense network of symbols; on this theme the reader can, for
example, consult the third part of the Orategama, where a profound
meaning of the title Lotus Sutra is mentioned and where, in a letter, he
transmits this teaching to a nun of the nichiren school. Hakuin certainly
practiced meditations which greatly stimulated not only his vitality but
also his ingenuity.
This is the destiny of our book, to offer today's practitioners those
methods, well commented and explained in their application,
presenting an operational introduction with appropriate techniques
taken from both the Chinese and Japanese tradition of Zen, a
propaedeutic and possible further developments that respect the
impulse given by Hakuin; Hakuin's teaching, in certain cases, is
complete in its development, but often it seems just sketchy, certainly
hoping that the intensity of the Zen monks devoted to the intuitive
asceticism typical of the Rinzai, would have achieved complete
understanding without delay.

The naikan - historically - appears to have three qualities:

facilitate the understanding of Zen practice for both monks and lay
people,

heal the monks from the zen disease - zenbyo - which manifests itself in
the rising of heat and in the sinking of the water element,

stretch, heal and ease existence.

We emphasize again that, from what Hakuin narrates, the naikan was
also taught to laymen, a fact which encourages us not to want to keep a
secret in this book that not even Hakuin wanted to hide but, as the Dalai
Lama advised us[5], to offer to those who are ready the opportunity to
develop themselves.

A better ourselves is a better world.

The contents of this book, over the course of two years, have come to
excite and amaze me. The most important thing is to keep reading,
always, even if you don't understand; it is better to have patience and
make use of the exercises, so that you can gradually penetrate the
secret hidden in this teaching. It's worth it; in this regard I promise that,
helped by my advanced students, I will answer all your questions
online.

Zen naikan - practiced by Chinese and Japanese Zen monks - is a form

of yogic asceticism:

of the mind, since it works together with visualizations and the breath,

of energy, going to stimulate the low of emotional/nervous/pranic

energy and of the respiratory/bioelectrical/qi force,

of the body, given that it uses particular movements and breathing, thus
allowing the development of Bioelectric and Stem Strength. To explain
using terms already familiar to many, zen naikan summarizes the
essence of yoga working with the ive prā ṇ as, and the essence of
qigong, working with jing and qi to achieve shen[6].

The adjective staminal de ines the germinal and constitutive principle

of living organisms of every kingdom, from plants to animals, up to
man; the etymology Staminale evokes in its radicals derived from the
Greek and Latin language something structural and ancestral, evoking
the concepts of standing, supporting structure, fulcrum and thread. The
stem cell can really be considered a primordial fulcrum, a structure or
the thread of the fabric of life, just as the bioelectric voltage is a fulcrum
and is, in its low, the energetic thread that underlies life and our well-
being by moving every function in the cell, tissue and organ.

We add that the latest scienti ic research regarding the extrapyramidal

nervous system, the enteric nervous system, epigenetics and the
formulation of the concept of resilience only recon irm, according to the
contemporary scienti ic approach, the correctness of the principles that
inform the ancient naikan method.

We can certainly say that naikan develops our immune capacity - that is
adaptogenic - and that it is a technique of rapid use with which it is
possible to realize those tangible facts commonly de ined as miracles of
which I have witnessed every day of my life; certainly these experiences
serve to encourage us but they must in no way distract us from inner
research but, rather, feed it by opening us to wonder in an innocent and
responsible way.
We need to re lect on this to understand where we are, what time we
live in, and how we all need - sooner or later - to make sure of the
mystery and how its action breathes into our daily lives. In other times -
no better or worse than today - this perception was inherent in
mankind although humanity was more naive and more instinctive.

Zen monks of former times were taught - as standard procedure - that

states of ecstasy or the manifestation of powers or even thoughts were
makyo, i.e. demons; so he cut himself short to avoid the most dangerous
and serious errors, while today such a statement could be undue
therefore exaggerated and even guilty, precisely today when the
inability to generate ecstasy or psychic and magnetic force can expose
us to all those diseases given by a crowded, very complex time and
where, unlike in the past, everything would be monitored, fast and
maniacally under-control.

This error is not understood by those who still retain the instinctual
strength of our ancestors but who have been ensnared by the new
scienti ic religion, which allows them to identify themselves in a freer,
literate and cultured world, as evident to the senses and free from
ideistic obscurantism of the past; but since science, like religion, is a
mass phenomenon, for most it is a standardized experience of identity
that has nothing to do with the high ideals of truly more open and
possibility minded minds; this is how we adhere en masse to that need
for identity which forces us to apply our faith on discoveries,
assumptions and theories, the same ones that tomorrow will be
rejected as unfounded if not silly or, moreover, criminal.
This is how the mandate of seekers of famous truth, both religious and
scienti ic, betrays itself; from the point of view of Zen, on the other
hand, disinterest in truth is de initive. Buddhism works with reality,
and reality must only be recognized by adhering to what it is as it is,
therefore on a level that is both pre-verbal and usable at the same time;
this happens in silence, listening and rediscovering the place where all
knowledge springs, the moment rarely reached by both religious and
scienti ic genius in its lashes of glory, and rarely recognized, as pure
genius beyond the expectations of historical time. Buddhism generally
has this unique possibility: it does not allow anyone to challenge the
truth, nor any idea that can come close to such a theorem. And this
remains an immovable principle even if in every century someone has
tried to negotiate the extremes. Even Amidist Buddhism, which is
salvi ic, is a method and in these terms it expresses itself towards the
ideles who, therefore, are also co-responsible for this salvation through
a method, a concept completely alien to monotheistic religions. For Zen
in particular, the well-applied method places us in the realization
which, however, takes place only when we abandon ourselves to the
evidence of reality.

And the evidence - which Buddhism considers innate - precedes every

concept, it is the silence itself of meditation; thanks to this, Buddhism
teaches us to see everything by understanding it as it is, in a naked and
silent way, without the intrusion of ideation-idealism-ideology. Actual
Buddhism is an innate religion that does not wait for the revelations of
anyone; a religion from which quantum physics or other religions can
be understood and certainly admired, without however Buddhism
being able to be understood by those who do not train themselves in
that extreme, unexpected and continuous form of freedom called
meditation, and in meeting those unplaceable individuals and abysmal
called Masters.
The naikan we are talking about in this introductory document is not
the naikan conceived by Yoshimoto Ishin - which we certainly respect -
but it is the alchemical training taught for millennia in the Rinzai school
of Zen, clearly found in the teaching of the ifth Chinese patriarch
Hó ngrě n, and then, at the time of Rinzai and – by his evident will or that
of his descendants – represented in the igure of Master Pǔ huà ; we can
recognize this continuum in two historical moments of great in luence
of the Rinzai school on the warrior caste and, inally, in Hakuin Ekaku.
Of this last Master, true cornerstone of the Japanese Rinzai tradition, we
report the two texts relating to the naikan; in more recent times we ind
the naikan in Kō no Daikei and in Kawaguchi Ekai. The latter was
Yamada Mumon Roshi's Master, in turn Master of Engaku Taino and
therefore mine. So this teaching comes directly to us in an
uninterrupted line from Master Hakuin Ekaku, who rediscovered it
thanks to his irrepressible erudition.

Among the main studies on the topics listed above, relating to the
Rinzai school, there are the research carried out by prestigious scholars
at the Hanazono University - directed for a long time by Mumon Roshi -
and also studies and texts in Western languages[7].

A note on the transliteration of Chinese or Japanese names. We have

choosen:

to use the pinyin transliteration – the typical academic one in use today
– for the names of people, places or dharmas, in the text I wrote,
to leave the transliteration from the Chinese that was used in the
Yasenkanna and in the Itsumadegusa translated by us from English,
respectively, by Waddel and Legget, and by Yampolsky, who put the
better known names in the common de-accentuated version, and the
lesser known ones in Wade-Giles (e.g. Chuang Tzu, Chih-i),

to often use the term zen also to say chá n, thus simplifying the
discourse, as is also common in academic essays on the subject.

Note:

[1] The production of the strongest and best qi - thanks to the integrity
of the ancestral energy (jing) - is due in this case to the dynamic
stillness induced by meditation, in which satori is realized. Hakuin
speci ies that the term meditation should be understood not only as
quietism or mere mental practice (zazen + koan = rikan), but also with
an active life and thanks to the power that Zen yogic meditation has to
"distill the elixir" (naikan) and therefore to bring into play the innate
potential of the practitioner.

[2] The energy maintained in every point and pore of the body is not an
aleatory way of saying, but is the subject of exercise 19.
[3] Bioelectrical energy is called "qi" in Chinese while this same
ideogram is read "ki" in Japanese

[4] Yamada Mumon completely dissociated himself from the

hypernationalist ideology of one of his Masters, Seise'tsu Ghenshõ , in
unsuspecting times; but this did not curb the enthusiasm of the usual
detractor who, knowing nothing of the reserved way in which the
Japanese express dissent, did not even inform himself of the fact that
Master Mumon was considered by many in Japan as a paci ist and
antagonist.

[5] See the chapter on the Eighth Source

[6] Jing = genetic and nutritional force / qi = bioelectric force / shen =

spiritual power. According to yoga, prā ṇ a is the energy that innervates
the system by reaching the dense body through the imagination
(psychosoma) and endocrine secretions; we can de ine the level of
pranic energy as biomagnetic. Qi, on the other hand, is the energy
which, according to Chinese tradition, lows on the body surface and in
the internal tissues, binding itself to the "functions" of the various
organs; therefore the qi is already anchored to the dense body, which
swells with bioelectric force like the wind sails it. Later we will specify
the nature of these two levels of energy, at the end of the text there is an
attachment which explains these two levels of energy.
[7] Akizuki Ryū min, Yanagida Seizan, Iriya Yoshitaka, Daisetz Teitaro
Suzuki. Paul Demié ville, Gregory and Daniel Getz, T. Grif ith Foulk, Peter
Gregory, Chi-chiang Huang and Ding-hwa Hsieh, Whalen Lai, Lewis
Lancaster, Trevor Legget, Miriam Levering, Ruth Fuller Sasaki, Morten
Schlü tter, Philip Boas Yampolsky, Burton Watson.
What do I practice?
 Naikan practice notes

The practice of zen naikan serves to increase and clarify the low of
energy, as well as to facilitate the learning of the meditative practice
and therefore encourage us in the search for awakening.

Zen naikan therefore means Internal Alchemy: we cannot apply

scienti ic ideology to this practice which is at the same time
science/religion/art, something that the scienti ic mentality cannot
understand.

The irst advice is to turn away from the prevailing scienti ic ideology -
which has now become the superstition of this time - the second is to
overcome the superstitions of the past that have the form of religious
con lict and use all that is meditation and prayer to evolve in perception
of universal energy and eternity.

The meditation and prayer that we already know how to do are good, if
we learn to do them better or learn others it is even better, because in
this way our experiences are broadened.
Everyone should introduce their religion but above all their creativity
into their practice of Zen Naikan.

Naikan Zen teachers have traditional training according to the Rinzai

Zen school, but those who receive Naikan Zen teaching must feel free to
integrate it with their own research and culture.
 Essential irst parts of teaching naikan

Ligament of the Diaphragm-uddhyana banda (empty suspensory

apnea) > “Vaso”-kumbaka (full luminous apnea): two yoga
techniques that we mention in the text and to which we refer.

The Ligament of the Diaphragm consists of creating a vacuum by

pulling the belly in as much as possible during exhalation. Maintaining
that position and breathing state, the muscles of the perineum also
contract and the chin rests on the sternum. To catch your breath, all you
have to do is suddenly abandon your belly, so you can breathe
effortlessly again.

The Vaso, on the other hand, happens after we have inhaled and
lowered the diaphragm, at the same time the muscles of the perineum
contract and, only the irst few times, the technique is facilitated by
placing the chin on the sternum. You can ind these exercises on
youtube.

When the reader deems it appropriate, we will specify other additional

techniques during our webinars or retreats. For now, that's enough and
it's ine. Always being natural with the breath, just at the moment when
we tend to shape it with exercise; well, this can and must be done but
always respecting it and taking the natural, spontaneous pauses
between one breath and another and, when necessary, breathing
normally before resuming the exercise.

Forget. A fundamental aspect of Zen is the art of forgetting.

Abandon ourselves to the Zero/Emptiness allows us to stay,
welcome and move in accordance with our being, without
concepts or preconceptions. Everything happens in the present.
The art of forgetting does not mean forgetting about things that
have happened, or – as some theorize – about enlightenment, but
it means BEING in the present so that our mind – instead of
ruminating – can remain in a creative space/ dynamic where he
can remember or act with as little effort as possible. Even while
acting or speaking.

Try daily to enter a stand-by state when you don't have something
speci ic to do, so while you are waiting for the bus or on the train, you
let your mind "go", which means leaving it in a state of rest;

extend this empty/neutral state of mind more and more while doing
things, starting with tidying up the house or washing the dishes, and
then,

extend it even to thought and learn to reason each time returning to the
void/neutral; you will ind that you will acquire in lucidity and
creativity, until, literally, you will be able to reason from this state of
emptiness/neutral.
Accept the challenge/impact. Many people who consider
themselves "spiritual" think that anyone who is a little harsher
towards them is a bad person, and they think the same thing about
life when there is ferment and strength and therefore challenge in
it. According to Zen and Zen Naikan all these are extremely
interesting circumstances without which we would live like
coelenterates.

Physical fatigue and muscular activity are essential for well-being,

especially for those who work as employees. Moreover, all martial arts
are useful (taichi, qigong, boxing) but extreme sports are even better,
irst of all mountaineering, which train us to that particular type of
attention and speed, as well as victory over fears, of which we need to
survive and then live in the world.

However, it is useful to do some daily physical exercise, for example

push-ups or the exercise called plank are excellent, if anything with the
addition of abs and other similar exercises that you can ind
everywhere. The seven pieces of brocade or the yoga sun salutation are
also excellent.

Another trick to get back into the habit of moving and enjoying physical
exercises is to dance to music that we particularly like and that
inebriates us. Whoever gives up on impact is only because they have
not understood its importance, and that it is the rule that conditions
our entire existence on every level, so much so that Heraclitus taught us
that the mother of all things is war. It is better to realize this clearly
before falling into the trap of saying - but without having suf icient
strength - everything is harmony; everyone is able to say this, to see the
other fact more stringent and immediate, and to admit its
consequences, is much, much harder. Moreover, what for an ordinary
person is trauma, for the trained person is a calm challenge in which
victory is taken for granted, regardless of the suffering and the
contingent result.

Only a fool becomes violent because he plays extreme sports or weak

because he lives comfortably.

Re lexology. We also ind the impact in Foot and Ear Re lexology,

given that when a point is painful, it really hurts us and we have to
impact with the pain while inding the right pressure to get rid of
it. Treating the endocrine glands truly empowers us in a sensitive
and ever more remarkable way. The following points are to be
found on a good re lexology map:

back

pineal

pituitary gland
thyroid

adrenals

pancreas

gonads

Ritsu zen: standing meditation: when standing, tilt your pubis a

little forward and let your arms go to the sides with your
shoulders and neck back, bend your knees slightly.

Fingers almost together: in the standing meditation / ritsu zen

position, the ingers are almost together at the height of the
dantien or diaphragm. In this position the low of the small
celestial circulation is spontaneously activated, a movement of
energy explained in this text.

Start the qi exercises in an exploratory and curious way:

optionally, the exercises preceding the 7th must be explored with
curiosity trying to understand their meaning and starting with
those that intrigue us the most with the very important promise
never to stop experimenting with others and then others.

Freight-lift breathing: which is the 8th exercise, or Prano-

Embryonic Breathing III. Its other name “Ascending/Descending
Embryo Breathing” shows why we have called it a freight elevator.
It is easy to practice having a very simple visualization and going
on the trust of sensing energies, which is the founding key of zen
naikan.

Exercises for the sick. The disease should not be a stable

condition. Anyone with a disease, or even just mild back pain or
neuralgia, receives the maximum bene it from the exercises just
outlined. Before proceeding further it is better that he is sure of
what he has achieved and if he can do more. Anyone who has any
doubts or is interested in receiving healing can contact us at
@zennaikan on Facebook, even privately; if you don't have
facebook, you can contact us atcontactesterni@gmail.com.

Breathing of the small celestial circulation or 7th exercise: Qi-

Embryonic Breathing II or the Embryonic Breathing of the qi
enhanced by visualization of embryonic strengthening for the
activation of the circulation rises or falls passing/starting again
from the tandien setting in motion the small circulation.
Generally: forward men / backward women.
Meditation: at this point it would be inevitable to start practicing
sitting meditation, possibly assiduously but always exploring and
having fun, as the practice of sitting meditation in turn encourages
the circulation of qi in an orderly and complete way.

Meditation begins by opening the senses wide open and letting self-
perception collapse, disappearing into eternity. During meditation it
would also be natural to practice the 10th and 11th exercise - which are
the heart on the hands and the heat in the abdomen which are the irst
two exercises given by Master Hakuin, extracted from the
Yasenkanna/Itsumadegusa.

Meditation helps us get in touch with our true essence. The direct and
naked perception of reality and therefore of Eternity is outside of any
concept expressing our true essence. We are all a manifestation of
Eternity, of this splendor that has taken the form of each of us, of every
living being and of every form we see in nature.

Remembering that we are a manifestation of Eternity, as well as

Eternity itself, helps us to always feel at home and also to relate to the
true nature of other people and other manifestations (animals, plants,
minerals) in a continuous dialogue that it can be silent or occur with
information transfer. To learn this method you need to rest your eyes
and let colors, shapes, images emerge; developing this ability is a
complex exercise that we teach in our retreats.
Smiling at the internal organs. This excellent exercise should be
taken in all its simplicity deriving from the intuition that there is
an intelligent spirit of our internal organs which are therefore real
entities with which we can come into contact. In fact, the
practitioner will be able to ascertain the fact that one or two
organs will not initially want to respond to their smile. In some
cases they will respond to our smile after a while, in other cases
we will have to insist on several sessions, in still other cases it
happens that we really have to do something to change our
condition with herbs, medicines, re lexological techniques,
otherwise that certain organ will not smile at all. If there are more
than two organs that don't smile at us, it's better that after a few
sessions, if we don't receive a positive response from them, we
decide to book a medical visit. Nothing alarming, but it's better to
actively prevent than cure.

Elixir So. This exercise by Master Hakuin Ekaku, which is the 18th
in the text, we begin to implement it happily after we have
practiced it about 6/10 times. Then a wondrous realm opens up in
our experience.

All of Master Hakuin's other exercises must certainly be explored

with fun and curiosity, then pro it will not be lacking.

Feeding the dantien by walking: it is an exercise not explained in

the text, but useful after experimenting with the previous
exercises; it consists of taking energy from the universe and
bringing it to the dantien. It is easy to do this while walking, as in
the movement of the step one can clearly feel the contribution of
energy and how it can lift the foot and leg or move the whole step
starting from the back and buttocks. Actually when this ability is
activated it is due to the ignition of the extended kikai dantien,
which you can see in an image of the book as well as in the
explanation of Zong Qi. This too is an exercise, together with many
others, speci ied in all its points and prepared in our retreats
thanks to other exercises. However, given that it is a very useful
exercise, we thought it necessary to mention it in these lines to
help those who are ready and can already understand it.

12th/15th/19th Exercise, or the exercise of breathing through the

pores. The most remarkable and unexpected result we realize is
when we are able to practice this exercise at will. When we realize
this we have achieved all of the previous ones as well as we have
the best access to the inner warmth. During the retreats we
accompany it with other preparatory exercises.

21st: Mu. Those who already practice the koan Mu according to the
teachings of the Rinzai school of Zen will receive an exceptional
stimulus thanks to the last exercise taught by Master Hakuin
Ekaku.
 The Eight Springs

The presence of Taoist alchemy in Zen

For 18th century practitioners, Master Hakuin's naikan served to heal

from qi energy diseases, derived from ascetic obsession and from the
extreme tests that monks in licted on themselves by meditating for a
long time without any understanding of their emotional and energetic
movements, but with courage indomitable under the scoldings of surly
masters; therefore the naikan was conceived by Hakuin as a form of
energy gnosis which was corrective of Japanese Zen practice, which had
become dull and consuming.

Furthermore, Master Hakuin Ekaku advocated a Zen training of doing,

something that he traced, thanks to his careful historical studies, in the
teaching of Master Da Hui, the very Master who annoyed Dogen
because of his obsessive use of koans.

For today's Zen practitioners, naikan techniques are used to approach

the practice of zazen and that of the koan without misunderstandings,
while for outsiders it is an excellent approach to sitting meditation as
well as the active one thought of by Hakuin. For everyone, the naikan is
the best practice to stay healthy in a dif icult historical moment, where,
moreover, the teaching of medicine and the advertising of some
pharmaceutical multinationals tend to undermine faith in the natural
human capacity for immunity, resilience and recovery.

The origin and the tantric-magical af latus of the dharani practiced

during the daily o-kyo ritual of the Zen monks – that is, the singing of
the sutras – is already clear; if we read, for example, the translation of
the Daihishu, or of the Se Son Myo So Gu - in Sanskrit Samantamukha
Parivarta - or the translation of the Prayer on the Occasion of the
Offering to the Hungry Spirits[1] of food, it becomes evident how the
content of this text is tantric[2], or aimed at the evocation of
archetypes. Furthermore, thanks to the translation by A. Stein and his
staff of the scrolls found in the Gobi desert at the Dunhuang oasis, we
have come to know of profound connections between Chinese Zen and
Tibetan Tantrism and Dzogchen, where the chá n was referred to as
Heshang Moheyan, i.e. the Mahayana elders. It is now known that some
Tibetan dzogchen lineages have embraced Chá n teachings; probably the
semdé approach of dzogchen would derive from those, as some Tibetan
methods have certainly penetrated the chá n. In fact, on closer
inspection, we see how typical in dzogchen is the visionary penetration
of the substance of reality, an approach that we ind identical in the
teaching of the ifth ch'an patriarch Hó ngrě n; I discussed it with Prof.
Paul Harrison, professor at Stanford[3], who was also surprised by the
strangeness of the citation by the ifth Ch'an patriarch of the Amitayus
Sutra[4] as a basic text for the practice of Zen in China. We will discuss
it shortly.

To conclude the discourse we must add that the Ch'an teaching, like
almost all the other branches of Chinese Mahayana Buddhism, was
repeatedly absorbed and - apparently - re-proposed, by the Tientai
school. The tientai school was the ideal heir of the Indian monastic
universities where every Buddhist path was practiced with the different
methods, commentaries and reference sutras. The same happened in
Japan, given that the tientai - tendei in Japanese - formed all the
founders of the various Buddhist schools, then of Zen, shingon,
nichiren, jodo, who were all tendei monks in the beginning. Among
these we have Eisai, Dogen, Kobo Daishi, Nichiren and Honen, just to
name the best known.

I stress again the fact that all of them were Tendai monks from the
beginning, and only after Zen, Nichiren, Jodo, etc., because this
undeniable fact allows us to recognize once again the factual historical
connection of Zen with the practice of ritualistic, esoteric and yogic, yet
always practiced with an essential and hermitic approach, which has
always been the speci ic note of Zen, that af latus that made exceptional
individuals such as Eisai and Dogen fall in love with it. We will deal with
it soon, seeing how from its origin - in the Kamakura period - Japanese
Zen was direct, sharp and inevitably magical.

I understand that this is dif icult to digest for those who have been
educated in contemporary Japan and who do not have complete
historical knowledge, and this even more so if they have trained under
the guidance of a Zen master adhering to a certain positivist and
reductionist mentality, who has conquered also many prelates in hyper-
technological Japan.

Anyone who studies the history of Buddhism and that of ideas knows
well that the reductionist-materialistic mentality is only a fatal reaction
to the degeneration of monotheistic ideism, while magical idealism is -
at the same time - the involution and/or synthesis of capable thinking
of gnosis, or of the highest psychic ability of mankind, capable of
breaking down and reconstructing knowledge through archetypes.

The next step is, in this context, the complete penetration into the fabric
of reality, a fact that can be achieved by a few individuals devoted to
this and which, once again, is not a result but the eternal and entire
legacy hidden in mankind.

The facts just described, plus the vicissitudes and techniques I will
discuss will make you understand why an intelligent, cultured man
with a future of sure success like the abbot Kawaguchi Ekai, at the end
of the 19th century, decided instead to go on a pilgrimage in India, Tibet
and Nepal to go in search of roots prior to Zen, so not in China. He
returned to Japan and helped, together with Kō no Daikei, the healing of
Mumon Yamada, a young monk suffering from tuberculosis but
destined to become the very incarnation of Rinzai Zen in 20th-century
Japan.

As I said, I had the honor of being ritually received in sanzen by Master

Mumon Yamada who poured into me the strength of a no longer
existing world and who encouraged me to work with the koan series, in
which I was instructed in all the details together with other brave
companions from Engaku Taino, Luigi Mario, trained under the
guidance of Mumon himself.

Engaku Taino encouraged me to study the history and methods of the

Zen tradition and the koan-enigmas left by the old Masters, and so did
all of us who followed his teaching, both monks and nuns, and laymen.

I stop here inviting the reader to follow the story of the naikan in the
next chapter, where I will tell how there is documented historical
evidence of the practice of this inner-alchemy since the times of
Bodhidharma, how it came to the ifth patriarch Hó ngrě n and, then, up
to the time of Rinzai; thanks to the teaching on energy given to the
samurai and practiced by the Tendai and Yamabushi hermits, we can
assert that Hakuin - in the eighteenth century - simply rediscovered it,
handing it down with erudition, experience and great skill.

For his part, sensibly in my opinion, Master Engaku Taino added

exercises such as yoga and taichi to the practice of zen rikan, he
encouraged those who meditate to practice sports, especially extreme
mountaineering, and furthermore he disseminated a practice of self -
healing, transmitted to him by the zen monk Inoue Muhen, who uses
the breath.

This shows us how it is inevitable to ind what is needed in order to

better train the students, provided that we realize how the teaching can
degenerate, and so the energy of the practitioner.

Now I would like to share what was told to me by Imei Emmyo

Miyamoto, the current abbot of Shoinji, the Temple of the Shadow of the
Pine, that is the temple on the sea personally founded by Hakuin Ekaku
in Hara, not far from Mount Fujiyama.

Abbot Emmyo insisted with great fervor on what Hakuin says in the
Yasenkanna and which I reported at the beginning of the book just
below his image; the abbot - who demonstrates Master Engaku Taino
about ifteen years younger than his age - wanted to be more precise
and speci ied to me that the whole body system is strengthened only
when the circulation in the dantien is accelerated and, I would use
these terms , dynamically compacted.

The dantien becomes elastic and, by igniting the kikai dantien - in

particular the larger kikai-receptive that goes from the groin to the
chest - the low of exchange between the surrounding energy and the
human dantien intensi ies; this ignition is perceived more and more,
over time, as a pulsation of the whole system. It is then that, as Hakuin
says, every cell in the body is illed with qi-energy. This experience is
certainly enhanced by the practice of the koan Mu, the practice of which
in conjunction with the naikan we talk about in the chapter dealing
with the techniques taught by Hakuin.

So from the texts of Hakuin and from the documents and oral
transmissions coming from the Zen lineages it is essential to extract
and develop the protocol adhering to our times, to ensure that these
naikan techniques - as well as giving health and fullness - act as a
shortcut for Westerners in practice of Zen, so that they achieve
absorption in samadhi/zanmai being immersed in a dynamic life full of
challenges, and where, above all, one navigates "by sight".

Note:

[1] Daistez Teitaro Suzuki attempted to retranslate from Chinese, back

into Sanskrit, some sentences of the text, whose evocative meaning is
clear [Respect to all the Benenandanti-Che-Guardano-quiggiù ! Om!]
which uses, in fact, typical terms of mantras:

“Namah sarva-tathagatavalokite! Om!

Sambala, sambala! Hum!

Namah surupaya tathagataya!

Tadyatha,

Om, suru[paya], surupaya, surupaya, suru[paya], svaha!

Namah samantabuddhanam, vam!”

[2] This ritual is very similar to the rite of offering the relative body
contained in the ritual celebrated - often in long solitary retreats - by
the Tibetan yogi-exorcists chö d-pa (Tib. gcod).

[3] Paul Harrison is the professor of religious studies at Stanford

University. Educated in his native New Zealand and Australia, he
specialized in Buddhist literature and history, particularly that of the
Mahā yā na, and in the study of Buddhist manuscripts in Sanskrit,
Chinese and Tibetan.

[4] Volume XLIX of The Sacred Books of the East series, Oxford, 1894.
See note 3 on page 29.
 The First Spring: the mysterious hermit
Bodhidharma

Bodhidharma, the irst patriarch of the chá n/zen school, taught some
gymnastic-yogic techniques to the monks of the old Shaolin temple,
then located in a marshy area. It seems that the exercises were simply
gymnastic and useful for strengthening the monks - as Lujong is
practiced for Tibetan monks - and that only centuries later did
Bodhidharma's exercises become that wing chung, conceived by the
nun Wu Mei, a gymnastic-martial technique desired to increase vitality;
wing chung in fact means eternal spring. This technique, increasingly
becoming martial, will then be de ined as xingyiquan, taijiquan, or
baguazhang or, more generally, as wu shu. Later the style called Shaolin
would have been invented, derived from a temple that later took the
name of the old monastery that housed Bodhidharma, and therefore
those disciplines that had become famous such as kung fu and qi gong
would have been formulated.

Obviously, in this brief discussion, we will speak of Bodhidharma only

with regard to the subject of our exposition, the naikan.

A text was attributed to Bodhidharma, the Yi Gin Ching i.e. the Book of
Muscular Development and for centuries the cultivation techniques
taught were called wai dan or weitan, i.e. external (cinnabar) alchemy,
which would mean laboratory alchemy but in this case physical
alchemy because tendon-muscular.

Twelve centuries later Hakuin will call his method - on the contrary -
naikan; in Chinese it would have sounded like Neidan, or internal
alchemy as yoga-psycho-energetic.

The discussion between Bodhidharma and Emperor Wu of Liang is very

famous, as a mandarin, to befriend the emperor who liked to pose as a
monk in retreat, wanted to introduce him to a real hermit, just removed
from his cave. And he took it badly. When the emperor described his
bodhisattvic commitment to having monks ordained and monasteries
founded, he was faced with the hermitic frown of Bodhidharma who
did not let him pass one: the monasteries? The monks? What are they
for from the point of view of eternity-satori? Do they have any absolute,
i.e. dharmic, value? No.

Obvious. But the emperor was offended and Bodhidharma was inally
able to return to his favorite activity, looking at the wall in a dark cave. I
emphasize dark, then we'll see why.

It is documented that a century or two before Bodhidharma a certain

Gunabhadra was in China who, a hermit and traveler like him,
expressed himself with paradoxical phrases. In truth, what we ind
written among the Dunhcan scrolls and other documents and
inscriptions tells us contradictory things about Gunabhadra; even if the
latter was an invented character and - much less probable -
Bodhidharma was too, it remains that this apparently crazy attitude is
the product of the teaching of a hermit who uses additional shocks to
awaken the Pupil, a propaedeutic which is the product of the mind of
one who lives long and alone in fullness, contemplating the days, the
trees, the butter lies, the river, the clouds and seeing it all from within
the cave of the deepest inner absorption.

On the theme of the cave, I will have something to add in this chapter, in
a note, and in the next chapter on Hó ngrě n.

It seems that the Indian monk Gunabhadra also centered his teaching
on meditation but relying on the scriptural authority of the Lankavatara
Sutra, which he translated into Chinese: from this took place the
Lankavatara school, leng kia tsung, which was in this way the
forerunner of the chá n . However, the Lankavatara was for centuries a
favorite Sutra of the chá n Masters, and Hui ke, the second chá n
Patriarch, was also a descendant of the leng kia tsung.

We quote Gunabhadra, again from a text found in the Dunhuang oasis:

“Buddha is not Buddha and therefore does not save beings. It is sentient
beings who impose distinctions and therefore believe that Buddha saves
beings; so they do not realize this mind and have no stability in this.”

It's still:

“Can you penetrate a vase? Can you enter a column? Can you enter the
ire? Can you cross a mountain? And, tell me, would you penetrate
mentally or physically? Well, the leaves of a tree can preach the Dharma,
a vase can preach the Dharma. This stick can teach the Dharma, a room
can teach the Dharma, and so can earth, water, ire, air. This mound of
earth, this wood, this tile or this stone can teach the Dharma. What is
this?”

These lines of proto-zen, ancestral, almost screamed, are of the utmost

importance for understanding both zen metaphysics and naikan zen
with its concept of energy; and inally they are useful for understanding
the relationship between zen propaedeutics and the cultivation of this
energy, given that in this sentence there is a continuous shift between a
communication protocol based on common facts and objects - although
perceived from the state of awakening - a communication protocol
based on the use of symbols, and a last protocol based on an expression
that is as sudden as - at least at irst sight - paradoxical. On this basis, a
sense of the use of energy (qi/prā ṇ a) in Zen is recognizable, as well as
that very particular speci icity concerning the activation of the will
(joriki) and the consequent metaphysical power (kensho) in the Zen
practitioner.

Now we can quote a text formerly attributed to Bodhidharma[1]. The

theme is energy development techniques and, in this case, visionary;
these are conceived in light of the realization of innate and sudden
enlightenment, typical of the Ch'an vision.

On the question of the development and consummation of the vision we

will see in the next chapter what the ifth Chinese patriarch, Hó ngrě n,
therefore the ifth descendant of Bodhidharma, tells us.

“When you irst step into the Way, your awareness cannot focus. But you
shouldn't doubt that all the scenes that appear are actually from your
mind and nowhere else. If, as in a dream, you see a light brighter than the
sun, then suddenly all that is left of your attachments dissolves and the
nature of reality is revealed. This event will be the basis of enlightenment.
But it is something that you alone experience and therefore know, but
which you will not be able to explain to others. But if you could, while
walking, standing, sitting, or while lying in a quiet place, see a light,
which is neither dim nor strong, you shouldn't talk about it with others
and you shouldn't focus on it. It is the light of your own original nature.
Or if you happen to see, while walking, standing or sitting, or lying still in
a nocturnal darkness[2], that everything appears as if it were illuminated
by the light of day, do not be surprised. It is your own mind about to
reveal itself."

Note:

[1] Translated in 1987 by the expert sinologist Bill Porter Red Pine
from a text copied by woodcut during the Qing (Manchu) dynasty. I
believe that these pages are original because they relate to what is
already found in other texts of the Tang dynasty. On this text and on
that of Gunabhadra I ind interesting, although incomplete, the critical
opinion of Alan Cole in his Fathering Your Father: The Zen of
Fabrication in Tang Buddhism, University of California Press 2009. How
are his theories based but, also, they collide with the scrolls found in
Dunhuang. On the basis of what I am demonstrating, it can be seen that
the invention of the Ch'an lineage and teaching is an undeniable and
habitual fact, but that this has not, however, invalidated the existence of
a Dharma taught and lived since ancient times in the School of
Meditation. , Dharma that has matured over the centuries and also been
exchanged with others. Moreover, the follies of Zen are more than
intelligible on the basis of a superior logic; I have already written on
this subject by de ining three protocols of human communication.

[2] Anyone familiar with the oriental art of encrypting teachings can
see how - by comparing this further step added to a similar previous
sentence - here a particular technique is speci ied to be practiced in the
dark and in a state of immobility. The result is the appearance of a
diffused light, in which particular experiences as well as scenes can
manifest themselves, thus constituting an instruction known in the
Tibetan dzogchen tradition as mannagdé (snscr upadesha) or, more
precisely, yang thig. This will be explained further on in the text.
 The Second Source: The Fifth Patriarch Hóngrěn
and the Secret of Zen Meditation Contained in the
Meditation Sutra

Before the advent of the sixth patriarch Huı̀né ng, his predecessor
Hó ngrě n de ined himself as a very cautious igure and distant from the
clamor of the world; in fact the succession was a chaos that lasted
several centuries between two different tendencies, the Southern Ch'an
led by Huı̀né ng[1] and the Northern one by Shé nxiù , a teaching - the
latter - which was then absorbed by the Tientai school, and for many
verses more comparable to the caodong teaching, i.e. soto. The Dharma
of the ifth patriarch Hó ngrě n was a Northern Zen with still a strong
Indian imprint, a Zen in my opinion that needs to be explored carefully
to understand a founding root of this Buddhist approach, a root that is
even before the zazen-koan–mondō scheme -hua tou[2], or the typical
formula that the history of Zen has presented to us over the centuries,
precisely, from Huı̀né ng onwards.

Zen has always been considered as the School of Meditation and being
that even the ifth patriarch agreed with this address, perhaps it is
important to understand what this meditation was. And this is where
the jaw drops.

By his direct, public assertion, seated meditation of the Zen school must
be practiced precisely following the Sutra on Contemplation of Buddha
Amitayus, of which I report the irst moment relating to instruction in
meditative practice, which I will comment shortly.
 Second part and ninth chapter of the Sutra

Buddha then replied, “You and all beings should make it your sole aim,
with one-pointed mind, to perceive the eastern quarters. Of course, you
will ask how this perception is formed. Now I will explain it to you. All
beings, unless impaired from birth, have sight, and they all see the
setting sun. You should sit properly, look in the western direction, thus
preparing your thought for a meditation that brings you closer to the
sun; cause your mind to be ixed irmly upon it so that you have a
motionless and unhesitating perception by a concentration of mind
solely placed on the setting sun, as it is about to disappear but still
appears as a red suspended drum.

After you have thus contemplated the sun, let its image remain clear and
well ixed, both with your eyes closed and open. This is the Perception of
the Sun, which is the irst meditation”[3].

Before going into the history of the connection between the Zen
tradition and that of the pure land, which is inspired by this sutra, I
would like to underline the consideration that Hó ngrě n has for this
practice which is recommended here as the most essential Zen
meditation.
I think this information can make us better understand, once again, a
true essence related to birth, but also to an everlasting essence of Zen.

Let us return to what was said about the transition from Hó ngrě n to
Huı̀né ng, the ifth and sixth patriarch. As already mentioned in the
previous note, the historical sources available to us today are
controversial as to whether the patriarchate was conferred or
recognized on Huı̀né ng or Shé nxiù . The fact is that the Altar Sutra is the
only text in Chinese that was accepted in the Chinese Buddhist
tripitaka, that is, in the collection of sacred Buddhist Mahayana texts.
However if - as also appears in the Altar Sutra - Huı̀né ng represented
the continuity of the chá n for the following centuries, we can see the
philosophical turning point of all this where, in his teaching,
enlightenment is achieved mysteriously, certainly not gradually; both
because it is innate, and because it occurs in an eternal instant that
happens in a person's life on a certain day, it is true, but not because of
an ascetic effort or an accumulation of favorable conditions. Hence,
according to Huı̀né ng, dhyana does not produce prajna, and that this
was placed at the foundation of Zen with the practice of zazen, silent,
naked, open meditation.

To the difference felt and desired by the sixth patriarch Huı̀né ng on the
basis of his understanding of the Diamond Sutra, were added the
methodological variables devised by his descendants. All of them
wanted to make the concept of Prajna-not-produced even more
strongly so that it was understood by the Chinese mentality, precisely
because the fact of enlightenment-not-dependent-on-the-practice-of-
meditation was apparently not immediately perceptible in the
operational approach that reached the ifth patriarch. Nonetheless, the
practice of meditation, as intended by Hó ngrě n, reminds us of
something.
Various techniques called sun-gazing, phosphenism, etc. have recently
been published on the internet, which teach how to stimulate the brain
and the hypothalamus, and therefore new endocrine secretions, thanks
to the contemplation of light or, preferably, sunlight[4], exercises that
arouse my concern, such as the various attempts to feed on light. In
truth, even with a continued stay in the dark this effect can be
generated, which would explain why Bodhidharma meditated in a cave
and with his face against the wall.

How can I afford such speculations? This could be asked by those who
are not aware of the latest archaeological and historical discoveries,
and those who do not know the speci ic Persian, Tibetan and Indian
teachings; but above all the now acclaimed fact of a historical and
methodological connection between Chinese Zen Buddhism and
Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism or, let us be more precise, between Zen
and dzogchen, as reported by the scrolls found in the Dunhuang oasis in
the desert of Gobi[5].

Since the day of the discovery, irst the orientalist and sinologist Stein,
and then Kvaerne, with their respective teams, have begun to translate,
roll after roll, Buddhist, Manichaean, Taoist, Nestorian and Confucian
texts; striking was the fact that these texts were found in a Buddhist
context, as if comparison with other religions were normal.

Not only that, even the Tibetan sources document a history of these
interweavings that lasted for centuries; entire lineages of dzogchen,
from the council of Samye onwards, have been penetrated by the
hansan moheyan doctrine, i.e. by the oshang mahayana, the elderly
mahayana masters; the etymogenesis of this word, although not yet
completely clear, by now we know that it concerns Zen.

Intuitively, the Tibetologist Giuseppe Tucci compared the Chinese term

tsochá n (= seated meditation) to dzogchen[6], due to a simple
assonance; certainly an undue etymological equation, but also the
demonstration that Tucci had intuited or, perhaps, already knew
something.

The fact is that in the practice of dzogchen the sector de ined as

mannagdé (snsc upadesha) also contains a set of practices of
concentration on sunlight.

At the same time, the semdé sector of dzogchen teaching contains the
practice of sitting meditation as it is precisely taught in the northern
school of Chinese Zen.

Furthermore. The connection between the Ch'an school and the pure
land school is a fact that dates back in time and not only, as has been
thought until recently, related to the Sung period, where the two
schools shared the worship of Buddha Amitabha but, apparently, much
older. Moreover, the third Zen school - besides Rinzai and Soto - present
today in Japan, the obaku school, contains the cult of Amitabha in its
teaching.
Every side consideration that we add seems to always go in the same
direction.

The two archetypal Buddhas Amitayus and Amitabha are

etymologically related, the irst to Life and the second to Light, thus
de ining themselves as two hypostases of the solar-illuminative
archetype; it seems to me that the irst is related to the evocation of the
vitalistic power, de ined in Japanese as joriki, the second to the saving
power de ined as tariki. Joriki is an early but important moment in the
development of the Zen practitioner and means the development of
will, character strength and life energy, while tariki has to do with the
devotional opening to the soteriological function of Buddha Amitabha,
called in Chinese Amituofo and in Japanese Amida.

Somehow Amitabha has to do with the awakened nature that is innate

in all beings, which must certainly be ritualized or recognized before
being realized; if it is true that the commoner cannot understand how
he can already be Buddha, he can nevertheless understand that Buddha
will save him even if he is not a shin of a saint. In this sense that is why
it is customary to invoke Amitabha to be reborn in the Pure Land of the
West, even if the priests of this cult let leak the very congruous, even if
apparently romantic, fact that the entrance to the Pure Land is
suspended in the drop of dew waiting on the leaf of grass for the irst
ray of sunshine.
Amitayus, on the other hand, is the object of worship particularly in
Tibet, as a deity who gives long life, I myself received several times the
initiation of this deity according to different lineages, as well as I
received it from Amitabha, particularly linked to the practice of po-wa ,
or great transfer, one of the six yogas of Naropa[7] and, curiously, also
related to Avalokiteshvara (T. Chenrezig) both emanating from the
Dewachen (snsc. Sukhavati) heaven.

I fondly remember my visit to a Ch'an temple in San Francisco's

Chinatown, where zazen, the classic Zen seated meditation, was
practiced, and during the meditative walk, between sessions, a praise
was sung to the saving power of Amitabha's vow and it was explained
how this was implanted as an eternal seed in us. The practitioners of
this cult, many of them laymen, were endowed with a very comforting
sweetness. Likewise, I recall with pleasure my visit to the main temple
in Japan of the Jodo-Shinsu, the Hongagnji in Kyoto, where I chatted
amiably with an elderly practitioner, as well as with pleasure I recall the
chanting of the sutras at the butsudan - the family shrine - of a group of
amidists where I was invited to of iciate, despite being a monk of the
Zen school.

I would add that around and in the temples of the obaku school, where
the cult of Amida is practiced within the daily discipline of Zen, there is
an air of peace unique in the world.

Elsewhere I summarized the meaning of the Zen discipline as follows:

Notoriously Zen is:

Kyoge betsuden: a living communion without the need for doctrines,

Furyu monji...so beyond the canonical scriptures,

Jikishi ninshin... who aiming directly at the heart,

Kensho jobutsu... self-reveals directly the nature of my enlightened

being (Buddha).

All this informs the practice that in Zen it has three precise and
indispensable purposes:

Joriki, or the development of concentration given by meditation, the

in luence of the Masters and the strength of character.

Kensho-godo, or realization of awakening-Kensho as peak of original

experience and inally as original reality-Satori without return.
Mujodo no taigen, or full realization of Satori as daily life.

Precisely this dry and very essential presentation, beyond what is

explained there, wants us to understand the quality of the Zen spirit,
the same quality that we ind in it from the very beginning thanks to the
silent and ascetic igure of Bodhidharma.

Note:

[1] From the end of the 8th century Huı̀né ng was accepted as the Sixth
Patriarch by all the Chá n schools, and thus all the current schools go
back to his two putative heirs, Ná nyuè Huá irà ng and Qı̄ngyuá n Xingsı̄.
Yet neither of these Masters is mentioned as his heir in the older
writings; yet Shé nhuı̀'s campaign was so successful that it became an
implicit obligation to claim descent from Huı̀né ng. Three other pupils
continued as many lineages descended from the sixth patriarch:
Shé nhuı̀, Ná nyá ng Huizong, Yǒ ngjiā Xuá njué . We also add three other
self-styled descendants - but in this case of the ifth Hó ngrě n patriarch -
who would be Faru, Xuanze and, known to all, Shé nxiù , all in
competition with Huı̀né ng. Seeing this, one understands how lineages
were negotiated in China and often rewritten according to the needs of
posterity; I have already explained how these facts invalidate neither
the meaning nor the scope of the Chinese Zen teaching.

[2] The Mondō is the ritualization of meetings with the master where
we ask him, often in public; conversely, koans are questions asked by
the Master to the Student who must give an answer, privately. The hua
tou is instead the very root of the koan, where the practitioner brings
with him the sentence of a sutra or a question, for example "Who is it
that..." walks, drinks, etc., thus creating with ever greater subtlety the "
great doubt".

