Reddit reviews The Three Pillars of Zen: Teaching, Practice, and Enlightenment

>"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence"

Ugh... I hear this all the time. I've still never met anyone who can tell me what constitutes "extraordinary evidence," and when you unpack it, an "extraordinary claim" always seems to mean a claim that the person disagrees with.

Kapleau's Three Pillars of Zen has some great autobiographical anecdotes about people reaching enlightenment and describing their experiences. It's not scientific evidence, but it's something, and I'm not sure what scientific evidence would look like for such a private experience. Our neuroscience is still relatively primitive but some day it may give a fuller explanation of what's going on in the "kensho" experience.

This book was invaluable to me in learning the specifics about how to sit, practice, etc.

In most spiritual traditions, sensations in your third eye are considered a sign of progress.


In Hinduism, it could mean that you are opening your ajna chakra, and you should continue what you're doing. Or, it could mean that there as a blockage there or you're progressing to fast, and you should take a break from your practice until it goes away.


I've experienced sensations in all of the traditional chakras at one time or another, so I'd say there is something to chakras. But, I belong to the Theravada Buddhism tradition.


In Theravada and Zen Buddhism, it would be interpreted as a part of your self trying to distract you from your practice, so you should continue what you're doing and not let it distract you.


If you're interested in attaining samadhi via the Hindu traditions, I'd recommend reading Raja-Yoga by Swami Vivekananda.


If you're interested in attaining enlightenment (or satori) via Zen Buddhism, The Three Pillars of Zen by Philip Kapleau is an excellent book.


If you're interested in attaining enlightenment via Theravada Buddhism, What the Buddha Taught by Walpola Rahula is excellent and freely available.

http://www.amazon.com/Three-Pillars-Zen-Teaching-Enlightenment/dp/0385260938

https://www.amazon.com/Three-Pillars-Zen-Teaching-Enlightenment/dp/0385260938

As a Zen roshi said in a teisho to his students recently, "Nobody here cares if you believe in anything!" That's not making light of the teachings of Buddhism, it just means that you're absolutely free to practice Zen no matter what you believe, what you think, what you think you believe, what you want to believe or disbelief. We have conversations about whether the hungry ghosts prefer we offer them bread or sunflower seeds, but we throw all the offerings to the birds, and they don't seem too picky. Take all the wisdom of Zen and use it to wipe your ass! ;) But yeah, zazen (sitting meditation) is the foundation. A famous verse says "upholding the precepts, showing remorse, giving gifts, countless good deeds, and right living -- it all has its source in zazen."

I practice Zen with a sangha. In my daily life, Zen mostly means that I do daily zazen, try to live harmoniously and wisely (don't ask), and try to be one with whatever I'm doing, not getting tangled up in unnecessary thoughts. Zazen is the basic ingredient, it's like tasting zazen makes it possible to see what else needs to be done.

Edit: Two books I think are really good: You Have to Say Something by Dainin Katagiri roshi, and The Three Pillars of Zen by Philip Kapleau roshi. The former is by a Soto teacher, very warm and beautiful, and full of good stuff. The latter is from a tradition that's influenced by both Soto and Rinzai, and is a bit more rough and practical, and has some really inspiring first-hand accounts of initial awakening by modern lay Westerners.

And another little practice that works anywhere is to watch your mind state and care for it. Try to bring a kind of gentleness, clarity, and purposefulness to your actions, speech, and even your thoughts. This means literally everything you do is a profound Zen practice. Ritually I think bowing is a good example: externally it looks like a tiny little gesture of respect, but internally, it's a focused and intense practice. Try bowing to something you appreciate, like a cup of coffee, and see what happens in your mind. Can you find some concentration, love, silence, or gracefulness? That's Zen practice!

I really liked The Three Pillars of Zen by Philip Kapleau. It was my first introduction to Zen, and remains my go-to book on all things Zen.