[3] The Contemplation Sutra of Buddha Amitayus, called the Meditation

Sutra, is considered one of the canonical sutras by all Pure Land
schools, while the other sutras are the Sukhavati-vyuha and the
Abbreviated Sukhavati-vyuha. The irst translation into English was by
J. Takakusu and was published as Volume XLIX of The Sacred Books of
the East series (Oxford, 1894) which has been republished by Dover
Publications. This source was also deservedly cited by Leonardo Arena
in Anthology of Ch'an Buddhism, Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, 1994
Milan

[4] These exercises must be practiced with extreme caution and for a
very limited time to avoid serious consequences.

[5] See, The International Dunhuang Project and in particular, derived

from the analysis of these scrolls, the ch'an studies of Yanagida Seizan,
Iriya Yoshitaka and Tanaka Ryō shō ; in particular of the latter we have
the study-guide Tonko zenshū bunken no kenkyū , or "Studies on
Documents Concerning Zen from Dunhuang".

[6] The Religions of Tibet, Giuseppe Tucci, Mediterranean Editions,

Rome 1983.
[7] The six yogas of Naropa (T. Naro-cho-yung or the six dharmas of
Naropa) are a group of Indo-Tibetan initiatory techniques transmitted
within the kargyupa lineage. However the guiding technique of inner
heat (T. dumo), is practiced in a simpli ied but always incisive way in
the ruxan and semzin teachings of the Tibetan dzogchen lineages and is
also taught by Hakuin - although retranslated from the pranic energy
sphere to that of qi - with the Elixir So technique. In this same text,
however, I also expound the technique of inner warmth, dumo, as given
in the dzogchen tradition.
The Third Source: The Zhenzhou Pǔhuà Light Body
and the Fuke School

During the Tang dynasty, Lı́njı̀ Yı̀xuá n (... – 867) – or Rinzai – in a

climate of imperial antipathy, found himself managing very crowded
monasteries, where people of all origins and wealth often went to
survive the famine; this is where a typical term that Rinzai often used
comes from: monks-bags-of-rice. Being a stern man and having a
dif icult task to perform, Rinzai impressed everyone with his frown and
even allowed himself on various occasions to be standof ish with the
imperial dignitaries.

At night, however, his laughter kept the neighborhood awake, it is said,

for many leagues.

Over the centuries, the Rinzai school began to specify itself as the koan
school that emphasized sudden enlightenment, while the Soto school
speci ied itself as the silent practice school more focused on innate
enlightenment, although both cultivated both aspects of awakening.

When Zhenzhou Pǔ huà appears in the text Lı́njı̀ Lù (jap. Rinzai Roku),
he immediately assumes that function of illuminating variable which in
the rest of the text is instead of Rinzai, which in those instants fades
into the background. And here Pǔ huà lies down at the entrance to the
temple to nibble on vegetables and when Rinzai says contemptuously
just like donkeys these bray unrepentant[1]. Or twice at a dinner
offered by a wealthy benefactor, after a discussion with Rinzai, Pǔ huà
kicks the table overturning food and furnishings. Nota Bene: there
hadn't been sixty-eight or Hollywood ilmography, then, and any
strange behavior was considered insane and immediately ostracized.
Up to the story of the one-piece suit that we report below.

Therefore, from Rinzai's respect for Pǔ huà , it can be deduced that he
was an important companion of Rinzai and that he had the task of
determining an important variable in the story, of creating an
additional shock, a fact relating to the imponderable and therefore to
the awakening, emerging from the narration in an emblematic way, in
the direct expression that belongs to the enlightened individual.

In fact, the ghost of Pǔ huà reached Japan in the 19th century, in a
moment that saw the foundation of a sub-school of rinzai-shu which
was a bit secular and a bit hermitic, called the fuke school, since in
Japanese this is how the name Pǔ huà reads: Fu-ke.

This school sprouted from the Rinzai line of Tō fuku-ji temple - a temple
that was founded by Takuan Soho - in the 18th century, until it reached
the 19th century; curious is the fact that Takuan Soho constitutes the
ifth source of the naikan.

The monk-priests of the fuke school - the komusō - are essentially

yamabushi, i.e. mountain hermits, who practice a musical meditation
called suizen, or blowing meditation; they play honkyoku melodies, i.e.
relating to the breaking of individuality in the whole, with a bamboo
cane lute, which gives off a deep, low and plaintive sound.

Playing this instrument causes a powerful lowering of the diaphragm,

creating an immediate vase effect, if we call that the effect of meditation
when practiced for a long time, as well as of a breathing technique
known in Hindu and Buddhist Tantrism as kumbhaka.
The creation in the navel area of the vessel, or the alchemical lask-
athanor, is a prerequisite of exceptional importance, both for the suizen
and for the naikan. As an idea it resembles that of recharging the
dantien, even if the vase (swadishtan/nabi) pertains to the prā ṇ a, while
the dantien to the qi. We'll talk more about that shortly.

Let us add that, by virtue of what has been said about the
contemplation of sunlight with regard to the ifth patriarch Hó ngrě n,
the baskets carried on the head by the shakuachi komusō players are
not accidental, and that they were not only used to isolate themselves
but, above all, to leave ilter and refract the sunlight so that it could be
contemplated by the players of this instrument perfectly suited to
evoke the deepest breath.

To introduce the character, here is the account of how Pǔ huà received
progeny from his Master: “When Panshan Baoji, the Master of Pǔ huà ,
was too old, he said to the monks, “Is there anyone among you who can
capture my semblance?”

Many monks made a memorial portrait of Panshan, but none was to his
liking.

The monk Pǔ huà stepped forward and said, “I really can draw.”

Panshan said, “Oh yeah? Why don't you show me?"

Zhenzhou Pǔ huà somersaulted, turned around and went out.

Seriously Panshan said, "One day, that guy will teach the whole universe
with his madness!" thus designating him as his descendant.

After saying these words, Panshan died.

The account of the manifestation of the light body of Zhenzhou Pǔ huà :

“One day Pǔ huà , strolling through the streets, asked every citizen he
met for a one-piece suit. Many - thinking of a long Chinese dress -
offered him one in his size, but Pǔ huà politely rejected them all with a
bow, shaking his head and sighing.

Lı́njı̀ [Rinzai] told the temple administrator to prepare a cof in, and
when Pǔ huà returned, the Master greeted him thus: "I have had a
beautiful one-piece garment prepared for you." Pǔ huà , happy,
shouldered the cof in and went about the streets shouting, “Rinzai
made me a beautiful one-piece garment. I'm going to the Eastern Gate
to leave this existence.” All the citizens locked to see what the Master
was about to do.
“Well, no… I would say no”. Pǔhuà thought about it aloud "Not today",
and turned on his heel "...But tomorrow - by the Gods - I will really go to
the Southern Gate to leave this existence. Here you are!" But after doing
the same thing for three days no one believed him anymore. On the fourth
day, not a single person followed him, so Pǔhuà went outside the city
walls with his beautiful cof in and inally asked a passerby to nail its lid
with him inside. The passer-by complied but, frightened, he called the
guards in a loud voice and so the news spread around the city, and people
ran to open the cof in... But Pǔhuà was no longer there. His body was
gone. Only the ringing of his bell could be heard which seemed to come
from space, above the heads of the crowd; in the sky the jingle kept
ringing and echoing, but farther and farther and farther away. To which
everyone saluted Master Zhenzhou Pǔhuà's passing with a bow”[2].

It is incredible to note how this story of Master Zhenzhou Pǔ huà 's
passing has been under everyone's eyes until today and that no one has
ever considered that it was about the realization of the Body of Light, a
well-known theme in the Tibetan tradition and in Taoist shamanism.
About the Tibetan tradition we read from the biography of Drugpa
Kunley, another mad saint like Zhenzhou Pǔ huà , that he instructed and
followed the liberation of an elderly lay practitioner who manifested
the body of light - or rainbow - with the same effect of echo in space, as
narrated by the sound of the bell of Pǔ huà which comes from
everywhere.

Note:
[1] In this way Zhenzhou Pǔ huà shows that he is beyond the rules, but
Rinzai indirectly reproaches all the monks by showing them - rebuking
Pǔ huà - that they must not repeat the same thing; he can, as awakened,
therefore without breaking any rule or vow, in fact while reproaching
him Rinzai lets him do it.

[2] I have slightly ictionalized these two biographical stories relating to

Pǔ huà , without changing their meaning in any way, just to make the
spare but evocative style of the Chinese original usable.
 The Fourth Source: The Kamakura Era or the First
Martial Variable

China, especially through the mediation of Korea, had been present in

Japan for centuries well before Buddhism arrived there. Taoism and
Confucianism were already part of the civilization and culture of the
rising sun and formed the background for the cult of the emperor and
national destiny.
Buddhism, as always, fascinated by the enormous variety of
methodological directions, by the always fascinating and elusive
philosophies, by the iconography and by the literature. But the most
important aspect that stamped Buddhism in Japan was the strength of
character of its ascetics plus the meeting with the request for magic by
the people and the authorities, to which the ascetics responded in
terms of healing, divination, exorcism and development of perceptual
skills.

When the irst Zen masters arrived in Japan, the samurai soon
understood that this teaching could be a source of strength and ighting
skills, as well as opening up in them a deep inner space for research
that passed through the war and that did not demand from them a even
the slightest understanding of what he was not given to understand.
Zen, to put it bluntly, was the only form of Buddhism that did not
reproach the samurai; in fact, the Zen teaching requires the warrior to
be – him! - dead, and therefore only therefore allows him to kill other
warriors in a cruel game which, however, has no hatred, but which
results in a unique lowering of courage and strength.

Perfectly related to the warrior way of budo, there is a philosophical

but also operational principle of Zen practice de ined as Mu Shin[1]
which centers both the sense of meditation and that of perfect action,
an intuition generically translated in Buddhism with the term
emptiness or emptiness , in Japanese ku.
The famous samurai Myamoto Musashi states the following in his
chapter The Book of Emptiness (Ku), contained in the Book of Five
Rings: “Emptiness is called ku, emptiness is that which we cannot know.
Yet the void does not mean that we are faced with 'nothing'. Those who
know the 'peak' also know the void[2]. Often when people have not
understood and therefore are empty of understanding, they think that
is the ku, but it is their reasoning that is illusory.

(…) The good is in the void. When a neophyte practices, he thinks he has
discovered the true way, whether it has been glimpsed in the world or in
religion, but only when he takes the path completely sincerely, only then,
illusions fall and reality is de initively revealed. And behold, on the day
when the purpose is ful illed, only then will one understand the meaning
of ku.”

As has been said, the Buddhism of the Chinese Masters was dif icult and
almost incomprehensible to the illiterate samurai. After decades of
effort, and notes of understanding each other, Chinese masters began to
develop topics for koan questions and teachings that would be
intelligible to these rugged men-of-war. The Chinese language reads the
same ideograms with other sounds that are read very well in Japanese
too, but certain concepts typical of Buddhism had to be made natural,
since in fact they are much more so than most philosophical ideas or
any other religious assumption of the East or of the West. Buddhism
would have no frills, as it looks naked at reality and welcomes it for
what it is but, nevertheless, Buddhism expresses itself through the
methods useful for developing understanding and remaining in that
vibrant but silent state from which the realization of awakening gushes
.
The values felt by the samurai were courage, lack of fear of death, pride
and absolute dedication, and the Chinese Masters began to dialogue
through these values, and to use the sense of embarrassment, which is a
particular note of the Japanese mentality, to create a number of
facilitated explanations and unsettling koan-paradoxes useful for the
realization of the spiritual treasure.

How to metaphorically explain the importance of emptiness to a

warrior? Certainly thanks to the guard of sword ighting, because the
blow can only enter if the opponent's guard opens. And when does it
happen? When the opponent inhales.

The bamboo is empty, the sky is empty, the sack is empty, yet they are
useful precisely because they are all empty, and when they are full of
things or phenomena, the light of birds or clothing and food, they are
full only because at the same time they are empty.

When the opponent inhales he has a moment of hesitation, it's

inevitable, and that's where you can enter with the blow, then what is
full enters what is empty.

That's why the samurai remain motionless on guard, they make their
post waiting even for hours, like a cat and mouse, waiting for the irst
one to inhale, and thus have his moment of hesitation.
In the Zen mentality we can say that hesitating is like the devil for
Christians.

When we hesitate, we lose the great doubt - if we are neophytes - or the

eternity that we have glimpsed, and we become vulnerable to the small,
pathetic doubts dictated by our uncertainty as small entities lost... in
eternity.

In combat there is another possibility, even more subtle and successful,

and it concerns the warrior's inner emptiness which enters the
adversary's emptiness even more effectively, moving and cutting
without resistance, quickly and deeply.

This in battle is dif icult to implement, especially when danger

surrounds the warrior and it is enough for the blade of his sword to
plant itself once in the opponent's body to leave the warrior unarmed
and at the mercy of the enemies, while trying to remove the blade from
the body of the enemy. For this reason each blow must be measured
and also passing, because it must strike lowing from one contact to
another without landing, whether the blows have been parried or held,
or whether they have struck the enemy; seamless.

Fencing with the Japanese sword, unlike the western saber, imposes a
millimeter calculation of the measures, both in the guard and in the
distance that separates the contenders. While with the Western saber,
calculating the distance wrong, one is wounded, probably grazed or
slightly touched by the tip, if the measurements are wrong, in Japanese
fencing one is hit by one of the four vertical slashes and, almost
certainly, killed on the spot.

In Japanese fencing you don't try to strike the opponent by exchanging

horizontal blows, rapier, looking for the gap in his guard, but the
duelists are incumbent on each other to immediately deliver a decisive
blow.

We have seen how what has thickness can wait for the optimal
conditions to enter through an empty passage, and here we are still in
the physical dimension, among material phenomena; but there is also
the possibility of passing through the void thanks to the void itself, a
possibility brought about by a great concentration and a great intimacy
with everything. But what about those who manage to enter, empty,
into what is often, or directly into what makes physical resistance? My
personal experience is that then the perception of time changes, and
that it can also happen in a movement that lasts a few hundredths of a
second. At one point you pass through your opponent's guard as if it
didn't even exist.

And it is in this eternal instant that we go beyond time, yet physically

passing through, within time, and this is how, precisely at the moment
when we should fear for our lives, instead everything resets and we
pass unharmed.

I want to mention the experience of Omori Roshi, a contemporary

master of Zen, as well as calligraphy and swordsmanship. One day, at
the end of a very intense martial meditation retreat, during which
sacred texts are repeated screaming for days, he begins to perceive
himself differently than usual; while he rests at the end with the other
participants, for fun, he takes a stick and pretends sword blows in slow
motion; raising the sword has a new emotion. As he raises his sword,
according to his own words, all the world rises and when the sword
falls, all the world descends. Strange, right? But the practical result of
this experience will be even more unpredictable.

From that day Omori, who was the Master of the Imperial Guard, with
every blow he will deal to one of his pupils during sporting combat,
even though the blow is blocked by the appropriate mask and cuirass,
will see the pupil crush to the ground due to the terrible blow , as if it
were given by an enormous hand and arm, as if an unbearable weight
pressed it towards the ground.

In this sense, when such an overcoming of human limits occurs, as it

can be said that the satori of Zen practice can be achieved, the same can
also be said of an art such as that of the sword, when this is cultivated
as a way of spirit.

We have two documents, the Hoomeishu - the Collection of the Phoenix

Song - in the archives of the Kenninji temple, and the Undaigendan - the
Speeches of the Cloud Throne - from the archive of the Nanzenji temple,
which report the same koans adapted to the warrior and Japanese
mind, traced back as early as the year 815, the year in which the
dialogue between the empress Tachibana, wife of the emperor Saga,
and the Chinese Zen master Giku took place.
So the koans written for the samurai were used from the dawn of Zen in
Japan, then they were systematized in the sixteenth century and inally,
after the work of Hakuin and his contemporaries and descendants, Zen
having now entered the culture, they were forgotten.

In all this story what happened to the soto school? To tell the truth,
several Soto Masters showed themselves capable of responding to the
koan that anyone who wanted to ask them, after all Dogen, the founder
of Japanese Soto Zen, practiced the koan for a long time and also taught
them, and made their use continue in the school I know that, still for
four generations after him, he used them.

From Shonan-katto-roku, a text that collects many koans of the

Kamakura period, I will now quote three koans that can give an idea of
the style of Zen of the samurai, the ninth, thirty-third and ifty-fourth
koans [3].

The irst koan deals with the case of a monk who carried away a statue
of Bodhisattva Jizo, which could not pass through the door and which
weighed three hundred kilos, during the devastating war of 1331, in
which they used to burn even temples.

The two koan questions documented in the text are:

Are not you all men of immense strength? Try it, so load a three
hundred kilo Jizo on your back! How do you get a ive-metre statue
through a two-and-a-half-high door? speak!

The second koan tells of a feral cat who became a kind of ghostly golem
that terrorizes the population, a vampire who penetrates the collective
unconscious by embodying uncertainties and fears.

Then, in 1505, the Zen Master Yakkoku drew the ef igy of the cat in his
temple and promised Katsu with a scream to kill it: "As I drew it, so I
will kill it with a katsu, so that fear vanishes from people's hearts" . He
screamed as he simultaneously tore up the ef igy. On the same day a
woodcutter heard a cry in the woods and revived the huge dead cat.

The two koans of the case ask:

Why rip a drawing screaming Kuatsu?. Does it kill a really living

monster?

That cat-demon is roaming, enraged, among the people at this moment,

bewitching and killing. Kill him immediately with a kuatsu,
demonstrate now.
The third koan concerns the fact that, as I said, all the founders of the
different schools of Japanese Buddhism were monks of the university
school of Buddhism, the Tendai; because of this they were able to
organize rituals for the bene it of those who needed support. In this
case it was a noblewoman who was about to give birth and who asked
for the intervention of Eisai, the proto-founder of the Rinzai school in
Japan. He performed all the ire ritual [4] precisely, as prescribed in the
Tendai or Shingon schools, and indeed the noblewoman had a perfect
birth.

The fact is that two centuries later the nephew of the same nobleman
presents himself to a descendant of Eisai - who, however, knew nothing
of the ire ritual - and makes the same request.

The latter does not lose heart and instead of performing a ritual
according to the precise ritualistic canons of other schools, he performs
a goma ritual in a Zen version; he lights the precious sacri icial sticks of
sandalwood and Aquilaria, inhales the smoke of the sacri ice, and
shouts “I'm leaving easy! I leave easy! I leave very easy!” getting a
perfect birth.

Here are the questions:

Say: what is goma really?

Leaving aside childbirth for the moment, are the goma of the esoteric
schools and Zen goma the same thing or two different things?

If the same thing is wrong and if two different things is wrong, come
forward and say what is right.

Suppose someone asks you right now to pray for a happy birth, what
would you do?

As can be understood, they are three koans, like many others of that
period, based on the strength and expression of this. In the last one we
see how the theme of magic is addressed, and how this can be
interpreted in a completely Zen way.

This koan highlights the importance or transformative power of the

scream, which is also an essential part of koan training, as well as of
Zen naikan.

It is no coincidence that I have placed the characters Mu Shin at the

beginning of the chapter to designate a formula often used as
characters of consecration and healing used by Zen monks: No Mind.
Thus, here is how calligraphy is employed as a direct graphic
expression of an archetype, and here is howling as an audible
expression of this, since Zen does not use mediations.

Note:

[1] China. Wu Shin. Zen's major contribution to the samurai way is

expressed in the concept mushin no shin (the mind of mindlessness).
With this dowry the warrior 'empties' his mind and becomes immune
to any external in luence. This expression refers to a mind that is
always active, lexible and capable of acting without letting itself be
hindered by obstacles that would be fatal for a swordsman. An essential
prerequisite is the achievement of a mental state that goes beyond
simple physical technique, a faculty that could be de ined as spiritual
power or sixth sense. The swordsman who fails to develop this skill will
never achieve mastery. The samurai must transcend mere technique.
Donn F. Draeger, Robert W. Smith, Asian Fighting Arts, Kodhansa
International, Tokyo, 1981.

[2] Here peak means satori (enlightenment). Of course, by realizing

satori one really knows the meaning of emptiness; and in fact,
immediately afterwards, he repeats the concept.

[3] Samurai Zen, Trevor Legget, ed. Astrolabio Ubaldini, Rome 2004.
[4] snscrib. ahoma, jap. rubber.
 The Fifth Source: Takuan Sōhō or the Second
Martial Variable

Takuan Sō hō (1573 – 1645) was born into a family of mountain
farmers, near Izushi. He entered a temple of the Jodo school – of the
Pure Land – as a monk and began practicing Rinzai Zen at the age of
fourteen thanks to Shun-oku Soen.
He became abbot of the Daitokuji temple in Kyoto and, returning from a
period of exile, became a friend of the new shogun Iemitsu Tokugawa
whose esteem and protection he gained and, thanks to whose support,
he founded the Tō kaiji temple in Edo. Takuan's most important work,
the Fudō chi shinmyō roku, is dedicated to the art of the sword,
understood as a spiritual path. It is said that he was the master of the
most famous samurai of the time: Musashi Miyamoto, to whom he
taught double sword ighting. A calligrapher, painter and tea master, he
invented takuan, a way of fermenting radish into a particularly
nutritious protein snack.

Now I comment on a famous text by Takuan, for the bene it of those

who practice martial arts with a spiritual intent.
 Taia

“Do you want to get All This?

While walking, stopping, sitting or lying down,

while you converse or remain silent,

while you take tea or eat rice,

you must never neglect to practice,

your eye must always turn immediately to the goal

and you must continually search deeply, both going and coming.

Only then should you look straight into things.

The months and years will pass

and it will seem to you that a light suddenly appears in the dark.

You will receive wisdom without any Master revealing it to you

and you will ind yourself possessing uncanny abilities to do things

never attempted before.

This last detail does not deviate from what is ordinary,

yet it transcends it.

Giving it a name I call this 'Taia'”.

 My comment

Do you want to get All This?

Not doing wu wei is a concept that has greatly intrigued spiritual

seekers but which, fundamentally, is not a concept.

Wu wei is an experience thanks to which we are simply and

spontaneously expanded in life, expanded in understanding the
perfection of everything that happens, even when something annoys us
and contravenes our wishes.

In the practice of Rinzai Zen you don't invent mawkish allocutions such
as meditation which is useless because not-doing is already part of life
and if you are truly practicing it is perfectly contained even in the
broadest, or strongest, or most diligent effort.

Breathing is useless from the point of view of wu wei, since not-doing

works by itself, since the universe never does anything, while
everything happens by itself.
So All This is the legacy of each of us.

Perhaps achieving would sound better than achieving but, nevertheless,

it is really nice to use this verb that is so egoic - as some anemic
spiritualist would de ine it - but which is nevertheless an active verb,
which denotes a result, a purpose, a precise direction. In fact, Zen has
no mediation, you don't have time to ask about it and the Zen Master
has already put the key in your hand. But what is “All This”? I believe
that it is the perception of the innate face, and it is therefore realizing-
from-which-place-you-are-looking-at the spectacle of the world, and it
is also realizing that that place is also the creator of all that we perceive
and even of what we cannot perceive. Everything changes and
everything is motionless. It is practiced by looking at the trees, but
realizing that they are alive and that they look at us with our own eye
wide open from eternity.

While walking, stopping, sitting or lying down, while conversing or

remaining silent, while having tea or eating rice,

And this, All This, must always be achieved, continuously, beyond any
opposing force, because there are, in reality, no reasons for not realizing
satori: for its part, satori has always awaited us. In a sense we enlighten
through all things, for enlightenment-as-concern disappears the
moment we join, that is, we are all things in the movement of all things.
Only in this way enlightenment does not exist or satori is overcome in
the Tataghatagarba, that is, in the original enlightenment; but before
this understanding it behooves us to be a little more careful in saying
approximate things that can be taken as true. While conversing you can
only get lost in listening and uttering words that have no echo, or that
are only an echo.

...you must never neglect to practice, your eye must always turn
immediately to the goal and you must continually search deeply, both
going and coming.

This discourse would seem to refer to the formation of the great doubt,
given that great doubt = great satori, even if the great doubt would be a
passing moment, given that the great doubt must become a great
inclusion of everything that inally matches with our gaze/eye /face.
Otherwise a common doubt is of no use but remains only an obsessive
torment about something. Instead, in a niveous silence produced by
meditation, the great existential question inally manifests itself, yes,
but which carries within it the very silence of its own answer, the
solution of satori.

To go means to go out, to come means to enter, and this concerns in the

terminology used by Rinzai the fact that when we meditate we enter the
perception of the Universe 0 = 1, while when we have inished the
meditation and get up we go out into the experience of the Universe as ∞
= n (the complete formula is 0 = 1 = ∞ = n). Thus: while meditating we
are in the universe but through the witness that is in ourselves, while in
action it is the whole universe that bears witness to our state of dynamic
absorption in/with everything.

Only then should you look straight into things.

Only in this way does it mean that one ends up looking at everything from
within; the Pure Witness, or the one who watches from us – after the irst
discovery

it turns out to be what he is watching in eternal amazement. The funny

thing is, you don't do it on purpose. A great silence has invaded - since a
beginningless time - every perception, as it always has.

Without doing it on purpose in not doing it, without doing it on

purpose in letting it be as it is.

The months and years will pass and it will seem to you that a light
suddenly appears in the dark. You will receive wisdom without any
Master having revealed it to you and you will ind yourself possessing
mysterious abilities to do things never attempted before.

This makes no sense to comment on it, when it happens it's wonderful.

Some people are born with this ability, others develop it. Some will only
achieve it in certain activities that reconcile them with a certain
emotional state, such as knitting, playing the guitar. While for those
who are more determined, Taia will make itself manifest both in
extreme situations as well as in the more everyday ones, both
physically and intellectually.
 This last detail does not deviate from what is ordinary, yet it transcends
it. Giving him a name I call this Taia.

It is very ordinary, because it transcends everything; but it is not an

opinion, a scienti ic discovery or a theological concept, it is just what it
is, inally recognized from within. Instead of trusting or not trusting a
method, a master, or circumstances, we allow ourselves to discover this
ordinariness.

The mountains have not been mountains for quite a while, we tried to
perceive them in a metaphysical way, we felt their powerful call, the call
of the spiritual elsewhere; then, however, they go back to being our
friendly mountains, just keep quiet by accepting eternity. Therefore
every being is a Buddha beyond any doubt and beyond our preferences,
expectations or concerns to make it so.
 Miyamoto Musashi 宮本武蔵;
Miyamoto, 1584 - Higo, June 13, 1645
Taiaki
 "The Annals of the Sword Taia"

by Takuan Soho

“It is assumed that because I am a

martial arts artist no

ight to win or lose.

I don't worry about strength and weakness.

I am un lappable.

The enemy does not notice me, nor I him.

Penetrating into a dimension where heaven and earth

are not yet distinct,

where Yin and Yang have not yet arrived,

I get an effect right away.

The man who knows uses the sword, but does not kill.

I am the man who knows how to use the sword to give life to others.

Who kills when necessary.

Who gives life when needed.

That when he kills he does it with absolute concentration,

like when he gives life.

Without thinking about good or bad

he is able to see good and evil.

Walk on water

it's like walking on dry land

and walk on dry land

it's like walking on water.

Yet these will not be mistaken,

nor blend in with anyone in the world.

Do you want to get All This?

While walking, stopping, sitting or lying down,

while you converse or remain silent,

while you take tea or eat rice,

you must never neglect to practice,

your eye must always turn

immediately to the goal

and you must always search hard,

both going and coming.

Only then should you look straight into things.

The months and years will pass

and it will seem to you that a light

suddenly appear in the dark.

You will receive wisdom

without any Master revealing it to you

and you will ind that you possess mysterious abilities

in doing things never attempted before.

This last detail does not deviate from what is ordinary,

yet it transcends it.

Giving it a name I call this 'Taia'

All men are equipped with the Taia sword.

Those who understand this are feared

even from Mara the Tempter,

but those to whom this concept is obscure

they are overwhelmed by the talkers.

Two men who will compete to the sword

and they both have Taia's knowledge

they will never inish their meeting;

like when Shakyamuni holds the lower

and Kashyapa smiles enigmatically.

Distinguish weight differences with the naked eye

it is an example of common intelligence.

A man who understood this

he will never let you see the tip of the sword.

This is the essence of speed.

not even lightning is equal to it.

It disappears before the wind that,

fast, moves the storm.

If you don't understand, you will be embarrassed

and the edge of the sword will be spoiled.

This is not discovered either through mere impressions

nor for theoretical knowledge.

This cannot be communicated with words and speeches,

you don't learn it from any doctrine.

This is the law of special transmission

that goes beyond ordinary learning.

There are no pre-established rules

for this great ability to manifest itself.

It is ordinary action yet contrary action;

not even heaven can determine it.

What then is the nature of this ability?

When a house doesn't have a Pai Che painting[1]

it's like it has no ghosts

If a man is tested

and came to this principle

he will be able to control everything in the world with the sword alone.

The Taia sword does not tolerate negligence.”

Note:

[1] Pai Che is a mythological animal similar to the chimera: it is an

animal with the body of a cow and the head of a man that represents
the projective creativity of the mind. The paintings depicting Pai Che
were placed at the entrance of the house so that he would feed on
ghosts, dreams and misfortunes, thus discharging them. In this context,
an Immutable Mind does not need a lucky charm.
 The Sixth Source: Hakuin Ekaku and Internal
Alchemy

Since we will deal with Hakuin in the chapters that will contain his two
works, Yasenkanna and Orategama, and that, thanks to these, the
Master will be able to present himself at his best, we now have to
present him biographically and make the necessary preliminary
considerations on the understanding of his entire system . Hakuin
Ekaku 白 隠 慧 鶴 (1686–1769) was also known as Zen Master Shinki
Dokumyō 神機独妙禅師 and also as National Master Shō shū 正宗國師,
and regarded as the Reviver 中興の祖 chū kō no so of the Rinzai school,
where the lineage which descends from him is the principal. We owe
Hakuin the discovery of internal alchemy (Chinese neidan – Japanese
naikan) in the Zen tradition, a very ancient legacy, according to what we
have explained by quoting the historical sources in the past chapters.
Hakuin was born into a samurai family and died in Hara at the turn of
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The thing that may interest
us is that despite having achieved satori, enlightenment, he ended up
enormously stressed by the too extreme ascetic practice he had
practiced up to then. Because of this, after every possible attempt by
doctors, he sought the advice of the hermit Hakuyu.

It is from these antecedents that the meaning of the two texts that we
propose is ful illed. Hakuin only became famous after his death. Of him
remain the reputation of scholar, writer, painter and calligrapher. In
addition, he wrote a comment that we could de ine as humorous to the
Heart Sutra, which says a lot about the style of this character.

He heavily opposed the teaching of Bankei Yotaku - the Dharma of the

Unborn - reproaching the lack of intensity of the method, which was
actually very evolved but not suited to the mentality of human beings,
always in need of justly conquering and winning their prize.

Indeed, as predicted by Hakuin, Bankei's line ended upon his death.

Despite this, Bankei is celebrated in Japan to this day, where every
anniversary is marked, with collective celebrations and rituals, even by
the line of descendants of Hakuin.
I want to report and comment on some considerations by Juhn Y. Ahn in
his Zen and the Art of Nourishing Life - Labor, Exhaustion, and the
Malady of Meditation[1]. In his Yasenkanna and other writings, Zen
master Hakuin Ekaku (1686–1769) uses two seemingly contradictory
analogies to discuss the art of nourishing life (yō jō ). First he states that
the vital energy (ki) must be kept stored in the ield of cinnabar
(dantien); but from another point of view he af irms that this energy
must be circulated by engaging in daily work, otherwise it will stagnate.
A similar tension can be seen in the texts of Kaibara Ekken (1630-1714)
or in his well-known Manual of Nourishment of Life, the Yō jō kun.
Although Shigehisa Kuriyama pointed to the industrious revolution and
what he calls stagnation anxiety, which manifested itself throughout the
Tokugawa era in the population of all walks of life, as a possible cause of
such tension, this article will suggest a fundamental rede inition of the
concept of work (rō ) and, more speci ically, considering certain typical
practices of this period as a contributing factor motivating this
development. Work, therefore, be it meditation or reading, must
demonstrate a sense of self-mastery in order to be truly work, and to
fail in this purpose would be to fall exhausted (rō ), or into what Hakuin
prefers to call The Illness from Meditation (zenbyō ).

I leave this theme and others to consider for the reader, who refers me
to the reading of the texts easily found on the net, in particular if he
carries out intellectual work - as Hakuin did - which added, today, to the
use of electronic calculators, wi - i and the bombardment derived from
telephony repeaters, constitutes a very tough challenge and must be
won without delay; it is a challenge to be overcome in part with some
technical cleverness, and then with the right meditative and energetic
training, added to the necessary physical activity.
Elsewhere I will take the opportunity to list the practical solutions such
as the various training sessions useful for the purpose, in the meantime
allow me to point out that, for those who carry out intellectual work, it
is very useful to have the ultramarine blue-indigo-violet colors around
them, as well as visualize these colors and even get sprayed with them
thanks to colored lamps. At least in this way you get rid of the tension of
studying and so you are less attacked by sources of electromagnetic
pollution.

Note:

[1] Juhn Ahn is Assistant Professor in the Department and Center for
the Study of Religion and in the Department of East Asian Studies at the
University of Toronto. The article is taken from the Japanese Journal of
Religious Studies 35/2: 177–229© 2008 Nanzan Institute for Religion
and Culture.
The Seventh Spring: Kawaguchi Ekai - Kōno Daikei -
Yamada Mumon. Internal Alchemy from the Meiji
Era

Out of his disgust with the religious world and despite his luminous
spiritual practice, Kawaguchi Ekai, then a young Japanese Tendai
Buddhist hermit, set out on a fragmented pilgrimage to Tibet, India and
Nepal to seek out the sources of the most ancient teachings and
mahayana sutras. He went to Nepal four times, in 1899, 1903, 1905 and
1913[1], and twice to Tibet, traveling from 1900 to 1902, and from
1913 to 1915. He did not know a word of Tibetan, nor of Hindi, as well
as being very poor, having refused every subsidy offered to him by
Japanese patrons. He became friends with Western orientalists,
Tibetologists, lamas, shamans and esotericists. Back in Japan he helped
heal a young monk suffering from tuberculosis, a man destined to
become the very embodiment of Rinzai Zen in 20th century Japan,
Yamada Mumon Roshi.

Arriving in Nepal, he fell in love with the Tibetologist Sarat Chandra

Das, who also carried out espionage for the British, and soon began to
study the local Newari and Vajrayana Buddhism. In the initial image we
can see him with the Tibetan lama hat, while he sings the sutras in
Japanese style, ritually playing a vertical bell.

In our narration, Kawaguchi Ekai represents the trait d'union between

Hakuin's research and what new Mumon Yamada, who was a
descendant of both, brought to the Rinzai school. Kawaguchi Ekai had a
certain notoriety due to his asceticism and university teaching at the
Taisho University [2], thus becoming one of the forerunners of
Tibetological studies in Japan; his academic teaching was in luenced by
his direct experience of techniques of Tibetan esoteric Buddhism, the
assiduous practice of which tired the young Mumon, but which also
increased in him that exceptional strength, already created with Zen
asceticism, which allowed him to live despite the illness.

The young Mumon, while attending the University of Toyo, resided at

the Kawaguchi Ekai temple - the Monastery of the Snowy Mountain in
Nezu, near Tokyo - when he was now in his eighties; every morning
Mumon looked after the temple, performed the rituals, then went to
class, to return to study and then practice until late at night, only to
wake up a few hours later, under the stimulus and severe supervision of
Ekai's older brother, Hanzui[ 3]. Ekai had been a convinced vegetarian
for decades and followed a precise diet by feeding on certain foods
taken with a very precise timing; an extremely disciplined man he was,
like all ascetics of the time, demanding towards his students and
determined at any cost in obtaining from them at least the result of
total dedication and intensity in practice.

At a certain moment, shortness of breath, swollen lymph nodes and a

nefarious medical diagnosis encouraged Mumon to leave the monastery
and return to his native country. Mumon's older brother, ended up
dying of the same disease although his symptoms were far less severe;
it was then that Mumon realized he was being crossed by an unusual
current, and he understood it precisely in those days when he weighed
thirty-seven kilos. Showing him her brother's ashes, the heartbroken
mother asked Mumon not to cry so as not to weaken further.

Considering the severity of the symptoms but, nevertheless, the

strength that pervaded him, Mumon understood that the practice under
Kawaguchi's direction had given an exceptional result. The latter had
taught him respiratory and esoteric practices, as well as following him
in the practice of zazen; on this basis the time had come for Mumon to
recover his health.

It was during this period that Mumon decided to meet another well-
known healing monk, Kō no Daikei, priest of the Konchi-in temple in
Nagoya, who became his second Master. Mumon, in his autobiography,
recounts that this meeting reminded him of Hakuin's meeting with the
hermit Hakuyu, who taught the patriarch the practice of naikan.

Like many Zen monks, as a boy Mumon suspected that a monk who
devoted himself to healing must surely deviate somewhat from the Zen
line of behavior; often this kind of opinion, in the Japanese mentality,
gets confused by taking de initive meanings and becoming an absolute
assumption without any attention to the nuances, the meaning of the
terms and the possible variables. Moreover, Kō no Daikei had a
decidedly over the top behavior and an intriguing prophetic attitude; he
was now famous and forced to escape the exorbitant number of
patients, often terminally ill, continuously brought to the temple.

When he irst met Mumon, Daikei addressed him thus: "Any priest or
monk who gets sick and continues to stay sick is a false ascetic!" And
then: “Your disease will not last any longer”. And he nodded to him
showing him three ingers. When Mumon looked at him doubtfully, and
Daikei: “Don't you understand, sucker? I say that in three months you
will be healed! Your internal organs are powerful, can you see it? They
are the ones who are sending the disease out, and because of this, the
lymph nodes get in lamed and swollen in your neck.”

After three months of healing through energy, prayer, breathing and

visualizations, having obtained the desired result, Daikei wanted to
make sure that young Mumon knew what to do. With him he agreed
that at the moment he could not continue his monastic training, but
that he should devote himself to academic religious studies and then
later resume his exercise with zazen and koan.
From that moment Mumon's health improved more and more, leading
him to live up to eighty-eight years, he who seemed destined for a
certain death. His vitality and cheerfulness were proverbial, and I can
attest to the power with which he delivered the koan Mu during sanzen.

Mumon embodied the legacy of Hakuin Ekaku, detectable in the photos

that portray him, with that strange grimace of the mouth, due to the
arching of the tongue upwards, capable of closing the bioelectrical
circuit that lows in the head.

Note:

[1] Three Years in Tibet, Kawaguchi Ekai, Theosophist Of ice, Madras

1909 https://goo.gl/W8zdmW

[2] New Mahā yā na Buddhism for a Post-modern World, Ryō min
Akizuki, Jain Publishing Company, Fremont CA 1990.

[3] My Spiritual Home, Autobiography by Yamada Mumon Roshi.

The Eighth Source: the Naikan of Strength found in
You

Where does the naikan come from these days? It certainly returns in an
unexpected but necessary way, as we need it more than ever. It may be
precisely the naikan that brings the metaphysical essence back to all
similar systems that are on the market today and that have been
emptied to be conveniently sold.
Let's pay attention, these days, the gymnastic practice of yoga is
increasingly af irming itself, probably because many carry out clerical
jobs, and because we all need daily physical movement, to avoid the
annoyances of too prolonged exposure to radiation from cell phones,
and wi- i routers; all forms of serious pollution that government
organizations have already informed us about[1]; elsewhere we will
deal better with this delicate matter[2].

Here, this already explains a lot about "where we are" and what
problems we will increasingly ind ourselves facing.

As has been said, the naikan is really precious, it was once used to heal
those monks from excessive ascesis who would not have been saved
even by the best doctor, today it will be used to enhance our resilience,
to recreate our immune response.

The teaching of the Dharma is changing, as it has ceaselessly changed

over the centuries. Buddhism is in history precisely to demonstrate
how in civilization and religions, there is no evolution, nor is there a
need for a traditionalist hold fast, but that continuous updating is
necessary, so that practitioners of new times and worlds can approach
the teaching, understanding it. The opposite of this is a museum or
exotic Buddhism, based on the evocation of obsolete, if not
counterproductive forms, precisely those forms that recall obsessive
characters, those who adore proclamations and good intentions, who
dress up in silky robes and who they love to be chased.
Following the aforementioned need to recon igure the method, it is
convenient for everyone to perceive the dependence on foreign
religious hierarchies - Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese - as a
problem, given the cultural distance and the inevitable
misunderstandings, of which I have also witnessed.

The circumstance, in this sense, was more evident in person. Luigi

Mario Engaku Taino, as I have already said, practiced with Master
Yamada Mumon for several years, during which he also performed the
function of personal attendant - a task which is considered as further
training - until he obtained the consent to teach the series of koans and
to the foundation of a temple; Yamada Mumon himself witnessed the
founding of the Zenshinji Temple, which he named as the Temple of the
Heart of Zen, just outside Orvieto, Italy.

Almost immediately, envy and doubts began in this regard, silenced by

the authoritativeness of Yamada Mumon's choice, who knew well the
qualities of Maestro Luigi Mario, who had carried out his training with
such intensity as to be an example to the novices thanks to the strength
of his practice.

Mumon Roshi knew and appreciated the West and even the Christian
religion, as well as understood the level of humanity and the
personality of each student, a somewhat mythologized but completely
unusual ability among Eastern Masters. When I met Master Mumon, I
saw an old man as steady as a rock and vital as a tiger.
But a few years later Master Mumon's health began to deteriorate; upon
his death someone, without delay, uncritically collected the various
slanders directed against Zenshinji's pupils, slanders of which we
already knew the existence and origin.

Instead of understanding what happened, those who were responsible

for it preferred to listen to those who - being of their own nationality -
were seen as more credible only for this fact of identity.

Since this happened under the eyes of the incredulous pupils, the
response of the Taino Master and his pupils took place with dignity, and
the decision was not long in coming, which was unanimous in
continuing the practice of the true Dharma without the aegis of a
similar ecclesiastical patriarchate, by now seen as incompetent. Since
then there have been signs of friendship from other brothers of the
Master, including Sodo Harada Roshi, who has always been a friend of
Zenshinji.

For my part I do not claim to be without error or even to hold de initive

opinions on the matter, nor to hold a more sublime realization, but I
assert a very simple right, which comes to me from four decades of
practice, human experience and teaching in the West . Moreover, this
would be the meaning that in Chinese Buddhism was transmitted with
the term oshang, elder, which later became the word roso and then
roshi in Japan. Provided that seniority is not a mere value, but
something alive that is recognized in the person, assuming that one has
the eye to see it.

But this is yet another discussion.

It is typical of the Rinzai tradition that the Pupil, engaged in an

enveloping as well as fatal asceticism, is called to roar his power in
front of his Master; therefore in Rinzai Zen it is implicit that whoever
begins the path of freedom is immediately responsible for it in deeds,
and demonstrating his strength in this sense.

And so, I write this very short chapter to invite everyone to take their
own responsibilities, to be a further source of the tradition of naikan as
well as of Zen. In general, no one wonders what part he has in the
tradition and therefore in the transmission of a lineage, because we
generally consider ourselves too distant, culturally and chronologically,
to be decisive in any way, and therefore out of habit we would like to be
mere users.

But that can't be the case.

Both the teacher and the learner are both responsible.

And this is a consideration that I also owe to Tenzin Gyatso, the
fourteenth Dalai Lama, from whom I received the six yogas of Naropa -
Naro cho yung - which is considered a very secret teaching according to
the Tibetan tradition, but which I had the honor of receiving completely
from him, with even the comments and the possibility of being
followed, receiving precise answers. If I'm not mistaken it was 1990
and I was in Mc Leod Ganji, Himachal Pradesh, India, at the Namghyal
monastery.

On that occasion the Dalai Lama also gave us the instructions of a

seventh yoga, now lost for centuries but recently rediscovered: the
trojung, or the yoga of the pervasion of consciousness.

Dumo yoga - also called internal heat yoga - which is the main one
among the six aforementioned yogas, requires a particular training in
which a lot of bliss is produced, but which can also be risky, as the
yogas of the body can certainly be risky. illusory and ejection of
consciousness.

But despite this, the Dalai Lama himself insisted that the titles of the
texts useful for practicing these top secret Tibetan yogas were known,
and that these texts were shared among all.

I believe that Naikan Zen is much less dangerous, though equally

powerful, and that it certainly should be prepared for our use, for us
contemporaries.
For this reason I will extract the teaching of naikan from the writings of
Hakuin Ekaku, the Yasenkanna and the Orategama, but also I will go on
to expose the further articulations and re inements of a method that
works today.

I encourage those who are interested to start their daily practice by

following these pages and then, if they feel like it, to contact me or, if
this is not possible or if they prefer to do otherwise, to contact anyone
who can add more, or better explain the exercises I am showing here. .
He can be a good yoga or qigong master, that is, someone who really
does what he says and can prove it; this implies that you don't need a
famous name, but someone really capable.

A true initiate who reads this book can understand it from beginning to
end without dif iculty.

I spoke of the dumo yoga - the yoga of internal heat - because it is a

technique that is more than adjacent to the naikan, I would even say
that it is a part of it or, better, a continuation of it, in the sense that it
could be considered as a more precise form of the practice of Elixir So,
taught by Hakuin in the Yasenkanna, even if the practice of Elixir So - on
the basis of a good experience of joriki [3] - can be considered perfect
in itself.
As happened to me with the Dalai Lama, I have had the good fortune to
meet Masters devoid of jealousy, who always put the practitioner's
bene it irst; well, they too have shown me great kindness by teaching
me the most secret practices of their traditions, probably because they
saw in me the necessary seriousness and the desire to realize what was
given to me.

Some of these teachers are originally from Japan, some from Tibet,
China or India, while others are Western; yes, even Westerners, because
many individuals have found the innate keys to knowledge within
themselves. Every generation is born particularly gifted people who
have speci ic gifts or legacies. I have to admit that they found me, given
my natural laziness.

This system is called zen because it arises from the school where I am a
minister of worship, as well as a teacher, and it is called naikan for the
same reason, given that Hakuin, an unrivaled genius for culture,
intuition and humour, reconstructed and proposed it; then sometimes I
de ine this system as yoga to make its meaning understandable to most
but, also, thus committing myself to giving complete meaning to the
ancient word yoga which by now means Indian gymnastics for most.
Perhaps few know how Patanjali or Gheranda placed meditation as the
origin, core and result of their systems.

A true yogi is always a dhyana yogi, which is a zen monk, since dhyana
has been transliterated into Chinese just as chá n, i.e. zen, meditation,
and since dharana-dhyana-samadhi are principles of both the tantric
and zen traditions .
I reiterate that it is the classics of the yoga tradition itself, and all in
chorus - whether texts of the shamkya or tantra tradition - to underline
that yoga is, as the irst and de initive instance, meditation. For me the
naikan, described with scant skill by Hakuin, is the perfect trace of an
essential and powerful method that needs to be recomposed; to this
outline, and to what comes to me through the Rinzai teaching that I
have practiced for decades, I would like to add all those techniques that
are evidently contained therein, the descriptions useful for the
experience and understanding of contemporaries, so that build a
complete system, which seems to me more interesting than carrying a
prestigious name but leaving an unusable method to get dusty in the
museum of spirituality. I want to be polemical to the core: how many
books of alchemy or Taoism can we buy and read without
understanding anything or a little more, yet feeling called by them, and
then piling them up in our library without having any product, except
that of reading from time to time didactic nonsense statements based
on crucibles, circulations, decoctions, coobations, magpie bridges and
mysterious passages?

My answer is: Let's respectfully update Hakuin Ekaku's commitment by

ful illing it today as best we can, and encouraging posterity to continue
this work with dedication and earnestness.

Once again I thank my Masters and I carry in my heart the commitment

to recognize and always give back to knowledge the life that is its own. I
hope this feeling is shared by those who are reading me, or who decide
to activate it from now on. The irst step on this path of responsibility is
to understand well, in order to practice well. I ask and pray to give this
chance to all who are ready for so much light.

Note:

[1] California Medical Association: Parents For Safe Technology.

[4] Beware: ten real dangers lurking in your daily life, Anfolsi and
Bardin, Fontana Editore, Borgo Valsugana 2019.

[3] Joriki is the inner volitional power that can be realized in a huge
power capable of transforming reality, while Tariki is the power of
saving blessing.
How breathing works in daily life and during zazen

By breathing during zazen we mean that particular functioning of the

breath that is noted in long-standing practitioners: the ribcage does not
move, and even the abdomen can stop showing any signs of movement.

A prepared observer, looking at the meditating subject, feels not only a

lack of movement of respiratory rhythm but also a sort of very vivid
magnetic compactness which gives an impression of strong dynamism,
as if the subject could suddenly make a movement very rapidly despite
the impression of suspension and immobility that surrounds it.

This is the inal effect of a path that has already been dealt with in the
traditional teachings on sitting meditation, being the result of a precise
asceticism or of a particular predisposition; the product should not be
confused with asceticism and its methods, since when the result is
obtained, one learns to let go. If you don't learn this at every step, you
end up adding up an unnecessary amount of toil and compulsion which
is not true discipline but which is strangely considered a sign of high
spirituality by many gullible people.

Therefore the breath must be left natural, it must not be forced in any
way and, moreover, its movements must not even be read critically. If the
breath is rougher than usual, you will practice meditation with it and
slowly it will calm down without forcing it.

So how will we initially modify the breath, without straining it, to

improve and empower it?

We will educate him indirectly, as we do with a child: rather than ilming

a very young child, it is better to use a technique of distraction or gentle
dissuasion.

In the same way, since the breath is too connected to the sympathetic-
parasympathetic balance, to the relationship between emotion and logic,
as well as to the blood, indirect techniques will be used to condition it
and thanks to this our veto power can then be used only when necessary
therefore in a really incisive way, for example during intense physical
activity or during apnea.

We must consider that some people are already ready to meditate as

they already have perfect breathing even without realizing it. To these it
is good to immediately propose advanced cultivation methods in order
to perfect the relationship between thought, meditative absorption and
physicality.

It is important to reach as soon as possible a good mental stability in the

practice, so as not to depend anymore on any arti ice, but if the zazen
position is not suf icient to facilitate the luminous state of the breath,
these ive preliminary works are valid:

The easing of the chronic contraction of the diaphragm/solar plexus

area,

The contraction and relaxation of the abdominal muscles,

Any strengthening of other muscles,

The work on the mind and the will,

The increase in rooting in the abdomen and on the feet.

In the irst case there are a number of exercises and manipulations that
work directly on the muscle or on its re lex zones, for example you can
use tuina, shiatsu or foot re lexology. The diaphragm muscle is a
lattened dome-shaped muscle, convex superiorly, which separates the
thoracic from the abdominal cavity.

Modern psychosomatic studies underline the importance of relaxation

of the diaphragm and frontal muscles, considered muscles capable of
in luencing the general state of well-being of the whole organism and in
particular of the nervous system.

In the second case, the exercise of the ligament of the diaphragm [1],
which has always been used for this purpose throughout Asia, is the
best. To carry it out at its best, the supervision of an instructor would be
necessary.

In the third case we could contemplate the need to strengthen some

muscles such as those of the neck or back, such as the rhomboid and the
levator scapulae, the muscles of the abdomen or chest: this in case there
is such an imbalance in the masses and in the use of these, it needs to be
strengthened or in the event that a neophyte practitioner is weakened
by age, illness or a sedentary life. To simplify what has been said, it is
enough for me to recommend to everyone the common push-ups on the
arms – possibly facilitated by the knees resting on the ground – or the
exercise called plank.

Always and in any case for those who practice sitting meditation it is
recommended to walk a lot, but no more than ive kilometers a day, if
you want to sit comfortably.

In the fourth case we consider that the body is strongly conditioned by

the mind: a well-concentrated will can relax a muscle visualizing that
this is happening and wanting to feel the liberating impression.

The fastest way to accomplish this is to visualize the act of volition as a

beam of white light that focuses on the particular muscle, but also
refreshes the whole body from it. When the breath is perceived as
luminous, the effects are very interesting: one can breathe visualizing a
cloud of fresh energy that enters and leaves the belly during meditation
and during activities from the feet; these exercises are techniques used
in the naikan training of zen.

Hakuin - through the voice of the hermit Hakuyu - explains to us that

visualizations are Zen methods like any other: visualization, I might add,
escapes from the practitioner any wishful thinking about anti-
metaphysical Zen, allows him to overcome that reductionist idealism
that sees us as so many reasoning steaks who, sitting in zazen, must
reach mental emptiness.
As far as the will is concerned, the only quick way to strengthen it are
the circumstances of life, in the face of which it is impossible to be
lukewarm, or the extreme circumstances expressly accepted or created:
in the face of extreme circumstances we are forced to be sincere and to
apply all our will and strength in a moment. Obviously a Zen Buddhist
will not give the word sincerity the same meaning given to it by
Freudian psychoanalysis, where only instinct has the prerogative of
corresponding to the truth of the human being and where the
unconscious is magmatic, virtually omnipotent and crushing.

In the ifth case it is a question of increasing the effect of a position

which naturally leads us to abandon the weight of the body on the
abdomen, in the sitting position, which compacts the abdominal muscles
in a useful way for meditation: in this case it is enough to arch a little the
lumbar area more by moving backwards and tilting forward and down
the hips and buttocks. This effect is achieved by using a wedge (white)
which is placed like a wedge under the seat cushion (light grey) so that
the knees rest on the carpet cushion (dark grey), as shown in the image.
In fact, correct breathing in the practice of zazen would not be produced
thanks to a particular attention on the breath, as we have just explained,
but on the basis of a relaxed and immobile position, thanks to an
improvement in the mental state, in the bioelectric low and in the
quality of the blood.

We have already said it: the maturation of breathing is above all the
product of a process rather than an ingredient of this, created with a
direct exercise. In Japan they have the idea that by being in the position
of zazen sooner or later you will understand it, but this presupposes a
very intense application which is not common for the mentality of
Western neophytes.
It is therefore more useful to say that:

it is enough to remain motionless as much as possible without effort,

rather letting oneself go and being happy with it,

that it may be useful to correct oneself according to the ive preparatory

works,

that it is enough to breathe comfortably letting the belly become a place

that collects both the physical weight of the abandonment of the masses
and the con luence of energy. Nothing else; everything else must be
understood with experience and, in any case, we invite you to read the
chapter on the position and practice of zazen.

If the training is annoying then you have to forget it and take a step back,
talking about it with the Master.

A delicate downward push of the diaphragm must not enlarge the shape
of the belly: reclining with the buttocks, on a suf iciently high seat-
cushion, this downward descent is facilitated, increased by that certain
curvature of the lumbar area mentioned above.
I think that proposing a breathing system connected to a certain study of
respiratory physiology is something intriguing, for some, but too
theoretical: besides this, wanting to be useful to those who read me, I
don't see the point of submitting advice that works for me now how
torturing for a neophyte, in fact the study of the details is not always a
good adviser where a lot works and for real, gradually, with experience.

For those interested in more technical explanations on breathing during

meditation, I can de ine some useful details regarding the muscles
involved as well as the possible phases and potentials. Contrary to what
one might believe, the breathing muscles and in particular the
diaphragm are stressed during almost every movement we perform.
Walking, sitting, scratching, drinking are gestures that also move and
condition the diaphragm muscle, the muscles of the abdomen, ribcage
and neck. This is a irst factor that can help us understand the
importance of immobility during zazen: in fact, thanks to immobility a
very particular effect is obtained, which emanates beyond breathing, in
the functioning of the endocrine glands, in nerve transmission and in the
circulation.

Given the twist of the discussion, we have deliberately not mentioned

the effect that immobility has on the mind, precisely because this effect
is the most evident and detectable by anyone, as well as the main one.

In physiology manuals four types of breathing are considered according

to the areas that are involved: intercostal, diaphragmatic, abdominal and
through accessory muscles. The area that interests us is obviously the
abdominal one, even considering that all the other muscles, however,
participate in breathing.

If we maintain the verticality and strength of our presence and let the
zazen position be relaxed, grounding ourselves on the knees and
weighing down on the muscles of the lower abdomen (rectus abdominis
- external oblique), and therefore gently stretching them, we have an
immediate effect of relaxation of the diaphragm, i.e. in the pit of the
stomach. From this we can obtain a certain suspension of chest
breathing if we remain relaxed by letting go of thoughts and
considerations.

Curiously, if we wanted to think compulsively, we will be forced to

wrinkle this distension of the lower abdomen; if we worry, we would
end up raising and lowering the rib cage while breathing, that is, moving
the muscles in order to decontract the latter, especially the diaphragm,
to be able to breathe more easily. It is a common idea to believe that if
you don't breathe deeply there can't be a good exchange of oxygen in the
blood, but this has been proven to be valid only for those who do not
know the cultivation techniques we are dealing with.

The Taoist Masters de ine the extremely relaxed breathing of meditation

with the term embryonic, a topic we must certainly deal with.

Note:
[1] Uddhyana bandha is an important yoga technique.
Attention on the breath and the western mind
Zazen Susokkan and other introductory techniques
 1st exercise - Zazen

It is common in the Zen tradition to instruct the neophyte to perfect his

meditation suf iciently before starting koan practice, which can take on
average ive to six months to a few years. The position is taught, some
cunning practice is taught to breathe with the abdomen more and more
avoiding moving the ribcage, the advice is given to take ive inspirations
in which the air is held in the belly and then let go slowly and without
make too much noise. Another useful technique for freeing the
diaphragm consists in dividing the exhalation into various strokes,
exhaling rhythmically and a little forcefully, making the diaphragm sway
with each single exhalation stroke, possibly performed with the mouth.

Seated Zen meditation, zazen, corresponds to the sense of the Sanskrit

word dhyana, exercise of absorption, that moment irst started with
dharani, i.e. with a concentration, which will then become, after a good
exercise of absorption, samadhi or achieved absorption, a state that is
often described in Buddhist sutras in an apparently vague, but in reality
simple way, as expressing something truly central to Buddhism; for
example it is said that the Buddha, returning from begging, washes his
feet, hands, eats and then sits down placing his attention in front of him.
In this attention there is the continuation of dhyana which is samadhi,
the deepening of absorption. This sinking reaches the state of liberation,
where all references jump and one melts into eternity. To realize this it is
right, when sitting in meditation, to assume a courageous and inspired
position, as if we were to break the waves with our chest or write a
beautiful poem. This is the attitude that I will mention again in a
moment.
When meditating, the irst thing to do is to let the senses expand; listen
for all the sounds, the smells, the tactile impressions, for example the air
on the face, the right hand under the left, and also the tastes, for example
the taste that changes in the glottis. Listening does not mean following,
reasoning about it, discussing it to oneself, or anything else. Listening is
listening in a boundless way, like when instead of devouring a bar of
chocolate we learn to bite a fragment and let that delight penetrate us
for a long time. After sometime we will start to enjoy meditation and
seek again and again this return to our eternity.

Here are six different ways to sit in meditation that correspond to

different physical abilities and habits. If you cannot do certain positions
described here you can do others, since each of these positions is perfect
in itself and leads to the same result. Meditating is done or, better, it
happens, with the mind, so if you have some handicap and you can't
even stand up straight, know that you can still meditate through a irm
meditative attitude, which derives from a profound exploration of one's
different states of absorption; in this case, since the bodily support
makes it dif icult for us to practice, we bypass it in intent, i.e. in
absorption in the state of meditation.
We should understand the meaning of what the meditation position is,
what it is for. If we sat like the lady at the top left - the so-called complete
lotus - our back would be pushed to straighten automatically by bringing
out the buttocks, lexing the lumbar area and freeing the belly in such a
way as to allow us to breathe better in depth, in fact , in the belly;
therefore whatever position you decide to use, the effect is that of having
your back completely straight and your shoulders open, your lumbar
area slightly lexed by bringing your buttocks backwards – as samurai or
ballet dancers do – and you unload the weight on the pillows. In the top
right image the lady is with her legs crossed using the highest pillow, but
also two mini-pillows that support the legs-knees-pelvis.
On the left below, the gentleman with the mustache sits on a wooden
bench, which allows him to sit without fatigue - unless he suffers from
circulation in his legs - otherwise he is left sitting on the chair, which is
ine, and of which we must always remember the three necessities:

to keep the back straight,

without leaning back if possible, e

to choose a suitably low chair, with which the lumbar area can easily lex
when we put our feet on the ground.
All these tricks are used to sit comfortably even for more than twenty
minutes; I have advanced age meditation students who have amazed me
by their ability, over time, to improve their position more and more, to
the point of remaining blissfully crossed-legged in meditation even for
up to forty minutes; those same people at irst couldn't stand in the
easiest position even for ive minutes.
The sense of stability that Buddha statues convey is given by their
posture, and they have been specially sculpted or cast to convey this
serene strength; to explain this stability I put a screw ixed in a yellow
table so that it is evident how in the meditation position the screw (the
trunk) stands and holds itself up on the yellow table (the pelvis - the
crossed legs + the cushion) or perpendicularly compared to the ground.
This is the secret, but it must be done without too much effort,
gradually; meanwhile over time the position and the impression of
stability just mentioned improve more and more, making it easier with
the cushions and giving the legs a little slope.
Here is the fundamental structure of sitting in meditation: the shoulders
should be kept wide, the spine extended upwards as if a hook were
pulling it from the top of the head towards the sky.

The base is made up of a triangle which has the pelvis in its entirety and
the two knees as vertices. That yellow disc represents the support of the
vertex of this triangle, or a cushion capable of optimally supporting our
pelvis.
The extension of the spine and the slightly indented chin are shown
together with the slight lexion of the lumbar area which, by opening the
back and shoulders, has a very important effect on meditation.

The pelvis and shoulders form a supporting structure that keeps

everything else in symmetry and balance. The spine does something
similar, but being vertical it performs a more dynamic function that we
will discover with experience and that takes us beyond mere physical
experience. Meanwhile, note the red dot that de ines the body's center of
gravity, a physical place that corresponds to the hara of Japanese
meditators, the dantien of Chinese meditators and the swadishtana
chakra of Indian meditators. From this centre, which also corresponds to
the enteric nervous system, a new sensation of pleasantness in
meditation and in daily life will develop over time, as well as a sense of
strength, presence and warmth.
Here we have the last image that needs to be understood well, so you
will come back to it several times, just as sometimes it is better for you
to go back - for example every month - to this whole sequence to correct
the position.

Again you can see that we have highlighted the center of gravity by
adding some arrows that reach for it. Meanwhile, the back arrow derives
from the pressure of the physical structure given by the base created by
the legs + pelvis and by the fact that you are extending your spine
upwards (vertical line), which in this context has an unexpected effect
that you will understand better and better in the time.

Then the blue arrow shows us how maintaining this position brings the
buttocks back and the belly out – as we have said samurai or ballet
dancers do – and thus allowing us to breathe by lowering the diaphragm
more easily. To tell the truth, pushing the belly out like this may seem
annoying to some but it is absolutely positive because in this way we can
experience how a wrong physical attitude - that is, never relaxing the
belly - can allow us to maintain wrong eating, breathing, and above all
an unnatural contraction of the muscles as well as of the colon, or even
to keep in the stomach the air we should get rid of.
Letting go of the diaphragm in its natural form has nothing to do with
whether or not you have belly fat, it doesn't increase or decrease it. The
green crescent and arrow represent the diaphragm moving down and
pushing down; the blue arrow tells us that this push has an effect on
breathing.

They have always known in the East that by moving the diaphragm with
each breath an electric wave invests the viscera and nourishes them, and
that the battery of this current is three ingers below the navel,
internally. It is always the center of gravity that has been talked about
and of which we have mentioned the different names.

Thanks to this battery we restore ourselves very quickly and our body
learns to collaborate with energy and with the mind, giving us back an
excellent ability to adapt to sudden changes in temperature and those of
life.
 2nd exercise - Susokkan

Another useful practice can be that of susokkan, the practice of

counting the breath. The susokkan is convenient for those who think
too much, as it involves listening neither forced nor concentrated to the
comings and goings of the breath. While mentally repeating the
numbers, inhale and exhale through slightly parted lips and leave the
chest as motionless as possible.
The mechanics of counting is to mentally count the irst part of the
number while exhaling and the second part of the same number while
inhaling, i.e.:

(expi.) Uuuuuuuu… (inspi.) noooooo

(expi.) Duuuuuu… (inspi.) eeeeee

(expi.) treeeeee… (inspi.) eeeeee

(expi.) quuuaaaaa… (inspi.) ttrooooo

…until…

(expi.) Diiieeeee… (inspi.) iiiiiiiii

…and then it starts all over again…

(expi.) Uuuuuuuu… (inspi.) nooooo… And so on.

However, we must consider that a Western student can be annoyed by

this technique, feeling the breath control as an annoying or useless
coercion. It is up to the student to understand if it is appropriate to use
this method or if it is better to let go in the opening of one's own
absorption or possibly maintaining the concentration on hara by
bringing the strength of the heart to it as in exercise 10.
Another practice is to listen to the breath, which is called anapanasati;
eventually you can listen to its coming and going, but without applying
a count but rather a clear self-perception of presence. During this
phase, sooner or later we will slip into an oceanic feeling of amazement,
the scent of an important change to be experienced. In reality, every
ixation must be resolved in life but it is also important to feel victory
from the very irst steps. Anyone who manages to do something well
right away can be happy: let's leave the necessary humility to the
professional monks, to meditation to re-establish the naked truth of
feeling, to the busy layman the jubilation of an honest achievement.

The Westerner's disagreement with himself is a state of mind

incomprehensible to Eastern Masters who, at best; they understand it
as a sort of hyper-complexity easily scratched by a certain roughness,
by an epic presentation of the Master and by that oceanic, but dry and
disconsolate exoticism that is so reminiscent of Zen.

One thing little considered by most, however, is that in some ways the
sharp mind of the modern Westerner can be an exceptional and unique
tool.

The funniest gimmick I've ever heard proposed by an Eastern Master

was that of a well-known Master based in America, Shunryu Suzuki
Roshi, who proposed to his students to do like Rinzai, that is, laugh out
loud every morning!
The useful exercises for the Westerner lead the practitioner to perceive
the life that is in everything and to ensure that this is re lected in the
life of one's thought. Thus the Westerner can perceive the proteic
movement of the mind that forms images and expectations and
recognize it in his life, that is, recognizing every object of experience
and every act of his in the vibrant and empty essence that is his own.

He can feel the cat, the glass, the watch, the water, the triangle, he must
perceive the movement that memory makes in remembering the dear
face of his friend or the sound of lightning, and feel the living thrill.

He can inally hear the sound of every thought, perceive it as a colour, as

a lowering of his being and no longer as a dry typographical
impression printed in letters, words and sentences. This dialogue-brain
nightmare can end forever.

Instead of demystifying thoughts, or elevating them, or sublimating

them, the modern practitioner learns to perceive them alive, vibrant in
their quality and therefore, thanks to this, naked and silent. It doesn't
work the other way around for a Westerner who is a little cultured,
thoughtful and curious; it can only happen like this before making one's
mind like a wall, because the Westerner must immediately see that wall
shine. In summary: the life of thought and the recognition of the power
of thought leads to the recognition of what it thinks.

In addition to this there is a further dynamic which is different and

increased in Westerners: in the Chinese tradition it is said that the
increase in Qi leads to the creation of Shen, which for Westerners is
almost completely reversed and which, coincidentally , it is also for
Hakuin, given what he wants to achieve from the naikan techniques.

Even some Chinese masters of Qi gong have noticed it: it is not possible
for a Westerner to compact energy (Qi) to the maximum and make it
low maximally with the hope of realizing being (Shen). Even if my
translation of the two terms Qi and Shen is here summary, the
substance does not change.

In general, it is impossible for a Westerner to perceive as energy what

he perceives as mystery or consciousness, and therefore in general it is
not possible for him to reach the Whole (Shen) through energy (Qi): for
energy there are vitamins, for the mystery you get on your knees and
pray, a synthesis is rare in the West.

The Western mentality is commonly conditioned by two thousand

years of transcendence, that is, of a split between the physical world,
here, and the metaphysical world, there: this is what ultimately evokes
that fateful split of knowledge into science and mysticism that informed
culture western and therefore planetary.

The traditional monastic training of Zen leads to compacting the will,

faith, strength, courage and assertion of one's freedom in the individual.
That natural faith which allows the Eastern to evoke and invoke every
force in itself must be reconstituted in the Western thanks to its most
ef icient tool: the mind, this time experienced as a mystery of
feeling/power/quality rather than cultivated as cogitation/calculation/
amount.
Understand the dantien
 Compress Force

When we get out of bed after a period of convalescence we are forced to

compress force or pump force, and it is then that to get up, we must
contract our stomach and breath in a sort of forced inspiration. If for an
instant the reader tries to get up from his chair with such an effort, he
can feel that contraction of the lower abdominal muscles which is the
summoning mechanism of physical strength: Uhn!. It is in this way that
the breath, the electricity and the muscular tension are able to
concentrate their work to carry out a gesture that is too tiring or very
delicate.

In fact, exhaling during athletic effort is a healthy type of habit, when

we perform gymnastic movements or in any case not too tiring
movements: we know well that there are gestures that lead us to
exhale, others to inhale, and how exhaling completely the inhalation is
both spontaneous and complete and re-oxygenating.

This, however, which is already a different breathing rhythm from the

normal one, can be a irst phase of adaptation to a much greater effort
where the breath is broken, an experience of the athletes we have
already mentioned.
Breath can be broken either by running or by lifting a weight several
times. If we take soccer players for example, we see how they catch
their breath as soon as the game starts, it's as if they were already
ready to enter that sphere of effort, what researchers call ergotropic
syndrome. Even if they may be out of breath, their breathing is still
established in the belly: in this case the fatigue is no longer poured all
over the lungs as it is for a beginner, but is electrically dissolved on the
belly and on the heart, on the endocrine glands and on the muscles,
therefore on the body's immediate ability to react to the stressful
phenomenon of the opponent's attack or the ball in the opponent's
area.

It can also happen, when the break of breath has not been complete,
that you need to yawn to loosen the diaphragm more.

The break of breath in a soccer player certainly lasts an hour and a half
as well as, to a lesser extent, it lasts his life.

Now let's take movement exercises with weights as an example: the

trainer will certainly advise us to breathe and above all to exhale
abundantly while working with weights or machines. And yet he
himself, lifting the maximum bearable weight, will be forced to pump
force into a sort of apnea by pushing the breath down towards the
abdomen, gnashing his teeth and saying Uhn!.

In fact bodybuilders call their physical activity pumping strength and it

is precisely when they go into this apnea that the stress on the muscle
occurs which makes it grow in strength and mass: nothing to do with an
orderly and complete breath.

Talking to an expert who has known several world champions of

bodybuilding, I got the idea that their increasingly extreme
performances that strain the physical forms in paroxysmal ways, as
well as by economic or hedonistic factors, are above all dictated by the
great sense of well-being given by the use of the breath during training
and the strengthening of the body's electrical meridians which, at the
same time, pump with their exercises and which increasingly bury
under a mass of muscles, which forces them to pump even more.
Observing this mechanics made me understand the laws of effort
connected to zazen which I will specify later.

In the dynamics of breath compression, the vocal cords have a great

importance by opening, maximizing breathing, or closing, against each
other, to allow us to compress the breath during effort. In this sense, the
vocal cords not only have the function of phonation or dam of our
breath, but they have a real power to compress it with their movement:
this is why particular sounds are spontaneously emitted during effort.

Breath compression is also functional for dissolving conditions of

mental or energy overload: those who get very angry compress their
breath and therefore speak in a choked voice, which, according to the
latest research, prevents them from migraines and even strokes; when
you can't stop laughing, a rhythmic compression of the breath takes
place which releases a long-term accumulated muscle tension. Crying
and laughing are the product of a compression, just as every gesture of
attention, irmness or that implies sincerity or intensity starts from a
compression.

The physical compression of the breath pertains to the breath of light

which is a state of compression that is continued and stabilized in the
stillness and bliss of zazen.

Aiming at a target, giving sincere thanks, expressing a feeling irmly,

serving tea or pouring wine, we gently compress the breath: the natural
gesture of energy, attention, sincerity, liberation that most de ines the
practice of zazen.
 Dantien or Hara

We will clarify in an experimental way the meaning of these two terms.

The terms hara, dantien, kikai dantien, tantien, dantien, etc., are almost
synonymous and de ine, with different shades of meaning, a center of
accumulation of energy in the lower part of the abdomen.

There is no need to look for this area by following an anatomy atlas,

when we can simply observe ourselves as a living entity, perceive this
area by listening to it sitting cross-legged, bending forward and placing
our hands on the loor in front of us. It is said that the hara is below the
navel, however this internal presence must be noted with particular
attention, a naked and precise attention.

To de ine this attention, the Chinese bring together two characters that
mean cave-cave or strong impression of empty space, which de ines the
right sensation that does not depend on perceiving something but, in an
optimal state of health, an empty fullness.

Hara is a center of gravity with respect to our body, but not only for
weight, but also for energy.
By focusing on the area below the navel, maintaining a forward leaning
position, we can perceive an elastic ball that is inside our belly. That
elasticity, which does not correspond to any precise organ, constitutes
the physical reality of hara: we must instead listen to the energetic
reality of hara at the moment of compression of the breath - we have
just explained it - that is, when under effort, getting up after a
convalescence or lifting a weight, we are forced to compress the breath
down.

So in the already mentioned listening position let's try to compress the

breath: Uhn!.

Thus we ind hara, or the dantien.

We use hara without knowing it. Taoist yoga practitioners identify the
type of energy related to the dantien with the term Qi, the energy that
lows in the small or large celestial circulation circuit, an energy that is
evoked from the top of the head as a manifestation of the descending
energy, the celestial shen, and which also comes from food and
ancestral heritage, the jing, and which also comes from the earth
through the feet, and which ultimately accumulates in hara; for Indian
yoga practitioners, hara is not exactly the evadishtana or swadisthana
chakra, but rather resembles the plexus generically de ined - in Sanskrit
and Urdu - as nabhi, a sphere surrounding the navel.
The location of the nabhi, in turn, would resemble that of the cikai
dantien according to the Japanese tradition, but in reality, prā ṇ a and Qi
are two different energy levels, albeit adjacent and intertwined.

The simplest ways to perceive Hara are with special movements-

breathing-concentrations that I teach during the workshops or with the
attention placed for a long time on the energetic fact of the exhalation, a
low of bioelectromagnetic nourishing energy which strengthens the
viscera with each exhalation.

Otherwise the only direct experience of hara that we can have is during
a long meditation or when this body battery of ours is very charged
with energy and we manage to keep it there; this generally only
happens during adolescence, or when someone has a heroic and
enthusiastic life, and it is then that we feel the belly jerk with its own,
involuntary movements.

It is an impression similar to when you slap a pumpkin, a watermelon

or a basketball, you feel the area literally jolt as if it were rejecting the
received solicitation outward, vibrating, as if it were bouncing and
trembling.

Pregnant women have their energy and attention entirely placed in the
hara, an area that can jump with the same response just said, while
keeping the fetus comfortable.
Finally, the most certain result, although requiring gradual training, is
achieved by practicing that breathing through the pores which we will
explain later.

Those who assiduously practice meditation can have the experience of

the movement of hara even in old age: generally the non-practicing or
neophyte person considers the luxuriant fullness of energy a bit
annoying - today I feel nervous - and often dissipates it with a bath
heat, or getting tired by losing physiological luids, a reason that does
not make it easy to experience this form of fullness and the related
symptom. This is also the reason for the release of the
diaphragm/solar-plexus area, which we have already discussed.

So apart from this uncommon experience, how does one perceive the
energetic reality of hara?

In the meditation position the attention and the impression of body

weight are dropped - in experience they correspond - under the navel
area, inside the body, in an unde ined area that we perceive as a kind of
unmeasurable bubble .

The more it ills with energy, the less measurable the impression we
have of this spherical area. This is the strange metaphysical power of
hara.
In fact, a Formula One racer, even if he doesn't know it, the precise
instant he feels fear dissipates it in hara; whenever we hear a sound
that is too annoying we transfer it from the ears to the hara; when we
need to draw strength quickly we compress the breath into hara and
from this we let it explode in a gesture or a scream while from the
adrenal glands, at an incredible speed, adrenaline radiates everywhere;
if we are cold we compress the breath in the hara, we charge it with
bioelectric force and we make it circulate, heating ourselves in every
area where the blood circulates.

Hara works as an energy accumulator, as an organ of transformation of

this, as a pump in recalling and emanating it. Whatever work we do and
whatever our habits, we make use of hara; but to determine a good
meditative absorption we need our energy, that this is not dispersed
and that it is treasured also thanks to an intelligent way of living, and to
determine a good functioning of hara we need to meditate in a natural
and simple way, therefore to learn we need - as we have seen - to
assume a facilitating position.

In general, thanks to their attention to hara, practitioners are balanced,

strong and long-lived and thanks to this force they can engage in their
businesses by consuming more of it than the average person but, at the
same time, making it circulate more and always regenerating it.
 Naikan exercises to enhance the perception of
dantien/hara

Apart from some breathing tricks, there are speci ic traditional chá n
exercises to strengthen hara: one exercise for the body, one for speech
and one for the mind. In all three of these Chinese exercises the thumb
is included in the two clenched ists and the ists are held with the back
on the thighs, in the groin crease, as well as remaining concentrated on
the hara.
 3rd exercise - Body exercise.

Let your breath slow down naturally:

as you inhale, visualize the breath going beyond the lungs and breaking
through to the hara;
while exhaling a iner golden current continues to radiate hara;

both while inhaling and while exhaling one must think that a subtle
current ills the hara and so, little by little, this energy will be felt more
and more strongly;

after inhaling, one can also hold the breath for a while while the energy
of the breath ills the belly with spiral movements around the navel
(which can be seen from above following the direction of the clock
hands).
 4th exercise - Exercise of the word.

During a comfortable breath hold, a syllable ending with the letter M is

pronounced mentally seven times, slowly,

one remains more and more intimately listening, with only the right
ear, to the resonance. For this purpose, the right hand is cupped over
the right ear.
 5th exercise - Exercise of the mind.

Inhale, effortlessly hold the breath in hara;

release it from the nose letting it out slowly while opening the hands as
if letting something go;
with the gesture of opening your hands worries, unease, anxieties go
away;

and when you are ready you say: “I am very, very worthy of merit,
honor (touch navel), respect and joy (diaphragm).”

Every time we pronounce the word honor we touch - with the middle
inger of the right hand with the ingers together - the navel.

Every time, at the word joy we feel the diaphragm (the pit of the
stomach) drop downwards.
The question of energy
 Bioelectromagnetism

I think it is important to have some metaphysical intuition of energy, but

it is also good to have it adherent to reality, that is, in an experiential
way, ours, so that it can be useful to us right away. We will use the
explanation that is most popular, that of contemporary science; it is not
the truth, but only an explanation that can be shared in the habit of
most.

There are properties that are common to magnetic and electric ields,
while there are others that differentiate them, and this will be useful for
us to understand in order to understand two universal forces that are
part of our system.
The qualities that magnetic ields and electric charges have in common
are:

they are both force ields, i.e. ields that describe the effects of a force;

both can be described by ield lines that we see at the bottom of the
images;

there are two types of electric charge (but in two distinct bodies), just as
there are two types of magnetic poles (but in the same body).

poles of the same type repel each other and of different types attract
each other, this applies to both magnetic ields and electric charges;

a discharged conductor can be electri ied by a charged body, just as a

steel bar can be magnetized by a magnet.
Perhaps the difference - between the two forces - that is more useful to
consider for our purposes are the opposing ideas of ield and charge,
because:

magnetism presupposes an area of in luence in common between two

parts which therefore attract each other creating an energetic whole (or
in the magnet this is already manifest with the bipolarity) while,

electricity is active in an immediate passage of force from one part to

another in which the electric charge changes and the result is - again -
an attraction (in this case temporary) but, above all, a passage, a shock.
So we have a potential difference which in the case of magnetism
manifests itself in a polarity, while in electricity it shows itself as a
discharge, a passage. In fact: because the irst image immediately makes
us think of electricity,

while the second to magnetism?

I don't think I have anything else to add to explain why I would de ine
prā ṇ a of a magnetic nature and Qi of an electrical nature, even if, once
again, we must say that the functions of these two energies are
intertwined and even confused, even more when they are more speci ic
and specialized. In this sense, the reader can obtain further clari ication
from the appropriate attachment which at the end of the book deals
with the theme of here and prā ṇ a.

Well, now that we have clearly de ined a difference between electricity

and magnetism, and therefore a very brief one between Qi and prā ṇ a,
having to bring it back to the functioning of the human system, we must
realize that - at least at the irst level of learning - these two forces are
completely confused in it, creating an energy function that supports
everything that circulates in it.

At a higher level of naikan learning, the distinction we have created will

be useful to us, given that the reader will want to experience the passage
of energy in his body according to the two above-mentioned modalities,
and since he will be able to perceive in his body two different types of
reactions.
 Electricity and Magnetism in Human Systems

Humans don't know what electricity is but, they loosely de ine and
measure it since, however, electricity manifests itself as a potential
difference or ddp.
Potential difference means that from pole A to pole B of any oblong
object we can already calculate a charge difference, which denotes a
passage of electricity and/or magnetism, even if this is minimal; each
object, depending on the material that composes it, has its own
conductivity or the ability to transmit more or less electricity. Well, there
is even a potential difference between the cytosol[1] and the other cells
that surround it, and it is measured in about 70 mV (millivolts), a
circumstance which made the researchers say that, if the electricity of
many cells of a certain tissue, this could already be enough to
electrocute the entire human system.

Yet the fact remains that being able to de ine what electricity is
something still impossible and that, probably, we will never succeed.

I believe that materialism and ideism are exaggerated approaches to

every question and that it would be more functional to face everything
from the widest possible viewpoint; I believe that this view is given by
the silence of meditation, since it is precisely during meditation that
individual ideas and opinions are reset, and a power - unknown to most
- of penetration of questions arises.

But the most relevant aspect would be that this penetration is devoid of
any theoretical foundation, in such a way as to sever in the human mind
the continuous systemic paroxysm that wants at any cost to collect
demonstrations to satisfy theories, instead of collecting facts in order to
understand the facts themselves.
I suppose that the facts must be collected silently, without raising any
interpretative barrier, otherwise we risk escaping precisely the most
unexpected facts, i.e. those imponderable and dif icult to organize
according to our preconceptions. That's what else meditation can do.

Moving from philosophy to epistemology, the re lection of the Nobel

Prize in Physics David Bohm seems to me appropriate: "in order to have
something new, an entire generation of physicists must die".

Luigi Galvani from Bologna was the irst scientist who, in the eighteenth
century, demonstrated the ability of biological tissues to elicit electrical
phenomena thanks to experimentation on the gastrocnemius muscle of
a frog. Galvani highlighted the fact that the muscle of a frog can be
moved as it is crossed by an electric current.

To be clear, the scienti ic precedent that made the idea of a literary

character like Frankenstein possible was galvanism, a term relating to
the theory of electrochemistry we have just talked about.

Frankenstein or the modern Prometheus was written for fun by Mary A.

Shelley, wife of the famous poet and also a writer and poet, about a
century after Galvani's discoveries. It was a competition between poets
proposed by Byron, who asked all participants to invent a ghost story; this
digression aims to show how the story of Frankenstein's adventures
marked a very particular historical moment, a moment in which, in the
collective dream, there was a sincere curiosity towards electricity, felt as a
force close to the gift of life .
Almost simultaneously with the invention of Frankenstein, Cesare
Mattei was born, the one who will found the irst pharmaceutical
multinational which was a factory of homeopathic remedies; this new
medicine was called Electrohomeopathy by Count Mattei and really used
the vital power to electrically charge the basic plant substances,
extracted with the spagyric method, and inally the homeopathic
remedies that derived from them, thanks to a current of natural origin
but directed with the use of the will.

What we have told, citing these historical facts, is the intuition of a

connection between electricity and life to give the reader arguments and
openings.

To begin our discussion, we begin by agreeing on a fact; the brain,

although it is commonly considered by scientists as the origin of the
ability to think, is on the contrary - for Zen practitioners - like the
electric switchboard is to electricity, that is, how a thing is in relation to
what really moves it.

This is not the inal truth but it is the experiential point of view of those
who practice meditation.

But how dare Zen monks put their mouth on these scienti ic things?
Well, the novelty is this: there are no scienti ic things as there are no Zen
things either. They are all just descriptions. The task of Zen is to reach
with meditation and satori that place where discursive logic cannot
reach, but from which one can start again to make a new use of it.

Scienti ic research has now clari ied once and for all that the human
nervous system works thanks to electrical discharges that are generated
in a special atmosphere saturated with nitric oxide, i.e. NO [2]. In saying
this, we have said of the cerebral, neurological aspect of the mind,
precisely where electricity seems to be the living medium to the
metaphysical realm, both in its directly electrical and in its magnetic
aspect, which links cerebral functions to the vaster mind or to the entire
universe; but the latter is my explanation. And for me this binding
already exists, it's just that every single individual can become aware of
it to a lesser or greater extent, to the point of realizing this in inite
relationship in itself, even beyond all the phenomena that derive from it.

The awakened state of consciousness, as well as all the derived

experiences, are erroneously considered by science as peaks or as
momentary altered states of consciousness, when instead they are the
inheritance of the human being, according to what Buddhism and
Taoism af irm. Consequently, all the training we are dealing with
pertains precisely to this reality which, in the practitioner of Zen Naikan,
is destined to become increasingly evident.
 Oscilloscope recording of action potentials emitted from the sinoatrial
node of the rabbit heart

The reader will have already guessed or known how living beings in
general are made of cells, which need the appropriate magnetism to
function optimally. This can be explained according to science according
to two principles:

cells are strongly in luenced by magnetism and electricity, as their

membranes and other internal structures are equipped with electric
charges and actual passages of current and magnetism;

chemical and enzymatic reactions are also strongly in luenced by

magnetism; they occur everywhere in our body in immense quantities
being at the basis of vital phenomena and of our very existence; these
reactions are based on electronic interaction and the exchange, sharing
or transfer of electrons from one atom to another and from one
molecule to another.
In the presence of magnetic ields of the right type and intensity, the
electrons inside the atoms which make up the molecules which in turn
make up living cells, arrange themselves in a suitable way to favor the
chemical reactions we need for physiological functions; therefore we
need magnetism to coordinate and align the cells, to accelerate and favor
chemical reactions, as well as to optimize the functioning of the enzymes
which, among other things, govern the digestion of nutrients and the
disposal of toxins and biological waste.

Today, even more, setting natural magnetism in motion allows us to

restore our bioelectromagnetic ield in luenced and weakened by
electromagnetic pollution such as that of mobile phones, computers,
TVs, radios, household appliances such as microwave ovens, civil/
industrial plants, radio/telephone/internet/tv repeater antennas, high
voltage cables.

Our living system is very sensitive to magnetic ields and the magnetic
effect reaches every cell of the body due to the highly pervasive
character of magnetism as the whole body is pervaded by electricity and
magnetic ields are present in every organ, tissue, cell . Moreover, our
body produces very minute crystals, almost microscopic, of a substance
called biogenic magnetite, or biogenic microcrystals, with a magnetic
action.
Effects on the composition of the blood, caused by the concentration of
iron in hemoglobin, are recorded in red blood cells and thanks to the
ESR[3], due to the exposure of the body to a constant magnetic ield
which - by now it is clear - causes changes biochemists.

Precise qualitative and quantitative effects of magnetic ields on tissue

and cellular metabolism have been detected, as well as an interaction
between the functions of the central nervous system and external
magnetic ields; in fact a magnetic ield can exert a direct in luence on
the diencephalon, which is the back part of the brain that controls the
endocrine system, and on the forebrain. Just as a magnetic ield can
generate suffering and disease, in the same way, it can have a
therapeutic effect, mainly by enhancing our system and therefore mainly
with an inhibitory effect against the possible development of a disease.

The use of electricity and magnetism for curative or initiatory purposes

has been documented since the remotest antiquity. In ancient Greece
and Egypt Thales, Theophrastus and Pliny described the electrostatic
properties of the fossil resin, while Scribonius Largus, doctor of the
Emperor Tiberius, testi ies that electricity - in particular that of
torpedoes - can be used to cure various conditions such as body aches,
gout and headaches.

Electricity and magnetism have a powerful connection to life. Several

animals have electric organs, which Darwin considered evolutionary
errors as in his time the meaning of bioelectricity and biomagnetism
was still unexplored. The geomagnetic ield is used by many animals,
including deer, cows, dogs, turtles, some birds and many ish for
orientation in migration, hunting or for any movement. The same seems
to be true for us humans, thanks to a protein in the retina similar to that
of many mammals and insects, which would allow us to use the
surrounding magnetism for perceptual functions on proportions and
distances.

And we come to the fact that has most amazed those who research in the
ield of the relationship between bioelectromagnetism and life: the
magnetic ield of the human heart can extend for 3 meters outside the
body.

Until today it had not been possible to measure the magnetic component
of the electrical activity of the heart and, I would like to say, perhaps it
wasn't even needed. Today, through technologies such as the SQUID[4],
cardiac magnetism can be observed, extending from 1.5 to 3 meters
outside the body.

Among the energy meridians that have been measured experimentally,

the most intense is the heart meridian as it generates a clearly
detectable ElectroMagnetic Field (EMF). Well the EMF of the heart, of
toroidal shape, is 5000 times more powerful than that of the brain.

This EMF is generated inside the cell nucleus, in the chromosomes, and
permeates every cell of the organism. From this we understand how
each organ of the body emits its own EMF of different intensity and
frequency depending on the type of organ, while all these EMFs are
synchronized by the ield of the Heart.
The communication of each cell with the heart is fundamental and
concerns the nano-electromagnetism which from the DNA of each cell
and from the enteric or metasympathetic nervous system - the
abdominal brain which produces large quantities of serotonin - play a
fundamental role in the management of information within of our
electromagnetic bio ield and, what is more obvious than mysterious, in
the interaction with the systems of others.

To summarize what has just been said, I repeat that in our system, which
is a quantum engineering masterpiece where everything is connected
through magnetism, there are two main places of evident
electromagnetic generation, one slight but precise, the brain, which
works like a circuit electronic, and a more intense one, the heart,
dynamic and pounding, just like an engine, and that there is a
relationship between these radiating organs and every single cell of our
system.

Now let's add one more discovery, to better describe - from a scienti ic
point of view - which bonds connect our emotional frequencies and the
wider ones that are collective or even planetary.

For travel outside the earth's atmosphere, NASA has equipped the
spacecraft with special electromagnetic generation devices, this because
the resonance frequency of the waveguide between the earth's crust and
the ionosphere, the so-called frequency or Schumann resonance[5 ], is
now considered fundamental for the psychophysical balance of the
human being. In fact, without this frequency, the human biological
complex becomes unbalanced and risks falling ill. We owe Ermanno
Tufano the identi ication of electromagnetic generation activity in
human DNA when mechanically stimulated and subjected to 7 Hz
signals, i.e. a frequency that is in resonance with the geomagnetic ield.

Furthermore, the aforementioned interaction is also shown in the

opposite direction, as indicated by the instruments of the two
geostationary satellites of NASA GOES-8 and GOES-10, which on 11
September 2001, at 9:00 in the morning, ifteen minutes after the
collapse of the irst tower of the World Trade Center, they detected a
considerable increase in the activity of the Earth's magnetosphere.
Subsequently, at the Princeton University and the Heart Math Institute,
the analysis of satellite data compared with those of other historical
periods and other events of similar global signi icance, seems to
demonstrate the connection of these mass events to the earth's
frequency/pulse .

Note:

[1] The cytosol is the liquid contained in the cell therefore within the cell
membrane.

[2] Nitric oxide (NO) is produced in living organisms from the semi-
essential amino acid L-arginine, thanks to the catalytic action of the
enzyme nitric oxide synthetase. Generated almost ubiquitously in the
human body, NO modulates a very important series of biological
functions at the level of almost all organs and systems. See: Ignarro LJ.
Nitric oxide: a unique endogenous signaling molecule in vascular
biology. The Nobel Prize 1998 Medicine/Physiology Lecture. 1988.

[3] ESR erythrocyte sedimentation rate.

[4] SQUID is a superconductive quantum interference device, a machine

capable of measuring the amount of iron in the blood with maximum
precision through a magnetic biopsy, thus managing to "read" the
percentage in organs such as the brain and heart.