I also really like Sit Down and Shut Up: Punk Rock Commentaries on Buddha, God, Truth, Sex, Death, and Dogen's Treasury of the Right Dharma Eye by Brad Warner

You can go to a buddhist community that has meditation as a practice and learn there. Also, there are a bunch of books that teach different kinds of meditations, and some of them go into detail on how to meditate. For instance, these ones:

[zen training] (https://www.amazon.com/Zen-Training-Philosophy-Shambhala-Classics/dp/1590302834/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1535777895&sr=8-1&keywords=zen+training) , [the path to bodhidharma] (https://www.amazon.com/Path-Bodhidharma-Teachings-Library-Enlightenment/dp/0804832161/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1535777933&sr=8-1&keywords=the+path+to+bodhidharma) , [everyday zen] (https://www.amazon.com/Everyday-Zen-Love-Work-Plus/dp/0061285897/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1535828798&sr=8-1&keywords=everyday+zen) , [nothing special] (https://www.amazon.com/Nothing-Special-Charlotte-J-Beck/dp/0062511173/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1535778035&sr=8-1&keywords=nothing+special) , [the three pillars of zen] (https://www.amazon.com/Three-Pillars-Zen-Teaching-Enlightenment/dp/0385260938/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1536631531&sr=8-1&keywords=the+three+pillars+of+zen) and these ones which are free : [the 7th world of chan buddhism] (http://zbohy.zatma.org/common/downloads/SeventhWorldOfChanBuddhism.pdf) and [Mindfulness in Plain English] (http://www.vipassana.com/meditation/mindfulness_in_plain_english.php) all have instructions on how to do one or more types of meditations.

You can also find information on the web, like here: https://zmm.org/teachings-and-training/meditation-instructions/ and http://antaiji.org/archives/eng/okumura-zazen.shtml

Or on youtube, like here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLwVt6Wlqeg , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bk7JRHNX19A , and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGzE6BQb1xY .

There's also the topics of recommended links and books of this subreddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Meditation/comments/2ixjf6/meddits_online_recommendations/ ; https://www.reddit.com/r/Meditation/comments/2ixjq7/meddits_book_recommendations/

Two books profoundly helped me develop good posture:

3 Pillars of Zen

[Zen Training] (https://www.amazon.ca/Zen-Training-Philosophy-Shambhala-Classics-ebook/dp/B007WVNUUW/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1523978417&sr=1-1&keywords=zen+training&dpID=411-sI-PVQL&preST=_SY445_QL70_&dpSrc=srch)

I am posting them only for the pictures and explanation of posture, not the other content. Although it does stand on it's own, if you use TMI as a filter.

One of the most important things is to sit a little bit forward on the cushion and make sure your spine has it's natural curvature. You can achieve that by slightly pushing out the belly button so your back naturally curves and the weight settles nicely.

Where you actually sit on the cushion is key...

I'm sure others might know better books than the ones I posted...

Elaine Pagels is a great contemporary scholar of Christian religion, and particularly textual and historical explication. Her The Origin of Satan is fascinating, and The Gnostic Gospels is a solid survey of some of the lost branches of early Christian tradition.

Gershom Scholem is one of the last century's great explicators of Judaism and mysticism, particularly the Kabbalah. I doubt there's a book he's written that isn't worth reading, but the best place to start may be his book On the Kabbalah and Its Symbolism, particularly the chapter on the relation of mystical experience to community norms.

Speaking of Kabbalah, it's recent popularity speaks poorly of what is an otherwise venerable and serious tradition of symbolism and ethical concern. If you're interested in spiritual literature, it's probably not a bad idea to take a stab at the Zohar. There's an abridged translation by Scholem out in paperback, but you're probably better off with this edition.

That comes, incidentally, from a series of books issued by a Catholic publisher, Paulist Press, under the name Classics of Western Spirituality, which is generally excellent. So far as I know, it's the only press currently printing some truly classic historical texts, so their catalog is worth browsing. They're particularly good, as you might suspect, on early Christian texts -- I don't know where else you'd go for something like Carthusian Spirituality -- but they also have Sufist, Judaic and non-mainline texts. In particular, I'd say pick up the Pseudo Dionysus.