[5] This discovery was hypothesized by Nikola Tesla in the last years of
the 1800s, but was inally veri ied experimentally and made public by
Schuman only in 1952, after which it was well veri ied due to the
revolutionary implications that derive from it.
 Zen discipline and the practice of Naikan as an
endotropic syndrome of adaptation

What we are going to consider on energy has a direct bearing on

breathing since the breath of light, as we have written, determines a
particular energetic con iguration in the practitioner's body, similar to
that of the athlete during a long-term athletic performance.
The metaphysical intuition of energy is pure Zen: this is demonstrated
to us not only by Hakuin and the hermit Hakuun but also by many
Masters of the past. Let's not get confused: if in other times the
metaphysical intuition of energy was not publicly celebrated or
proclaimed by Zen Masters it was because the metaphysical vision of
reality was already inherent in the Chinese or Japanese culture of the
time. Unlike today: and I emphasize this.

If Zen has distanced itself from esoteric Buddhism by constituting a

separate school, it is only because in Zen what is esoteric is the mind in
its immediate mystery, and this much before all the contents of the
mind itself, a fact that is much emphasized in the zen, since it
constitutes its spirit.

Energy must not distract us from what makes it be every moment, but
inevitably energy must be cultivated.

Being Shakyamuni Buddha an extremely pragmatic individual, he felt

the need to create an immediate ascetic praxis in order to bring his
monks to awakening: I did not say that he had a philosophical idea
about the immediacy or gradualness of the path, I only say that in his
opinion there shouldn't have been too many ilters between the
asceticism, life and realization of the monk.

However Buddha picked up the idea of those times on energy, to which

Buddhism had to adapt, moreover responding to the enormous
pressure generated by caste duties, and thus responding to both
instances with a monasticism full of vows and commitments.

In the Indian world we talk about prā ṇ a and apana with great wealth of
details regarding numerous internal functions of the organism: prā ṇ a
that move functions and that connect to humors and organs up to
reaching transpersonal synchronies. All the explanation that goes from
Ahamkara through the gunas to the tattwas or mahabuthas [1] - the ive
constituent elements - is complex and rooted in the perception of a
metaphysical world. According to the Chinese mentality, on the other
hand, energy in living things is produced in some way from the bottom
up, that is, let's say, from the sensitive world to the metaphysical one,
like the lines of the Yi Jing hexagrams.

Ancestral vitality, the jing, that genetic force that comes to us from our
ancestors, from physical, emotional and subtle food, is like fuel that is
consumed over the years and is only minimally renewed. The primary
function of the jing is to form the famous Qi: this force is subtle, but not
entirely metaphysical because it lows through the function of the
organs thanks to the meridians. Thanks to these meridians, as
electricity lowing in the nervous system, physiological dynamism,
strength and protection are produced.

Physiological dynamism - breath, circulation, organ function and

coordinated movement.

Dynamis of strength - creative ability, courage and brute strength.

Protective dynamis - biomagnetism in/around the connective-muscle-
tendon tissue.

The metaphysical function of Qi is to activate and recall, thanks to

consciousness, the force that responds to it from above, the shen, the
door open to celestial in luences and to the mystery of being. A well-
trained Qi facilitates the ful illment of the shen in mortal life of men up
to the eventual conquest of long life or immortality.

Meditating is for Taoists: "allowing the shen to dwell in man

permanently while the Qi remains in balance and circulates
powerfully".

Eventually the Indian and Chinese systems come together when they
deal with the way in which the being meets the human energy system
and this synthesis between systems is the theme of the famous
Kalachakra Tantra where Indian, Persian, Chinese and Greek medicine
ind a theoretical synthesis. It is curious to consider how, in any case,
the idea of the fullness of being in a man is recognizable by these
different cultures in a completely equal way. We have the example of
the application of the theory of Qi in the most advanced Shaolin monks
who are ch'an monks, ie Zen.
Let us now consider the practical application of energy in the
asceticism and in the daily life of a Zen practitioner by comparing
ourselves with the western idea of effort and stressor phenomenon.

When a stressor phenomenon takes place with a generalized or

localized action on the organism, the famous "stress" is created. What is
Stress? More broadly it can be de ined as a general adaptation
syndrome. Which consists of a:

alarm reaction:

shock i.e. state of passivity in which the body is hit but does not react,

countershock i.e. general activation of the response, and then of one:

postreactive resistance stage producing the ergotropic syndrome of

high functional readiness which eventually degenerates into a

exhaustion phase due to prolonged exposure to the stressor agent

where the adaptation achieved in phase two is not maintained and is
destined to gradually weaken.
With regard to a strengthening of the organism and of the individual, it
can be considered that: if the second phase, stimulated by a stressful
phenomenon of non-fatal intensity, lasts for a long time so that the
organism can preserve itself continuously enough in even a minimal
syndrome of adaptation, here we have obtained to some extent a
strengthening: technically this strengthening and resistance is called
resilience.

If this possibility is not understood and is not implemented then the

individual's reactive system is not trained but, moreover, phase one of
alarm lasts longer and without utility often generating over time an
existential alarm psychism which manifests itself as a phobia ,
dissatisfaction or depression.

This shows us how the fear of stress is increasingly unfounded, or how

it is nowadays more attributable to the amount of stimuli and
information than to their incisiveness.

In general we can consider the sense of encirclement and tiredness

experienced by those who feel stressed as a weakened alarm reaction
in phase one and a hypoadaptive reaction in phase two.

The three phases can also extend over several days: in the event that,
due to a wrongly timed workout, phase three of exhaustion occurs on
the day of the competition or performance, you have burn out, i.e. you
end up burnt out in strength.

Overadaptation means that more than enough strength is summoned in

stage two of resistance.

Hypoadaptation means that the changes that accompany muscle fatigue

show an adaptation that is not entirely suf icient.

This is why it is said that the right duration and intensity of physical
effort and the right subsequent recovery time allow it to be repeated,
increasing strength, resilience, determination, satisfaction and general
well-being. A poor understanding of these needs produces a hypo-
adaptation which can become continuous and therefore psychological.

This is what concerns an ordinary person: but we know very well that a
person who practices meditation assiduously can no longer be
considered such for many reasons.

The fundamental reason is that a meditator cultivates a continued

endotropic syndrome with a rather signi icant or abnormal
overadaptation.
Nor is it ergotropic because it is somehow self-produced or, better to
say, it is the result of an acceptance and cultivation of an endogenous
state, which is strengthened by a sense of expansion and communion
with the whole.

Living on a level of stronger stimulations is something that many

adrenaline-pumped billionaires practice, inventing everything in order
to live dangerously: now cocaine, drugs or extreme sports are no longer
enough, they have come to throw themselves periodically, without a
parachute, into the sea to obtain as continuous an adrenaline boost as
possible.

The point is that the truly highest level of stimulation is recorded in the
context of the will, that is, the effective donation of oneself: no danger
can equal such an intimate and transmutative emotion.

This experience focuses on an emotion that is not only physical or

electrical, but rather on an integral thinking/feeling/willing because it
is naturally integrated.

For this reason I spoke of a possibility of strengthening resilience and

the endotropic syndrome, precisely because they are a living
experience for the practitioner and for the neophyte an explanation for
certain hardships of asceticism which are not to be seen as self-
coercion or hazing, but as an energizing self-imposed ordeal: perhaps
the only way to begin to explore what it means for each of us to live
fully.
Removing the importance of the peak - meditation is useless (!) - be it
adaptation syndrome or satori, does not mean taking a truer or simpler
path but on the contrary denying ourselves the fundamental stimulus
that leads us to the fullest experience and true or, at best, it can only be
a Zen marketing gimmick.

If the intensity, and the lowering of it, is not understandable to a

neophyte, I think it should be hoarded and explained precisely by an
older practitioner: it is important.

For a boxer the peak moment is when he is in the ring ighting, for a
meditation practitioner the peak moment is always, as well as during
the meditation session. Every moment the senses live enlarged in the
endotropic syndrome.

Beyond unexpected athletic performances that have been told to me by

my students who have been practicing meditation for some time, the
endotropic syndrome is something livable in all simplicity, in our daily
experience, if we have taken the trouble to have cultivated it suf iciently
and that you have created anchors to evoke their effect at will.

A classic now heard many times, it occurred during medical visits, in

the emergency room or after clinical tests, when one of my students
was asked "How is it possible that you are standing?" Or “...What are
you breathing?” but also “isn't he screaming in pain?”. It happened that
some of my students arrived on foot or by driving to the emergency
room and that they left healed after the intervention of the medical staff
after one or two hours, signing the release form.

In one case a student had lost a liter of blood due to a very serious ulcer
but could speak calmly even standing up; he told me that the
paramedical staff questioned him stunned, however asking him to lie
down on the couch. They were even more astounded when they learned
that his superpower depended on meditation.

The potency that we have de ined as endotropic is that something an

intelligent person feels in the presence of a long-standing practitioner,
feels that they are a remarkable man or woman there, even if they do
not appear successful from the point of view of the exclusivity of this
world at the drift.

Note:

[1] Preparatory structures derived from the shamkya or tantra

traditions which became typical in the teaching of yoga and ayurveda.
 The 5 Energy Levels including Qi and Prāṇa

Having to better de ine energy, based on tradition and my experience, I

recognized ive different functional levels.

Among these ive levels we also have Qi and Prā ṇ a, which it is good to
consider to create a distinction that is useful for our initial practice of
zen-naikan.

Therefore, irst of all, let's create a synthetic distinction between Qi and

Prā ṇ a that is useful for our purposes, knowing full well that they are
overlapping systems in many ways and that any description we will use
will not give us the presumption of challenging the truth, but only the
luck of having a code to guide us.
 Qi

Bioelectrical aether energy.

Emotions: formality and pragmatism.

Circulatory > Respiratory system.

Qi meridians (chin. tcheu).

Points = hsue.

Scroll > connective physical body/organs.

Activate the functions of the organs thanks to the imagination of the

swipe.
Main circulation: forwards then backwards, lowing along the du mai
and ren mai meridians.

Concentration through eyes and movements

 Praṇa

Psycho magnetic astral energy.

Feelings: ritualism and mysticism.

Nervous system > Respiratory.

Subtle channels (snscr. nadi).

Psychic plexus = Chakra.

Scrolling > pranic subtle body Prā nomaya Koś a.

Activate the psychic plexuses thanks to visualizations etc.

Main circulation: up or down the central channel (avaduta).

Concentration through breath positions visualization.
We could simplify the subject by saying that Qi is the energy that affects
muscle mass and organ functions, while Prā ṇ a is based more on
consciousness and intentions, as well as the nervous system. As we
have said, they are two different conceptions of energy even if they
intersect to the point of confusion; in fact, whoever knows one of the
two systems better will consider what I say about it completely
incomplete, and will give a more extensive meaning to the principles he
knows best, collecting in that system and in those principles all the
comparisons that correspond with other systems.
A typical American - or commercial - mistake is to think that there
could be a gymnastics for the chakras, that the chakras have a de initive
and valid color for each use[1], and that they are directly connected to
the internal organs, when instead they can be only compared -
indirectly - only to the endocrine glands. Of course, we can call our
perceptions whatever we like - basically what matters is having a
functioning reference system - but perhaps it can be useful to know
what was really said about Qi and Prā ṇ a, at the time and in the places
where those concepts were invented and they were enriched with
references.

So let's leave the New Age or personal systemisations for a moment and
consider how the concept of Qi can be operationally extended to
include the function of Prā ṇ a, while the concept of Prā ṇ a would not
seem to go down to the grossest meanings nor to certain speci icities of
Qi . Prā ṇ a derives its vision from the shamkya or tantric traditions, both
of which are now known to the masses in the West simply as yoga.

Qi is one body with the functions of the different internal organs of the
human body; note well, that I said organ-functions, given that for the
Chinese mind, in fact, if one said organ as we understand it, it would be
a dead organ, such as for example that of a slaughtered animal or in an
anatomy atlas.

In fact, on closer inspection, our organ is a so-called abstraction that

corresponds to a concept of map that is more than established for us,
for better or for worse, but unknown in most other cultures.
What is the working relationship between Qi and Prāṇa?

Chinese pragmatism has its limits, but in this case it follows and marks
the path of experience, given that the exercise of Qi facilitates any other
further acquisition, precisely because Qi can be evoked immediately
and directly as long as one insists and wants to empathize with the
most immediate movement of energy by listening to it with attention
and participation.

Therefore it is important with the Qi to listen to the movement

quantitatively rather than qualitatively the energy itself, which would
be more a prerogative of access to the perception of Prā ṇ a.

Starting from Qi, our system undergoes a rooting that strengthens it

and prepares us for greater balance and attention in understanding the
movements and functions of Prā ṇ a; in fact the practice with Prā ṇ a is
historically contained also in that of Qi. In an image just shown of Qi in
the human system, in fact, we see within the vertical wheel movement
of Qi (ren mai / du mai), also a vertical movement that we could
decipher as movement of Prā ṇ a. As already mentioned, it goes up and
down along the main channel and this corresponds both to the Indian
yogic method and to the later Chinese qi-system, where a vertical
movement of energy is described in the middle of the wheel movement.
This movement, in the Indian system, would also go along the two
lateral respiratory channels - which together with the central channel
form the triple fulcrum of all the pranic movement - and inally along all
the others. I take this opportunity to de ine that when - in Tibet or India
- it is said in the traditional instructions to bring the Prā ṇ a and ix it in
the central channel, this should not be taken literally; the true meaning
is that the whole energy system inds its natural fulcrum, during deep
meditation or well-performed activity, in the three aforementioned
channels which constitute the true trident (scscr. trishula) symbolic of
the God of Yoga Shiva. So in the Chinese system, the vertical channel
which is drawn internally to the main - wheel - movement of the Qi,
designates a function completely identical to that of the central channel
avaduta typical of the Indian shamkya and tantra descriptions.
According to the Chinese, the central qi-channel would connect the
three dantien, which we list here according to the Chinese tradition
with their respective external landmarks:

shang dantian - between the eyes (point off jindan meridian);

zhong dantian - in the center of the chest (VC17 shanzhong);

xia dan tien - two ingers below the navel (VC6 qihai);

However, let us remember that Hakuin's system does not have precisely
these references:

superior dantien jindan as in the system just explained;

median dantien at the level of spleen/stomach function as kikai
dantien activity that reverberates on the deep dantien inally
constituting its dynamic surface; in this case VC17 represents the
highest point of the kikai dantien dynamic;

deep dantien, the containing dantien where the Qi energy

connected with renal function oozes;

Listening to the movement of Qi inevitably means being able to direct it

more and more. More and more one listens actively, therefore more and
more one is able to move the Qi with ease. When you learn to move Qi,
being able to do it in all circumstances becomes very simple and
completely natural. The next stage consists in knowing how to send it
to someone by contact and then, third stage, through space.

To feel the movement of Qi energy, all you need to do is want to feel it

and not ind excuses like "well, it will be the wind..." or "what I feel is
just self-conditioning". We have the example of where western
medicine is going to understand where the superstition of the placebo
effect can lead, with which an enormous quantity of perceptible or
usable phenomena - however mysterious they are - manage to remain
unheard of due to the scienti ic superstition.

If we have decided to avoid as much as possible the quantity of

prostheses and "medications" that science will make available to us and
we want to discover the energetic mystery of ourselves, irst of all we
will have to get used to feeling how a hand can, by waving, send energy,
an energy capable even of penetrating our dense physical body and of
supplying the channels present in that area[2].

In fact, with acupuncture needles we are able to obtain a targeted,

penetrating and strong effect, compared to what we could do now by
moving a hand up and down; but this last effect is of great importance
because we control it, and therefore we can multiply it and also decide
to improve it qualitatively.

How is it possible – for a scientistic-positivist-reductionist-materialist

mind – that an energy expressed by a human will can penetrate a dense
body and reach speci ic organs, positively conditioning their function?

This question answers itself and demonstrates all the superstition

contained in any theoretical assumption, where a maximum system is
created to include a perfectly ordered description of the universe, but
based on only one point of view. Anyone who is not capable of
perceiving a paralyzing nightmare in this attitude must not make us
waste time in useless discussions.

In the practice of naikan, as taught by Hakuin Ekaku, Qi and Prā ṇ a are

mixed since automatically with the practice of zazen - seated
meditation - the small celestial circulation develops and therefore the
circulation of Qi and that, at that point, with breaths that are
implemented with the relative ligaments and held, together with
visualizations, one directly accesses the two main functions of Prā ṇ a in
meditation, the creation of bliss and the facilitation of meditative
absorption so that this occurs at will.

Satori, awakening, is not something we can predict or gradually bring

about, nor can we say that by meditating we will become enlightened,
since there is no direct causal link between meditation and
enlightenment, since enlightenment is beyond time.

But it happens, and so we do meditation and enlightenment based on

what we eternally are.

Something must be added here given that the custom of throwing the
baby out with the bathwater on various topics has now become
established in Japan, which is why Hakuin also had to mobilize in this
regard. Let us look at this scene - going back to the makio topic again -
where a Master scolds a monk about his lingering in bliss, where the
problem is not the bliss but the attachment to it as if it motivates his
existence and as if the enlightenment was a state of blissful suspension;
but what happens is that in the minds of all the monks, who will one
day be teachers themselves, there will forever be the idea that bliss is
wrong if not immoral, a makio, that is, a demon of practice.

In my opinion, many Japanese rigidities inherent in the practice of Zen

are based on this misunderstanding, being that the competitive,
militaristic, gregarious and perfectionist spirit of the Japanese people
easily leads them to stiffen patterns of behavior and opinions regarding
concepts expressed in Buddhism for millennia.
As I explain in another chapter, such a mental pattern severed relations
between Japan and the Rinzai line of Italian descent after the death of
Master Yamada Mumon who had approved it; the dispute occurred due
to the incautious application of the most radical Japanese mentality by
an exponent of the Rinzai-shu institution of the rising sun, completely
incapable of seeing the differences as stimuli, but ixated on
considering them as deviations.

Japanese rigidity has a fascinating side for me, given that dedication
remains a wonderful gift in my mind, but it is that in the current way of
life, the ability to meet new needs and communication methods is
needed, just to start sharing the sense of what the realization of satori
is. This was also the work of Hakuin when he allowed lay people to
attend the temple to meditate, and the sanzen room to solve the koans,
and such was Yamada Mumon's commitment that in his desire to
dialogue with the West, he managed to understand the values and
desires to be able to translate the Dharma effectively, accepting Western
women into monastic practice as well; beyond that Master Mumon was
able to understand what better there could be in the Western mind
than the Japanese one, which both he and Master Sodo Harada clearly
expressed. The certainty, in Hakuin, of basing the teaching of the naikan
on an already established practice of zazen, does not even lead him to
consider explaining better that it is a matter of a subtle body where the
Elixir So moves, in the beati ic practice that he teaches; the fact that the
practice takes place in a subtle body seems automatic, given that by
now the monk has already meditated so intensely and for so long, that
the related subtle body is already ready and more than activated.
Note:

[1] I recognize the usefulness of the description of the chakras - albeit

non-traditional - in the context of radionics studies and experiments,
given the results produced. This too is a variation of the traditional use
of a principle, which can only make sense when this variation proves to
be operationally effective.

[2] We always remember that to exchange energy with someone we

have to enter their system, which implies that we always have to ask for
permission and that sometimes it is only given in words. Healing is a
complex subject. At least we should not deceive ourselves and be acute,
implacable, possibility-based observers and never aligned with the
superstitions of the time. To learn how to help the healing of others,
one can only irst develop the ability to mobilize energy in a
conspicuous way, with clear, stable, tangible results and on various
levels.
 Exercises to Enhance the Perception of Qi and its
Harmonic Mobilization

Let us return for a moment to the experiential description of dantien

and Qi.
The dantien is not easy to perceive until a very particular listening is
carried out; being an energy organ it does not have a physical
consistency or a limited form in space that can be materially perceived
to say here it is, however the activation of the dantien can create
external physical forms that concern the anatomy of the place where it
manifests itself - below the navel - and where a particularly, unusually
elastic consistency can be found. But unlike nerve plexuses - which
when healthy are not perceived - and chakras which are perceptible
due to their radiance when we manage to focus on that sensation, well,
the dantien has the characteristic of being empty and at the same time
dynamic.

Qi, for its part, has the characteristic of in lating the places where it
passes with vitality and, in effect, ills the meridians by lowing through
them where, reaching the points (hsue = cavity) it ills them one by one
before passing on and reaching all the others on the same meridian,
and beyond.
Therefore, what we must be able to perceive is an empty but extremely
dynamic, active sensation, in fact the energy that is somehow recalled
in the dantien lows on its surface - both internal and external -
designating the dantien (or dantien) as a battery dynamic that is not
recharged by accumulation like that of a razor or a computer, but in
which the dynamis is maintained over time. The dynamo movement is
not maintained, therefore, due to a quantity of permanent charge, but
thanks to a habit of perceiving the part, therefore also of making body
weight and attention fall on it but above all - more important - thanks to
the relationship that the dantien maintains with all the other parts of
our system and also with the outside world, therefore also with the
actions we carry out...
Hakuin considers the kikai to be the breathing center where Qi
radiation accumulates during exhalation, located an inch and a half
below the navel. The dantien, the center of strength, is instead located
two inches below the navel, let's listen to it: The kikai is the treasure
house where vital energy is accumulated and nourished; the dantien is
the castle of the city, where the divine elixir is distilled and where the
cycle of life is preserved. A man of ancient times said: “The reason why
the great rivers and seas achieved supremacy over hundreds of other
streams is that they had the virtue of being lower than the others.[1]
From the very beginning, the oceans have geographically occupied a
lower position than all other waters; therefore they receive all these
waters without increasing or decreasing.” The kikai is located in the
body in a position lower than the ive internal organs, and is constantly
collecting the true energy. Eventually the divine elixir is perfected, and
one attains the status of an immortal. The dantien is located in three
places in the body, but the one I am referring to is the low dantien. The
kikai and dantien are both placed below the navel; in reality they are
one, although they have two names. The dantien is located two inches
below the navel, while the kikai is only an index and a half below it, and
it is in this area that the real energy always accumulates.

Note:

[1] Lao Tzu, 66.

 How the embryo of ourselves breathes

According to the Dongyuan Jing text, our embryonic being breathes like
this:

“There are two breaths, the internal breath, NeiQi, and the external
breath, WaiQi. That which, when dispersed, is like a cloud of smoke, and
which, when gathered, is like a mane of hair, which is visible on the skin,
which has the ive colors, green, red, yellow, black and white, this is the
external breath. Ah! [1] The (internal) breath of man comes out of the
Field of Cinnabar, his breath is deep, what he nourishes is far away, what
he emits is thick; in insigni icant men the (internal) breath comes out of
the liver and the diaphragm: they breathe like monkeys, and blow like
rats.

There is a further question that can give us curious information on the

uniqueness of this breathing practice: in these pages we talk about
breaking the breath of athletes, now let's look at what happens in the
regulation of body temperature.

A team of doctors has carried out studies with the Tibetan government
in exile in Mc Leod Ganji, regarding the case of some practitioners of
Mystical Heat Yoga, the famous dumo of Tibetan practitioners, of which
we have already spoken. Usually, to warm up, an increase in metabolism
is triggered so that heat is already produced in the physiological
processes.

Instead, dumo practitioners lower the threshold of metabolism and

energy consumption to produce the heat they need, something
completely incomprehensible to modern physiology considering that
these practitioners are covered in a single cotton cloth between the
snow and the frost.
Obviously this contradiction is deliberately intentional, this would
show the mystical capacity of these practitioners: the fact is that the
practice of dumo develops precisely from that same type of abdominal
concentration which is also typical in the Zen practitioner and which
we have just mentioned.

However, we must consider that the practice of inner heat arrived in

Tibet from the plain of the Ganges where the climate is very mild and
where therefore it will have been used for other functions: in fact the
irst function of this practice would be the development of bliss and
also the compaction of one respiratory state and consciousness which
is extremely facilitated by abdominal concentration.

This is the importance of preparatory exercises for heat, such as

uddhyana bandha and then kumbaka bandha, or the ligament of the
diaphragm and the vessel which, inally, is realized as an innate
respiratory state[2].

When embryonic respiration is mentioned in the classics, we want to

refer to the breath of one of our supposed spiritual fetuses; in truth, as
we have seen, this breathing would be activated by itself during the
practice of sitting zazen meditation, or thanks to kumbaka, i.e. the
practice of the vase. The meaning of the citation of a possible spiritual
fetus is that with the movement of the suitable energy, the immediate
opening towards the shen would be produced; in Zen philosophy this is
turned upside down since it is sitting in meditation that everything
blossoms by itself, but this theorem is demonstrated in practice since it
is not produced using thought - as happens in many Mahayana schools -
but thanks to a meditation position. And this is precisely the taste of
Zen.

Moreover, in the description of many modern texts it is narrated of an

inverse embryonic respiration during which one should contract areas
that actually expand during inhalation. The mystery is soon solved, it is
a slight contraction useful in certain qi gong exercises which does not
force the respiratory movement; as is often the case, certain techniques
are described roughly - and with some risk - just to make it clear to
newbies that they are not ready yet.

It is important to know that in the ancient Chinese language the word

relationship does not exist and that interactions between people are
actually interactions between roles. For example, the younger brother
will not dare to contradict the older brother.

Note:

[1] During our meetings we will have the opportunity to explain this
technique.

[2] snscrib. sahaja kumbaka or innate vessel retention.

 embryonic respiration

First of all, it is good to understand what embryonic breathing means,

given that it is a term used in many practices of the Chinese tradition
and that everyone has their own opinion, in some cases confusing the
reader with the geek intent on maintaining the oral tradition but, in
reality, to force him to attend paid courses.
From what can be deduced from the various classics and related
commentaries, there is postnatal breathing, therefore completely
similar, at least at the beginning, to that of seated meditation. Then we
have an embryonic strengthening exercise where breathing follows a
precise visualization to increase the so-called small celestial circulation.
We'll call this exercise embryonic circulation boosting.

And therefore, as the last type of embryonic breathing, we have a

particular technique, which has often been unnecessarily underlined,
which consists in the reverse movement of normal embryonic
breathing, but only because certain techniques of Chinese energy
gymnastics require that particular breathing during movements which
by themselves they compress the breath.
 6th exercise.

Qi-Embryonic Respiration I

Primary pattern of Qi embryonic respiration

Normal abdominal breathing is natural and involves only paying
attention to releasing the lower abdomen as you inhale. The descent of
the diaphragm downwards - which the irst few times is felt as forced -
expands the lungs, and this is also a fundamental rule in seated
meditation. Thus the breaths are deep, slow and intense having their
energetic fulcrum in the dantian; the lungs expand and subsequently
compress starting from the diaphragm and therefore from the abdomen
and not from the chest which remains a passive part of the process. In
certain exercises, the inhalation emphasizes the slight push out of the
perineal area, which is between the genitals and anus, or rather where
the huiyin acupuncture point, CV1 (Renmai), is located; while in the
exhalation it is contracted slightly.

In addition to this simple process, one begins to visualize with each

exhalation that the more physical energy of the breath - therefore
oxygen - becomes something more subtle, like an irradiation that
descends through the diaphragm to reach the dantien, spraying all the
viscera but above all by illing the dantien, which voraciously engulfs
this energy with a right-handed movement. Thus this can be seen as a
current radiating from the lungs downwards through the diaphragm,
golden in color, being attracted by a clockwise moving vortex in the
dantien, to nourish it and to give strength and joy to all the internal
organs.

So:

you inhale and the air enters;

there is a slight hold in which the diaphragm is lowered a little;

the physical breath is exhaled while the subtle one descends as golden
radiation and is captured by the swirling movement of the dantien in a
clockwise direction;

a slight withholding just to enjoy the sensation of joyful fullness;

inhale again and so on.

Everything is done carefully and without forcing your breath

 7th exercise.

Qi-Embryonic Respiration II

Embryonic Qi Breathing enhanced by visualization -

embryonic empowerment for activation of
circulation
This breathing is a little more complex because it implies a
visualization of the low of Qi which involves the use of a pure act of
listening which must be confused with a pure act of will. Here the clear
division with the mentality and with the materialistic expectation is
determined.

This is typically the women's movement:

Inhale by making the perception of breath low from the nose to the top
of the head along the forehead, nape, neck, shoulders, back up to the
coccyx;

and then it passes into the perineum (short held);

to go back with the beginning of the exhalation from the front up to the
nose, from which - in fact - the last part of the exhalation comes out,
purifying our system;

very short, joyful restrained;

the cycle starts again.

For men the movement is usually in reverse, so:

Breathing in is like swallowing the breath downwards;

at the perineum there is a moment of restraint;

exhaling one passes with the low behind the back, on the nape, on the
top of the head to exhale the last part of the breath through the nose;

very brief, blissfully restrained;

the cycle begins again.

 8th exercise.

Prano-Embryonic Respiration III

Ascending/Descending Embryo Respiration

According to the Taoist tradition, breathing before birth, i.e. embryonic
or pre-natal, is what we are going to practice now, while post-natal
breathing is that of the 6th exercise.

This upward and downward movement of the energy is very easy to

visualize/feel, so much so that often, point-blank, I propose it as the
irst exercise without saying anything else. However, from a technical
point of view, we have brought an energetic-pranic, vertical movement
into the energy-qi-body space, circular, ie without using the central
channel or the chakras.

The exercise can be described as a lift movement from the basal center
to the navel on inhalation and exhalation. That's all.

But the striking thing is when, by practicing the exercise, at a certain

point, one really perceives an ascending and then descending
movement of energy which cross-sections all the space of our body-qi
and of our dense-body in the area of the belly.

Practicing this exercise, when nothing else is said, just imagine any
sensation of energy that is wave, tingling, vibration, which moves to the
rhythm of the breath as described.
 9th exercise.

Prano-Embryonic Respiration IV

Pranic Embryonic Breathing

I learned various versions of this technique which consists in sending,
with each breath, prā ṇ a along the central axis of the subtle pranic body,
to irrigate the centers and strengthen their function.

First of all, it must be considered that the pranic body (bio-magnetic)

can light up by visualizing it in detail or, simply, by carrying out physical
and meditative activity while remaining very centered and present. To
explain: when a boxer learns to perceive his pranic body – even if this
happens in an unconscious way – it becomes very, very fast, and it just
so happens that in extreme circumstances the practitioners can react
with more force and effect, even without training that can justify such
capabilities.

The technique. The subtle body is visualized: light, translucent and

iridescent; it is crossed by internal channels, also transparent, of which
the main one - with a diameter like the tip of the little inger - runs from
the perineal area to the top of the head, where it opens and widens
throughout.

It is in this channel that the technique is developed:

one trains for a few minutes to contract the perineal muscles, which are
between the genitals and the anus, until one succeeds quite precisely,
and then one contracts thinking that this is the impulse to move the
pranic energy towards the 'high across the channel;
at the same time we inhale and, from the perineal base, we perceive the
luminous breath of prā ṇ a rising through the channel to light up each
center and make it radiate;

therefore: 2) under the navel (same area as the dantien), 3) in the navel,
4) in the heart, 5) on the throat, 6) between the eyes, 7) on the sinciput,
a radiation from the centers themselves manifests itself , as if each
center were a small radiating solar entity;

this visualization of irradiation of the centers remains unchanged, even

when the luminous current returns to the base with the exhalation,
during which every form of impure energy that is stagnant in our
system is discharged through the perineum area as smoky mist and up
until the system is cleaned up.

In this sense, it is interesting to perceive with closed eyes the individual

colors that manifest themselves during this puri ication.

This exercise, in the yogic ield, is called Shakti Chalana.

Master Hakuin's exercises taken from Yasenkanna and Orategama

At the end of this book the reader will ind two traditional texts written
by Master Hakuin, Yasenkanna and Orategama, from which we report
and comment on all the exercises.
 10th exercise.

The heart placed low on the hands

Again, Abbot Hakuun says, "I always keep my heart down so that it ills
my abdomen."
Again... Hakuun says in the Yasenkanna: “Long ago Dogen, the Zen
patriarch founder of the Eihejei temple made the crossing to China and
paid reverence before the teacher Nyojo (Ju-ching) on Mount Tendo
(Tien-t' a G)."

The master said to him, “O Dogen, at the time of sitting meditation, put
your heart on the palm of your left hand.”

There are different levels of realization of this fundamental practice

which appears trivial in its simplicity, but which has very powerful
implications.
 11th exercise.

The heat in the abdomen

“In man energy is, in truth, only one. When it goes down to the dantien,
the Yang reacts, and the initiation of the reaction in the Yang form can be
con irmed by a sensation of warmth."
“When you want to experience the fullness for which Yin is transformed
into Yang, it is enough to reach the production of heat in the abdomen.”

The importance of the practice of Elixir So and Inner Heat is reaf irmed.
 12th exercise.

The pervading energy originating from the breath

through the 84,000 Pores
“When one learns to be quiet and simple, without torments, the ancestral
energy spontaneously conforms to this, producing an integral and
pervading qi-energy. If this energy is kept inside how could I get sick? The
point is to keep this qi-energy within, pervading and supporting the
entire body so that between the 360 points and 84,000 pores there is not
the width of a hair without it. Know that this is the secret to preserving
life.”

As we have already considered in the notes on the irst pages, the

production of the best Qi - thanks to the integrity of the ancestral
energy (jing) - is due in this case to the dynamic stillness induced by
meditation, in which - inally - satori is achieved. Hakuin speci ies that
the term meditation should be understood not only as quietism or mere
mental practice (zazen + koan = rikan), but also with an active life and
thanks to the power that Zen yogic meditation (naikan) has to distill the
elixir and therefore to bring into play the innate potential of the
practitioner. The energy maintained in every point and pore of the body
is not a random way of saying, but it is the subject of exercise 19 where
you actually learn to breathe through your pores.
13th exercise.
 Down in the soles of the feet

“The real man breathes with his heels, the ordinary man breathes with his
throat. And again... the Buddha himself reminds us that keeping the heart
down on the soles of the feet heals a hundred and one ailments."
 14th exercise.

The secret alchemical liquid that comes from the

lungs
“Mencius also speaks of free energy in man; just this must be brought to
the dantien in the sea-of-energy at the navel wheel and concentrated
there below. For months and years protect it and keep it together, feed it
and make it perfect. One morning, that alchemist's crucible will suddenly
be transcended because in all directions and in everything, there will be
circulating the one great elixir. Then, in the end, you will awaken to true
immortality as a great Sennin, one who is begotten like heaven and earth,
and who never dies like the space element never dies.”

“This is the season of 'completion' in the alchemy of the Tan elixir. Why, I
wonder, does man cling to such little psychic powers as riding the wind
and lying over the mists, penetrating the earth, walking on water and
churning the ocean when he can produce the butter-elixir So and
transmute the clay into real, bright gold?”

“A wise man said that “The elixir Tan is the dantien itself located below
the navel. The secret alchemical liquid is that which comes from the
lungs, which must be taken and returned to dantien.” Such is the teaching,
that the "liquid metal" is the circulation of the Tan."

To carry out this technique, which we have already explained as

embryonic breathing, it is useful to prepare yourself well by practicing
the pranayama techniques called uddhyana banda, ujjiai and kumbaka,
used for millennia for the same purpose.
 15th exercise.

The 84,000 pores and the stopping of breathing

“Don't eat until you're hungry, and stop before you're satis ied. Take a
walk until the exercise makes your stomach empty, and when it is empty
go into a room. Sit silently in the meditation position and count the
outgoing and incoming breaths. Count from one to ten, from ten to a
hundred, from a hundred to a thousand, when the body will become still
and the heart serene like a clear sky.

“If this practice is prolonged, the breath will come to a standstill. When it
remains suspended it will become a vaporous exhalation which will rise
from the 84,000 pores as mist. You will ind that every disease you have
ever had is removed and every obstacle eliminated. Now, like a blind man
who sees the light for the irst time, you will no longer need to ask
another what the Way is."

If we look closely, here Hakuin is dealing with the result of the practice
of zazen, of sitting meditation. I ind it much more important to ind this
stop, rather than hoping by sitting for hours on end to automatically
shove deep meditation absorption into the practitioners' skull,
particularly if the practitioners are Western; why that absorption
happens, without having to force ourselves, if we understand the result.

We've already introduced the theme of the breath of light, so we'll

assume there's nothing more to add. On the fact of the balance between
the breath of the two nostrils and how to position the tongue to
facilitate this reference to our public meetings of Zen naikan, otherwise
this text becomes an encyclopedia.
 16th exercise.

The dantien of the heart

“Lock yourself in a private room where there is a comfortable bed already

heated with a pillow about three inches high. Stretch well and lying on
your back close your eyes and con ine the heart energy within your chest.
Place a goose feather on your nose and make your breath so slow that it
no longer moves the feather and after three hundred breaths like this,
when your ears hear nothing and your eyes see nothing, hot and cold will
no longer exist, and the wasp and scorpion stings will no longer be able to
poison you. Life will be extended to 360 years and you will approach the
mental and physiological status of immortals.”

Given the spiritual context, we cannot compare this practice to

autogenic training, but evidently to the Pratyahara of the tantric
tradition, to which Hakuin reasonably returns to encourage the
practitioner to let go, to a relaxation which, in some cases, appears
more necessary than energetic tension .

The latter, however vital, is sometimes not enough to distract certain

characters from a tormenting sense of duty. After all, sensory
deprivation experiments have demonstrated the need for these
moments of high detachment.
 17th exercise.

The Lotus symbol

“Since the lotus that blooms in water withers when it approaches ire, ire
is the dreaded enemy of the lotus. But the lotus that blossoms in the midst
of the lames becomes more and more beautiful and fragrant as the ire
approaches."

“But if you fearlessly persevere amidst everyday sense objects, and engage
in pure and one-pointed meditation without making mistakes, you will be
like the man who successfully delivered the hundreds of golden ryo,
despite the turmoil that surrounded. As you boldly and courageously set
out on your journey, and proceed without stopping for a single minute,
you will experience immense joy, as if you suddenly understood the origin
of your mind and crushed and destroyed the root of birth and death. It
will be as if the empty sky disappeared and the iron mountains collapsed.
You will be like the lotus blossoming in the lames, whose color and
fragrance intensify as the lames approach. Why should it be like this?”

“Because the real ire is the lotus, and the real lotus is the ire.”

“And again… “The power of wisdom that comes from practicing

meditation in the world of desire is like the lotus that comes out of ire; it
can never be destroyed." Again, Yung-chia does not mean that one must
necessarily be shipwrecked in the world of ive wishes. What it says is that
even if one is in the midst of the ive desires and sense objects, one must be
controlled by a mind receptive to purity, just as the lotus is untainted by
the mud from which it lowers.

“Finally… A man who continues his practice avoiding from the beginning
the objects of the ive senses, no matter how well versed he may be in the
doctrine of emptiness of self and things, and no matter how much
understanding he may develop on the Path: when he gives up stillness and
enters the midst of activity is like a water spirit that has lost its water,[1]
or a monkey with no trees to climb. Most of its energy is lost, and it is just
like the lotus that suddenly withers when faced with ire."

In various points Hakuin deals with the relationship between ire and
water, not only in symbolic terms, but thus representing the moods,
their position, function, movement and alternation. Here we are dealing
above all with the possibility of a dynamic Zen discipline and not
segregated from the challenges of existence. But we also want to clarify
the fact that attention must be overcome in keeping the upper part of
the body cool, from the throat to the top of the head (where the lotus
is), attention which ceases after the irst phase of the practice, given
that the heat beati ic now arises everywhere and is purely metaphysical
although clearly perceptible.

Note:

[1] Hakuin uses the term kenka [clam and shrimp]. I do not take it to be
a colloquial term for kappa, or water goblin, although the text indicates
that it refers to this. The kappa has a cavity illed with water on its
head. It loses its powers if there is no water. See Karaki, ed., zenke
goroku shu, p. 337.
 18th exercise.

The Elixir So

“Elixir So is a method a practitioner should use when in his meditation

the four great elements are manifesting out of harmony and the body and
mind are fatigued. Let him visualize placed on the crown of his head that
celestial ointment So, also called butter or ambrosia, solidi ied in the
shape and size of a duck's egg, radiant with light, most pure and sublime
in color and fragrance."

“May he feel the exquisite essence and aroma of the ointment melt and
low down seeping through his head, permeating his body lowing
downwards, slowly coming to wash out his shoulders and elbows, passing
irst to the sides of his chest and into his chest, illuminating the lungs,
diaphragm, liver, stomach and internal organs, back and spine,
nourishing all bones and down to the hips. “

“This is how all the old sicknesses, blockages and pains in the ive main
organs and six viscera follow the heart-mind downwards: if you practice
diligently you will hear a sound of water lowing downwards. Thus this
energy lows throughout the body, providing a nourishing heat that
reaches the legs and continues to the soles of the feet.”

“So the lower part of the body becomes hot, and he is saturated with that
heat. Then let him do this meditation: that the abundance of the elixir,
having permeated the whole body and having reached the feet, begins to
ill it more densely, accumulating in the lower part of his body as if it were
an alembic."

“So he will want to feel himself sitting soaked, inside and out, up to the
navel in a warm decoction of rare and fragrant medicinal herbs prepared
by an expert alchemist. Then you will feel the elixir So gently begin to
distill within you increasing the radiance of body and mind.”
“When this meditation is repeated there will be psychic experiences of a
sudden, indescribable fragrance felt in the nose, a delicate and exquisite
feeling in the body. Mind and body become harmonized surpassing even
the fullness of youth. Accumulations of toxins and blockages are cleared
away, the organs are paci ied and the skin noticeably begins to glow.”
 The three secret keys

of Zen Naikan Comment

 19th exercise.

The irst secret key of the whole Naikan system: The

exercise of breathing through the pores

We quote Master Hakuin's quote again:

“When one learns to be quiet and simple, without torments, the ancestral
energy spontaneously conforms to this, producing an integral and
pervading qi-energy. If this energy is kept inside how could I get sick? The
point is to keep this qi-energy within, pervading and supporting the
entire body so that between the 360 points and 84,000 pores there is not
the width of a hair without it. Know that this is the secret to preserving
life.”

Hakuin zenji

If we read this explanation incorrectly, it will be easy for us to believe

that for some hidden reason or that thanks to some very secret
technique we can suddenly keep the Qi inside our body; something that,
due to the very nature of Qi, will appear unlikely. So? The answer is in
the dynamics of the movement of Qi, therefore it is hidden in its vitality,
or in the fact that this movement must continuously renew itself or,
better to say, can draw from other higher or deeper sources. In reality
that highest source is the power of the breath, when understood in its
subtlety, while the deepest power comes from terrestrial magnetism
and celestial electricity.

Some trees are ever-green due to their internal stem power, and this is
how Qi energy behaves in humans. Trees have a movement of
hormones - auxins - which allows them to issue orders regarding
growth and order, even though they don't have a centralized brain or a
beating heart; still for science there is the mystery of how the sap can
go up those trees taller than ten meters.

Where does the sorting of the tree-system start from? From light, and
the chlorophyll synthesis is there to prove it; using a computer
metaphor we could say that the tree does not need hardware in this, as
everything already works at the online software level, or rather by the
universal mind (Alaya Uijnana) turned towards the tree. And part of the
chlorophyll synthesis is the breath of the tree, i.e. its exchange of
oxygen with the outside with the consequent release of carbon dioxide,
as well as in its breath the magnetic force it receives from the earth, and
the electric light stimulus coming from the sun as well as from other
planets through the atmosphere. The vegetable world also has a special
relationship with the stars and the earth through dew, and its
circulation inside the lask of the biosphere.

Light is breath for the tree, therefore, and Qi works in human beings not
too differently.

In central Asia they collect the so-called star water, leaving a basin of
rain water exposed on those moonless nights that have some particular
astrological interest.

Exercise 19 consists, more and more, of exercising the ability to widen

the subtle breath from the lungs to the whole area of the skin, that is, to
breathe through the pores. Naturally, during inhalation we take in air
and therefore oxygen into the lungs and then, with exhalation, we emit
carbon dioxide and other things into the environment.

It has already been said that, in the exhalation, something else also
happens; it happens that exhaling a passage of bioelectric energy is
activated through the diaphragm and solar plexus which reaches all the
viscera, revitalizing them. Both in qi gong and in yoga there are
techniques which take care of this fact and which use it for the bene it
of the practitioners We now use this same force emanating from the
exhalation, as we use the fact that the same energy always enters with
the inhalation through the pores, into our system.

But this exercise must be done, done, done. Daily basis.

Generally, within a maximum of ifteen times one starts to have the irst
net experiences of bio-electricity. The preliminary attention consists in
rubbing the hands vigorously everywhere on the surface of the body. At
irst the breathing exercise is carried out through the palms of our
hands, through the pores of which we practice breathing in and out the
bioelectric energy while, obviously, the physical breath continues to
take place through the lungs. First we breathe through the palms and
then with the whole hand. In the next phase, by now, we will be able to
access the precise sensation of perspiring with each inhalation and
exhalation through the entire body surface. If we charge our perception
with attention, shortly thereafter, we really facilitate this in/out energy
exchange.
I like to add the following, for the use of Rinzai Zen practitioners
developing the koan way and who are engaged with the koan Mu[2].

This exercise involves the activation of a force that is much more

intimate than that of particular chakras, crucibles or magpie bridges,
meridians or points. Using the words of Yoga everything happens
directly in Shashrara or in Hiranyagarbha [3] or, for the Chinese, in the
Shen.

It is movement without movement. Exhaling the breath that is Mu is

released, yet outside there is already MU welcoming Mu, and when we
reabsorb MU we make MU return to where it already is anyway. I
repeat: this moment should be practiced only for the purpose of
responding to the koan completely, since it allows us to understand the
force of the explosion of this sound, where it comes from and how it is
expressed completely and in total peace. After answering the koan Mu a
sanzen we should not feel let down or unable to speak, or pant like
bulls, since the power of that sound almost produces itself. Some may
be helped in training by irst breathing through the left hand, the right
and then the left and right legs, then all four together. And then moving
on to the whole body. Beyond that, the practice of Mu through the pores
matures our meditative experience by extending the breadth of our
perception. The result is the realization of the koan Mu; being a kensho
koan we can certainly have a real experience thanks to the intensity of
our practice and the guidance of an experienced and compassionate
Dharma Teacher. In this case compassionate means that he does not
allow us to take things too easy or allow us to consume any experience
of Mu.
Although here Mu, sanzen and zazen are seen in the perspective of a
method, this should not confuse the reader and rather inspire him to
live on the strength of his own experience as well as to bene it from the
advice given to him. Immediacy and not complexity is the basis of true
practice. Sooner or later Satori will take care of our practice and the
unfolding of the face. This, which is called the breath of the Dragon,
passes through us as if, in reality, there were neither inside nor outside.

Sensing the maximum presence or radiance of this force is something

we would have already practiced. It is important to feel its power and
also how far our breath can reach. Thus we begin to breathe with the
distant galaxies and we join the sky losing the measure of this force. Yet,
still, nothing moves. With this moment the Mu is certainly realized and
the answer to the koan matures meeting after meeting with the Master
in the secret room, in sanzen.

Note:

[2] The Koans of Enlightenment - The MU of Joshu and the ancient

Kensho Koans of Rinzai Zen - understanding preparatory practice,
Dharma Master Leonardo Anfolsi Reiyō Ekai, Fontana Editore, Borgo
Valsugana, 2018

[3] Inner and at the same time cosmic places of realization ecstasy.
 20th exercise.

The second secret key of the entire Naikan system:

Inner warmth
After all, the Elixir So would be a complete technique in itself, but I
think it is worth saying something about the equivalent Tibetan
technique.

In reality the dumo, the inner heat, is according to the Tibetan tantric
teaching, contained in a series of yoga - which is already mentioned in
this book - and is also a practice linked to the cult of certain tantric
deities such as Vajra Yogini, Kalachakra , Hevajra or Chakra Samvara.
The yogas that contain this technique, which constitutes its fulcrum, are
for example the six dharmas of Naropa, the six yogas of Naropa, the four
yogas of Niguma. All this concerns tantric practice, which it is good to
remember - given the confusion that exists in the West - which has little
to do with sexuality, except for a minimal and targeted part, as well as
deriving from the ascetic practice already carried out intensively and
long.

As regards the practice of dzogchen, a teaching that we have seen

historically linked to Zen, we have a practice of dumo which simply
serves to raise bliss and to enhance the state of kumbaka, or vase,
therefore the ability to meditate in any situation . This capacity
becomes essential for carrying out the practice of upadesha, which we
have already talked about and which we will highlight in a special
chapter dedicated to the realization of Zen naikan and even of the body
of light.

According to the dzogchen teaching, the dumo is contained in the

ruxan, that is, in the preliminary practices for the cycle of mannagdé
teachings (upadesha); it is a rather simple technique but it must be
carried out continuously and recon irmed.
I add that if you do it you can get exceptional bene its. Personally, I also
practiced it in the practice of overcoming pain. Having to face numerous
dental operations and, like everyone else, suffering from the
perforation of the dentist's drill, I wanted to overcome this common
condition among human beings by managing to produce - scientists
would say - a large quantity of endorphinic secretion. The secret was
precisely this technique that allowed me - with the help of a little
acupuncture - to realize this pain-relieving ability after a few
operations. In the penultimate phase, I no longer felt any pain during
the operation, but an annoying neuralgia started immediately
afterwards and lasted about an hour.

Finally I didn't need to use the needles anymore, since the ecstasy
immediately procured by the concentration with the practice of the
dumo, made me enter a state of bliss that I can compare to the purr of a
cat, even ampli ied. We can say that the sound of the dentist's drill was
the mantra that activated my state of blissful absorption. The Technique
consists, to begin with, in the visualization of the three channel system,
a central one from below the navel comes and pops open on top of the
head; the other two descend from the nostrils down the chest and belly,
then grafting under the navel in the central channel. Our entire system
has no lesh or bones, but is transparent, translucent, iridescent, alive,
and the channels themselves are transparent.

At the base of the channel, at the level of the swadishtana chakra, or the
dantien, there is a small bottle in the shape of the channel, designed to
hold the spark of bliss.
Inside it is the spark - symbol of the maturational/blood/maternal
constituent - which, when you inhale, is kindled, given that the breath
descends through the nostrils through the lateral channels reaching the
belly and thus giving oxygen to the lame of the spark.

This little lame rises through the central channel to reach the head,
where the fertilizing/staminal/paternal constituent is located, but it
reaches there refreshing from the whole, therefore abandoning its hot
quality already at the level of the solar plexus, and continuing to rise as
radiation which becomes refreshing in the throat; for this purpose, the
irst few times you can keep a mint candy in your mouth.

At the level of the heart it is a light and very pleasant warmth.

As it ascends, this radiation dissolves all the psychosomatic nodes, the

granthis, and therefore reaches the white constituent in the upper area
of the skull, where there would be the brain as well as the lotus with a
thousand petals, the seventh and last chakra inside our system.

From here drips a liquid de ined as fresh as yoghurt and oily as

mercury which descends drop by drop into the central channel; slowly
this liquid comes to the spark which has now increased in strength and,
reaching it, creates a sizzle which is very important for our purposes.
This reaction between the white and the red constituent triggers in our
ancestral memory the innate bliss which now becomes active.

Like a cloud of vapor this bliss leaves the channel and rises, passes
through and descends throughout our system, in what we may now
term a body of bliss. And in fact it ills every cell of our body with bliss.

At this point the activity of the thousand petalled lotus increases and
thus the production of ecstasy/ecstasy. Of course we can also increase it
by evoking a divinity/archetype or a master, but above all we can
remain in this state wherever we are.

When we need to activate the pain relief portal, if we have practiced

enough, just stay focused on the thousand-petalled lotus.

A physical demonstration of our achievement is that according to

Ayurvedic pulseology, i.e. thanks to a doctor who knows how to read
pulses according to the Ayurvedic technique, it can be seen in the
moment of greatest bliss, that the pulse is formed in small knots that
pass by luctuating; these are precisely de ined as lotus lowers, and in
the claim of devotional Hinduism they constitute a sign of
enlightenment.
Regarding the origin of the practice of dumo we see how the yoga that
activates the kundalini energy according to the guidelines of the Natha
Sampradaya, and of the Tibetan Vajrayana, derives from the
mahasiddhas who were active in India in the Middle Ages. The
kundalini yoga practices were part of the teachings of these
Mahasiddhas, lowing both into Tibetan Buddhist practices and into the
various darshanas of the Hindu, Nepal and Kashmir traditions. The
Chandali yoga of these Mahasiddhas took shape in the various forms of
Yoga mentioned above, therefore also in the gTummo rnal byor, the
dumo. Besides the curious fact that Buddhist and Hindu tantrism have
the same origin, and that therefore there have never been declared
Hindu or Buddhist siddhas, another curious question concerns the real
reason for the practice of dumo which, coming from the Ganges valley
certainly could not concern the production of heat which was and
remains a signi icant issue in Tibet.
 21st exercise.

The third secret key of the whole naikan system: The

practice of the koan MU and the IQ
I cannot stress enough that the genuine practice of introspection is
absolutely essential and cannot be overlooked. The authentic practice of
introspection (naikan) consists in [this contemplation]:

the area below the navel to the loins and soles of the feet is the Mu of
Chao-chou. What principle can this Mu have?

the area below the navel to the loins and soles of the feet is my original
face. Where can the nostrils be in this original face?

the area below the navel to the loins and soles of the feet is the Pure Land
of my mind. What can this Pure Land be adorned with?

the area below the navel to the loins and soles is the Amida Buddha in my
body. What truth can this Amida profess?

the area below the navel to the loins and soles of the feet is the village
where I was born. What news can come from this native village!?

I refer you to another text[4] for an understanding of this technique,

which I deem especially useful for those who practice the koan Mu.
Hakuin wanted to divert the monks from an obsessive practice of the
koan, bringing Qi back to the lower part of the body. I point out that
even in this technique the explanation of the technique of the Breathing
Exercise from All Pores (ex. 19) and from the feet (ex. 13) is hidden.

I ind it helpful to understand how it works; it is evident that this

technique wants to evoke - thanks to precise sensations associated with
devotion and visualizations - the same bliss of the Elixir So (ex. 18)
thanks to a heating of the lower areas of the body with consequent
cooling of the higher ones, as also sought to do with the milder exercise
of placing the heart on the palms of the hands joined in the lap during
meditation (ex. 10).

Note:

[4] The Koans of Enlightenment - The MU of Joshu and the ancient

Kensho Koans of Rinzai Zen understanding practice and propaedeutics,
Dharma Master Leonardo Anfolsi Reiyō Ekai, Fontana Editore, Borgo
Valsugana, 2019. This text can only be bought by those who have
received the koans ritually.
Spiritual realisation
 The Satori

The search for spiritual enlightenment, the victory over fears, as well as
overcoming anxiety and stress, are themes that belong to men of every
century and of every place.

The highest spiritual realization corresponds to an enlightenment that

allows us to live in everyday life as natural human beings who
nevertheless have tasted and therefore realized eternity; the
accomplished, the enlightened, are not ghostly spirits detached from
real life while, at the same time, the so-called real life is not a dreary
Monday morning, but it is the place where we put what we really are at
stake; therefore real life is spiritual life, and every metaphysical
question, in the inal analysis, proves real precisely in the facts of
everyday life.

It is important to understand that enlightenment is not directly related

to physical health, i.e. an enlightened individual may actually be ill, as
physical decay is part of the reality of this world; however it is
necessary for those who begin a spiritual journey to coordinate their
energies and intentions for their own well-being and that of others,
today more than ever.
This, of course, also has a metaphysical meaning which is superior to
human contingencies, that is, which overcomes the barrier of the
visible, but none the less it also has its tangible manifestation. So even if
healing isn't directly related to enlightenment, it would be smart if we
could develop ourselves in our humanity and heal ourselves as well as
ful ill ourselves spiritually. And it would be wonderful to connect these
two levels, given that these historical times ask us for it with an
insistence that, let me tell you, borders on survival.

Man is a unity in his being, being moreover connected with his time and
his culture. To make everything even more fascinating is the fact that
enlightenment is an experience that cannot be relegated to the religious
sphere or to just one of the religions; it is history that teaches us how
enlightenment is also achieved by people without any religious
experience and how, even by religious people, it is always achieved
unexpectedly, when every attempt, hope, sanctity and know-how are
abandoned. In fact, enlightenment is not produced by a cause, but is the
complete realization of an innate state, a state that precedes our birth
and which is related to the eternity from which we are born into the
material world, and of which the material world is just one aspect.

Let me explain better what I mean by innate; one cannot intend to

meditate for ive years in order to expect to reach enlightenment, say, in
the fourth year and three hundred and sixtieth day, because
enlightenment is not produced with waiting, nor with desire - whether
it is presumption or hope - neither with renunciation or with activism;
this is because enlightenment belongs not to time, but to eternity.
Belonging to eternity, enlightenment does not happen, because
happening means that, over time, something happens as a consequence
of something else that precedes it; but time-duration made up of hours
and minutes is not eternity.
How do we know when we enter eternity? There isn't a signal, it's that
we learn to recognize that snow-white silence, that emptiness of
meditation or prayer, as the root of every more powerful and higher
feeling, even though it remains a moment that has no references, a sort
of wonderful bewilderment in which we feel immersed in the whole
and completely alive.

Buddhism is certainly a religion illed with a free and profound gnosis,

where no one can take hold of a revealed concept - because there are
none - and say it is The Truth; but what's worse, Buddhism does not
have the copyright of enlightenment.

In other religions enlightenment is called in a different way or is

understood as con luent in other mystical states, or it is an experience
fragmented into different concepts, perhaps linked to as many
experiences. Being curious and associating with other curious people,
experts in different religions and spiritual approaches, I enjoyed with
my priest, theologian and hermit friends, both Christian, Hindu, Bon,
Su i and Jewish to explore the boundaries of different experiences and
descriptions of these, inally managing to ind in their respective
religions similar concepts and principles, even if not equal.

I add more. Although Zen shouldn't concern a ixed doctrine but

concern a spiritual intuition, we often hear discussions about questions
of method or ecclesiastical politics. Although the latter is a very little
Zen theme in every century many have felt obliged to represent this or
that school towards the emperor or even other religions or schools of
Buddhism and, what is even more strange today, this mentality seems
re-emerge precisely in the West due to a strange attitude of
missionaryism-inversely.

I now want to touch on a few points which are commonly a source of

confusion. However, I admit that in this review of mine there are some
opinions of mine which - although adhering to tradition and history -
want to reveal the living realities of the tradition and not the temporal
representation, thus messing up opinions that are now more than
crystallized, even if they are felt as traditional .

The dress, the rituals, the customs. In Buddhism they are called
methods, they are very important, useful, they work if well understood
and implemented, but they are not the Dharma per se and they are not,
nor do they certainly represent, any truth.

I understand that there are teachings – including Buddhists – which

take a different orientation and which take ethical or ritual questions as
essential, but this is not the Zen approach.

So - for those who don't understand - there would even be left-wing and
right-wing Zen. And we talk about it because the question of identity is
not secondary to understanding what awakening is and, therefore, to
achieving it if we start meditating.
Let's start from the fact that, given the majestic freedom that one
breathes in Zen, it is easy to fall into the misunderstanding that
whoever practices Zen can completely adhere to some ideology-theory-
modus; which thing is for Zen Buddhism painful therefore stupid,
therefore let's even say heretical, given that retaining an idea of identity
is not only aleatory but useless, being only a contingent and limited
fact, a necessary semblance, a comfortable sheath to make us
understandable to most and to exist in a form.

For Buddhism, identity is not bad, but it is only a dress; we could never
say that the jacket we wear is ourselves, while our true identity is
realized only by those who widen their eyes in enlightenment, when
they discover that identity is a NON-identity that transcends even
ethnicity and type.

In this state of openness we are everything, everyone; in this state of

reality suddenly even feelings and emotions appear to us as clothes,
necessary, colourful, fascinating, wonderfully interactive: but they are
not our real identity.

Not even religion should be an identity, therefore Buddhism - especially

Zen Buddhism - is not; it is not an identity even if one proudly de ines
oneself as a Buddhist, even if one may cheer for a football team,
intensely love a woman, work hard in marketing or sales, or one may
ind oneself defending one's freedom and the lives of one's dear with a
weapon in hand; Zen without hypocrisy admits all of this in assonance
with a sensitive existence that takes us whole.
However, on closer inspection, no one is actually a doctor, no one is a
communist, no one is a scientist and no one is homosexual; I cited these
categories as an example, to reiterate that no one IS something but that
from the NON-point of view of awakening and freedom DOES, that
therefore someone works as a doctor or does scienti ic research,
someone is interested in communism or he pleads its usefulness,
someone experiences homosexuality or lives homosexuality, or
something else if he prefers it and feels it his own. That's all, actually.

Unless we still need a single truth that frees us from sin except from an
unconscious that was supposedly magmatic, sprawling and
omnivorous.

Lighting, therefore, not only does not refer to a dogma, but above all it
is a living and timeless experience. Enlightenment, satori, is the
understanding of eternity, therefore of those divine plans that we call
that only out of ignorance, or out of the need to believe that someone
up there is planning something enormous and incomprehensible which,
in reality, it could already just be our breath. Perceived timeless,
though; always found, forever, in our step, in our gaze and before any
narration.

Since eternity is found in silence, eternity can recognize us thanks to

the silence we experience even while we are talking or while we are
crossing the street in city traf ic.

It's just a matter of practice and practice.

 The Signs of Realization of the naikan and The
Body of Light

“It may very well be that if you plumb this mystery to the end you never
have to close your eyes in death.”

Hakuin Ekaku – Yasenkanna

Certainly the realization of zen naikan is the same as zen, so it is satori.

Satori is an immovable state of awakening; this does not imply always

being in a peak or in an altered state, but it means always remaining
absorbed - even if one doesn't want to - in the mystery of being/identity
which, according to Jungian psychology, would mean having overcome
the collective unconscious, that is, that shadow which submerges us
and which is one with the collective mind and which captures us with
compulsory belonging, an extremely subtle and persuasive spell.

These are obviously theoretical explanations. Instead, to have my

personal experience, I invite the reader elsewhere [1], while to have his
own, I encourage him to practice meditation.

Going into history we discover that satori - one of the aspects of which
is the sudden explosiveness of the peak that designates it - is also part
of the experience of people or practitioners who have never had
anything to do with Zen.

I recall the experience of a famous Tibetan lama more than a century

ago, Shardza Tashi Ghyaltsen[2]. One day he was struck by his master
unexpectedly, lat, with a ritual sword; the lama, a boy at the time,
fainted but, recovering, realized that from that fateful moment he
would forever see the world in another way; what he believed to be
internal and the external world had reunited forever.
As has already been said, the outburst often experienced during sudden
enlightenment is only the experiential part of satori anchored in the
conventional perception of time, even when time is outdated. But satori
in reality has been waiting for us for a time without beginning in the
mystery of our identity which, precisely in satori, reveals itself, but also
since satori is the naked and simple daily life of the meditator. From
here, however, to not giving any meaning to sudden enlightenment, it
seems to me to be a typical Japanese exaggerated stance.

Sometimes both schools of Zen, trying to differentiate themselves, risk

ridicule, and famous Buddhist theorists hide behind a inger in order to
maintain the name and the importance of their position. In general,
Rinzai monks are derided for their competitiveness which will lead
them to chase the hare forever, even while praising their awakening,
while Soto monks are derided because they sleep sitting on the cushion
instead of really meditating, that is, even in the challenge of
circumstances and thoughts. But what competitiveness really means
and what to meditate on really cannot be understood.

Having said that, we should now remind ourselves of the emblematic

igure of Zhenzhou Pǔ huà . As I have already explained, did Rinzai - or
his descendants - have even had a reason to quote him and have him
make the light body? Even if they had invented it, why would they have
invented it?

Or was it all a grand inventive manipulation to receive imperial funding

and the credit of the pious? The latter is the theory of some
contemporary scholars. But this has already been discussed.
Few have bothered to collect the strange presence of Zhenzhou Pǔ huà
in the Rinzai Roku; in the light of what I have found and what the reader
can analyze in this text, the vague theory of the Zen-invention cannot be
considered tout court, but only as a voice that makes up the complete
mosaic of what we know about the history of Zen in China.

I have already spoken of the teaching of Bodhidharma - also certainly

attributed but sincere - of the teaching of meditation of Hó ngrě n and -
inally - of Hakuin Ekaku. All arguments which, when added to the
various preparatory texts that have settled over the centuries, leave no
hope of being denied.

Zen is an awakening tool of the most precise and points precisely

towards a ful illment of human destiny which can be incomprehensible,
if not completely rash, for an academic.

When I went to visit Lungtog Tenpai Gnyma, the abbot of Dolanji

Temple in Solan (HP India) in 1990, he kindly took me to a private room
and showed me a relic which he said was meant to be touched by those
with suf icient merit to bene it from it.

Inside a jar, which we would buy with instant coffee inside, were the
contents of hair, nails and iridescent spheres - they looked like balls of
mistletoe - which gave a particular sense to contact.
I asked the abbot what they were, and he informed me that they were
the remains of a Master who had reabsorbed himself in the primordial
light, but he speci ied that not everyone leaves these slags or relics. I
must add that only today as I'm writing this chapter did I ind an image
of that jar on the web and, unexpectedly, these are indeed the remnants
of Shardza Tashi Ghyaltsen's light body, whose satori I just wrote about.

I already knew about this phenomenon, which is part of the stories of

many native Tibetans; moreover, it seems that the phenomenon of the
reabsorption of the body into light once had something like ten
thousand spectators, given that the invading Chinese seized the
opportunity to demonstrate to the uncivilized Tibetans that this
phenomenon was instead a magic trick of prestidigitation used by the
pre-cut to eat off the toil of the people. Mal took it because the old man
really resolved his body into light, with the usual luminous effects such
as the explosion of rainbows of a thousand shapes, the corpuscular fog,
the prolonged harmonic sounds - to me they seemed like an electronic
organ register that composed together lute and lute - but also because
the event was followed live by the numerous witnesses who had
crowded together; all this despite the systems designed to unmask any
possible trick [3].

Receiving teaching from the traditional texts with the related lung wang
and tri[4], I noticed that the phenomenon of trans iguration was
considered, which made me remember Mount Tabor, where it is said
that Jesus trans igured his body into light. This eventuality is
considered in the texts, where it is even explained what happens and
what must be done to obtain or contain this effect. If the practitioner
continues in the direction of trans iguration and transcends the form,
his body is found after eight days with his clothes closed and placed on
the ground, but with nothing left inside.

I have heard that whoever arrives before this phase can still ind
something that ills their clothes, although by now the body is no longer
visible or barely visible. In other cases, as has been said, one gets the
impression that the presence of the trans iguring person is suspended
in space.
In concluding the matter of light bodies or rainbow bodies, we may
consider an even more startling factor than has already been said; it
often happens that in the period of about eight days in which the
cellular density of the body is maturing and returning to light, someone,
a family member or a devotee, wants to touch the body in
transformation, even if it is something not welcome and also, in general,
formally prohibited. It is a pedantic form of devotion that has the intent
of having remains to serve as a relic.

When the body is touched, a striking fact is highlighted; we have the

recognizable remains of someone, with their face, but reduced, usually
by a lot, depending on when the process of reabsorption was
interrupted. Also in this case, in monasteries and temples, there are
examples of these phenomena, although these remains of advanced
practitioners are not launted, except on particular occasions, or
preserved as relics; although it is a rare fact, someone is lucky enough
to be invited to contemplate them. A further fact that could
demonstrate the veracity of these mysterious facts is that they have
been examined by Japanese universities that have studied both the
phenomenon of light bodies and that of ringtsels. The latter are pearls
that remain after the cremation of practitioners' corpses. In this case
the surprising fact is that there is something precise in the midst of
their ashes, something that has been seen to derive, in shape, color and
weight, from the type of practice carried out by the practitioner. So
whoever has played a certain tantric deity throughout his life,
specializing in yoga related to this, will produce spherical ringtsels with
certain nuances, while if he practiced the vinaya and other forms of
rituals, his ringtsels will be, for example, lat .

Making the due considerations - and having discussed it with expert

masters - I would like to say that in the event that the process of
reabsorption into the light has been interrupted, it goes without saying
that the practitioner has in any case already realized himself, and that
this manifestation is only like a seal, mostly useful to those who see it
with their own eyes and thus are encouraged in practice, and certainly
not a Further Super-Enlightenment. I have already associated the
teachings attributed to both Bodhidharma and Hó ngrě n with this
embodiment.

Here is the photo of a "body of light": this nun is Tasha Lamo, mother of
Lokgar Rinpoche, who is one of the Tulkus residing at the Nyingmapa
monastery in Katok. On the right here are the remnants of the process
of returning to the light, as the process has been interrupted. The body
on the right is only 50 cm high.
Note:

[1] Rinzai Zen Manual, Leonardo Anfolsi Reiyo Ekai, Fontana Editore,
Borgo Valsugana 2019.

[2] Heart Drops of Dharmakaya - Dzogchen Practice of the Bon

Tradition, Shardza Tashi Gyaltsen, commented by Lama Tenzin Namdak
Snow Lion Publications, Ithaca NY, 1993.
[3] Lama Chogyall Namkhai Norbu told me that this incident was
reported to him by a relative who was pro-Maoist at the time; these,
during the heartfelt story never stopped crying and asking forgiveness
for his blindness.

[4] Lung = breath transmission / wang = ritual empowerment / tri =

technical explanations.
 Yasenkanna

From translations by Trevor Leggett and Norman Waddell

Edited by Leonardo Anfolsi Reiyo Ekai

 Introduction by the Translator-Editor

Talk on a Night Ferry, was written by Master Hakuin to recount his

suffering from Zen illness and the discovery of the naikan instructions
thanks to the yamabushi ascetic Hakuyu.

Zen disease is in fact the title of the fourth chapter of a more substantial
book, the Itsumadegusa, a sort of autobiography by Hakuin himself,
published with the author still alive. We followed and compared Leggett's
and Waddell's translations; the rationale followed by both was to leave
the best-known names in the usual Western phonetic form, but to
generally follow the Wade-Giles transliteration; for example. Chuang Tzu,
Mencius, but also T'ai-pai Tao-jen.

This book contains the version of the Yasenkanna that I mentioned, but
a version of the Yasenkanna posthumous was also published, which
contains the preface Hunger and cold, the Master of the Hermitage of
Poverty, mimicking that of the Dokugo Shingyō , Antidote for the Heart,
the commentary on the Heart Sutra written by Hakuin.
 Prologue

Long ago Wu Ch'i-ch'u said to the master Shih-t'ai: “To re ine the elixir
it is necessary to gather the vital energy. To gather vital energy it is
necessary to concentrate the mind. When the mind is focused on the
ocean of life energy, or on the lask of elixir located an inch below the
navel, the life energy gathers right there. When the life energy is
gathered in the elixir lask, the elixir is distilled. When the elixir is
produced, the physical structure is strong and stable. When the physical
structure is strong and stable, the spirit is whole and nurtured. When
the spirit is whole and nurtured, a long life is assured."

These are words of true wisdom.

A lay practitioner who visited me insisted several times on learning

about this matter. “Very well,” I told him, “I will tell you the basics of
Naikan Inner Contemplation.”

When I wholeheartedly entered the Way, I vowed to practice with

heroic faith and an indomitable spirit. Suddenly, after only three years
of strenuous effort, there came a night when all my old doubts
completely melted away by the root. The old root of birth and death
karma was completely uprooted.
I thought to myself: “The Way cannot be far away. Strange that the
ancients spoke of twenty or thirty years, while I…”. After a few months
lost in dancing for joy, I looked at my life and realized that the spheres
of activity and stillness were not in harmony at all; I found that, despite
my belief to the contrary, I was not free to take a thing or leave it. I
thought, "Let me boldly immerse myself in spiritual practice again, and
once again throw my life into it." Teeth clenched and eyes dazzled, I
tried to free myself even from food and sleep. Before a month had
passed, the ire of the heart rose to the head, the lungs were burning,
but the legs felt as if frozen in ice, there was a crackling sound in the
ears, like a creek in a valley, courage was lacking and I was shaking fear
for no reason. I felt spiritually exhausted, dreaming night and day, my
armpits always wet with sweat and my eyes illed with tears. I tried
everything by consulting famous Masters, surgeons and doctors, but all
their advice was absolutely useless.
 The meeting with Master Hakuyu

It was then, after a long fruitless search, that someone said to me: "In
the mountains of the place called White River, far outside the capital,
there is one who lives in the heights, known as Master Hakuyu." He is
believed to be over two hundred years old, and lives there several miles
from human habitation. He doesn't like to see people, and if someone
looks for him he hides. Men do not know whether to think of him as a
wise man or a fool, but those who live in the village think him a Sennin,
one of the immortals of the mountain. It is said that he was once the
teacher of Ishikawa Jozan, deeply versed in the science of the stars and
in medical knowledge; occasionally, to some visitor who introduced
himself with the requisite respect, he granted a word which, when
subsequently considered, proved to be of great bene it.

So, in mid-January 1710, I packed some things for the journey, left Mino
and crossed the Black Valley inally arriving at the village of the White
River. I left my bundle at a tea shop, where I asked for directions to the
Hakuyu hermitage. A villager directed me to a mountain river that
could be seen at a considerable distance. I followed the river seen in the
distance to a remote mountain valley. Continuing on for a couple of
miles the river disappeared, there was no path and I didn't know what
to do; unable to continue, I stopped in consternation. Without
resources, I sat down on a stone and with my eyes closed and palms
together I repeated a sutra. Miraculously I heard a very distant sound of
ax blows; following that sound, going into shrubs and thick vegetation, I
reached a woodcutter. The old woodcutter pointed to me above the
horizon, far in the mists of the mountain, a small yellowish-white spot,
now hidden and now revealed by the movement of the mist: "That is
the curtain of reeds that hangs before Master Hakuyu's cave ”.

Immediately I gathered my clothes and began the climb, now on steep

rocks, now making my way through the mountain shrubs; my snow-
and ice-soaked sandals were frozen, and my clothes were wet with mist
and dew. Continuing the effort, the sweat lowed in streams; gradually I
climbed up to the balcony of the curtain of rushes. The exquisite purity
of the landscape and a deafening silence made me feel that I had left the
world of men. It was just like that, and then a sense of dread shook my
heart and soul, and I found myself shivering as if I were naked. I rested
for a while on a rock, and counted my breaths a hundred times. Then I
stood up, tidied my dress, and walked on in awe. Indistinctly I saw
Master Hakuyu's form through the curtain of rushes, sitting in a
meditation posture with his eyes closed. His long hair fell to his knees,
his beautiful complexion was full and luminous. A quilted cloth covered
him and his seat was a bed of soft straw. The cave was very small,
barely six feet square, and there was no food of any kind, but on a low
table three books: the Middle Doctrine, the classic of Lao Tzu, and the
Diamond Cutter Sutra. After having presented myself ritually, I
formulated my request for help, detailing it with the symptoms and the
course of my illness. He opened his eyes, looked at me sharply and said,
“I'm just an ordinary man who lives off everything and completely
unaware. In the mountains I collect chestnuts as food and I sleep in the
company of the docile deer. What can someone like me know? I'm just
sorry that your journey in search of a wise hermit must have been in
vain…”.

Again I humbly repeated my reverence and request. He then gently took

my pulse, made a careful examination of my condition and inspected
the bodily ori ices.

It was then that his slender ingers with long nails stroked his forehead
in a gesture of concern for my case and sympathy: “Ah, my poor friend!
Your condition is truly pitiful! By meditating on the truth too hard, you
lost the rhythm of increasing spiritual strength, and this eventually led
to a painful illness. And it's something very dif icult to cure, this "Zen
disease" of yours, isn't it? Though the wise men of medicine inquire
about your case and bring into play all their skill with the needle,
cauterization and medicines, yet they have been and never will be of
any help. You have been weakened by excessive concentration on the
truth, the ri-kan, and (unless you engage in inner contemplation, the
Naikan) you can never heal. There is a saying that you "go up by the
same earth you fell on," and the naikan method would be a striking
example of this principle in your case.

I said: "Have the grace enough to brief me on the secret of the naikan,
and I will practice it intensively in the monastery."

He frowned, assumed a solemn attitude and began to speak slowly:

“Yes, you are a sincere seeker of truth! That being the case, I will pass
on to you a little of what I in turn received a long, long time ago. It is the
secret that is called "sustaining life", and those who know it are very
few. If you practice it without abandoning it, surely you will see its
prodigious effect, and it may very well be that if you plumb this mystery
to the end you will never have to close your eyes in death. “The great
Way, the Tao, divides itself into the two principles Yin and Yang, from
whose harmonic fusion men and things were born. In man the primary
energy Ki moves silently within, so that the ive organ-functions
arrange themselves and the pulse lives. The Ki-that-sustains-energy
and the blood-that-nourishes move in a waxing and waning circulation
of about ifty cycles in the course of a day and a night. The lungs,
metallic in nature, are female and are located above the diaphragm; the
liver, iery in nature, is masculine, and is deep below the diaphragm.
The ire-heart is the sun, the great Yang which commands its opposite,
and the water-kidneys are the great Yin which occupies the lower place,
opposing it at the level of the aforementioned complementary organ. In
the ive organ-functions dwell the seven deities, Which are seven since
the spleen-pancreas function and the kidneys have two each.”

“The energy of exhalation has a motion that goes from the heart to the
lungs, and that of inspiration comes to the kidneys and then to the liver.
With each exhalation the pulse current advances three inches - you can
check this on your arm using your inch measurement - and with each
inhalation it advances another three. There are, say, thirteen thousand
ive hundred breaths in the space of a day and a night, and the pulse
circuits the body ifty times. The ire element is light and optimistic,
always inclined to ascend; water is heavy and always tends
downwards.”

“If you don't know these things, your efforts at concentration lose their
rhythm and the will becomes agitated; then the heart- ire, laring up,
strikes the metal of the lungs which is set on ire and unbalanced. Since
the mother metal (lungs) suffers, the water child (kidneys) decays and
dies. Parent and child are harmed, all ive organs are af licted, and the
six auxiliaries oppressed. The elements, losing their harmony, produce
a hundred and one diseases. Against this condition made chronic no
remedy has any more power and although every art of medicine can be
used, in the end nothing is achieved".
 What does it mean to "sustain life"

“Sustaining life” is in fact like ruling a kingdom. The splendid lord, the
wise ruler, always sets his heart on those who are his subjects; the dull
lord, the ordinary ruler, lets his heart go as high as it will with his ire.
But when the heart lutters in one of its usual whims, even the great
nobles become arrogant and the of icers claim to enjoy special favors,
and none of them ever looks down on the misery of the masses. In the
countryside the peasants are starving, the land is languishing, people
are dying. Wisdom and virtue hide, and the masses are resentful. The
nobles become independent and rebellious, and con licts arise with the
barbarians on the border. The people are reduced to their last legs: the
pulse of life in the country becomes slow, and inally dies out. But when
the sovereign concentrates his heart downward, then the great nobles
control their ostentation, the lesser of icers perform their duties, and
the toil of the people never goes unrewarded. The peasants have
abundant harvests and their women have plenty of clothes and jewels;
many sages are attracted to the service of the ruler, the followers are
dutiful and obedient, the people are prosperous and therefore the
country is strong. No one at home conspires to overthrow authority,
and no enemy attacks the borders, the country does not remember the
drums of war and the people need not handle guns. It is so also with the
human body: the perfect man keeps the lower regions always illed
with this energy of the heart; when the energy of the heart is thus illed
below, the seven evils ind no place within and the assaults from
without ind no weakness. Then the body is vigorous and strong and
the spirit-of-the-heart healthy. So the mouth never knows the taste of
medicines, sweet or bitter, the body never has to submit to the pain of
cauterization and the needle. The ordinary man, on the other hand,
keeps the energy of the heart always hovering upwards and when it
then rises as it wills, the ire (of the heart) on the left overwhelms the
metal (of the lungs) on the right, the senses diminish and decline , and
the six auxiliaries are oppressed and lose their harmony. Therefore
Shitsuen (Chuang Tsu) says: "The real man breathes with his heels, the
ordinary man breathes with his throat." Kyoshun (Hsu Chun) says:
«When the Qi is in the lower region, the breath is long; when it is in the
upper region, the breath is contracted.' Joyoshi (Shang Yang) says: «In
man, energy is, in truth, only one. When it goes down to the dantien, the
Yang reacts, and the onset of the reaction in the Yang form can be
con irmed by a warm sensation. When one wants to experience the
fullness through which Yin is transformed into Yang, it is enough to
arrive at the production of heat in the abdomen”.

"The golden rule for 'sustaining life', in summary, is that the upper
regions should always be cool and the lower regions warm."

“The pulses have twelve branches to listen to which correspond to the

twelve months of the year and the twelve periods of the day.”
 Hexagram 23

So also the Book of Changes has its six seasons, whose uninterrupted
cycle of change creates the year. In this system, when ive Yins are
above and one Yang is held below, the divination is 'Thunder Returning
to the Earth'. The reference is to the depths of winter, and this is what is
meant by the real man's breath from his heels.
 Hexagram 11

When the three Yangs are in the lower position and the three Yins in
the upper position, this is called "Earth and Heaven in harmony". It is
the season of the new year, in which everything is imbued with life-
giving energy, and in which plants receive the impulse of spring to
blossom. This symbolizes the perfect man's "holding down the energy"
to ill the nether regions, and when this is achieved the man is illed
with heroic vigor.
 Hexagram 2

“But when the ive Yins are below and one Yang remains above, that is
'Mount and Earth stripped', the season of September. When it manifests
itself in nature, garden and forest lose their colors and all plants wither
and decay. The breath that ordinary man has in his throat is its symbol.
In the human body, this is a withering and hardening of the structure,
with the teeth becoming sore and falling out.
 Hexagram 2

Of this condition, the life-prolonging books say that the six Yangs are all
exhausted; in other words the man who is only Yin is near death; what
must be known is just this: the central principle is to bring the vital
energy down to ill the lower regions.
 The remedies to sustain life and achieve
immortality

In ancient times Tokeisho (Wu Chi-ch'u) puri ied himself before

appearing before the teacher Seqidai (Shih-t'ai), to ask him the secret of
the distillation of the tan elixir. The teacher said: "I have the secret of
the great mystical elixir, but there can be no transmission except to a
person of superior merit." Even in ancient times, when Koseishi (Kuang
Ch'eng) transmitted it to the Yellow Emperor, the Emperor had to
practice a puri ication for twenty-one days in order to be worthy
enough to receive it. Apart from the great Tao there is no elixir, and
without the elixir there can be no great Tao.

“Now, in Buddhism there is a ive-stage puri ication: when you free

yourself from the six cravings and manage to abandon the operation of
the ive senses, you will darkly perceive the illing of the vital-energy in
you, which is as dif icult as it is important to stand out. This is what the
Taoist Taihaku (T'ai-pai Tao-jen) meant when he said: «to recombine
the vital energy that originates and circulates in me with the primary
energy of heaven and earth from which it derives».

“Mencius also speaks of free energy in man; this must be brought to the
dantien into the sea of energy at the navel wheel and concentrated
there below. For months and years protect it and keep it together, feed
it and make it perfect. One morning, that alchemist's crucible will
suddenly be transcended because in all directions and in everything,
there will be circulating the one great elixir.

Hexagram 63

Then, in the end, you will awaken to true immortality as a great Sennin,
one who is begotten like heaven and earth, and who never dies like the
space element never dies. In the alchemy of the Tan elixir this is the
season of 'completion'. Why, I wonder, does man cling to such little
psychic powers as riding the wind and lying over the mists,
penetrating the earth, walking on water and churning the ocean when
he can produce the butter-elixir So and transmute the clay into real,
bright gold? A wise man said: “The elixir Tan is the dantien itself
located below the navel. The secret alchemical liquid is the one that
comes from the lungs, which must be taken - as energy - and returned
to the dantien». Such is the teaching, that the «liquid metal» is the
circulation of the Tan”.
 Bringing the mind-heart back to the womb

I said, “Reverently I listen. Given my condition I have to leave my zen

concentration for some time, and cure myself with these naikan
practices. But I have one fear: could it be that Rishisai (Li Shih-ts'ai)
condemns this procedure as falling into pure inertia? If the ire of the
heart is kept down and the mind is one-pointed, with such a cooling
method, won't the Ki and blood become stagnant?”

Hakuyu smiled and replied: “Absolutely not. Doesn't Rishisai say that the
nature of ire is to lare up and therefore should be kept down and
regulated, while the nature of water is to sink down and therefore
should be made to rise?
Hexagram 63
Ascending water and descending ire, this mingling is what he calls
"amalgam". When they mix then the hexagram "After Consummation" is
made manifest; when they do not mix, the divination is "Before
Consummation."

Hexagram 64
This "merging" means life, not death, and the former is a hexagram of
life. The Rishisai School condemns the so-called "freezing and sinking of
heart ire in pure inertia" in order to keep students from falling into
error if they use the methods of the Tankei School (Tan-hsi) where too
much emphasis is placed on cultivation of the Yin.

“Fire tends to behave in human beings in two different ways: as a prince

and as a minister. The ire prince rules the upper body peacefully, while
the ire minister rules the lower body dynamically. The ire-prince is the
master of the heart, the ire-minister is active as his dignitary. The
minister- ire is itself dual, for it is found in the kidneys and liver. The
liver is compared to thunder and the kidneys to dragons. Thus it is said
"as long as the dragons remain in the bottom of the sea, the thunder will
not break out and when the dragons do not soar the thunder is hidden
in the depths of the marshes".
 Lake trigram

Sea and marshes are both watery in nature, this is the secret of
preventing the ire-minister's tendency to grow. Again it is said: «when
the heart is exhausted, in that emptiness the ire lares up; therefore
when there is emptiness, the iery energy is brought down and
amalgamated with that of the kidneys - and this is the remedy.' It is the
way to Consummation.
 Hexagram 63

Hexagram 64

“My young friend, you have developed your painful diseases from the
unnatural rising of the ire-heart upwards. If you do not bring your heart
down you will never heal, even though you learn and practice all human
and divine healing remedies. Perhaps you see me as a sort of Taoist
hermit and think that my teaching is far from Buddhism, but this is
instead the purest Zen. One day, when you break through into waking
reality, you'll smile as you remember what I've told you, and you'll see
how laughable some preconceptions are.
 Non-contemplation

This contemplation is Zen right contemplation since it operates in non-

contemplation (mu-kan). Contemplation focused on many ideas is
wrong contemplation. So far your contemplation has been fragmented
(ta-kan), that is, it has been turned exaggeratedly and for too long to
many questions (koan), and so you have contracted this disease. So isn't
it right to cure it with non-contemplation? If you now control the ire of
the heart and the will and place it in the dantien and down right to the
soles of the feet, your chest will become cool by itself, without a thought
of calculation, without a single tumult. This is true contemplation, pure
contemplation! Don't call it "giving up your Zen concentration," for the
Buddha himself reminds us that keeping the heart down on the soles of
the feet heals a hundred and one ailments. Also, the Sutra
commentaries on the scriptures mention the use of ambrosia So in the
treatment of mental exhaustion.

“The classic Tendai meditation from the text «Great Concentration and
Intuition» which is called «Arrest and Contemplation» deals in detail
with diseases and their causes, and describes the methods of
treatment; describes twelve different ways of breathing to cure various
forms of disease and prescribes visualization of a bean at the level of
the navel. The main point is always that the heart- ire has to be brought
down and held to the dantien and then down to the soles of the feet,
and this not only cures disease but greatly aids Zen contemplation. In
the Tendai system there are in fact two forms of arrest: one is through
the control of associations, and the other is the clarity of the Truth. The
latter is full contemplation of reality, while the former exalts above all
keeping the mind and vitality in the dantien. If the student practices it,
he will ind it very useful.
 How to cultivate mental energy

Long ago Dogen, the founding Zen patriarch of Eihejei Temple, made
the crossing to China and paid reverence before the teacher Nyojo (Ju-
ching) on Mount Tendo (Tien-t'ung). The master said to him, "O Dogen,
at the time of sitting meditation, put your heart on the palm of your left
hand." This is basically what the Tendai master means by his 'Arrest'.
This is reported in one of his works on the subject of how he taught the
secret to a sick brother, and how he saved him from death.

“Again, Abbot Hakuun says, “I always keep my heart low, so that it ills
my abdomen. Teaching students, working or receiving visitors or
entertaining guests, reciting sutras and doing everything else, I never
stopped doing it. Now, in my old age, the virtue of this practice is clearly
evident». Well said! This is based on the phrase that appears in the
Somon (Nei-ching-su-wen), the classic of medicine: "When you are
quiet and simple and free from torment, the ancestral energy
spontaneously conforms to this producing a whole and pervading Ki . If
this energy is kept inside how could I get sick?»[1]. The point is to keep
this Ki within, pervading and supporting the entire body so that in the
three hundred and sixty joints and eighty-four thousand pores there is
not the breadth of a hair without it. Know that this is the secret to
preserving life.

Master Ho (Peng Tsu), who lived eight hundred years, speaks of a

method of harmonizing the spirit and directing Ki: «Lock yourself in a
private room where there is a comfortable bed already heated with a
pillow about seven centimeters high and half. Stretch well and lying on
your back close your eyes and con ine the heart energy within your
chest. Place a goose feather on your nose and make your breathing so
slow that it doesn't move the feather anymore, and after three hundred
breaths like this, when your ears hear nothing and your eyes see
nothing hot and cold will be no more, and the wasp and scorpion stings
will no longer be able to poison you. Life will be extended to three
hundred and sixty years, and you will approach the mental and
physiological status of the immortals."

“I am adding these instructions to you. The great mystical poet Sotoba

(Su Tung P'o) says: "Do not eat until you are hungry, and stop before
you are satis ied. Take a walk until the exercise makes your stomach
empty, and when it is empty enter a room. Sit silently in the meditation
position and count the outgoing and incoming breaths. Count from one
to ten, from ten to a hundred, from a hundred to a thousand, when the
body will become still and the heart serene like a clear sky. If this
practice is prolonged, the breath will come to a standstill. When it
remains suspended it will become a vaporous exhalation which will
rise from the eighty-four thousand pores like mist. You will ind that
every disease you have ever had is removed, and every obstacle
eliminated. Now, like a blind man who sees the light for the irst time,
you will no longer need to ask another what the Way is."

“The only thing necessary is to cut short the worldly talk, and build the
basic Ki. Thus it is said: "He who would feed the power of the eyes
always keeps them closed, he who would feed the power of the ears is
never impatient to hear, he who would feed the heart-energy is always
silent."
Note:

[1] Quotation of a saying by Master Po-yü n set as a paradigm by Hakuin

Ekaku in the introduction of the Yasenkanna.
 The complete exposition of the
circulation/distillation method of the “So” elixir

I asked, "I heard a moment ago of a particular use of the elixir So...".

Hakuju replied, “Yes, the elixir So. It is a method that a practitioner

should use when in his meditation the four great elements manifest out
of harmony, and the body and mind are fatigued. Let him visualize,
placed on the crown of his head, that celestial ointment So, also called
butter or ambrosia, solidi ied in the shape and size of a duck's egg,
radiant with light, most pure and sublime in color and fragrance. Let
him feel the exquisite essence and aroma of the ointment melt and low
down seeping through his head, permeating his body lowing
downwards, slowly coming to wash out his shoulders and elbows,
passing irst to the sides of his chest and into his chest , illuminating the
lungs, diaphragm, liver, stomach and internal organs, back and spine,
nourishing all bones and down to the hips. This is how all the old
sicknesses, blockages and pains in the ive main organs and six viscera
follow the heart-mind going downwards: if you practice assiduously
you will hear a sound of water lowing downwards. Thus this energy
lows throughout the body, providing a nourishing heat that reaches the
legs and continues to the soles of the feet. Thus the lower part of the
body becomes warm, and he is saturated with that heat. Then let him
do this meditation: that the abundance of the elixir, having permeated
the whole body and having reached the feet, begins to ill it more
densely, accumulating in the lower part of his body as happens when
the elixir circulates in the alembic. At this point the practitioner will
perceive that the circulation of the elixir So, with delicate movement,
distills more and more going up and down in the alembic, distilling
itself in it, thus increasing the radiance of body and mind. When this
meditation is repeated there will be psychic experiences of a sudden,
indescribable fragrance felt in the nose, a delicate and exquisite
sensation in the body. Mind and body become harmonized surpassing
even the fullness of youth. Accumulations of toxins and blockages are
cleared away, the organs are soothed and the skin noticeably begins to
glow.

“If the practice is continued without interruption, what disease will not
be cured, what power will not be acquired, what perfection will not be
attained, what Way will not be completed? The result depends only on
how and how much the student applies himself in practice.

“As a boy I was much sicker than you, so that the doctors dropped the
case, and I grabbed at a hundred gimmicks. Not inding any art that
could help me, I sincerely prayed to the Gods of heaven and earth and
invoked the help of the divine Sennin and by their grace the secret of So
butter unexpectedly came to me. My joy was indescribable and I
practiced it continuously so that the time began to elude me but already
from the irst month most of my chronic diseases were eliminated, and
since then I have felt only light and peace in my body and mind: I do not
consider the months nor do I keep track of the years, the thoughts of
the world have become few, old habits and passions seem forgotten.