While we're on the subject of early Christian writers, there's The Desert Fathers, The Cloud of Unknowing, Revelations of Divine Love -- the last of which is a notable early example of feminine Christian spirituality.

On the more modern end, there's Simone Weil, the tragic Marxist-cum-Catholic. I'd recommend either Waiting for God or Letters to a Priest]. While we're talking about modern Christian theology, we should note three of the most important names of the 20th century: Paul Tillich, Rudolf Otto, and Tielhard de Chardin. The books to start with, respectively, are Dynamics of Faith, The Idea of the Holy, and The Divine Milieu.

Shifting away from Christianity, another major name in 20th century theology is Martin Buber, the Jewish German mystic. His I and Thou is the most generally applicable and was widely influential in existential circles, but he also wrote widely on issues of Jewish identity.

More in the mainstream of Jewish tradition, there's the Talmud, although the sheer size of the writings that full under that name are the sort of thing that scholars give their lives over to. For our purposes, something like Abraham Cohen's Everyman's Talmud will generally suffice.

And finally, I just recently bought The Three Pillars of Zen, which is widely held to be the best practical introduction to the topic available in English. There are a bewildering amount of books on the subject, but without some sort of framework for understanding their relation to the historical traditions, it can be nearly impossible to sort out which are worth while.

EDIT: Forgot linking by reference isn't working; fixed with inline links.

You'll find out for yourself. Some guides:

An incisive series by Ajahn Jayasaro, a Buddhist Monk in the Thai Forest Tradition.

If you are interested in Zen meditation, check out Phillip Kapleau Roshi's Three Pillars of Zen. As a Westerner, it's a very accessible read that will give you everything that you need to know to start a solid meditation practice.

I enjoyed The Three Pillars of Zen by Philip Kapleau. It's more detailed than "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind".

The Three Pillars of Zen

There are a number of types of meditation- I started doing zazen while I was in college, and I've found it immensely useful. Especially for dealing with stress.

It's pretty simple- sit cross-legged (or in seiza, or half-lotus, or whatever; the specifics aren't important) facing the wall, with your back straight and your hands just touching in front of you (like this dude). You're going to find that it's not super-comfortable, but that's by design- keeping your back straight, and your hands barely touching (and not resting them in your lap), it'll help you from dozing off. It's easy to tell that you're losing focus because you'll start hunching over.

After that- just start counting your breaths. Don't try to breathe superslow or anything; just breathe normally. How high you count doesn't matter either; once you get to 8 or 10, start over.

When you start, you'll find your brain absolutely assaults you with random thoughts. It'll get better with practice- the important thing is not to beat yourself up when it happens. When a thought enters your head, just accept it, let go of it, and go back to counting.

The other important thing is regularity- you don't need to meditate for five hours, but if you want to see changes then you need to do it every day (or at least most days). When you're getting started, even five or ten minutes at a time can help.

One final thing- if you try it and hate it, don't worry. It's not for everyone! I took my girlfriend to the zendo once and it was a disaster. If you do get into it- be careful what you read; there's a lot of new-agey crap that people like to slap the word "zen" on because it's trendy. I found this book to contain a lot of practical advice.

Good luck!

First heard of this story in the three pillars of Zen. Thanks for sharing.

The Way of Zen, by Alan Watts

The Three Pilars of Zen, by Philip Kapleau Roshi

Confession of a Buddhist Atheist, by Stephen Batchelor.

Outside of that, most of the stuff that I read comes from brazilian monks, like Monja Coen or Monje Gensho

>Moreover, unless fortified by joriki (meditative practice), a single experience of kensho (satori-awakening) will have no appreciable effect on your life, and will fade away into a mere memory. For although through the experience of kensho you have apprehended the underling unity of the cosmos with your Mind's eye, without joriki you are unable to act with the total force of our being on what your inner vision has revealed to you.

Yasutani-roshi of Zen Buddhism p. 48 "The Three Pillars of Zen", edited by Phillip Kapleau


The full lecture may be of interest to you, it regards the three aims of zazen in Zen Buddhism. Let me know if you'd like a scan!

You say:

>Life has a way if forcing you back into the game and making you care about pointless things that we bring upon ourselves without realizing it, and im getting trapped again.

But you see: this isn't life doing this... it is you! You are life! You are allowing yourself to care about these "pointless" things.

>How am I supposed to learn and be a good person when there is bad energy all around me?

Meditate. Practice. Consider purchasing this text: https://www.amazon.com/Three-Pillars-Zen-Teaching-Enlightenment/dp/0385260938/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1542392386&sr=8-1&keywords=the+three+pillars+of+zen+by+philip+kapleau

Finding the "path" is one of the greatest fortune in life... so it is said. So congratulation.

I would strongly recommend "Three Pillars of Zen" by Roshi Phillip Kapleau.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Three-Pillars-Zen-Enlightenment/dp/0385260938

This book was and is one of the most influential book in my life. What I really liked is that somewhere about the middle, there are accounts of enlightenment experiences of westerners. The sufferings of most of these students were something that I strongly identified with. Just these accounts are fun enough for the price of ownership.

All the best.

I assumed this:

https://www.amazon.com/Three-Pillars-Anniversary-Updated-Revised/dp/0385260938

Seconded. Also, if you're interested in the Zen path, Three Pillars of Zen or Eight Gates of Zen. The latter was written by the abbot of the Zen Mountain Monastery (John Daido Loori, who just past away a few months ago) in new Woodstock NY. It's a great place to visit if you live on the east coast.

You have to meditate, as it was said. Also, you can look for a zen temple and join their group and practice there. That would be ideal.

And there are books on zen by modern masters that give practical instructions, they will be more clear on what to do to learn zen than the teachings of Huang Po. I personally like these:

http://zbohy.zatma.org/common/downloads/SeventhWorldOfChanBuddhism.pdf

https://www.amazon.com/Zen-Training-Philosophy-Shambhala-Classics/dp/1590302834/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1523600052&sr=1-1&keywords=zen+training

https://www.amazon.com/Everyday-Zen-Love-Work-Plus/dp/0061285897/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1523600082&sr=1-1&keywords=charlotte+joko+beck

https://www.amazon.com/Nothing-Special-Charlotte-J-Beck/dp/0062511173/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1523600082&sr=1-3&keywords=charlotte+joko+beck

https://www.amazon.com/Three-Pillars-Anniversary-Updated-Revised/dp/0385260938/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1523600135&sr=1-1&keywords=three+pillars+of+zen

https://www.amazon.com/Zen-Merging-Roshi-P-Kapleau/product-reviews/0385261047/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_hist_5?ie=UTF8&filterByStar=five_star&reviewerType=all_reviews#reviews-filter-bar

https://www.amazon.com/Path-Bodhidharma-Teachings-Library-Enlightenment/dp/0804832161/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1523600289&sr=8-3&keywords=harada+shodo

The Three Pillars of Zen helped start me out, but I found parts of it difficult and had to re-read. Once finished, I had to start again because I didn't feel like I "got it". Strangely, I didn't mind. The descriptions and explorations of different schools of thought were very interesting to me.

A book that helped me personally was The Power of Now. I had/have a big problem focusing. The book explains how to control your thoughts in a very (practical isn't exactly the right word, but it's the first word that comes to mind) practical way. There's some real crunchy-groove philosophy in there, but if you can get past it, there's a lot of good info in there too.

He had a very deep understanding of reality, yet still quite an alcoholic unless I'm mistaken. I always preferred my gurus sober, but maybe that's just me. :)

edit: I always found Philip Kapleau's Three Pillars of Zen to be the best book for meditation newbies - it's pretty awesome.

another edit: more on alan watt and alcohol

Only The Three Pillars of Zen and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance so far.

The Three Pillars of Zen: Teaching, Practice, and Enlightenment

by Philip Kapleau Roshi