“I don't know how old I am. For about thirty years I wandered alone in
the mountains of Wakasu. No one in the world knew me anymore.
When I look back it's just like Koryan's dream: you know, the one in
which the traveler dreams the events of a lifetime in half an hour... Now,
alone, in these mountains, I set this body free. Only a couple of cloths
cover me yet in the harshest winter, when the cloth curls up with the
cold, my body doesn't suffer from the cold and I don't feel any shivers.
The grains run out and sometimes there is no food for many months,
yet I do not feel hungry or cold. What is this but the power of the
naikan? The secret I've given you is something you'll never inish
probing. Beyond that, what should I tell you?”. He closed his eyes and
sat in silence. I respectfully bid my farewells with teary eyes.
 Last farewell to Master Hakuyu

I was slowly descending the steps to the cave entrance as the last rays
of the sun were brushing the tops of the trees. I began to notice the
sound of footsteps echoing in the mountain and valley. Fearfully I
turned back. I saw that Master Hakuyu had left the rock cave and was
following me. I waited for him amazed and when he reached me he
said: "In these pathless mountains you can easily get lost so I decided to
guide your steps". With his large wooden clogs and thin, gnarled stick
he trampled steep rocks and cliffs, lightly, as if it were level ground;
talking and laughing he showed me the way. Descending for two or
three miles the horizon changed, at the foot of the mountain began the
slope that led to an adjacent valley. Pointing to the course of a stream,
Master Hakuyu said to me: "Follow its course and you will arrive safely
at the valley of the White River" and suddenly he left me. For a while I
stood like a tree watching the master return to his retreat, his stride
like that of an ancient hero. Thus, lightly, he escaped from the world,
ascending the mountain as if he had wings. A strong desire and a fear
seized me: being sincere I must say that until the end of my days I
regretted not having been able to follow such a man. I returned
meditative, I was already inwardly relieved.
 Hakuin Ekaku

Orategama

From the translation by Philip B. Yampolski.

Edited by Andrea Maria Vaccarezza Shoghen.

 ORATEGAMA I
[1]

Letter in Reply to His Excellency Nabeshima[2] Governor of Settsu

Province, Delivered in the Care of a Close Servant

Yesterday I received your letter, which came to me from afar. It must

have been a great relief for you to have successfully completed the task
of entertaining the Korean delegation[3]. Thank you for your interest in
my health: I'm ine as always, and you don't have to worry about me. I
was very pleased to know that you are putting great effort into
meditating on the koans,[4] both in your active and in your calm
moments. I completely agree with you, as well as with the other topics
you address in the letter. You cannot imagine how happy I am with the
results you have achieved.

If the motivation is not right, Zen practitioners ind themselves

potentially stuck in both the activity and stillness approaches to koan
meditation. They fall into a state of severe depression and become
unstable; ire rises to the heart, the metallic element in the lungs[5]
withdraws painfully, overall health deteriorates, and they frequently
develop a disease that is dif icult to cure. However, if they manage to
enhance and perfect the authentic practice of introspection[6], they will
ind themselves in line with the secret methods for de initive
nourishment:[7] their body and their mind will become strong, their
energy immense, and they will quickly attain enlightenment in all
things.

Buddha Shakamuni explained the details of this point in the Agamas[8].

Master Chihi-i of Mount T'ien-t'ai has gathered the importance of these
teachings and kindly made them available to us in his Mo-ho Chihi-
kuan[9]. The fundamental point that emerges from this text is that,
whether while reading certain parts of the sacred teachings or while
examining the principles of the Dharma, whether sitting for a long time
without lying down or engaging in walking practices during the six
parts of the day , one must make sure that the breath ills the space
between the navel and the loins[10]. Even if one is beset by worldly
affairs, or tied to guests who require special attention, the source of
strength two inches below the navel must be illed naturally with the
vital breath, and one must never allow let this fade away. This space
should feel bouncy and round, something like a new, unused ball. If a
person is able to acquire this kind of concentration on the breath, he
can sit in meditation all day without ever getting tired; he will be able
to recite the sutras from morning to night without being exhausted; he
will be able to write all day without any problem; he will be able to talk
all day without collapsing from fatigue.

Even if you practice good deeds day after day, there will be no
symptoms of sluggishness; for the capacity of his mind will gradually
grow more and more, and great will be his energy. On the hottest days
of summer he won't sweat or need a fan; on the coldest nights of the
deepest winter he will not need to wear socks (tabi) or keep warm. If
he lived to be 100, his teeth would remain healthy and strong. Provided
he does not become negligent in his practices, he could reach a very old
age. If a man becomes pro icient in this method, what Way cannot be
perfected, what precepts cannot be kept, what samadhi cannot be
attained, what virtue cannot be realised?

If, on the other hand, you do not become an advanced practitioner of

these ancient techniques, if you have not made your own the essential
parts of authentic practice, if you recklessly pursue your ideal of
awakening, you will drown in unhealthy fatigue and remain entangled
in useless thoughts. Thus the chest and the breathing mechanism will
be blocked, a ire will arise in the heart, the legs will feel as if they were
immersed in ice and snow, the ears will be illed with thundering
sounds like the echo of a waterfall in a deep valley. The lungs will
shrink, the luids in the body will dry up, and eventually you will be
af licted with a disease that is very dif icult to cure. It will really be
dif icult for you to be able to stay alive. And all this only because you
don't know the correct path from authentic practice. A very unfortunate
thing!

The Mo-ho Chih-kuan talks about preliminary and empty

tranquillization[11]. The method of introspection that I describe here
represents the foundations of this preliminary tranquillisation[12].
When I was young the content of my koan meditation was very poor. I
was convinced that the Buddha Way was the absolute tranquility of the
source of the mind. So I despised activity and adored quiet. I was
always looking for a dark and dreary place to engage in dead
meditation sessions[13].

The daily and worldly affairs piled up on my chest, and a ire built up in
my heart. I was not able to unconditionally enter the active practice of
Zen. My manners became irascible and fears assailed me. Both mind
and body felt weak all the time, sweat poured out of his armpits
incessantly, and his eyes were always illed with tears. My mind was in a
constant state of depression, and I was not making any progress
towards the bene its that come from studying Buddhism.

But then I was lucky enough to receive the instructions of a good

teacher[14]. The secret methods of introspection were handed down to
me, and for three years I devoted myself diligently to their practice. The
serious illness from which I was suffering, which I had hitherto found
so dif icult to cure, gradually disappeared like frost and snow melting
under the morning rays of the sun. The problems with those repulsive
koans - koans that were hard to believe, hard to penetrate, hard to
unravel, hard to get into - koans that hitherto were impossible for me to
sink my teeth into, now disappeared with the disappearance of the
disease.

Although I'm in my 70s, my energy is now ten times greater than it was
in my 30s or 40s. My mind and body are strong, and I never feel like I
have to lie down to rest. If I wanted to I would have no dif iculty in not
sleeping for two, three or even seven days, without suffering any
debilitation of my mental strength. I am surrounded by three hundred
very demanding students, even ive hundred, and although I lecture on
scriptures or collections of Masters' sayings for thirty - even ifty - days
in a row, I do not feel exhausted. I am quite convinced that all this is due
to the power gained by practicing this method of introspection.

Initially the emphasis should be placed on body care. So, during your
introspection practice, without your looking for it and almost
unconsciously, you will get - I can't tell you how many times - the
bene its of experiencing enlightenment. It is essential that you neither
despise nor cling to the world of activity as well as the quietistic one,
and that you continue your practice diligently.

You may occasionally feel like you're getting nowhere with practice in
the midst of activity, when the quietistic approach brings unexpected
results. However rest assured that those using the quietistic approach
cannot hope to enter meditation in the midst of activity. Were the one
using this approach to step into the dust and confusion of the world of
activity, he would also completely lose the normal understanding he
assumed he had achieved. Drained of all energy, he will ind himself
inferior to any mediocre and untalented person. The most trivial
matters will unsettle him, senseless cowardice will af lict his mind, and
he will often behave harshly and crudely. What achievement can such a
man be said to have achieved?

Zen Master Ta-hui[15] said that meditation in the midst of activity is

incomparably superior to the quietistic approach. Po-shan[16] said that
if one does not practice meditation in the activity, one does something
akin to attempting to cross a narrow mountain ridge like a sheep's skull
with a load of one hundred and twenty pounds on one's back. I'm not
trying to convince you to abandon quietistic meditation completely and
speci ically look for an area of activity to take your practice to. The
thing most worthy of respect is a pure koan meditation that does not
know and is not aware of the two aspects, the quietistic and the active.
That is why it has been said that the really practicing monk[17] walks
without knowing he is walking, and sits without knowing he is sitting.
To penetrate into the depths of one's true nature, and to gain useful
energy at all times, nothing can beat meditation in the midst of activity.
Suppose you have several hundred gold ryo and you want to hire
someone to guard you. A candidate closes the room, seals the door and
sits down in front of it. True, he does not allow coins to be stolen, but
the method he adopts does not portray him as a man of great energy. It
would be more appropriate to compare his practice with that of the
Hinayana followers, who are striving only for their own enlightenment.

Now suppose there is another candidate. He is ordered to take these

coins and deliver them to that place, despite the fact that the road he
has to travel is infested with thieves and evil men who swarm like
wasps and ants. Boldly strap a great sword to his side, clasp the hem of
his cassock, and fasten the gold to the point of a club; he immediately
sets off and delivers the coins to the prearranged place, without having
had any problems with thieves, not even once. Such a man should
certainly be commended as a noble being who, without the slightest
sign of fear, acts with honesty and courage. His behavior can be
compared to that of the perfect bodhisattva, who - while striving for his
own enlightenment - helps all sentient beings by guiding them.

The several hundred gold ryo that has been written about represent the
great determination to put into practice the authentic, decisive and
irrepressible meditation practice. The thieves and evil men, who swarm
like wasps and ants, represent the illusions of the ive desires[18], the
ten bonds[19], the ive desires[20] and the eight errors[21]; that man
symbolizes the superior man, who has practiced true Zen and has
reached the perfect goal. Such a place refers to the treasure place of
immense peaceful Nirvana, endowed with the four virtues of
permanence, peace, Self and purity. For these reasons it is said that the
monk who authentically practices Zen must continue his activity in the
midst of the phenomenal world.

The Hinayanas of yore are often discredited. Yet today's people can
hardly attain the ability to see the Way they possessed, nor equal the
brilliance of their wisdom and virtue. The direction of their practice
was wrong, because they only appreciated places of solitude and quiet,
they knew nothing of the dignity of the bodhisattvas, and they were
unable to do anything to enter the land of the Buddha: it was only for
this reason that the Tathagata[22] compared them to wild foxes oozing
pus, and that Vimalakirti[23] poured contempt upon them as if they
burned up shoots and rotted the seeds. The Third Patriarch said: “If one
wants to acquire true intimacy with enlightenment, one must not avoid
objects of the senses”[24]. He did not mean that one must delight in
sense objects, but - as the wings of a water bird do not get wet when
immersed in water - one must create a mind which carries on without
interruption a true meditation on the koans, without clinging to or
rejecting the objects of the senses. A person who fanatically avoids
sense objects and is afraid of the eight winds[25] which stimulate the
passions, unconsciously falls into the hole of the Hinayana, and will
never be able to attain the Buddha Way.

Yung-chia said, “The power of wisdom that comes from practicing

meditation in the world of desire is like the lotus that comes out of ire;
it can never be destroyed”[26]. Again, Yung-chia does not mean that
one must necessarily be shipwrecked in the world of ive wishes. What
it says is that even if one is in the midst of the ive desires and sense
objects, one must be controlled by a mind receptive to purity, just as the
lotus is untainted by the mud from which it lowers.
Furthermore, even if you lived in a forest or wilderness, if you ate only
one meal a day, and practiced the Way both day and night, it would still
be dif icult to dedicate yourself to purity in your works. So imagine how
much more dif icult it is for someone who lives with his wife and
relatives in the midst of the dust and turmoil of this busy life. But if you
don't have the eye to look into your own nature, you won't have the
slightest chance of being ready to teach. This is why Bodhidharma said:
“If you wish to realize the Buddha Way, you must irst look within your
nature”[27].

If you suddenly realize the wisdom of the true reality of everything of

the One Vehicle[28], the sense objects will be Zen meditation[29] and
the ive desires themselves will be the One Vehicle. For this reason
words and silence, movement and stillness are all present in Zen
meditation. When this state is attained, it is very different from that of a
person quietly practicing among forests or mountains, and the state he
attains is as different as the heavens are from the earth. When Yung-
chia speaks of the lotus facing the lames, he is not here praising the
rare man in this world who practices Buddhism. [He is saying that any
place is the world of Zen meditation]. Yung-chia penetrated the hidden
meaning of the Tendai teaching that "truths themselves are one." He
cleaned up the practice of shikan in in initesimal detail, and in his
biography the four dignities[30] are praised as always containing
within them dhyana contemplation[31]. His commentary is very short,
but by no means should it be taken lightly. When he says that dhyana
contemplation is always contained in the four dignities, he is speaking
of the state of understanding in which they are united. The four
dignities are none other than dhyana contemplation, and dhyana
contemplation is none other than the four dignities. When [Vimalakirti]
[32] says that the bodhisattva, without establishing a place for
meditation, practices in the midst of daily activities, he is talking about
the same thing.
Since the lotus that blooms in water withers when it approaches ire,
ire is the dreaded enemy of the lotus. But the lotus that blossoms in the
midst of the lames becomes more and more beautiful and fragrant as
the ire approaches.

A man who continues his practice avoiding from the beginning the
objects of the ive senses, no matter how well versed he may be in the
doctrine of emptiness of self and things, and no matter how much
understanding he may develop on the Way: when he gives up stillness
and enters into in the midst of activity he is like a water goblin who has
lost his water[33], or a monkey with no trees to climb. Most of its
energy is lost, and it is just like the lotus that suddenly withers when
faced with ire.

But if you fearlessly persevere amidst everyday sense objects, and

engage in pure and one-pointed meditation without making mistakes,
you will be like the man who successfully delivered the hundreds of
golden ryo despite the turmoil around him. . As you boldly and
courageously set out on your journey, and proceed without stopping for
a single minute, you will experience immense joy, as if you suddenly
understood the origin of your mind and crushed and destroyed the root
of birth and death. It will be as if the empty sky disappeared and the
iron mountains collapsed. You will be like the lotus blossoming in the
lames, whose color and fragrance intensify as the lames approach.
Why should it be like this? Because the real ire is the lotus, and the real
lotus is the ire.
I cannot stress enough that the genuine practice of introspection is
absolutely essential and cannot be overlooked. The authentic practice
of introspection (naikan) consists in [this contemplation]:

“The area below the navel[34] down to the loins and soles of the feet is
the Mu of Chao-chou[35]. What principle can this Mu have?

The area below the navel to the loins and soles of the feet is my original
face[36]. Where can the nostrils be in this original face?

The area below the navel to the loins and soles of the feet is the Pure
Land of my mind. What can this Pure Land be adorned with?

The area below the navel to the loins and soles of the feet is the Amida
Buddha in my body. What truth can this Amida profess?

The area below the navel to the loins and soles of the feet is the village
where I was born. What news can come from this native village!”[37].

If at every opportunity, while coughing or eating, while waving his

arms, asleep or awake, the practiser achieves all that he decides, and
achieves all that he sets himself to achieve, and, demonstrating great
and indomitable determination, proceeds unceasingly, he will
transcend the emotions and feelings of everyday life. His heart will be
illed with an extraordinary purity and clarity, as if he were standing on
a thin layer of ice that stretches for thousands of miles. Even if he enters
the middle of a battle ield, or if he participates in a feast with songs,
dances and amusements, it would be as if he were in a silent and lonely
place. His immense ability, like that of Yun-men[38] with his royal
pride, will appear unseen.

At this time all Buddhas and sentient beings will be like illusions, “birth,
death and Nirvana like last night's dream”[39]. This man will look
across heaven and hell; the worlds of Buddha and the palaces of
demons will crumble. It will blind the True Eye of the Buddha and the
Patriarchs. It will expound the innumerable teachings and the
mysterious principle in all its rami ications as its content. It will bene it
all sentient beings, and it will go through countless kalpas without
getting tired. For an in inite time he will spread the teachings of
Buddhism without making a single mistake. It will make clear [a
bodhisattva's] many activities and give birth to a teaching of great
in luence. Having fastened to his arm the supernatural talisman which
snatches life from death[40], he will make the claws and teeth of the
Dharma Cave[41] resound in his own mouth, he will blow out the
brains of monks everywhere, he will pull out his nails and eliminate the
blocks[42]. Without the slightest human feeling it will cause an
insurmountably wretched sucker[43], stupid and careless, to become a
person[44] or even half a person, with teeth as sharp as the sword trees
of hell, and a mouth as wide open as a platter of blood. Thus he will
repay his deep obligation to the Buddhas and Patriarchs. The state he
has attained will be recognized as the cause of the Buddha kingdom or
the dignities of a bodhisattva. He will be a great man, excellent among
ordinary people, who will have achieved his important goal.
There are stupid, careless, baldheads who sit in a calm, stolid and
inaccessible place and believe that the state of mind produced in this
atmosphere includes seeing into one's own nature. They think that
re ining and perfecting purity is enough, but they never dream of
reaching the state [of the person described above]. People of this sort
spend all day practicing non-action, and end up having practiced action
all the time; they spend all day practicing non-producing, and instead
they end up practicing producing all the time. Why? Because their
vision in the Way is not clear, because they cannot see the truth of the
nature of the Dharma.

What a pity that they spend this one birth as human beings in vain, a
birth that is so dif icult to obtain. They are like blind tortoises
wandering endlessly in empty valleys, demons who guard the wood
used for cof ins. The fact that they return to their old abodes,
unamended by the suffering of the three negative ways,[45] is because
their practice was misdirected, and from the beginning they never truly
observed their own nature. They have used up the strength of their
minds in vain, and in the end they have not been able to obtain any
bene it. All of this is really unfortunate.

In the past there were men like Ippen Shonin[46] of the Ji sect, who
hung a gong around his neck and, while chanting the Buddha's name,
shouted: "Once you enter the three evil ways, you can never go back!" .
He traveled, spreading his message from the far east, Dewa in Oshu
province, to the far west, in the remotest areas of Hakata Bay in
Tsukushi province[47]. Finally he went to visit the founder of the
temple of Yura[48], and from there he was reborn in the Pure Land[49].
Isn't this a splendid example, worthy of respect?
When we consider the human condition as a whole, we see people who
lack the necessary merits to be born in heaven, but at the same time do
not possess negative karma to send them to the three realms of evil,
and thus end up being born in this degenerate world. . Among them,
numerous emperors, ministers, wealthy men, and lay Buddhists have
accumulated considerable good karma in past lives; however, although
their works were of a superior nature, they were not suf icient to
permit a rebirth in heaven. Thus they were born into wealthy families,
surrounded themselves with ministers and concubines, amassed
wealth and treasures, and - without distinction - showed no sympathy
for poor people, nor were they inclined to reward their servants. All
they engendered was a heart attached to luxury. But today's negative
works and causes translate tomorrow into deadly deeds and suffering.
There are numerous instances of people who came into this world with
a considerable amount of merit, but then recklessly chased after
aimless glory, generating a heavy load of evil, and therefore destined to
be born again in negative ways. I repeat, do not abandon the essential
points of introspection, but train and nurture them. The authentic
practice of introspection is the most important ingredient in nourishing
one's health. This corresponds to the fundamental alchemical
principles of the hermits. These were born with Buddha Sakamuni;
later they were precisely described by Chih-i of the Tendai school in his
Mo-ho chih-kuan. In my middle age I learned them from the Taoist
teacher Hakuyu[50]. Hakuyu lived in a cave in Shirakawa in Yamashiro
Province. He is said to have lived for two hundred and forty years, and
the locals called him the hermit Hakuyu. It appears that he was
Ishikawa Jozan's teacher when he was elderly[51].

Hakuyu used to say that the technique for nourishing the body is
basically this: [52] it is essential to always keep the upper parts of the
body cool, and the lower ones warm. You must know that to nourish the
body it is essential that the vital energy ills the lower parts. Very often
people say that the divine elixir is the distillation of the ive elements,
but they are unaware of the fact that the ive elements - water, ire,
wood, metal and earth - are associated with the ive sense organs: the
eyes, ears, nose, tongue and body. How does one put these ive organs
together to distill the divine elixir? For this we have the law of the ive
non-outgoings: when the eye thoughtlessly does not see, when the ear
thoughtlessly does not hear, when the tongue thoughtlessly does not
taste, when the body thoughtlessly hears, when the consciousness
thoughtlessly does not think, then the turgid primary energy builds up
right before your eyes. This is the vast physical energy mentioned by
Mencius[53]. If you attract this energy and concentrate it in the space
below the navel, if you distill it over the years, protect it to the
maximum and nourish it constantly, before you know it the saucepan of
the elixir will tip over and the entire universe will become one. mass of
this circulating elixir. Then you will realize the fact that you yourself are
a divine sage of true immortality, one who was not born before the
heavens and earth were formed, and who will not die after the empty
space has disappeared.[54] Now you can curdle the ocean into lumps
and turn the earth into gold. For this reason it is said: "The circulation
of a drop of this elixir can change metal into gold"[55]. Po Yu-ch'an[56]
said: “The essential thing to nourish life is to strengthen the physical
structure. The secret to strengthening the physical structure is to focus
the spirit. When the spirit is concentrated, energy accumulates. When
energy builds up, the elixir is formed. When the elixir is formed, the
physical structure becomes irm. When the physical structure is irm,
the spirit is strengthened”.

But above all we must understand that this elixir is absolutely not
external to one's body. For example, there are ields of jewels and ields
of millet. Jewel ields produce jewels, millet ields produce crops. In
man there are kikai and dantien. The kikai is the treasure house where
vital energy is stored and nourished; the dantien is the castle of the city,
where the divine elixir is distilled and where the cycle of life is
preserved. A man of ancient times said: "The reason why the great
rivers and seas attained supremacy over hundreds of other streams is
that they had the virtue of being lower than the rest"[57]. From the
very beginning, the oceans have geographically occupied a lower
position than all other waters; for this they receive all these waters
without increasing or decreasing. The kikai is located in the body in a
position lower than the ive internal organs, and is constantly collecting
the true energy. Eventually the divine elixir is perfected, and one attains
the status of an immortal.

The dantien is located in three places in the body, but the one I am
referring to is the low dantien. The kikai and dantien are both placed
below the navel; in reality they are one, although they have two names.
The dantien is located two inches below the navel, while the kikai is
only an index and a half below it, and it is in this area that the real
energy always accumulates. When body and mind are in harmony, it is
said that, even at the age of one hundred, hair never turns white, teeth
remain healthy, vision is clearer than ever, and abilities acquire luster.
This is the effectiveness of nourishing the primary energy and bringing
the divine elixir to maturity. There is no age limit that one cannot reach;
it just depends on how effectively the energy is fed. The enlightened
doctors of yore administered cures before a disease manifested itself,
and allowed people to control the mind and feed the energy. Quack
doctors, on the other hand, work the other way around. After the
disease appears, they try to cure it with acupuncture, moxa treatment
and swallowing preparations, and as a result many of their patients are
lost.

Generally speaking, substance, energy and spirit are the pillars of the
human body. The enlightened man keeps his energy and does not waste
it. The art of nurturing life can be compared to the techniques of
governing a country. The spirit represents the prince, the substance the
ministers and the energy the people. When the people are loved and
cared for, then the country is mighty; when energy is held, then the
body is powerful. When the people are in turmoil, the nation is
destroyed; when the energy is depleted, the body dies. Thus the wise
governor always directs his efforts to the common people, while the
inept governor allows the wealthy classes to have their way. When the
wealthy classes have their way, the nine ministers demand special
privileges, the hundred functionaries[58] revel in their authority, and
none give a thought to the poverty and suffering of the common people.
Unreliable ministers rob and loot, tyrannical of icials cheat and pocket
money. Although wheat is plentiful in the ields, many in the country
are dying of hunger. The wise and the virtuous hide, and the people are
indignant and enraged. Eventually ordinary citizens are reduced to
poverty, and the survival of the nation is threatened. But when
attention is paid to the common people, when their labors are not
ignored, then the people are enriched and the nation becomes strong.
No one violates the laws, and no other country will attempt to attack
the borders.

The human body works just like that. The enlightened man causes the
breath to accumulate completely underneath. So there is no room for
the seven misfortunes[59], and the four evils[60] cannot attack from
the outside. The circulatory organs function ef iciently, and the heart
and mind are over lowing with health. This way the body does not need
to know the pain of acupuncture and moxa treatment. He will be like
the people of a mighty country who don't know the sound of war
drums.
Long ago Ch'i Po[61] answered the Yellow Emperor's questions: “When
the desiring mind is empty, true energy is in tune. If the substance and
the spirit are kept inside, where can the disease come from?”. But men
today do not follow this advice. From the moment of birth to the
moment of death they do not keep the mind-as-master (shushin) within
themselves. They don't even know what this mind-as-teacher is, that's
why they are like ignorant dogs and horses that run around all day just
because they have legs. Dangerous ignorance indeed! For don't military
experts say, "Surprise and anguish arise because the mind-as-teacher is
not held irmly"? [62] But when the mind-as-teacher is kept within
oneself, the anguish and fear are not voluntarily produced. Whenever a
person is without mind-as-teacher, it is as if he were dead, or at least
there is no assurance that he will not fall into recklessness and
depravity.

To better illustrate the point: suppose there is an old house, owned by

an old, decrepit, exhausted, poor, starving woman. No one will enter
this house thoughtlessly as long as there is a master. But as soon as the
owner disappears, thieves will slip inside, beggars will sleep in it, foxes
and rabbits will chase each other along the loors, hungry badgers will
throw themselves inside to hide. During the day idle spirits[63] will
howl, during the night wild demons[64]. The house will become a
gathering place for countless strange and evil beings. The same thing
happens to the human body.

To the mind that is master of true meditation, the space below the navel
is irm as if a huge rock were planted in it, and when this mental
function is in its full potency, no illusory thoughts can enter, no
discriminatory ideas can exist. . “The heavens and the earth are one
inger; all things are a horse”[65]. This great hero [who is master of
true meditation], solemn as a mountain, vast as the seas, tirelessly
practices all good works day after day, so that there is no room for even
a Buddha or a Patriarch to insinuate himself into the his hand, and
nothing for an evil demon to test the waters for. Day after day he carries
out good works without getting tired. Truly he can be considered one
who has repaid his obligations to the Buddha.

But if this person were suddenly attacked by negative circumstances or

attracted by delusional actions, the mind-as-meditation master would
be lost even before he discovered them. This is said in the passage:
“When a thought arises suddenly it is known as ignorance”[66]. The
demons of passions will swarm like wasps; supernatural beings will
chase each other like ants. [The body composed of] the four elements
will [will be] like a decrepit house seen in a nightmare; [the mind made
up of] the ive skandhas[67] will [will be] like an unreal hovel.
Everything will suddenly change and become a dwelling place for
demons. The shape of things is constantly changing. In all kingdoms,
how many tens of thousands of births and deaths occur in one day!

Though a gentleman may appear to have retired from his of icial duties,
internally his mind is confronted with the aberrations of a Yaksha[68].
Each time the mind will suffer more agony than that produced by the
battle of Yashima[69]; the heart will be constantly more anguished than
the world was during the wars of the nine kingdoms[70]. It will be like
the burning down of the millionaire's house in the parable[71]. “Let's
say this is the endless sinking in the karmic sea of birth and death.
Unless a person in this condition steps aboard the raft of true
meditation and hoists the sail of indomitable perseverance, he will be
drawn into the raging waves of consciousness and emotion. How then
will he be able to transcend the dark rays of malodorous fumes and
poisonous vapors, and reach the other shore of the four virtues?[72]
What deep sadness! Man is endowed with the wisdom and form of the
Buddha. There is nothing he lacks. Each person is possessed by this
jewel which is the nature of the Buddha, and for all eternity radiates an
immense and pure luminosity. But while they dwell in that very land of
the pure dharma nature of Buddha Birushana (Vairocana), within
which this world is the light of Nirvana, men, because their wisdom eye
has been blinded, confuse this realm with the ordinary evil world and
mistakenly think it is populated by sentient beings. In this birth as
human beings, which is so dif icult to obtain, they waste their time
wandering around like ignorant horses and oxen. Without distinction
they extinguish the light and wander in the realms of the three painful
and negative existences, and suffer the sadness of the six forms of
rebirth[73]. They cling to the unchanging eternal calm of the true land
of Buddha Birushana, and in their fear and delusion they weep in pain,
believing it to be eternal hell. They take pride in their trivial,
purposeless, and meaningless ideas, reveling in the miserable and
prejudicial learning that has entered their mouths and ears. They don't
believe in Buddhism, they haven't listened to the True Law, they end
their days in a crazy way, and they haven't been able to keep even for a
single moment the mind that is the master of authentic meditation.
Even more reprehensible is that they revolve for eternal kalpas in the
spirals of their own evil deeds. And, scarier still, what they get is only
the bitter fruit of the long nights of birth and death.

The Emperors who ruled from the Engi period to the Tenryaku period,
and who are revered as the three wise men, were also burned by the
ierce lames of hell. When they saw Nichizo Shonin of Sho's cave, they
told him that because they had been guilty of extreme bullying as rulers
of a small country, they had fallen into a place like this[74]. Fujiwara no
Toshiyuki was excellent in both Chinese and Japanese, was renowned
for his calligraphy, and copied the Lotus Sutra about two hundred
times, but as he was unfamiliar with authentic meditation, he fell into
hell and had to go to Ki no Tomonori to beg help[75]. Minamoto no
Yoshiie, of whom it is said that no warrior equal existed in Japan,
subdued the numerous enemies of the court, facilitated the Emperor's
interests, and, where the spells of the high priests of Nara and Kyoto
failed, silenced the Emperor's troubles just by swinging his bow. But
even such a man had to kneel at Emma's court[76]. Tada no Mitsunaka,
while ill, was taken by a messenger from Emma to undergo the sight of
the dark regions. Returning to this world, he was so terri ied that he
immediately entered the Rokkaku-do, became a monk, and was so
assiduous in invoking the Buddha's name that the sweat and tears he
shed dripped right onto the carpet on which he sat.[77] .

King Chuang-hsiang of Ch-in[78], who routed as many as six countries,

conquered the four seas, and who was feared even in the lands where
the eight barbarian tribes dwelt, fell into the realm of hungry demons
and underwent his sufferings . Emperor Wu of Chou[79] suffered the
punishment of the iron bridge. Po Ch'i of Ch'in[80], who was known in
the world as an extremely evil one, sank into the hell of Excrement and
Filth. Later, in the early days of the Hung-wu [1368-1398] Ming era, at a
place known as San-mao kuan in Wu-shan Province, lightning struck a
foot-long white centipede, and it is reported that on his back was
written the name Po Ch'i. From this one can understand how dif icult it
is to escape the force of negative karma.

Don't say that worldly affairs and daily pressures don't give you time to
study Zen under a master, and that the bustle of everyday life makes it
dif icult for you to continue your meditation. Everyone must
understand that for the genuinely practicing monk there are no worldly
interests or concerns. Suppose a man accidentally drops two or three
gold pieces in a crowded street teeming with people. Does he perhaps
forget about the coins because all eyes are on him? Does he perhaps
stop to look for them only because this could create some disturbance?
Most people would push others off the road, not stopping until they've
retrieved the coins with their own hands. It is not that people who
neglect the study of Zen because the pressure of worldly circumstances
is too great, or interrupt their meditation because they are preoccupied
with worldly affairs, value two or three bits of gold more than the
unsurpassable and mysterious way of the Buddhas? A person who
concentrates solely on meditation in the midst of the pressures and
worries of daily life will be like the man who has dropped gold coins,
and who devotes all of himself to looking for them. Who wouldn't be
happy for such a person?

That's why Myocho[81] said:

“Watch the horses compete at the Kamo Racecourse;

To and fro they run – that too is sitting in meditation.”

The Priest of Shinju-an[82] explains it this way: “Don't read the sutras,
practice meditation; do not pass the broom, practice meditation; don't
plant tea seeds, practice meditation; don't ride a horse, practice
meditation." This is the mentality of the men of the past towards the
authentic application of Zen. Shoju Rojin[83] always said: "The man
who practices meditation without interruption, even if he is in a street
facing violence and murders, even if he enters a room full of groans and
pain, even if he attends sumo matches at the theater, even if he attends
an event of music and dance, is not distracted or preoccupied with
tri les, but conscientiously ixes his mind on his koan, walks along
determinedly and does not lose ground. Even if a terrible Asura demon
grabbed him by the arm and made him make countless turns in the
immense chiliocosm[84], his authentic meditation would not be
interrupted even for an instant. Whoever continues on this path
without interruption can be called a monk who practices authentic Zen.
In every situation keep a serene expression on your face, ix your eyes,
and never for a moment worry about human affairs”. This sentence is
really worthy of respect. We also do not ind in the military laws the
indication “Fight and cultivate the ields; this is by far the safest
method”? Studying Zen is the same thing. Meditation is the authentic
practice of combat; introspection is the ultimate cultivation. They are
what two wings are to a bird; what two wheels are to a cart.

I have already written about the fundamentals of introspection in my

Yasenkanna, a book dedicated to the use of all Zen monks everywhere. I
don't know exactly how many were cured of Zen sickness by reading
what I wrote there, but I do know of eight or nine, seriously ill and near
death, who recovered simply by following the directions. Students,
practice the method of introspection and complete your study of Zen,
and from this you perfect your initial aspirations. Of what use is it to
awaken to the fundamental points of the Five Houses and Seven
Schools[85] and then die young? Even if you managed to live eight
hundred years by the powers of introspection as P'eng Tsu[86] did, if
you didn't have the eyes to look deep into your nature, you would be
nothing more than an aged demon guarding corpses . What's good
about that? If you think that meditating in dead sittings and silent
enlightenment[87] are enough, you are wasting your whole life in error,
and you are transgressing immensely against the Buddha Way. Not only
do you stand against the Buddha Way, but you also reject the secular
world in the same way. Why? If the various lords and high of icials
neglected court visits and turned away from government duties to
practice dead sitting meditation and silent enlightenment, if the
soldiers neglected their skills as archers and coachmen, forgetting the
martial arts, to practice a dead sitting meditation and silent
enlightenment, if the merchants closed their shops and destroyed the
abacus to practice dead sitting meditation and silent enlightenment, if
the peasants threw away their plow and hoe, and stopped cultivating to
practice a dead sitting meditation and silent enlightenment, if the
craftsmen threw away their measures and abandoned their hatchets
and axes to practice dead sitting meditation and silent enlightenment,
the country would collapse and the people would collapse from
exhaustion. Bandits would grow everywhere and the nation would be
in terrible danger. People then, in anger and resentment, would feel
safe saying that Zen is an evil and nefarious thing.

But it should be known that in the days when the ancient monasteries
lourished, ancient sages such as Nan-Yueh, Ma-tsu, P'o-chang, Huang-
po, Lin-chi, Kuei tsung, Ma-yu, Hsing-hun, Pan -shan, Chiu-feng, Ti-
tsang[88] and others hoisted stones, hauled earth, carried water, cut
wood, and grew vegetables. When the drums dictated the working
times, they sought to progress in the middle of their business. That's
why Po-chang used to say, "A day without work, a day without eating."
This practice is known as meditation in the midst of activity, the
uninterrupted practice of me sitting in meditation. This style of Zen
practice no longer exists today.

I do not mean, however, that sitting in meditation is to be despised, or

contemplation condemned. Of all the scholars, the men of wisdom of
the past and of today, there is not one who has perfected the Way of the
Buddha without relying on Zen meditation. The three fundamentals –
precepts, meditation and wisdom – have always been the very core of
Buddhism. Who would dare to take them lightly? But if anyone
attempted to approach men of this caliber, such as the great Zen sages
mentioned above, men who transcend sect and rank, while they were
engaged in authentic, unsurpassed, immense Zen meditation, there
would have been an explosion. in the sky, and the stars would leap
across the skies.

How can anyone with the eye of a sheep, or the wisdom of a fox or a
badger, expect to judge men like that? But even if one could attain
Buddhahood or one where great enlightenment was attained by means
of dead sitting meditation and silent enlightenment, all the lords, high
attendants and ordinary people would be so busy with the many
responsibilities of business. at home who would hardly ind a moment
to meditate with concentration. What they do then is declare
themselves ill, and neglecting their commitments and responsibilities
for family matters, they lock themselves in a room for several days, lock
the door, arrange the pillows, light the stick of incense and sit up . But
then, since they are exhausted by daily worries, they meditate for one
minute and sleep for a hundred, and during that minute of meditation
they try to carry out, their mind is tormented by innumerable illusions.
As soon as they have oriented their gaze, clenched their jaws, clenched
their ists, adjusted their position and inally begin to meditate, ten
thousand negative questions start chasing each other in their minds. So
they are frowning, and before one knows it they are already yelling:
“Our of icial commitments interfere with the practice of the Way; our
careers prevent Zen meditation. It would be better to resign from of ice,
abandon contracts, go to some place in front of the sea or among the
trees, where there is peace, silence and no one around, and there on our
own practice dhyana contemplation, and escape from 'endless cycle of
suffering'. How wrong is this approach!
Under normal circumstances, serving a master means that you eat the
master's food, put on the clothes obtained from him, tie the sash he
gave you, and carry a sword received from him. You don't have to collect
water from a distant place. The food you eat you don't have to grow
your own; you don't have to sew the clothes you wear. For your whole
body depends in every part on the goodness of your lord. And why then
people, when they grow up and reach their thirties or forties, when
they should help their lord govern, when their talents should surpass
those of a minister of state, when they should ind that their master is
another Yao or Shun[89], and that people bene it as those who lived
under these ancient kings, when they really should repay their
obligations, instead touch the rosary hidden in their sleeves,
surreptitiously chant the Buddha's name, appear exhausted from work
and neglect their duties, and have no intention of repaying their debts
to their master? Instead they claim to be ill and attempt to withdraw
from all responsibility. Even if ambitions of this kind are supported by a
painful improvement in secluded places for some years, and even if
something is achieved where thoughts seem interrupted and passions
eliminated, these desires only result in sickening the internal organs
and producing so much fear in the mind that the lungs will explode
with terror at the sound of a rat leaping.

If such a person were a general or even just a private, how could he

ful ill his duties in an emergency? Suppose he was called upon in case
of serious danger to the country, and asked to reinforce and defend
some strategic gate. To see the enemy troops rushing forward like
waves, the banners thick as clouds, to hear the cannon ire roll like
thunder, the castanets and bells ringing so loud they fell mountains, to
see the bare spears and halberds as sharp as ice, he would be so
terri ied that he couldn't even swallow food or water. He would tremble
so much that he could not hold the reins in his hand, and trying to get
into the saddle, he would tremble and fall off his horse. And he would
eventually be captured by private soldiers. Why would this happen?
This is the result of several years of practicing dead sitting meditations
and silent illuminations. Wouldn't great heroes like Kumagai and
Hirayama[90] have similarly trembled if they had pursued this sort of
Zen practice?

For this reason the Patriarchs of great compassion have been so good as
to point out the correct way for genuine meditation and uninterrupted
sitting meditation. If all mastered this authentic meditation, the lords in
their presence at court and in the conduct of governmental affairs, the
warriors in applying their bow and charioteer skills, the peasants in
tilling, sowing and harvesting, the craftsmen in their measure and
cutting, women in yarn and weaving, this would suddenly accord with
the Zen meditation of the various Patriarchs. This is why the Sutra says:
"The needs of life and the production of goods are not in con lict with
Authentic Reality"[91]. If you don't practice this authentic meditation it
is as if you were sleeping in an empty hole abandoned by some old yew.
How sad today's people who "abandon this Way as if it were a pile of
rubbish"[92].

Voting themselves to the dark valley where self and things are empty,
they believe this is the ultimate Zen. From day to day they frown and
frown, and are nothing but dead silkworms in their cocoon. They are as
far removed from the meaning of the words of the Patriarchs as smoke
and wandering clouds can be. They dodge Buddhist scriptures like a
lame mouse from a cat; they lee the Collections of the Patriarchs[93] as
blind rabbits fear the roar of the tiger. They are completely unaware
that all this will sink into the ancient hole of the Hinayanas, which is a
bogus Nirvana. For this reason Shuo[94] uttered this lament:
“For three years I lived in a fox den.

That people today are under a spell is only to be expected.'

In the past, Seng-chao[95] condemned such people: “The confused ish

got caught in the dam; the sick bird lives among the rushes. They know
a little relief, but of true peace they know nothing.

For the true hero who has plumbed the mysteries, understanding
depends only on the degree he has reached in penetrating the principle
and in the quality of his looking into the Way. Who tells you to choose
between remaining a layman and becoming a monk? Who advocates
the virtues of living in the city or in the mountain forests? In the past
there were famous laymen such as Prime Minister Kuang-mei[96],
Minister Lu Keng[97], Minister President Chen Ts'ao[98] tu-wei Li
Tsun-hsu[99], Yang Ta- nien[100], Chang Wu-chin[101], and others
who peered into their own nature as clearly as if they were looking at
the palm of their hand, or as if the mysteries were rising directly from
their lungs. They walked on the bottom of the sea of Buddhism, drank
from the poisonous waves of the rivers of Zen. So illustrious was their
wisdom, so vast was their understanding that the spirits led in fear,
and the savage demons hid in frustration. Each of these men served the
Imperial Government, and brought peace to the country. Who can
understand their depth?
Chang Wu-chin rose to become Prime Minister and the highest of icial
in the government. His skills as a minister of state were excellent:
princes trusted him, ministers revered him, the army respected him,
the people wished him well. The sky sent down an immense rain; the
Emperor rewarded him with a title. He lived nearly a hundred years,
and the bene its he brought were evident everywhere. During the
autumn harvest people rejoiced as in the days of Yao; men thrived in a
world of peace as in the time of Shun. On the one hand it compensated
the obligations to its prince, on the other it made Buddhism grow. He
was truly one of the great men of the world. This is why it was said:
"Chang Wu-chin perfected the Way as a layman, Yang Ta-nien studied
Zen earning a salary." Isn't that a story that will be told for millennia?

Was there ever a limit for men like Su Tung-p'o[102], Huang Lung
Shi[103], Chang Tzu-ch'eng[104], Chang T'ien-chue[105], Kuo Kung-
p'u[106] and many others that I have never heard? All of these men
possessed much deeper insight than that of ordinary monks. Yet they
were always present in the management of government affairs, met
with the elites of many nations, mingled with nobles of the highest
rank, attended musical, religious and military events, engaged in
ceremonial competitions, but not for a moment did they lose their
con idence with the Way, and inally realized the essential teachings of
Zen. Isn't that the miracle of true meditation and uninterrupted sitting?
Was this not the profound repayment of their obligations to the Buddha
Way? Isn't this the beautiful dignity of Zen? Indeed the heavens are as
different from the earth as these men are from those starving fools in
the mountains, thinking that dead sitting meditation and silent
enlightenment are enough and that Zen consists of the source of the
mind in tranquillity. Are not such men like the people who not only fail
to catch the hare before their eyes, but also lose the falcon?
Why? Not only do they fail to look into their own nature, but they also
neglect their obligations to their masters. How unfortunate! It must be
understood that the quality of the result depends on the degree of
perseverance. If in your meditation you have the vitality of a man
ighting alone against ten thousand, do you have to choose between
being a monk or a layman? If you say that seeing the Way can only be
accomplished by monks, does that mean that all hope is lost among the
parents of the people, for those in service to others and for children?
Even if you are a monk, if your practice in the Way is not intense, if your
aspiration is not pure, how can you be different from a layman? And
again, even if you are a layman, if your aspiration is profound and your
conduct is wise, is there any difference from being a monk? For this it
was said:

“If the Way is sunk in the depths of the mind,

It is good not to go to the Yoshino Mountains” [107].

What is this authentic meditation? It is doing everything: coughing,

eating, lapping, movement, stillness, speech, action, evil and good,
prosperity and shame, gain and loss, right and wrong in one koan. Make
the space below the navel as if a piece of iron were hammered into it,
regard the shogun as the most worthy object of reverence, the various
ministers and high assistants as the many Bodhisattvas in the world,
engaged in the same work as you. Consider the various daimyos, both
great and small, who assist the lord and live far away, such as the great
Hinayana disciples such as Sariputra and Maudgalyayana[108].
Considering the multitudes of ordinary people as sentient beings
worthy of salvation, as children to us and for whom special benevolence
is to be felt…

Change your skirts and shirts into the monks' seven or nine striped
robes; turn your two-edged sword into your resting bench. Make your
saddle your cushion; make the mountains, rivers and the great earth
the great basis for meditation; make the entire universe your
meditation cave. Think of the mechanisms of Yin and Yang as two grain
meals a day; heaven, hell, pure earths, and this world as impure as your
spleen, stomach, intestines, and gallbladder; the three hundred pieces
of ceremonial music such as the reading and recitation of sutras in the
morning and evening. Think of the countless millions of Sumeru
Mountains fused into your spine, and all court ceremonies and military
engagements as the mysterious workings of bodhisattvas' endless good
deeds. Bringing out the courageous mind that comes from faith,
combine it with the genuine practice of introspection. Thus, standing
up or sitting, moving or standing still, "at every moment try to
understand whether you have lost [authentic meditation] or not"[109].
This is the true practice of sages past and present. Tzu Ssu[110] said:
“Do not deviate from the Way by even the slightest deviation. What one
can deviate from cannot be called the Way”[111]. In Li-jen's chapter of
the analecta we ind: “In times of haste he clings to her [virtue]; in
times of danger he clings to her [virtue]”[112]. This teaches that
[authentic meditation] is not lost even for a moment. This Way can be
called the Authentic Way of the Middle Doctrine. This True Way is what
the Lotus Sutra describes when it says, “This Sutra is dif icult to
possess. If one appreciated it even for a moment, I and all the Buddhas
would rejoice”[113]. Here the Lotus Sutra speaks of the vital
importance of authentic meditation.
You have to become aware that meditation is the thing that indicates
your original aspect. Carrying on the true practice of looking into one's
own nature, overcoming the great question of birth and death and
closing the True Eye of the Buddha and the Patriarchs, is by no means
an easy thing to do. Inserting the essential between the two states, the
active and the passive, and staying in a position that allows you to move
in any direction, with the authentic principle of pure, intense and
convinced meditation before your eyes, allows you to obtain a state of
mind in which, even when surrounded by a crowd of people, one is
alone in a ield that stretches for thousands of miles. From time to time
you have to reach that level of understanding described by Elder P'ang,
where you are "deaf in both ears, and blind in both eyes"[114]. This is
the moment when the great real doubt is there before your eyes. And if
at that moment you continued in your efforts without losing ground, it
would be as if a thin sheet of ice suddenly cracked, as if a jade tower
collapsed, and you would experience a great feeling of joy that you have
never experienced before. for forty years.

If anyone wants to have proof of the authenticity of looking into his own
nature, or verifying the quality of the power he has obtained, let him
irst read with deep respect the verses of Fu Ta-Shi[115]. Why? A man
of ancient times said, “Those who have not yet attained understanding
should apply themselves to the meaning rather than to the verses
themselves. Those who have attained understanding should apply
themselves to the verses rather than the meaning."

The verses say:

“Empty handed, but holding a hoe;

On foot, albeit riding a water buffalo.

When the man crossed the bridge,

It is the bridge that lows and it is the water that is motionless”[116].

Another verse says:

“The stone lantern dances in the column;

The Buddha Hall escapes from the temple gate”[117].

It's still:

“When the oxen of Huai-chou eat the grain,

The stomach of I-chou horses is full” [118].

It's still:

“When Mr. Chang drinks wine, Mr. Li gets drunk.

If you wish to know the basic meaning,

Turn south and look at Ursa Major”[119].

This is a verse from Han-Shan:

“On the green mountain white waves rise;

At the bottom of the well, red dust comes up” [120].

If a man has looked into his own nature, the meaning of these verses is
as clear as looking into the palm of his hand. If you don't understand
them, don't say you have looked into your own nature. And even if you
can penetrate these verses precisely, don't think that it is enough.
Abandon them and go to Su-shan's koan The Memorial Tower, or Nan-
ch'uan's Death, Ch'ien-feng's Three Kinds of Illness, Wu-tsu's The Water
Buffalo Passing Through the Window , a In the morning we look at each
other; we meet in the evening. Who am I? by Shuho and commentary by
Enjo Kokushi The koan of the cypress in the garden – therein lies the
bandit's skill[121]. If you have passed these koans without the slightest
doubt, then you can be regarded as one whose ability to look into his
own nature is the same as that of the Buddha and the Patriarchs.
Without any reservations you can call yourselves heroes who have
mastered the mysteries.

Because that's how it is? Applying yourself to Zen under a Master

means making a vow to clarify the minds of Buddhas and Patriarchs. If
this mind has already been made clear once, what can still be unclear in
the words of the Buddhas and Patriarchs? If these words are still not
understandable to you, then you have yet to realize the mind of
Buddhas and Patriarchs. For this reason the Sutra of the Seven Wise
Women[122] says: “The Buddha said: My disciples and great arhats
cannot understand this meaning. Only the group of great bodhisattvas
can understand this." What does this meaning mean? It is the essential,
hidden, for enlightenment, handed down from India to Japan through
numerous Patriarchs. To make people awaken to what this meaning is,
they have left us these koans, which are so dif icult to solve. For this
reason the Priest of Shinju-an[123] said: “The ive hundred arhats of
Tendai put on their monks' robes and went out among the people. Their
supernatural powers and wondrous activities are their interest. The
wonderful Law that even Buddhas and Patriarchs fail to convey is far
beyond their means”. Ikkyu was in the seventh generation in Japan after
Hsi-keng[124] and his wisdom was great, as we have seen. The Zen
technique was still to be introduced in Ikkyu's time, and it must be
highly respected.
But fools nowadays don't understand. One often hears packs of
careless, bald-headed idiots, who can't tell a jewel from a stone, say
things like, "Our real mind is itself the Buddha. What is there to do after
we have solved the koans? If the mind is pure, then the Pure Land is
pure. What is the use of studying the Collections of the Patriarchs?”.
People like that are really poor, heretical idiots who have yet to achieve
everything, but they say they have achieved everything, they have yet to
achieve enlightenment, which they say they have achieved. If you try to
understand what they arbitrarily mean by mind, it is alaya
consciousness[125], that cesspool of stupidity and ignorance.
Completely mistaken, they recognize a thief and yet mistake him for a
child. They take their mistakes and pass them on to others, and claim
this is the mysterious Way handed down by the Patriarchs. They see
someone really and hard engaged in the practice of Zen under a master,
and they say, “Hmm…he doesn't understand the direct pointer to
perfect and sudden wisdom; only has the ability of a Hinayana follower;
mah… he does not understand the highest Zen, he is only in the class of
the Sravakas”[126]. But if you check what they mean by direct pointing
to perfect and sudden wisdom, you will ind that it is the basic
ignorance so much condemned in the Surangama Sutra. Their abilities,
when compared to what they call Hinayani and Sravaka, are really
inferior, like the earth to the heavens. They sit on the scholars who have
obtained wisdom for themselves, and thoughtlessly point out their own
achievements. Really, this is ridiculous!

Then there are some other guys who argue: Let's take the koan of Mil or
Let's use the koan The Cypress in the Garden. In their delusion they
think that this place inaccessible to their efforts is the Way of Zen, but
they believe they have penetrated its deepest meaning. These people
are evil, and suffer from the great disease of Zen, which is very dif icult
to cure. This fatal evil, made from error after error, all derives from an
illusory discrimination.
The hero who truly applies himself to Zen is nothing like these.
Studying and re-studying, he has reached the place where no further
study is required. He has exhausted his reason, he has reached the end
of words and ingenuity, he has reached out his hand to the abyss, he has
returned from the realm of the dead, and then he was able to attain
peace, where the Ka is shouted[127] .

It is a terrible thing to see someone with a mind tormented by

ignorance and illusions about birth and death[128] approaching these
koans, so dif icult to understand and solve, just like this Great
Question[129] which breaks bones and leads to death, and hear him
talk about it in all sorts of ways. My old master Shoju used to frown and
say, "The Buddha always sternly warned against preaching on the true
form of the Dharma while having a preoccupied mind from birth and
death." Even monks loating like clouds and water, eight or nine out of
ten, will cry out like madmen who have not the slightest doubt about
the fundamental meaning of any of the seventeen hundred koans they
have solved.

There are many who, although they have no knowledge or

understanding, have no doubts in their minds and talk like this. If you
challenge them with one of these koans, some will raise their ist, some
will shout kuatsu, but most of them will just punch the loor[130]. If
you press them just a little, you will ind that they just haven't been able
to look into their own nature, have learned nothing and are just
illiterate men, arrogant and without ideas of their own. From which
teacher did they learn this terrible and bizarre behavior? They go
around screaming their ignominies for a few years, and inally they
disappear, leaving no trace. Did they go to India, or maybe China? Or
maybe they turned into a kite[131] or a mat? I can't keep count of the
number of people like this I've met in my life. Their lighting wouldn't
even work as a medicine to cure a cavity.

It is very unfortunate that these people, who are natural leaders and
who are blessed with innate superior talents and who, had they
expended their energies in applying themselves to the mysteries and
devoted themselves to accumulating virtues, could have been great
comfort trees for the world, as were Ma-tsu, Shih-t'ou, Lin-chi and Te-
shan[132], should have learned the aforementioned illusory but
functional ideas - even if without real purpose - when young, and would
still have the motivation to reach the goal[133]. Now, when they see
people who sincerely put their energies into applying themselves to
Zen, they laugh out loud and say: "You haven't stopped the mind that
rushes to search yet." This kind of shoddy thinking, which comes just to
recognize the dark cave of blank, neutral alaya consciousness, could
even be thought by a crow hunter, if he would only spend a few days
thinking about it. It is obvious that they are repeating something that
has been learned elsewhere! They are monks now beyond the reach of
both the compassion of the Buddhas and the Patriarchs. Though
initially believed for a while, these stupid, inept, and careless plebeians
slowly become unacceptable even to the laity, and are eventually
shunned by temple-goers and priests. How and where they end up is
not known; this seems to be what has become the pilgrimage of monks
these days.

How is true enlightenment achieved? In the busy circle of worldly

affairs, in the confusion of daily problems, amid the seven ups and
downs and eight upheavals[134], behave as a man of valor would when
surrounded by a group of enemies. Mount your steed, raise your spear
and, showing your brave spirit, prepare your mind to attack, destroy
and annihilate the enemy. Be a man who always keeps with him the
unsurpassed luster of true and uninterrupted meditation, one who no
longer needs to demonstrate his activity, but who has reached a state of
mind which has extinguished both body and mind, and has made it all
an empty cave. At that moment, if one lets no fear arise and proceeds
with utmost determination, one will suddenly be endowed with
immense power. At every moment of your application to Zen, ight
against worldly illusions and problems, overcome the dark demon of
sleep, attack the concepts of active and passive, order and disorder,
right and wrong, hate and love and do battle with all things of the
material world. As you proceed with true meditation and iercely
striving, true enlightenment will unexpectedly come.

Pradhanasura Bodhisattva[135] violated the precepts and found no

means for repentance. His mind was tortured with pain and anguish.
Suddenly, alone, he was inspired to take the great vow[136] and, sitting
silently in meditation, he battled his pain and anguish. And suddenly he
realized the understanding of birthlessness.

The Zen master Yun-men, when he was in the place of the old monk of
Mu-chou[137], broke his left leg, and from there he had a great
enlightenment. I Ch'an-shih of Meng-shan[138] suffered from
continuous diarrhea, day and night, until his body was completely
debilitated and he was on the verge of death. At that moment he made
the great vow and sat in intense meditation, ighting against his disease.
After some time his intestines made a loud noise a few times, and then
the disease disappeared. Daien [Hokan] Kokushi[139] went to visit
Yozan Roshi[140] of Shotaku[141] temple in Hanazono to talk about his
understanding of Zen. Yozan cursed him, struck him and drove him
away. One very hot day Gudo, in a rage, reached a bamboo plantation
and meditated without a rag on. At night great swarms of mosquitoes
surrounded him and illed his skin with bites. Fighting the unbearable
itch, he grit his teeth, clenched his ists and just sat like crazy. He almost
lost consciousness several times, but at one point, unexpectedly, he
experienced great enlightenment.

The Buddha underwent a very painful practice in the Himalayas for six
years until he was skin and bones, and the reeds pierced his belly up to
his elbows. Hui-k'o[142] cut his arm to the elbow and penetrated into
the depths of his original essence. Hsuan-sha[143], while descending
from Mount Hsiang-ku[144] in tears, stumbled and broke his leg, and at
that instant he penetrated the essence of the teaching. Lin-chi was
being beaten by his master Huang-po and suddenly woke up.

The ones described above are examples from the past and present day.
There has never been a Buddha, a Patriarch or a sage who has not
looked into his own nature. If, as seems to be the custom these days,
you rely on the trivial understanding that everyone foolishly has in
their hearts, and think that the knowledge and discrimination of the Big
Question to which you have arrived by yourself is suf icient, you will
never in your life be able to break the evil web of illusion. Insigni icant
knowledge is an impediment to enlightenment, and this is what these
people possess.

In the Middle Ages, when the Zen sect was lourishing, samurai and
high of icials wholly devoted to authentic meditation, when they had a
day off from their of icial duties, would mount their horses and,
accompanied by seven or eight robust soldiers, gallop towards crowded
places. , as Ryogoku and Asakusa may be today[145]. Their goal was to
test the quality and validity of their meditation amidst the activity.

In the past Ninagawa Shinuemon[146] attained great enlightenment

while involved in battle. Ota Dokan[147] composed some waka poems
while being held down by an enemy on the battle ield. My old master
Shoju, when his village was overrun by great packs of wolves, sat for
seven nights in different cemeteries. The wolves were there to sniff his
neck and ears, and he did this to test the validity of true meditation,
continuous and uninterrupted.

Shoku Shonin[148] of Mount Shosha used to lament thus: “If worldly

thoughts are strong, those on the Way are weak; if thoughts on the Way
are strong, worldly thoughts are weak.” I would be the irst to admit
that all these boring words of mine, dif icult to read and also dif icult to
understand, continued as if my "worldly thoughts were intense". But I
am in the descending phase of my life, close to exhaling my last breath.
What is missing from my life? Should I wag my tail and beg for mercy? I
have no special favors to ask of anyone, nor do I need to claim fame
amidst the waves of the world. I could probably put some effort into
making a connection with the Way, in pursuing what is known as a vow
to study all Buddhist teachings everywhere[149], in the future help the
group in some way[150] in their requests of knowledge about
Buddhism. There is a saying that it is easy to ind a thousand soldiers,
but it is very dif icult to single out one general. If there is even a small
part of my writings that you can make your own, if your teacher's
intimacy with the Way can be improved and its application to Zen
brought to fruition, then that in luence will surely be felt by others.
around him. If those around him are touched by this in luence, then it
will surely spread to all the inhabitants of the city. And if the whole city
is affected, then it will spread to the whole province. Why does it work
like this? This is so because one man's mind is the mind of all men.
Eventually that in luence will touch the whole nation; above it will
serve the moral example set by the governor, and below it will bene it
the common people. If this were to happen, what could be better than
for this in luence to extend to the entire universe?

[To help in] this has been my humble aspiration throughout my life.
Were it not so, what vanity would have prompted me to write all night
by the light of a single lamp, rubbing my tired old eyes, writing and
rewriting this endless and unsolicited letter so that I could send it to
you? If you think what I have written has any value, do not throw it
away, but read it, and do so very carefully. If you agree with
introspection techniques as a means of nurturing life, both body and
mind will be healthy and you will soon attain the reward of Zen
meditation and the bliss of reaching the state of shouting "Ka".

Another wish of mine is that through the effectiveness of this

introspection you achieve a long life like that of Takenouchi no Sukunle
or Urashima[151]. I hope you will render service in government
administration and compassionately look after the common people;
that you will protect Buddhism; that you will assure the delight of a
continuous joy to the Law and to meditation, and you will obtain the
de initive teaching. All this is the little hope that I always keep in mind.

In my later years I have come to the conclusion that performing

authentic meditation is particularly an asset to the warrior class. A
warrior must be physically strong from start to inish. The strictest
punctiliousness and decorum are required in the performance of one's
duties and in relations with others. His hair must be styled properly, his
clothing in the strictest order, and his swords strapped to his side. With
this precise and proper bearing, genuine meditation comes forward
with over lowing splendour. Mounted on a sturdy horse, this warrior
can ride towards countless hordes of enemies as if riding in a lonely
place. The valiant and fearless expression on his face re lects the
practice of unparalleled, authentic and uninterrupted sitting
meditation. Meditating in this way, the warrior can get in a month what
a monk needs a year for; in three days he can achieve bene its for which
a monk needs a hundred days.

Sadly nowadays, since they lack this determination or have not been
educated enough, these men ride large horses which might have names
like Ikezumi or Surusumi[152]. Carrying tremendous loads of
ignorance and delusion on their backs, they ride heedlessly with stern
demeanor. Isn't that sad? Passing by this vital place, they say: “We have
of icial assignments. While we are engaged in our duties we have no
time to sit in meditation.” Their mental situation is like that of a man
looking for water in the middle of the ocean.

The Ssu-shih-erh chang ching [the Sutra of Forty-two Chapters] says:

“Man faces twenty dangers. It is dif icult to be rich and calm like the
Way!”[153].

As is true! There are innumerable people, noble and commoner, who

possess wealth and fame, but if you search all over the world, you will
not ind one who dreads the painful cycle of their next rebirth, or seeks
a way to escape it. It is time to ix in yourself the state of mind that
conforms to the Buddha's teachings. What good can come from
accumulating wealth after wealth, never knowing how to say enough?
From seeking fame greater than one has, without being satiated with it?

Only you, my lord, see that wealth is like a lower in the air, that fame is
but an illusion. You have always wisely devoted your thoughts to the
unsurpassable Great Way. You have already called me three times in my
rough hut, just as long ago Liu Pei called Chu-ko Liang three times in his
humble cottage[154]. Liu Pei wanted to unite the Three Kingdoms; you
try to overcome the three worlds. The intention is the same, but how
different the aspiration! Long ago Chu-ko Liang abandoned his plow
and risked his life to answer three times. How can I deny these feeble
words to repay your three visits? In wondering what principle of the
Law to write to you about, I can only hope that you will strengthen and
enlarge your noble spirit, that at once you will be able to penetrate the
Great Question of our teaching, and that you will experience the great
ecstasy of awakening joy. . For these reasons I have continued to write
you these rather inadequate lines.

The Big Question of our teaching cannot, of course, be put into words,
but if you keep the essence of your Zen practice without error, you will
awaken to the Big Question of your own free will. Your messenger
returned in such haste the other day that I did not have time to answer
you then. It was de initely an inexcusable rudeness on my part. Luckily
Kisen[155] announced to me that he was returning from Ihara. Excited
by the possibility, I asked him to wait until I inish the letter. I spent the
night without sleep, writing from dusk to dawn, and though I have
written about ive hundred lines, I have not yet expressed all that I want
to communicate to you. I'm so old that my memory skills are failing me:
I inally ind myself writing what I had already written at the beginning.
I've made all sorts of mistakes in my sentences, but there's no time to
read it all over, so I'm going to seal it up and give it to Kisen for delivery.
It's a bit like sending you a chicken in a basket from C'hu, and saying it's
a phoenix from Tan Shan[156].

After looking at the letter, please burn it so that the contents are not
disseminated. However, if you ind something in it that you can use, I
could prepare a nice copy to send you. Otherwise have some copies
made by your scribes, and distribute them to your young and talented
servants, as well as to Wada Kunikata[157] and his group. Read it
carefully from time to time, you have free time, when you gather some
of the most faithful servants, such as Tsutsumi and Nakazawa[158], as
well as many of the senior ministers and physicists. Have them sit
around you, and have them listen to what I have written. You yourself,
sitting on your cushion, sometimes listening, sometimes falling asleep,
will serve to nourish the feeling for the Way. If half a day's idleness can
be thus enjoyed, an atmosphere of delight in the Law and joy in
meditation will of itself manifest itself. There will be no need to envy
the pleasures of the Four Deva Kings and the heavens of the thirty-three
devas, nor the warrior realms of the heavens of Yama and Tusita[159].
How much less [will be] then the lurid and sumptuous feasts, the
frivolous and extravagant debaucheries, the monstrous and cruel sports
of the world of men, where the ears are conquered by the eight
sounds[160] and the eyes are blinded by all those dances. How useful,
indeed, even considering these things!

Pay attention to what I have written, and if any of your servants near or
in the neighboring areas appear to be suitable for instruction, if well
guided, they will comply with the bodhisattva vow to seek
enlightenment and to bring teaching to all. the beings. Out of the midst
of the dust of the world will arise a marvelous excellent master - whom
I do not know - who, mounted on horseback, with sword at his side, will
ride everywhere and will continually turn the unsurpassed wheel of the
Law of all the Buddhas.

They say behind a strong general there are no weak soldiers. So brave
soldiers like Kilyapa, Ananda, Sariputra and Piiqa[161], starting with
Tamura and Nomura[162], will appear numerous under your banners.
Then whatever may happen in the world, the general and his troops,
motivated by the one great and genuine energy, even if they were a
hundred men against ten thousand, will be unaware of any birth until
now. How then can there be such a thing as death? They will push
forward as if they were going to pierce the hardest stone. Their stillness
will be like that of a noble mountain, their speed like that of a roaring
typhoon. Nothing they will face will not fall before them; nothing they
touch will not fall apart. Even if they were in the midst of a terrible
turmoil like the Hogen and Heiji wars, it would be as if they were
standing in a vast plain with no people around. This is what we call the
vital spirit and goal of a truly great man.

When the benevolence of the lord and the Law are handed down
together, the soldiers are well looked after. Who would be sorry to lay
down their life for their lord? If the fear of birth and death is no longer
present, what need is there to seek Nirvana? All ten directions
disappear before the eyes; in a single thought the three epochs are
understood[163]. This is due to the power of authentic meditation. At
such a time the warriors are full of respect, the people feel united, the
prince acts with benevolence, the ministers are motivated by the truth.
The peasants have enough grain, the women enough cloth; all, above
and below, have love for the Way. The country is at peace and will live
for ten thousand generations without decay. This is the best man and
the heavens can do. Is there any difference between the person who is
ordained as a monk while pursuing administrative affairs and the
bodhisattva who carries out his work of salvation in the capacity of an
administrative of icer?

With the deepest respect,

Written by the old heretic

Who sits under the Sala tree.

Summer, twenty-sixth day of the ifth month

Of Enkyo's Fifth Year (June 20, 1748)

Note:

[1] The exact meaning of the title remains unknown, it appears to be

the name of Hakuin's favorite teapot. We have left the transliteration
from the original English text, the one used by Yampolsky, who left the
better known names in the usual form following Western phonetics,
and who instead followed the Wade-Giles transliteration for the lesser
known ones; for example. Chuang Tzu, but also Chih-i.
[2] It is presumably Nabeshima Naotsume (1701-1749), governor of
Settsu at the time of this letter (1748).

[3] A Korean delegation arrived in the spring of 1748. They were

entertained with equestrian essays, military essays and so on, and we
can infer that Nabeshima attended this reception.

[4] Ku i. This term is used to mean intense meditation on a koan.

[5] Fire and metal are associated with the heart and lungs, respectively.

[6] Naikan. While this term has multiple technical meanings,

particularly in Tendai Buddhism, Hakuin appears to use it precisely in
terms of contemplation or insight that generates therapeutic bene its.
But it sometimes appears that the term refers to the practice of
meditation in the midst of activities of daily living, a practice strongly
advocated by Hakuin.

[7] What are the secret methods for ultimate nourishment is not
explained precisely. Hakuin may be referring to something like the soft
butter pill described later in the text (cf. Orategama II, below, pp. 84-
85).
[8] Hinayana scriptures.

[9] Chih-i (Chikai, 538-597) was the founder of the T'ien-t'ai (Tendai)
school in China. The Mo-ho chih-kuan is one of his major works.

[10] Hakuin uses the technical terms kikai and dantien. The kikai is
considered the breath center, and is located an inch and a half below
the navel. The dantien, the center of strength, is located two inches
below the navel.

[11] The Mo-ho chih-kuan speaks of three types of chih (shi), or the
three tranquillizations. The visions are established in contrast to the
three kuan (kan): the empty one, the provisional one and the middle
one. The two terms are con lated to form the chih-kuan (shikan) in the
title of the work.

[12] It is not clear why the introspection described here represents the
fundamentals of interim tranquillization. Hakuin doesn't help us
understand.

[13] Shixa. Sit in silent meditation. In this work Hakuin attacks this
form of meditation, which he associates with Mokusho Zen, the Zen of
silent enlightenment.
[14] The hermit Hakuyu.

[15] Ta-hui Tsung-kao (daie Soko, 1089-1163). Famous Master Lin-chi

(Rinzai) of the Sung period. This quote is a paraphrase of a saying in a
letter from Ta-hui shu, T47. P.918c.

[16] Po-shan (Hakusan), otherwise known as Wu-i Yuan-lai (Hakusan

Genrai, 1575-1630). Master of the Ts'ao-t'ung (Soto) school of the Ming
period.

[17] Shinso sanzen no nossu, a monk genuinely engaged in Zen practice

under a master. Sanzen indicates the koan interview, in which the monk
presents himself before the master in indicated times to demonstrate
the level of understanding achieved on the koan he is facing in
meditation.

[18] Desire, anger, laziness, excitability, doubt

[19] The ten bonds that block man, which do not allow him to escape
from birth and death and reach Nirvana. They are: lack of modesty, lack
of conscience, envy, greed, shyness, laziness, absent-mindedness,
concentration, anger and reserve.
[20] Wealth, sex, food, fame, sleep.

[21] The Madhyamika's eight incorrect views: birth, death, past, future,
sameness, diversity, destruction, eternity.

[22] Title or appellation of a Buddha in his manifestation in this world.

The term is de ined in many ways.

[23] A famous Buddhist layman. The Vimalakirti Sutra, often quoted by

Hakuin, interests him.

[24] Quote from Hsin-hsin ming (T51, p. 457b) by the Third Patriarch
Seng-ts'an (Sozan). Hakuin does not quote it precisely.

[25] The eight winds that move the passions: prosperity, loss, slander,
praise, praise, derision, pain, pleasure.

[26] Quotation from Cheng-tao ko (T51, p. 461a) by Yung-chia Hsuan-

chueh (Yoka Genkaku, 665-713).
[27] Bodhidharma, the First Patriarch in China. This passage is found in
the Hsueh-mo lun, a work attributed to Bodhidharma but of later origin
(Shoshitsu rokumon, T48, p. 373c).

[28] Reference to Mahayana Buddhism.

[29] Zenjo. zen is dhyana; jo is samadhi. Fairly imprecise term which

covers the whole area of meditation, but which includes by implication
the de initive meditative state.

[30] The four forms of behavior that command respect—dignity in

walking, posture, sitting, and lying down—often associated with a
bodhisattva. The implication is that dignity pervades all activity. In
Hakuin's works, these dignities are often mentioned.

[31] Zenkan. Contemplate the authentic principle while sitting in

meditation. The term is not used often in Zen writings.

[32] The text says that bodhisattva. The context makes it clear that it is
Vimalakirti, although the following passage is not a direct quotation
from the Vimalakirti Sutra. See Karaki Junzo, ed., zenke goroku shu
(Nihon no shiso, 10 [Tokyo, 1969] p. 337).
[33] Hakuin uses the term kenka [clam and shrimp]. I do not take it to
be a colloquial term for kappa, or water goblin, although the text
indicates that it refers to this. The kappa has a cavity illed with water
on its head. It loses its powers if there is no water. See Karaki, ed., zenke
goroku shu, p. 337.

[34] Literally the area below the navel, kikai and dantien.

[35] Reference to the famous Mu koan by Chao-chou Ts'ung-shen

(Joshu Jushin, 778-897), usually the irst to be addressed by the Zen
student. See Introduction, fn. 22.

[36] The "original face" refers to the important koan: "Without thinking
of good, without thinking of evil, just at this moment, what was your
original face before your mother and father were born?". See Philip
Yampolsky, The Sixth Patriarch's Platform Sutra (New York, 1967), p.
110.

[37] A similar passage, without the mention of Chao-chou's Mu, is

found in the preface to Hakuin's Yasen kanna (HOZ5, 343-44).

[38] Yun-men Wen-yen (Ummon Ben'en, 864-949). Renowned monk of

the Five Dynasties and founder of the Yun-men (Ummon) school.
[39] Quotation from Yuan-chueh ching (T17, p. 915a).

[40] Datsumyo no shimpu. Metaphor for attained spiritual power. See

ZD, pp. 58, 279.

[41] Hokkutsu no soige. The Dharma Cave is the place of meditation.

The claws and teeth are the powers he has attained and which will help
others in their spiritual quest. See “Orategama zokushu”, below, p. 142;
ZD, pp. 58, 278.

[42] Kugi or nuki ketsu or ubau. Another expression for rendering

assistance to others in achieving enlightenment.

[43] Donkatsukan. Here it is used in a positive sense. A splendid

disciple.

[44] In other words, if he fails to father a disciple, he will make every

effort to father someone, even if his talents are not complete.

[45] Hell realms, hungry spirits, animals.

[46] Ippen (1239-1289). Evangelist, whose school is also known as the
JI sect. He was a devotee of Amida Buddha and one of the pioneers of
Pure Land Buddhism.

[47] From one part of Japan to the other.

[48] The reference is to Shinchi Kakushin (1207-1298), a Zen monk

who studied in China and returned to found the Hatto school. His
temple, now known as Kokoku-ji, is located in Yura, today in Wakayama
Prefecture.

[49] The meaning here is that there he decided that he would be reborn
in the Pure Land. Ippen died elsewhere.

[50] Hakuyu's veracity was recently established. See Ito Kazuo,

Hakuyushi no hito to sho, zen bunka, no. 6 (November 1956), pp. 40-48.

[51] Ishikawa Jozan (1583-1672). Warrior and poet of the early

Tokugawa period.

[52] The next passage summarizes the essential points of Hakuin's

Yasenkanna.
[53] Mencius, 2A, 2, II.

[54] The implication seems to be that you will be one with the heavens,
the earth and empty space.

[55] Quotation from T'sung-mi's Yuan-chueh ching ta-shu (ZZI, 14, 2,

134b). Hakuin uses the passage quite out of context. The next line
reads: "One af irmation of the Authentic Principle, and the profane is
transformed into the sacred."

[56] Quotation from T'sung-mi's Yuan-chueh ching ta-shu (ZZI, 14, 2,

134b). Hakuin uses the passage quite out of context. The next line
reads: "One af irmation of the Authentic Principle, and the profane is
transformed into the sacred."

[57] Lao Tzu, 66.

[58] The entire body of the bureaucracy.

[59] Joy, anger, pain, pleasure, love, hate, desire.

[60] The four elements: earth, water, ire, wind.

[61] Legendary physician, minister of the Yellow Emperor and one of
the founders of the medical arts. The source of the following quote is
not identi ied.

[62] Unidenti ied source. The reference is to Chinese works of military

strategy.

[63] Kanjin. Spirits that no longer have people making sacri ices for
them.

[64] Yaki. They have no relatives who give them funerals.

[65] Chuang Tzu, 2, 4.

[66] From Ta-ch'eng ch'-hsin lun (T32, p. 577c). When one does not
understand the principle of equality of Authentic Reality suddenly
discriminating thoughts are activated and ignorance arises.

[67] The ive components that form the universe: form and matter,
sensations, perceptions, psychic constructions, consciousness. Each
individual is made up of an ever-changing combination of these
components.

[68] Violent demons, often depicted as eating human lesh.

[69] Battle of the 19th day of the second month of 1185, in which
Minamoto defeated Taira forces at Yashima in Sanuki province.

[70] The Nine Kingdoms of the War of the States period of China, circa
481-221 BCE.

[71] In the Lotus Sutra.

[72] Abidance, Peace, Self, and Purity, as described in the Nirvana Sutra.

[73] Hell realms, hungry spirits, animals, asuras, man and devas.

[74] This story is found in several variants: in the biographies of

Nichizo in the Genko shakusho, 9 and in the Honcho koso den, 48 and in
the Jikkinsho (cf. Okada Minoru, Jikkinsho shinshaku [Tokyo, 1930], pp.
236-38 ). In the Jikkinsho version the story refers exclusively to
Emperor Daigo. Here Hakuin refers to the three emperors: Daigo,
Sujaku and Murakami. The Engi and Tenryaku eras cover the years 901-
956. Nichizo (Dec. 985) is a famous Shingon monk, associated with
Mount Ontake, To-ji in Kyoto and Muro-ji in Nara. Sho Cave is located in
the meanders of Mount Ontake. It is said that Nichizo died and went to
hell, where he met the emperor, who was suffering the pains of bullying
for having exiled Sugawara no Michizane (845-903). The Genko
shakusho and the Honcho koso den report unidenti ied ministers in
place of the emperor. It is then said that Nichizo came back to life and
lived to be over a hundred years old.

[75] Part of this story is found in Uji shui monogatari 8 (Kokushi taikei,
18, pp. 147-52). Fujiwara no Toshiyuki (c. Dec. 905) and Ki no
Tomonori (d. 905) were both popular poets of the Heian period.

[76] Emma is the Lord of the Underworld. This story is found in Zen
Taiheiki, 38 (Zoku Teikoku bunko, 10 [Tokyo, 1898], 1030-1033) in a
somewhat different form. Minamoto no Yoshiie (1041-1108) extracts
an evil demon from Emperor Horikawa by beating his elbow. The
priests of Nara and Kyoto had managed to cure the emperor's illness,
but he was later threatened by an evil demon. There is no mention here
of Yoshiie's journey to the underworld. Hakuin refers to Yoshiie by his
popular epithet Hachiman-dono.

[77] The source of this story has not been found. Tada no Mitsunaka (or
Manju, 912-997) is also known as Minamoto no Mitsunaka. He was a
famous military leader of the Heian period. The Rokkaku-do is a temple
in Kyoto.
[78] Chuang-hsian (Dec. 247 BC). Title of the recognized father of the
founder of the Ch'in dynasty.

[79] Emperor Wu of the Northern Chou dynasty is known for his

persecution of Buddhism.

[80] Po Ch'i (Dec. 258 BC). Famous general of the Ch'in dynasty,
remembered for his cruelty. The source of this story is not found.

[81] Shuho Myocho (1282-1338). More commonly known by his

posthumous title, Daito Kokushi. He was the founder of Daikotu-ji in
Kyoto.

[82] Ikkyu Sojun (1396-1481). Famous Rinzai priest, remembered for

his extravagance. Shinju-an is a dependent temple on the grounds of
Daitoku-ji.

[83] Dokyo Etan (1642-1721). Hakuin's master. He is known as "the

elder of the hermitage of Shoju" (Shoju Rojin).

[84] A Billion Buddha Worlds in Tendai Cosmology.

[85] The divisions of the Zen school in China.

[86] Legendary igure, said to have lived over eight hundred years.

[87] Koza mokusho. The term is ancient, and denotes Zen practice
without the use of koans, although the term itself predates the use of
koans in Chinese Zen. For a treatment see Introduction, p. 26.

[88] All Chinese Zen Masters: Nan-yueh Huai-jang (Nangaku Ejo, 677-
744), Ma-tsu Tao-i (Baso Doitsu, 709-788), Po-chang Huai-hai (Hyakujo
Ekai, 720- 814), Huang-po Hsi-yun (Obaku Kiun, dec. ca. 850), Lin-chi I-
hsuan (Rinzai Gigen, dec. 866), Kuei-tsung Chih-ch'ang (Kisu Chijo, nd),
Ma-yu Pao-ch'e (Mayoku Hotetsu, nd), Hsing-hua Ts'un-chiang (Koke
Zonsho, 830-888), P'an-shan Pao-chi (Banzan Hoshaku, 720-814), Chiu
-feng Tao-ch'ien (Kyuho Doken, n.d.) and Ti-tsang (Jizo), different name
for Lo-han Kuci-ch'en (Rakan Keishin, 867-928).

[89] Legendary wise rulers in ancient China.

[90] Kumagai Naozane (1141-1208) and Hirayana Sueshige (nd),

warrior heroes of the Kamakura period.

[91] Lotus Sutra (T9, p. 50a): Hakuin does not quote precisely.
[92] Verse from Tu Fu's Song of Poverty.

[93] The goroku, or collection of sayings of Zen masters. Usually

collected by students, from the T'ang period onwards they have formed
a signi icant part of Zen literature in China and Japan.

[94] Shoho Myocho (Daito Kokushi).

[95] Seng-chao (374-414). Famous Master of Madhyamika Philosophy.

The following quotation is from the mid-eighth-century Pao-ts'ang lun
(T45, p. 144a), falsely attributed to Seng-chao.

[96] P'ei-Hsiu (797-870). Famous T'ang of icial, disciple of Huang-po.

Kuang-mei is the stage name.

[97] Lu Keng (764-834). An of icer whose name appears frequently in

historical Zen documents.

[98] T'ang of icer who became the heir of Ch'en Tsun-su (Chin
Sonshuku, 780-877?). It is mentioned in the Ching-te ch'huan-teng lu,
12.
[99] Li Tsun-hsu (Dec. 1038). Eminent of icial who helped in the
collection of Zen stories. Tu-wei is an of icial title.

[100] Yang I (968-1024). Ta-nien is her stage name. Famous man of

letters.

[101] Chang Shang-ying (1043-1121). Prime Minister and celebrated

layman. Wu-chin is his Buddhist name.

[102] Su Tung-p'o (1037-1101). Famous Sung poet.

[103] Huang Lu-chih (1045-1105). Sung poet, more commonly known

as Huang T'ing-chien.

[104] Chang Chiu-ch'eng (1092-1159). Tzu-ch'eng is the stage name.

[105] T'ien-chueh is the stage name of Chang Shang-ying (Wu-chin),

mentioned above. Hakuin spelled “T'ien-lo” wrong, and referred to him
as another person.
[106] Kuo Hsiang-cheng (nd). Sung poet and prisoner. Kung-p'u is the
stage name.

[107] The source of this verse is not identi ied.

[108] Two of the Buddha's major disciples. The former was renowned
for his wisdom, the latter for supernatural powers.

[109] This quote appears later (p. 80), and is attributed to Ta-hui
Tsung-kao (Daie Soko, 1089-1161).

[110] Grandson of Confucius. Hakuin writes "Confucius" wrong.

[111] Doctrine of the Medium, I, 2.

[112] analecta 4, 5.

[113] T9, p. 34b.

[114] The layman P'ang. Devoted Zen practitioner of the T'ang dynasty.
The quotation is not found in his writings (P'ang chu-shih yu-lu, ZZ2,
25, I, 28-41).

[115] Fu Ta-shih (497-569). Prominent lay Buddhist, also known as

Shan-hui Ta-shih.

[116] Shan-hui ta-shih yu-lu, ZZ2, 25, I, 13a.

[117] This verse is found in Hakuin's Kaian koku go, 3 (HOZ3, 141). The
original source is not found.

[118] This verse, attributed to Tu Shun (557-640) is found in Shih-

shuang Ch'uyuan ch'an-shih yu-lu, ZZ2, 25, I, 93a.

[119] The irst line is found in the Ts'ung-jung lu (T48, p. 248a) and
other works. The other lines were not found.

[120] This verse is not contained in the Ch'uan T'ang shih. However we
ind it in the Japanese version of Han-shan's poems, attributed to Shih-
te. See Kanzan-shi (Kyoto, Ogaware Hyoe, 1759, 2, 73a). Here the lines
are reversed, and Hakuin's version has other minor differences.
[121] The irst four of these koans, quoted with famous T'ang monks,
can conveniently be found in Fujita Genro, ed., Katto-shu (Zudokko
[Kyoto, 1957], I, 152, 196, 121-22 respectively ). Shuho's (Myocho,
Daito Kokushi) koan is misquoted in this version of Hakuin's text. The
original is found in Daito Kokushi goroku, T81, p. 244th. Honnu Enjo
Kokushi is the posthumous name of Kanzan Egen (1277-1360), the
founder of Myoshin-ji in Kyoto.

[122] It is dif icult to determine which work Hakuin is referring to. The
phrase occurs frequently in Mahayana texts. Later in the text (cf.
Orategama III, fn. 24) Hakuin repeats the quotation, presumably
attributing it to the Lotus Sutra.

[123] Ikkyu Sojun. Mentioned earlier.

[124] Hsi-keng (Sokko) is the pseudonym of Hsu-t'ang Chih-yu (Kido

Chigu. 1185-1269), the master of Nampo Jomyo (Daio Kokushi, 1235-
1309), from whose lineage Hakuin descends.

[125] The octave, or store consciousness, of the One Consciousness

(Vijnamatra) school of Buddhism. While Hakuin accepts the
classi ication of eight types of consciousness proposed by this school,
he continually stresses the need to overcome it.
[126] A Sravaka is a Hinayana disciple who is striving for or who has
attained Nirvana. Mahayana Buddhism considers this Nirvana
incomplete.

[127] Kaji ichige: refers to the scream emitted at the moment of

enlightenment. Ka is said to be the sound made while exhausted at the
oars of a boat. The expression is often used by Hakuin.

[128] In this way Hakuin designates those who have ideological

opinions, be they philosophical, social, political or concerning
knowledge in an ontological sense, i.e. epistemology in its true
meaning, today robbed by scientistic ideology through materialism and
reductionism . Ironically, atheism itself responds with equal ferocity to
a ideistic transcendent ideal where metaphysical intuition merges with
the supernatural. This reactivity can reach dogmatic paroxysm in
af irmations such as science is not democratic, worthy of those who -
with regard to the categories of thought - only produce confusion
between human inventions and facts, and also on the construction of
syllogisms useful for formulating a realistic thought, that is, silent and
open as well as adhering to reality. This science is illed with the need
for truth that is in careless people adherents of the mass Christian
religion.

[129] Daiji is reality as such realized in Buddhism. It is not truth, it is

not conceptual, it is pure factual reality, with no conception that
concerns it, seen by the eye that creates it and recognizes it in the same
silent gesture.
[130] Typical answers given in the private conversation with the
Master; kuatsu is the sound of a scream, and it is not translatable.
Punching the loor really hurts and is off target.

[131] Yampolsky translates as kite, specifying in the footnote that he

refers to the bird [and not the kite - NdT].

[132] Ma-tsu and Lin-chi appeared earlier. Shih-t'ou Hsi-ch'ien (Sekito

Kisen, 700-790) and Te-shan Hsuan-chien (Tokusan Senkan, 780 or
782-865) are other famous Zen Masters of the T'ang period.

[133] Ideas are useful only to be used, and therefore surpassed, in the
shining real daily life of realized meditation. Those who can't make it,
but still have the living effect of meditation on them, believe they have
arrived and do not realize that they are still producing - albeit silently -
conceptual certainties and therefore mock those who sincerely seek.
Something similar happens when someone says to me: “But how? Don't
you see that what you are saying is also a concept?”, demonstrating that
you don't understand that my criticism comes from a non-zen-
foundation to attack an ideology, that is, something that a Zen master
can use but to which he is not given stick; if this were the case, the
Dharma of the Zen school would have no (non-) foundation and would
be subjected to any ideology that - comfortably - felt like changing it to
make it better, more modern, more social, authoritative or even
authoritarian, therefore more adherent to the times or the ongoing war.
The method can certainly be changed, not the empty and bright
foundation. It's just impossible. If this happened we could de ine it as
an experimental method, impressionism, real socialism, but not Zen;
and it doesn't work to say that all of this would be relative, because Zen
is not a container.

[134] Probably Hakuin is referring here to the eight inverted visions

(viparyaya). They are de ined in many ways and include deluded
thoughts, opinions about the concepts of pleasure, pain, permanence,
self, and so on.

[135] Based on a passage from the Cheng-tao ko (T48, p. 396c).

[136] The great vow is the determination to practice Buddhism.

[137] We are referring here to Ch'en Tsun-su (Chin Sonshuku, 780?

-877?), who pounded the gate on Yun-men's leg, breaking it, but
thereby giving him enlightenment. See ZD, p. 160.

[138] Te-i Ch'an-shih (Tokui zenji, nd). Monk of the Yuan Dynasty. He is
also known as Meng-shan, after the mountain on whose slopes he lived.

[139] Posthumous title of Gudo Toshoku (1577-1661), a famous priest

in the Hakuin line.
[140] Yozan Keichu (1560-1625).

[141] A secondary temple within the Myoshin-ji complex in western

Kyoto.

[142] Hui-k'o (Eka). The Second Zen Patriarch in China.

[143] Hsuan-sha Shih-pei (Gensha Shibi, 835-908). Another famous

T'ang monk.

[144] Another name for Mount Hsueh-feng in Fukien Province.

[145] Crowded slums in Edo at the time of Hakuin.

[146] Ninagawa Chikamasa (Dec. 1447). Ikkyu's lay disciple.

[147] Ota Dokan (1432-1486). Warrior who irst built a castle in Edo.

[148] Shoku Shonin (910-1007). Renowned monk who resided on

Mount Shosha in Harima province.
[149] Third of the Four Great Vows of Buddhism. The others are:
everywhere to save all sentient beings, everywhere to eliminate all
passions, the vow just seen in the text and the vow to attain the
unsurpassable Buddha Way.

[150] Presumably a group of men close to His Excellency Nabeshima.

The term used is ango, the summer retreat for meditation and study.

[151] Both are legendary for their age.

[152] Famous horses given by Minamoto No Yoritomo (1147-1199) to

his retainers during the battle of Ujigawa in 1184. Ikesumi was given to
Sasaki Takatsuna (nd) and Surusumi to Kajiwara Kagesue (1162-1200).

[153] I do not ind this passage in the text of the Taisho.

[154] Liu Pei (162-223) consulted the advice of Chu-ko Liang (181-
234), who agreed to serve him, and provided him with tremendous
assistance in his attempt to reunify the country.

[155] Unidenti ied.

[156] Making something poor appear of great value.

[157] Unidenti ied.

[158] Unidenti ied.

[159] Heavens in the world of desire, where beings are still subject to
the cycle of birth and death.

[160] Of the eight musical scales.

[161] Among the great disciples of the Buddha.

[162] Unidenti ied. Presumably a samurai in the service of His

Excellency Nabeshima.

[163] Past, present and future.

 ORATEGAMA II

Letter to a sick monk who lives far away

It is always good to have letters and news from you, and it is with
pleasure that I received your kind letter with its refreshing scent of the
ield, thanks to the kindness of Kin zenjin[1]. I was saying that I would
visit you, in the hope that your practice will continue without hesitation
and that perhaps you have reached the joy of the state in which the Ka
is shouted. Then the news came to me that you have not been well at all
since last summer, that you have gone into the sick-room and have been
living in constant anxiety about your health. But now Kin zenjin tells me
that things are not so bad, and that in the last two or three days you
have been able to access the meditation hall. You can well imagine how
happy this makes me.

No matter how sick a monk may be, sickness is something that must be
left to the lay world. The monk must be concerned only with the crucial
question, namely, with continuing his authentic meditation. When a
person is suffering from an illness it is essential that they continue a
constant practice, and there must be no concern for any adversity they
may encounter in the future. No form of idleness can be tolerated, and
you must convince yourself that this is indeed the most crucial period,
and that in no way must you succumb to heedlessness.
Thirty years ago my old master Shoju Rojin[2] said to a sick monk: “In
this world there is nothing as sad and painful as sickness for those who
are sensitive[3]. Uncertain as they are, they continually think about
events from the past or wonder about the future. They complain about
the good qualities of those who care for them, they resent not hearing
from old friends who live far away. They regret not having achieved
fame in their life, and dread the pain of the long nights that will follow
their death. They think of their native village, and regret not having
wings to carry them there. They pray to the gods and get furious that
they don't get an immediate answer. When they lie lat with their eyes
closed they appear to be resting in peace, despite a terrible battle
burning in their chests and in their minds they suffer more than the
beings who have fallen into the evil three dimensions. They confuse a
slight malaise with a serious illness. If they are so beaten down by
disease before they die, who knows how they will be reduced in the
afterlife. If memories were medicine and could be used for recovery, I
would be happy to come and help them indulge in them. But the real
memories are excruciating: the ire in the heart lares upward, the
metal in the lungs painfully disintegrates, the bodily luids dry up, and
cold and fevers attack the body relentlessly. The sweat increases more
and more, until it becomes dif icult to hold the vital roots. These people
spend their lives in useless idleness, and their deluded minds transform
minor ailments into serious illnesses. Such people are not killed by
disease, but are actually eaten up by deluded thoughts. Deluded
thoughts are indeed more terrifying than tigers and wolves. These
beasts cannot pass through gates and fences, but the wolves of deluded
thoughts can climb from the loor of meditation places and wreak havoc
on the monk's robes. Some sick people weep pathetically, complaining
that no one is cursed with the same woes as they are. They were born
men, such a dif icult status to attain, and they also earned the venerable
a calling as a monk, and yet they did not accumulate the virtues of
sitting in meditation, nor did they see the light of the Buddha. They
shed tears of lamentation, feeling sorry that all was lost, and though
they try to win our sympathy, they are but unenlightened monks solely
through their own laziness and carelessness.

For effective meditation nothing is better than practicing when you are
ill. The sages of the past hid between peaks and valleys, hid their places
among the safety of deep mountains with the aim of keeping away the
affairs of the world, separating themselves from daily duties, and
dedicating themselves to a very concentrated practice of the Way. But
when you are sick, there is no need to hide in valleys and mountains.
After all, the sick monk avoids the duties of going out for alms and
temple work. He doesn't have to wait for other monks or entertain
guests; he is spared the noisy gatherings of reading and idle chatter. He
knows nothing of the dif iculties of running a monastery, nor does he
see the wavy extravagances of daily life. Whether he lives or dies
depends on the will of heaven; his hunger and colds are the
responsibility of the person treating them. Like a cat or a dog
depending on circumstances, he doesn't need to understand things or
make decisions. All he has to do is willingly sit on his cushion and
worry only about making sure he doesn't lose his true meditation.
Seeing that birth and death are but illusion, and casting aside all
thoughts of good and evil, of this evil world and Pure Land, he turns to
that place where a leeting thought [of distinction between good and
evil] has not yet arisen, and which multifaceted activities fail to reach. If
he occasionally investigates this principle, and turns genuine
meditation into the crucial question, he will suddenly transcend the
limits of birth and death and leap over the limits of enlightenment and
illusion.

Reaching the true body of the indestructible Diamond[4], is he not

therefore a true immortal, who neither ages nor dies? Does he not
deeply think that he was born into the world of men? Isn't this the
dignity of the monk with the shaved head? Isn't this the wonderful
miracle of the Buddha Way? For a man who has really practiced Zen,
good fortune and bad luck, success and shame, causes for and against,
are all fodder for the karma that leads to Buddhahood. For the weak
and slothful, worldly affairs make a malaise no bigger than a mustard
seed an insurmountable obstacle, which eventually becomes the work
of karma. By putting forward all sorts of excuses, such as not feeling
prajna near, they really get away from prajna, which is not elsewhere
really [5], and plant and cultivate the main karmic obstacles. There is
nothing so pathetic as placing one's entire life in error for reasons like
these. Since ancient times there have been several occasions when men
have succeeded in destroying the ball of doubt[6] while suffering from
serious illnesses.

Some time ago, an old priest developed a tumor so serious that his back
split open like a white watermelon slashed open. There was nothing to
do but apply hot potions on the awful wound, and force him to eat. He
did not allow people to come near him, and lay alone and in agony with
his eyes closed. One day, two or three of his monk friends visited him to
console him. A doctor was present at the time who, cutting away the
wounded lesh, said: “If I put medicine on the patch tonight it will
probably be much more painful. It is very unfortunate that such a
tumor has appeared on your body and caused you so much pain all
these days. But from today new lesh will form, and you can expect a
return to your health." The doctor was trying to relieve his patient's
pain in this way.

The priest opened his eyes, looking around as if awakened from a deep
sleep. “You have all been very kind to come and see me. Now I want to
tell you something that I can no longer hide. Everyone come closer. This
bad disease of mine has been an honored excellent teacher. Thanks to
this tumor I have recognized the mistakes of the last twenty years, and
now I have the joy of having ful illed the vow I made about forty years
ago. Before I got sick, I thought that my enlightenment didn't lack
anything, I thought I had reached a level where my practice no longer
needed anything. Abandoning this practice, I shamelessly accepted
offerings and behaved incorrectly and haughtily. Then suddenly I
became very ill. It was as if my head and hands and feet were boiling,
and my bones and tendons were falling apart. I was on the verge of
losing consciousness and there seemed to be some kind of blockage in
my heart. I felt the tortures of hell imperceptibly take shape, and
enlightenment and understanding had escaped who knows where. I
could not muster even a small part of my strength, and only deluded
thoughts and pain remained. How terrible it was! Who could have
envied me, since I was about to die in this suffering and pain?

Realizing that my life could not be saved in any way, I determined to

practice authentic meditation. Without knowing whether pain or
meditation had triumphed, I decided to launch my attack at the extreme
limits of my abilities. I exerted a stiff and intense determination, and
fearlessly advanced. Once or twice I wavered in my sufferings, but
quickly made up my mind and carried on without hesitation. Convinced
that the time would come when I would win the battle, I forgot night
and day, sleep and waking. And inally an immense illumination shone
before me. In the last two weeks my mind was cleared of the fog and
clouds of delusions and sorrows; I felt nothing but great peace.
Including the authentic principles of the non-duality of being born and
dying; I transcended the distinction between Buddha and evil. I
penetrated the secret principles of the one and indestructible Diamond.
From today - no matter what misfortunes or obstacles may be in front
of me - I realize that there is nothing that can stop my enlightenment. I
hope everyone else, when it comes to this moment, isn't addicted to
trivial understanding, behaving like me when I was ine. I cannot repeat
enough how vital it is that true meditation is not abandoned when you
are well. Today has its own virtues: may everything be as lucky as
today! All things considered, hasn't this cancer above all things been a
very good teacher to me? However, when I think of what offerings I
might make or what prayers to sing, I can't help but feel a feeling of
regret at parting with my slowly healing tumor.” When he inished
speaking, his face broke into a smile. This is the story I heard from the
monks who treated him back then.

There is another story I have heard about a certain Dharma master of

the Shingon Shugendo[7] school. Desperately ill with typhus, he lay in
bed moaning nonstop day and night. Hearing his lament, a cheeky chap
among his disciples jokingly commented, “The priest is not one's
ordinary self. His words don't sound like they usually do when he
scolds us. Hear how he groans and moans!"

Even the priest laughed: “Attention young disciples! Three days ago my
moaning sounded like I was suffering from Moaning Hell. Today
however it is the mysterious sound of the Supreme Dharma. If you
make fun of me, you will be punished like those who insult the True
Law."

The young monk then asked, "Is it possible to attain Buddhahood as

fast as turning a hand?"

The priest replied, “That is why the Buddha spent three in inite kalpas
to attain Nirvana for slothful sentient beings, and why he prayed for the
bravest of them to do likewise, Buddhahood can be attained in an
instant.

In the past sickness gave me pains dif icult to bear, and gradually these
dark af lictions stirred up the fear of pain about my forthcoming birth,
and I wept all night long with sorrow for my deeds in this present life.
But then I changed my view, I entered the contemplation of the non-
duality [of me and] the Buddha Birushana (Vairocana). I closed my
eyes, gritted my teeth and continued my contemplation. A wonderful
thing indeed! The pains disappeared as if they had been swept and
washed away. My body, which had been prostrated by pain, now
appeared as the Seal of the Yoga Mystery Treasure[8]. I unknowingly
attained the True Form of the indestructible Diamond. This moaning
voice became one with the Great Dharani of the Three Mysteries[9].
The bed on which I lay became the original great place [of
Enlightenment] of Buddha Birushana. The great mandala of the
thousand qualities of the hundred worlds[10] shone majestically before
my eyes. What joy I felt! I ful illed my wishes in the place where
sentient and non-sentient beings attain the Way simultaneously; where
trees, grass and lands all attain Buddhahood.”

It was certainly not something that the young monks could understand
by simply listening to these words, but they shed tears of joy, saying
that they would tell of the happiness they encountered on this
auspicious day. Later, thanks to his own experiences, the priest
achieved unsurpassed breakthroughs in Buddhism.

Even in the foreign land there were many such men: Chu-hung[11] was
badly burned and Meng-shan[12] contracted dysentery, yet both of
them made great progress in the Way due to their ailments. Yet you
monks complain of minor illnesses and make a bad show of yourself.
Why should you be inferior to the sages of the past? Right now, if death
looked you in the eye, if you engaged in true meditation and died
auspiciously, you would surely be included among the true descendants
of the Buddha and the Patriarchs. This does not mean that you have to
wait until you are seriously ill to start your Zen practice and meditation.
But even people who are not in the best of health, if they resist laziness
day and night and use attentions like the monks mentioned above, all of
them will be successful in practicing the Way. In any case, there is
nothing more important and crucial than genuine meditation, nothing
more worthy of veneration. Those who have yet to attain enlightenment
should introduce themselves to a teacher and, above all else, make a
point of applying themselves and practicing. Once the decision has been
reached, it is essential that you never detach yourself from authentic
meditation whatever you are doing during the day.

The Zen Master Ta-hiu said: "At any moment check whether you have
lost authentic meditation or not"[13]. This is a generous description of
authentic meditation as practiced by all sages of the past. This has been
the true practice, unchanged from the remotest antiquity. It has been
called Direct Mind, Buddha Nature, Bodhi, Nirvana, the Real Man
without Qualities[14]. This Real Man never had, before or after the
kalpa of emptiness, the slightest sign of illness or the slightest symptom
of even a cold. In the Lotus Sutra he is honored as the Ancient Buddha
who attained enlightenment in the remote kalpas. What Nan-yueh, in
his Sui-i yuan hsing[15], explained by saying “In the past on Vulture
Peak was called the Lotus; now in the western lands he is called Amida;
in this degenerate time he is known as Kannon”, refers precisely to this
Real Man. If you make offerings to him, if you venerate him, if you
prostrate yourself to him and do not lose him, what disease cannot be
cured, what Path cannot be walked? Under Buddha's Law even a sick
old woman or an emaciated man, if they practice true meditation
without stopping, can become a strong, healthy person without any
in irmity.

But even if a man has a body seven or eight feet tall, even if he
possesses the wisdom of Sariputra and the eloquence of Purna, even if
he can give teachings on the Three Sutras and the Five Shastras[16],
even if he has penetrated the meaning deeper than the teachings of the
Five Houses and Seven Schools, even if its strength is suf icient to raise
the tripod at the Court of Chou[17], even if its eyes can see the farthest
corners of the universe, if it does not practice this authentic meditation
will be nothing more than a putrid and bloated corpse. Use caution!
Meditation is not something to be taken lightly. The Great Question of
authentic meditation is really hard to own, really hard to keep. The
most pathetic thing about this debauched age is that everyone is in
constant pursuit of fame and pro it. There are those whose hearts have
turned to the Way, but only for a vulgar exposition of things. It is
dif icult to ind someone who has really decided to practice authentic
meditation. Really, if you were looking for someone determined on
uninterrupted authentic meditation, you would be hard-pressed to ind
him among a thousand or even ten thousand people.

At the age of thirteen I came to believe in the goodness of Zen teaching.

At sixteen I dissolved the face I received from my mother. At nineteen I
left home to become a monk, and at thirty- ive I joined this temple[18].
I am now almost sixty- ive years old. For about forty years I put aside
all worldly affairs, cut my ties with the world, and devoted myself solely
to defending my practice. Finally, ive or six years ago, I was aware that I
had reached that state where I could pursue the practice of true and
authentic meditation uninterruptedly. It is absurd to even attempt to
further Zen practice and meditation when one is self-righteously
 lattering benefactors and temple residents, and when one is greedily
seeking fame and pro it. Often Zen Masters, as well as their disciples,
transform continued abundance into a life of luxury, and the wealth of
the temple gives the style to the teaching. They think that eloquence
and a witty tongue count as wisdom, they regard ine food and rich
clothing as equal to the Buddha Way, they transform pride and beauty
into moral qualities, and they take the faith exhibited by others as an
indication that they themselves have attained the Dharma.

But saddest of all, they make one's human body, such a hard thing to
obtain, a slave to one's pursuit of fame, and then bury the unsurpassed
Buddha mind under a dusty pile of illusions. For this invitation, or other
offering ceremony, they dress themselves adorned in out of place silk
robes, and preach contemptuously about the dif iculty of attaining the
doctrines of Zen Buddhism, even if they do not understand them
themselves. When dealing with uneducated laymen they come up with
the eloquence of K'ung-ming or Tzu-fang[19]. In skilfully obtaining
money offerings which represent major labors for part of the
population, they seem to have attained the miraculous powers of a
Maudgalyayana or a Sariputra. Seeking to temporarily steal fame and
pro it they neither believe in karma nor fear its return. When the time
comes to die, and the lonely lame lickers when they are halfway
between life and death, they weep and lament; the seven errors and the
eight disturbances[20] assail them. Driven insane, with no place to put
their hands or feet, they die such an agonizing death that their disciples
and followers cannot even look at them. Make no mistake! With people
behaving this way today, what Zen practitioner, no matter what
province he comes from and no matter who he was before, could attain
the state of a Buddha or a Patriarch? Due to a series of strange
circumstances people have come to this sad place for the summer
meditation session. Is there any reason why I should teach them
harmful teachings? I am an old monk who lives in a dilapidated building
and who knows nothing of the world, but I don't turn Buddhadharma
into something sweet and simple.

In any case, there is nothing worse for the practitioner than to hold his
body in high esteem, to deem it of value and to accord it honor. One
year when many wolves were ravaging the village at the foot of the
mountain, I went for seven nights to meditate in the nearby cemetery. I
did this to test whether or not I could practice true uninterrupted
meditation while surrounded by wolves snif ing at my ears and throat.
Even if surrounded by snakes or water spirits, a man, once he decides
to do something, must be determined not to let what he started
interrupted. No matter how sick or hungry he may be, he has to endure;
no matter how much wind and rain it can get, it has to hold up. Even if
he enters the heart of the lame, or sinks into streams of icy water, he
must open the eye that the Buddha and the Patriarchs have opened,
attain the state that the Buddha and the Patriarchs have attained,
penetrate the ultimate meaning of the teaching, and see the
fundamental principle. He has to blow off the heads of Zen monks
everywhere, tear out nails and knock down blocks, and then
compensate the Buddhas and Patriarchs with his own deep efforts.

If you unremittingly and unrestrainedly devote your efforts to realizing

the [Four] Precepts, where can a disease have room to manifest itself?
If you take up the practice of the Patriarchs and never ignore it, even if
you suffer the hardships of people like Hsuan-sha and Tz'u-ming[21],
you will be revered to a great extent. But if you are super icial you will
become false practitioners. By false I mean the one who has cheating in
his soul. There is no one who consciously wishes to transform his
lawless body into a scam, but if you don't follow the examples of the
ancient Masters properly, if you don't perfect the mind that seeks the
Way, and instead talk about zen to gain reverence of others, even if you
possess only a little knowledge of yourself, you will become a splendid
con. If you think that being careful in your conduct and guarding your
thoughts is not enough, then you had better starve in some distant land,
or freeze to death in the depths of the mountains. Gold is still gold even
if covered with straw. The gods will honor you with joined hands, the
dragon kings will protect a true descendant of Buddhas and Patriarchs
with bowed heads. You may stoop to lattery and amass goods and
riches, have thousands of priests attend your funerals, display the
trappings of the seven treasures, hang ensigns and canopies that strike
the eye, and erect a place for practice that awes the mind, though Emma
, wide-eyed in anger and ox-headed devils, banishing iron whips, will
await you and your lot will be bitter indeed.

These and other things were told to two or three bedside monks from
eight in the evening until three in the morning, and they were so
enraptured that it seemed only an instant had passed. They wept in
gratitude, and his words stuck in their minds, and their skin broke out
in cold sweat. Later, and every time I got sick, I thought about what he
had told us, and my heart illed with shame, and my ailments didn't
seem so serious after all. Probably the gist of what I have written will be
of some small help to those in the sickroom. What I have described is
the cure that old Shoju commonly dispensed, indeed a unique one-
ingredient pill, effective in reducing fever.

There is yet another very effective remedy for debilitated people. Its
properties for healing vital shortness of breath are particularly
wonderful. It neutralizes a rush of blood to the head, warms the legs,
settles the intestines, enlivens the eyes, increases good wisdom, and is
also effective in eliminating all negative thoughts. The recipe for one
serving of this soft butter pill is as follows: one part of “the real
appearance of all things”, one part each of “the self and all things” and
“understanding that they are false”, three parts of "immediate
realization of Nirvana", two parts of "desirelessness", two or three parts
of "non-duality of stillness and activity", one and a half parts of
pumpkin skin and one part of "eliminating all illusions". Let these seven
ingredients rest in the juice of patience overnight, dry in the shade and
then make a pulp. Season with a drop of Prajnaparamita[22], then make
balls the size of a goose egg and place it so that it can it on your
head[23]. Practitioners who are now starting their own study need not
worry about the properties of the medicine nor the doses used, but
simply contemplate the fact that a buttery object the size of a goose egg
and delicately scented is now on their head. When a sick person wants
to use this medicine he should place a good pillow, keep his back
straight, ix his eyes and sit in a correct position. He should then slowly
adjust his position, and begin to meditate.

After repeating the words three times: “Among the fundamental things
to save for life, nourishing the breath is unparalleled. When the breath
fails, the body dies; when the people are oppressed, the nation
collapses” it is possible to continue with the meditation. Those[24] who
have this buttery goose egg on their head experience a strange
sensation when the whole head becomes moist. Gradually this feeling
begins to low down: shoulders, elbows, chest, diaphragm, lungs, liver,
stomach, spine and buttocks become moist. At this time all that is
accumulated in the chest, loins and constipations all low away, like
water lowing naturally downwards. This sensation is felt throughout
the body, and circulates moving downwards, warming the legs, until it
reaches the soles of the feet, where it stops. The practitioner must now
repeat the same contemplation. The low that penetrates downwards is
absorbed and accumulates until it permeates the body with heat, as a
good doctor collects healthy herbs, brews them and pours the mixture
into the bath. The practitioner feels that his body, from the navel down,
is permeated by this mood. When this meditation is practiced, since it is
induced solely by mental activity, the sense of smell perceives exotic
smells, the touch becomes wonderfully sensitive, and the mind and
body are in harmony. Suddenly the accumulated evils dissolve, the
stomach and intestines harmonize, the skin becomes luminous, and the
energies increase. If this meditation is brought to maturity with
consciousness, what disease cannot be cured, what magical art cannot
be produced? This is indeed the secret method of maintaining health,
this is the wonderful art of longevity.

This treatment was irst devised by Buddha Shakamuni. In the Middle

Ages it came to Chi-i of the Tendai school, who used it extensively as a
cure for extreme exhaustion. His eldest brother Ch'en Ch'in[25] was
saved from the claws of death by this, yet in this degenerate age we
rarely hear of this miraculous method. How sad that people today
rarely know about these methods. In my middle age I learned it from
the hermit Hakuyu, who asserted that the speed of its effectiveness
depended only on how busy the practically was. If one is not slothful
one can attain a very long life. Don't say that Kokurin[26] has gone
senile and is teaching old women's Zen[27]. If you only knew him, you'd
clap loudly and let your hair down. Why? “Unless you have seen riots,
you do not know the virtues of an honest minister; unless you have
accumulated riches, you do not know the determination of an honest
man”[28].

Note:

[1] Not identi ied.

[2] Most of this letter, with the exception of the concluding pages, is a
quote that Hakuin attributes to his Master Shoju Rojin. The text says an
old monk, but the context indicates that it refers to Shoju.

[3] The wording used is chie no aru hito [men of wisdom]; here,
however, it is used to mean the tendency to irritability caused by
sensitivity to someone's lot.

[4] Quali ier of the Buddha's body.

[5] All men are by nature endowed with prajna, or wisdom.

[6] Gidan. The term indicates the accumulated tensions and doubts
which, if torn apart, lead to awakening.

[7] Mountain ascetics, who emphasized austerity and discipline.

[8] Correspondence between action, word and thought. Here and below
we ind typical terms of the Shingon School to express samadhi.
[9] The Mystery of Yoga comprises the three mysteries of body, mouth
and mind.

[10] Here Hakuin combines the Shingon Buddhist mandala, which is a

igurative representation of the cosmos, with the Tendai Buddhist term
the thousand qualities of the hundred worlds. Used together, these
terms indicate that the true form of all things appeared before the sick
priest's eyes. More recent texts, however, change the wording to the
Great Mandala of the Four Part Circle.

[11] Yun-ch'i Chu-hung (Unsei Shuko, 1535-1615). Ming monk who

combined the teachings of Pure Land and Zen. Hakuin assaults him in
his writings.

[12] Te-i Ch'an-shih. Met previously.

[13] See Orategama I.

[14] Mui no shinnin. The term originates from Lin-chi Lu (T47, p. 496c).

[15] Nan-yueh Hui-ssu (Nangaku Eshi, 515-577). The Second Tendai

Patriarch and teacher of Chih-i. This particular activity has not been
identi ied.
[16] These groupings are several; one cannot pinpoint which ones
Hakuin has in mind.

[17] An ancient ordeal in use.

[18] Shoju-an Temple in Iiyama.

[19] K'ung-ming is Chu-ko Liang, met previously; Tzu-fang is

Chanchá ng Liang (died AD 187), a celebrated adviser, noted for his
eloquence.

[20] Hakuin probably refers to the seven or eight false visions

mentioned above.

[21] Hsuan-sha appeared previously. Tz'u-ming (Jimyo) is the

posthumous title of Shih-shuang Ch'u-yuan (Sekiso Soen, 986-1039), an
important early Sung period Zen monk.

[22] The highest of the six paramitas, or perfections. They are: charity,
keeping the commandments, patience, perseverance, meditation and
wisdom (prajna).
[23] It is not that this pill of soft butter actually exists, but that the
practitioner is required to imagine that it is resting on the head, and to
meditate on this fact.

[24] The remaining text of this paragraph closely follows that of the
Yasen kanna (HOZ5, 361).

[25] This story is unidenti ied.

[26] The name of the forest where Hakuin Temple was located, Shoin-ji.
Here Hakuin uses it to mean himself.

[27] Zen stuff. An elderly woman frequently appears in Zen stories,

most often with very useful abilities. It is also used in a disparaging
sense, as in this case.

[28] In other words, unless you have tried this method you cannot
know its validity.
 ORATEGAMA II

Letter from Zen Master Hakuin in response to an elderly religious of the

Hokke sect [Nichiren]

The twenty- ifth day of the eleventh month of Enkyo 4 (December 26,
1747).

This fall, when I gave my readings on the Lotus Sutra, I said that outside
the mind there is no Lotus Sutra, and outside the Lotus Sutra there is no
mind. Thinking how strange this statement was, you wrote to ask me to
explain the principle stated and point you to any relevant material. This
letter will largely focus on the meaning of what I have said, and I ask
you to read and then re-read what I write, in the hope that it proves to
your satisfaction.

In fact, I usually say: outside the mind there is no Lotus Sutra, and
outside the Lotus Sutra there is no mind. Beyond the ten states of
existence there is no mind, and outside the ten states of existence[1]
there is no Lotus Sutra. This is the absolute and de initive principle. Not
only I, but also all the Tathagatas of the three periods[2], and all
educated sages wherever they are, when they have attained the
ultimate understanding, all have preached in the same way. To this end,
the essential intention of the text of the Lotus Sutra is beautifully
expressed. There are eighty-four thousand other gateways to
Buddhism, but they are all provisional teachings and can only be seen
as expedients. In attaining this goal, all sentient beings and all the
Tathagatas of the three existences, the mountains, the rivers, the great
Earth, and the Lotus Sutra itself, all reveal the Dharma principle that all
things are a non-dual unity that it represents the true appearance of all
things. This is the fundamental principle of Buddhism. We indeed have
the 5418 Tripitaka texts detailing the mysterious unlimited meaning
expounded by Buddha Shakyamuni. We have different methods:
immediate, gradual, esoteric, and inde inite. But their essential
principle is contained in the eight books of the Lotus Sutra. The
ultimate meaning of the 64,360 randomly written characters of the
Lotus Sutra is condensed into the ive characters in its title: Myoho
renge kyo. These ive characters are summarized in the two characters
Myoho [Wonderful Law] and the two characters Myoho lead back to the
single mind. If someone asks where this single word – mind – returns:
“the rabbit with the horns and the furry turtle meet at the mountain
that is not there”[3]. What is the actual meaning? “If you want to know
the mind of the mourner in the middle of spring, you must arrive at the
moment when the needle stops and words cannot be spoken”[4].

This Single Mind, derived from the two Myoho characters mentioned
above, when it stretches it includes all the Dharma worlds of the ten
directions, and when it contracts it returns to its nature of
thoughtlessness and mindlessness. Accordingly things have been
preached such as out of mind nothing exists, in the three worlds there
is One Mind only, and the appearance of all things. Reaching this
fundamental place is called the Lotus Sutra, or the Buddha of In inite
Life[5]; in Zen it is called the Original Face, by the Shingons it is called
as the Solar Disc of the Intrinsic Nature of the Letter A[6], by the
Ritsu[7] it is de ined as the Simple and Intangible Form of the Precepts.
It must be understood by all that they are but different names for the
One Mind.
Some may ask, "What evidence do we have that the ive Myoho Renge
Kyo characters connect to the source of the One Mind?" These ive
characters, as they are, can immediately be used as evidence, which can
be readily validated. Why? Myoho Renge Kyo is a title that sings the
praises of the mysterious virtues of the One Mind. It is composed of
words which indicate and reveal the intrinsic character of the One
Mind, with which all men are innately endowed.

To be more speci ic, look at calligraphy and painting. Or rather, when

someone says that someone is a genius at playing the biwa or koto, if
we simply ask him in what exactly aspect that genius manifests itself,
no matter how eloquent or skilled in speech he may be: he will never be
able to explain it with words. We cannot teach an uninherited talent to
the child we hold dear. But as soon as this mysterious point is touched,
it works unconsciously, emerging from some unknown place. So is the
mysterious nature of the mind with which all people are endowed.

As you read this letter you may smile, or scoff at it, but is this not a
strange thing, endless as the thread taken from the spinning wheel,
manifesting its activity without a trace of error in anyone you meet? But
if you ask yourself what it is that operates freely in this way, and you
look within yourself for it, you will ind that it has neither voice nor
smell. Not only that, it is empty and leaves no traces, and if you imagine
it to be something like wood, or stone, that is free and detached, it will
change without ever stopping. As soon as you af irm that it is in living,
you will see that it is not there; if you then say that it is in non-living,
you will ind that it is not there either. This place, where words and
speeches fail to make their way, this open and solid point, is tentatively
called the Wonderful Law (Myoho). The Lotus (renge), although having
its roots in the mud, is not at all dirty with mud, and this does not mean
that it loses the admirable fragrance for which it is revered. When it
comes to lowering, it blooms beautifully. The Wonderful Law of the
Buddha's mind in sentient beings does not become tarnished or
attenuated, and similarly it does not become purer or intensi ied in a
Buddha. In the Buddha, in ordinary man as well as in all sentient
beings, there is no difference. Being engulfed in the mud of the ive
wishes is exactly like the lotus root being engulfed in mud.

As a result of his research, on the foothills of the Himalayas, the Buddha

discovered the nature of mind that has been inherent in us since
beginningless time. He proclaimed in his noble voice: “How wonderful!
All sentient beings have been assigned the knowledgeable and virtuous
characteristics of the Tathagata…”[8]. He advocated sudden and gradual
teaching, and partial and complete doctrines of the various sutras, and
himself became Master of the three worlds. When it is worshiped by
Brahma and Sakra[9], it is like when the lotus emerges from the mud
and opens up all its beauty. Just as the color and fragrance of the lotus
are inherent in it already when it is in the mud, and show themselves
when it blossoms out of the surface of the marsh, similarly when the
Buddha spoke of the Dharma quoting quantities as numerous as the
grains of sand of the Ganges , was referring to something that was
already inside, not something that came from outside. From the point of
view of the common man, he spoke of the appearance of Buddha-nature
itself, with which we are all undoubtedly endowed; from the point of
view of sentient beings, as soon as the solemn declaration of becoming
a Buddha has been made, the Wonderful Law of One Mind neither
intensi ies nor subsides. Just like the lotus: both when it is in the mud
and later when the lowers bloom scattered in the summer, it does not
undergo any substantial change of any kind. Then he tentatively
compared the lotus plant to the Wonderful Law of One Mind. Isn't this
irrefutable proof that the Buddha's mind, which all people are endowed
with, was called the Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law?

Note:

[1] The Ten States, from Hell to Buddha.

[2] Past, present, future, as mentioned above (Orategama I).

[3] We ind this phrase in Kaian koku go, I (HOZ3, 57) also by Hakuin.
Chinese origin is not identi ied.

[4] This phrase comes from Kaian koku go, I (HOZ3, 57). Everything is
like spring, but the wife doesn't share the mood. She is worried about
her absent husband, and stops - enraptured by thoughts - the needle
held motionless.

[5] Muryoju Butsu. Another name of Amida.

[6] A-ji fusho. The letter A in Sanskrit is the foundation of all language,
and therefore the foundation of all things. Since the letter A exists by
nature and is not produced, it follows that everyone's body exists
unborn from the beginning.

[7] The Vinaya school which emphasized the precepts.

[8] Avatamsaka Sutra (T9, p. 6242). For a discussion of the

consequences of this sentence, see ZD, pp. 253-55.

[9] Here gods in the world of desire.

 A broader discussion of Qi and prāṇa

Useful for Advanced Level Three Practitioners

 The Qi

For a basic distinction between qi and prā ṇ a go to the chapter The Five
Energy Levels.

This brief discussion on qi will be useful for seminar developments in

the practice of naikan.

Xian Tian Qi - prenatal qi (also Jing of the Earlier Heaven) is the

sum of all the Qi inherited from the parents at conception thanks
to the fusion of the paternal Jing with the maternal Jing, with the
addition of our individual Shen.

From the Jing the...

Yuan Qi - (original or ancestral Qi) located in the kidneys. Then in

the kidneys is deposited the power of genetic transmission (Jing of
the Kidneys) plus the call of the individuality into existence.
Hou Tian Qi – postnatal or posterior sky qi: it is the energy that
comes from breathing both through the lungs and the skin, but
also with the digestion of food (Gu Qi) and through the ive sense
organs, from sounds and noises, smells, touch and skin
perceptions, light and heat as well as speech and thoughts.

The Kidneys are the root of the anterior sky and the Spleen is the
root of the posterior sky.

The anterior sky supports the postnatal Qi, the posterior sky nourishes
the ancestral Qi.

The Qi of the anterior sky (Yuan Qi) is stored in the kidneys, while the
Qi taken from food essentially depends on the functionality of the
Spleen and Stomach.

Other distinctions are:

Kong Qi - (Qi of the air-Yang Qi ) is the Qi that is collected by

inhaling and therefore can be associated with oxygen.

Zong Qi - (Pectoral/essential collection Qi): it is a Qi that can

nourish the Heart and Lungs better and better, if we concentrate it
with the will by practicing the zen naikan, in particular when we
cultivate the extended kikai dantien or the organs. The area of the
chest where Zong Qi (summed with Gu Qi) collects is called the Sea
of Qi whose focal point is the Shan Zhong CV17 point in the center
of the breastbone, between the nipples. Zong Ki is controlled in
acupuncture through this point.

Zhen Qi - (true Qi): it is bio/electro/magnetism and it is the Qi on

which we mainly go to work with zen naikan; it is determined
when the Zong Qi is transformed into Zhen Qi which circulates in
the channels and nourishes the organs as well as heals them,
thanks to its division into Wei Qi and Ying Qi, whose importance I
emphasize for the practice of Zen naikan by giving them a number.

Wei Qi - (defensive or protective Qi): protects the body from

attacks by external pathogenic factors such as Wind, Cold, Heat
and Humidity. It also warms, humidi ies and partially nourishes
the skin and muscles, regulates the opening and closing of the
pores and therefore regulates perspiration and through it the
body temperature. It circulates outside the body in the main
channels during the day and inside the organs at night.

Ying Qi - (Nourishing Qi): nourishes the internal organs and the

body as a whole; lows in blood vessels with blood and meridians.
It is this Qi that is activated when a needle is inserted into an
acupuncture point.
Zhong Qi - (Central Qi): is another way to de ine Stomach and
Spleen Qi or Posterior Sky Qi derived from foods. That is, it is Zhen
Qi speci ically of the Stomach and Spleen.

Zheng Qi - (Qi correct): general term indicating the types of Qi that

protect the body, used in relation to and opposition to pathogenic
factors (Xie Qi). It includes Wei Qi, but also Ying Qi and Kidney
Jing. The result of the zen naikan practice is visible thanks to this
Qi and its empowering and reordering function. In the classic
Neijing Suwen it is said that: “If you have suf icient and abundant
Zheng Qi, you will surely be able to repel pathogens and, secondly,
if they have already entered you will be able to counter them
easily. If you get sick, it is a sign of a certain weakness of Zheng Qi".
 The Prana

For a basic distinction between prā ṇ a and qi go to the chapter The Five
Energy Levels.

This brief discussion on the prā ṇ as will be useful for us for the
subsequent developments of the practice of naikan, as there are some
techniques that I teach in the workshops which presuppose a minimum
of knowledge of the forces involved, and since we will practice these
prā ṇ as by distinguishing them, to strengthen their dynamics.

Praṇ a is made up of the ive vayus, or the ive vital airs.

Nei Ṛ g veda vā yu, the deity of the wind, is the progenitor of all beings
being the breath that puri ies and instills life.

In the Upaniṣ ads the breath of vā yu inally becomes prā na, the energy
that is expressed in the breath, in the system of nā dı̄s in which the
prā ṇ a lows as well as in the different physical thicknesses, i.e. the
subtle bodies enveloping each individual.
The covering above and penetrating the annamaya koś a physical body
is called prā nomaya koś a and functions as the electrical or, better,
magnetic system of the irst body by directing the energy into different
sectors with different locations and functions.

The vā yu is divided in the body into ive great areas (pancha maha
vā yu):

Prāṇa apāna vyāna udāna samāna

The vayus, or the prā ṇ as, appear since the rituals described in the Vedic
texts dating back to around 2000-1400 BC, being the tools of the
brahmana to purify the initiating with these words: "I strike you for the
prā na, the apā na and the vyā na”[1] to then become the constituent
elements of the most important ritual that yoga will borrow from the
Upaniṣ ad, pranā gnihotra, or the sacri ice of breathing. Submitting the
breath of the breath to the control of the mind is the fundamental
sacri ice that is made to the divine part of our body.

Let us examine the Prā ṇ as or Vayu speci ically:

Prāṇa - It is related to inspiration. It moves between the nose and

the mouth but its locations are also the heart center, the navel and
the big toes. Its main function is the absorption of energy and the
regulation of all the other blows: it is therefore the force that
enters the body. He is responsible for coughing, sneezing, hiccups,
belching. It breaks down food into its iner elements (rāsa).

Apāna - Moves in the lower body (below the navel) and is

associated with exhalation. Its main locations are the anus, the
genital organs, the thighs, the knees and the kneecaps in
particular, the stomach, the navel, the hips. Its main functions are
excretion and elimination: it is the downward and outward moving
force. All excretory functions are associated with apana:
elimination of gas, sweat, ejaculation, childbirth, menstruation,
defecation and urination. It also makes the eyelids open.

Udāna - Moves in the throat permeating the whole head also

creating facial expressions. Its particular locations are the joints of
the legs and arms and it produces phonation and swallowing: it is
the force that unites us to the outside world through intellect and
emotions. It activates the senses through their organs and causes
yawning.

Samāna - Moves between the diaphragm and the navel and is

associated with the nutrition and growth of the body. It has the
function of absorbing and assimilating lavours, i.e. the subtle
components of food and is therefore responsible for digestion: it is
the creative force which activates the heart and produces hunger
and thirst.
Vyāna - Pervades the whole body and is associated with circulation
and all things taking-giving. It is located between the ears and
eyes, on the sides of the neck, on the ankles and generally on the
back of the body. It synchronizes the other vāyus: it is the unifying
force of our system. It governs the circulatory system and through
it the muscles and joints and is responsible for posture, movement
and coordination. Finally it decomposes the physical body at
death.

The Yoga Yā jnavalkya, the Bhavanopanisad as well as the Kalachakra

Tantra also describe other 5 secondary Vā yus called Nā ga Kū rma,
Kṛ kara, Devadatta and Dhanamjaya. In all these energies, ten in number,
are called the ten shaktis.

Note:

[1] Cankhayā na Crauta Sū tra.

 Lexicon

Buddhism (Buddhadharma) - Asian religion born in present-day

Nepal two thousand ive hundred years ago and spread throughout
Asia for two millennia. Now it is asserting itself in the West,
guaranteeing the traditions and culture it conquers, as well as the
survival and guarantee of freedom of worship for other religions.

Dantien/tanden - Energetic (bio-electrical) center of gravity of the

human body. The irst term is in Chinese, the second in Japanese.
In other cases it designates three different centres, the upper
dantien in the head, the middle dantien in the heart or at the level
of the solar plexus and the lower dantien below the navel.

Dharma - Has the sense of reality, of teaching, but can also mean
(usually written in lower case) phenomena or a phenomenon seen
from the (NOT) point of view of the meditative state and
awakening

Hara - It is a further synonym in Japanese language of the previous

entry. It is from this term that the word harakiri is generated.
Lineages - They are the dynastic lines of descent of the Masters of
the different schools of Buddhism and even of the individual lines
of the same. All lines of Buddhist teaching derive from Buddha
Shakyamuni himself, the historical founder of the Buddhist
religion.

Zen mastery - Mastery in Zen Buddhism derives from the ancient

concept of kalyanamithra (Tib. geshé) - which means "spiritual
friend" - translated into Chinese as Hoshang - elder - giving this
concept a more hierarchical sense but always along the same lines
meritocratic relating to attendance at meditation practice and the
sangha, the community.

In the Rinzai school, the masters are formed thanks to meditation and
the practice of the koan, even if the founding fact of mastery remains
the realization of satori and recognition by one's Master.

Zen-disease - Zenbyō is that profound annoyance which manifests

itself with a general impoverishment of energies and organ
functions and in a sense of defeat which inally becomes
depression. The Zen-disease is incurable by medical art because it
occurs at such a level of volitional and energetic power that, when
fatally, it cracks, the general state can only worsen more and more.

Naikan (Chinese Neidan) - It is the subject of this text. It is a

spiritual but also energetic and physical practice typical of the
Rinzai tradition of Zen Buddhism, a method and practice that has
developed over the centuries with eight main sources and with the
contribution of many practitioners. However, the very itting name
"naikan" was invented now after two thousand years of practice in
Chinese, Tibetan, Vietnamese, Korean and Japanese temples. The
text also outlines a relationship between Rinzai Zen Buddhism and
the practice of Tibetan dzogchen, attested in documents and found
in the teachings of both traditions.

Obaku (Chinese Huang Po) - He is the Master of Rinzai (Chinese Línjì)

whose name refers to a Zen Buddhism completely related to the cult of
the pure land and otherwise similar to Rinzai. In Japan, the obaku school
is institutionally linked to the rinzai school.

Qi/Ki - Taoist yoga practitioners identify the type of energy related

to the dantien with the term qi, the energy that lows in the small
or large celestial circulation circuit, an energy that is evoked from
the top of the head as a manifestation of descending energy, the
celestial shen, and which also derives from food and ancestral
inheritance, the jing, and which also comes from the earth through
the feet, and which ultimately accumulates in hara; for Indian yoga
practitioners, hara is not exactly the evadishtana or swadisthana
chakra, but rather resembles the plexus generically de ined - in
Sanskrit and Urdu - as nabhi, a sphere surrounding the navel.

The location of the nabhi, in turn, would resemble that of the cikai
dantien according to the Japanese tradition, but in reality, prā ṇ a and qi
are two different energy levels, albeit adjacent and intertwined.
The metaphysical function of qi is to activate and recall, thanks to
consciousness, the force that responds to it from above, the Shen, the
door open to the mystery of being. A well-trained qi facilitates the
ful illment of the Shen in the mortal life of men up to the eventual
conquest of long life or immortality.

Meditation is for Taoists: allowing the Shen to dwell in man

permanently while the qi remains in balance and circulates
powerfully.

Eventually the Indian and Chinese systems come together when they
deal with the way in which the being meets the human energy system
and this synthesis between systems is the theme of the famous
Kalachakra Tantra where Indian, Persian, Chinese and Greek medicine
ind a theoretical synthesis.

It is curious to consider how, in any case, the idea of the fullness of

being in a man is recognizable by these different cultures in a
completely equal way.

We have the example of the application of the theory of qi in the more

advanced shaolin monks who are ch'an monks, ie zen.

Jing - See entry Ki

Joriki vs Tariki Joriki - It is the inner volitional power that can
realize a huge power capable of transforming reality, while Tariki
is the power of saving blessing.

Ki/Qi(Jing + Shen) - See previous entries

Kikai-Dantien/dantien - “The kikai and dantien are both located

below the navel; in reality they are one, although they have two
names. The dantien is located two inches below the navel, while
the kikai is only an index and a half below it, and it is in this area
that the real energy always accumulates.

Master Hakuin Ekaku.

In summary it can be said that the kikai is considered the breath center,
while the dantien is the force center, located two inches below the
navel.

Rinzai - Rinzai Ghigen cin. Línjì Yìxuán (- 867) also Lin-chi - He was
the founder of the Rinzai school, which bears his same name, the
best known and most widespread Zen school in Asia.
Rikan (Chin. Weidan) - From Hakuin onwards, rikan means all the
practice that is not naikan, therefore zazen, koan, sutra chants and
mundo.

Schools of Buddhism and Zen schools - In Vietnam, Korea and

Japan, for centuries, the lineages of Buddhist schools have
continued, generally, formed in China according to the guidelines
of philosophy and study, ethics, esotericism and immediacy
meditative (zen). Each of these schools has further subdivisions
that depend on the founders and on ideas regarding the
preparatory methods used; in particular in zen there are three
addresses, the rinzai which also uses the koan-questions and
conceives sudden enlightenment, the soto where seated
meditation is the root of everything and more importance is given
to innate enlightenment, the obaku, where alongside the typical
Zen practices there is also the devotion to Buddha Amitabha and
his vow of universal salvation which, however, are conceived in a
Zen key. So we speak of Zen school, of line - for example of
Daitokuji, and of the lineage of this or that master who trained in
Daitokuji.

Shen - See entry Ki

Sutra - They are Buddhist texts that collect both what Buddha said
during his life, and what other inspired writers have thought of
adding to update his teaching and to generate the various schools
of the Mahayana.
Soto/Caodong - It is the most popular school of Zen Buddhism in
Japan at the moment, where it was founded by Dogen (1200 -
1253), who was a pupil and friend of Eisai - a Rinzai Master - but
who did not appreciate the Master's teaching Chinese Da Hui.
School originally from China is made to descend from the Zen of
the North.

Satori - Means "enlightenment" in Zen, a fully integrated state of

awakening, as opposed to "kensho" which is simply a peak of the
meditative experience.

Zen - It is de ined as a "school of meditation", and is part of the

generic Mahayana branch. Characteristic of Zen is turning more to
experience than to the scriptures, more to meditation than to the
elaboration of experience, more to the disruptive act than to
renunciation. Zen is:

- Kyoge betsuden... a living communion without the need for doctrines,

- Furyu monji... therefore beyond the canonical scriptures,

- Jikishi ninshin... which aiming directly at the heart,

- Kensho jobutsu... self-reveals directly the nature of my enlightened being
(Buddha).
 Table of Contents
Cover Page
ZEN NAIKAN
Publisher's preface
The author
Introduction
What do I practice?
Naikan practice notes
Essential irst parts of teaching naikan
The Eight Sources The presence of Taoist alchemy in Zen
The First Spring: the mysterious hermit Bodhidharma
The Second Source: The Fifth Patriarch Hó ngrě n and the Secret of Zen
Meditation Contained in the Meditation Sutra
Second part and ninth chapter of the Sutra
The Third Source: The Zhenzhou Pǔ huà Light Body and the Fuke School
The Fourth Source: The Kamakura Era or the First Martial Variable
The Fifth Source: Takuan Sō hō or the Second Martial Variable
Taia
My comment
Taiaki
"The Annals of the Sword Taia"
The Sixth Source: Hakuin Ekaku and Internal Alchemy
The Seventh Spring: Kawaguchi Ekai - Kō no Daikei - Yamada Mumon.
Internal Alchemy from the Meiji Era
The Eighth Source: the Naikan of Strength found in You
How breathing works in daily life and during zazen
Attention on the breath and the western mind
Zazen Susokkan and other introductory techniques
1st exercise - Zazen
2nd exercise - Susokkan
Understand the dantien
Compress Force
Dantien or Hara
Naikan exercises to enhance the perception of dantien/hara
3rd exercise - Body exercise.
4th exercise - Exercise of the word.
5th exercise - Exercise of the mind.
The question of energy
Bioelectromagnetism
Electricity and Magnetism in Human Systems
Zen discipline and the practice of Naikan as an endotropic syndrome of
adaptation
The 5 Energy Levels including Qi and Prā ṇ a
Qi
Praṇ a
Exercises to Enhance the Perception of Qi and its Harmonic
Mobilization
How the embryo of ourselves breathes
embryonic respiration
6th exercise. Qi-Embryonic Respiration I
7th exercise. Qi-Embryonic Respiration II
8th exercise. Prano-Embryonic Respiration III
9th exercise. Prano-Embryonic Respiration IV
Master Hakuin's exercises taken from Yasenkanna and Orategama
10th exercise.
11th exercise.
12th exercise.
13th exercise.
Down in the soles of the feet
14th exercise.
15th exercise.
16th exercise.
17th exercise.
18th exercise.
The Three Secret Keys of Zen Naikan Commented
19th exercise.
20th exercise.
21st exercise.
Spiritual realisation
The Satori
The Signs of Realization of the naikan and The Body of Light
Yasenkanna
Introduction by the Translator-Editor
Prologue
The meeting with Master Hakuyu
What does it mean to "sustain life"
The remedies to sustain life and achieve immortality
Bringing the mind-heart back to the womb
Non-contemplation
How to cultivate mental energy
The complete exposition of the circulation/distillation method of the
“So” elixir
Last farewell to Master Hakuyu
Hakuin Ekaku Orategama
ORATEGAMA I
ORATEGAMA II
A broader discussion of Qi and prā ṇ a
The Qi
The Prana
Lexicon