Practical Zen: Meditation and Beyond Paperback – June 21, 2017

I love this book! It is a practical guide and very user friendly. Insight and the dharma flow from the pages. The lay-out is concise and clear. Not heavy handed or overly intellectual. It gets straight to the heart of things, teaching very simple and powerful practices that will help one to come into one's true nature and become more embodied. Thank you, thank you for writing this book. I turn to it again and again.

As a newer student of Zen, I appreciate how the book is equal parts useful "guide" and written so one can find a sturdy foundation in meditation and Zen reflection while also loving the way the book unfolds through story and the journey of its author. And what a journey! Reading passages, I feel lucky to have such wisdom shared so generously. And that time, geography, and limited training need not limit one's access to deep teaching and personal insight. This book is a great guide for those beginning their journey, refreshing and adjusting a meditation practice, or curious about Zen, and for me a helpful guide to open to every 6-8 months :) Each time I return to it, I find more jewels in its pages. It is a very helpful book written by an exceptionally generous soul.

I was delighted to receive this as a digital ARC from Singing Dragon. The fact that this book is published by them, almost guaranteed its excellence for me. Some publishers of books which fall into a loose ‘New Age’ category can be a little goofy, sensationalist and flaky for my tastes. Singing Dragon specialise in good writers in the field, knowledgeable in their various disciplines, excellent communicatorsAnd so it is here.Julian Daizan Skinner writes clearly about a subject which can be a challenging on for those of us unversed in the traditions and concepts of Zen Buddhism. You don’t need to have spent years on a spiritual path in order to understand what he explains. This author offers guidance for beginners in a meditation practice, without being so full of difficult and detailed instruction that the would-be meditator gets a headache from trying to remember too many bullet points.The author finds simple language, useful images to explain some complex concepts, and to offer routes by which the meditator may be able to glimmeringly grasp something as a signpost. It does not feel like something simplified and reduced to unlovely bare bones of ‘do this, do that’ either. More like being shown an open door to a room full of boundless fascination. You can stand outside the room, and look in, or you can choose to enter and really explore at depth, and journey onwards. Perhaps through further rooms whose doors are as yet unknown.This book is inviting, simple, guiding the reader to explore this particular meditation practice in a built on way : an 8 week process of 25 minute sittings per day, plus a 5 minute journal keeping of what arises. There is also plenty of additional support offered, via the zenways website. This includes details of sitting groups, intensive 1 and 3 days meditation retreats, yoga trainings.Even better, the book gives a password protected entry to the on site material – information and the guided meditations laid out in the text are available as audio downloads, and also a video of one of the meditations which involves specific movements to energise belly and legs linked with the breathing. This is useful for those who might prefer a guided session.There is also plenty for those who might want to explore the subject more deeply – many cited texts, discourses on the philosophy and history of different approaches to Zen, so though this is, in essence, a practical guide, it offers more.What really ‘got’ me about this excellent book, even more than its clarity in communication, is the kindness and compassion it radiated

I’ve been a student of Buddhism for about 6 years. This is the clearest and most practical approach to the path I’ve found. The author provides a meticulous guide to meditation and to integrating zen with your life. A lot of other Buddhist books by leading monks are mostly transcribed dharma talks and lack order and structure making them difficult to follow. This is not one of those books. It is incredibly well thought out and really well articulated. Daizan Roshi has put a lot of effort into this to help followers understand. Plus each chapter comes with a long list of references which are also very useful. Thank you Daizan Roshi!

The author of this book is the ideal blend of grounding in the Western mind with deep knowledge of and commitment to an authentic Eastern tradition. The result is a text that invites you in just as you are, and gives you access to life-changing tools and ideas. In every chapter you’ll want to pause your reading and try the exercises.This stream of Zen emphasizes a balance of physical and mental/spiritual cultivation. I was delighted to find a Buddhist tradition that is so respectful of the health and vitality of our bodies.My favorite section was the “case studies”, where a variety of Daizan Roshi’s students tell their own stories. I found it very encouraging that so many different starting points and paths have yielded such rich results.I have had the pleasure of meeting Daizan Roshi, and as I read the text I kept smiling because his boundless kindness comes through on the page. If you have ever been curious about Zen but have been put off by language obstacles or excessive jargon, this book could be your open door!

This book is fantastic. If you aren't meditating already, I highly encourage you to do so. Anyone can meditate, and the world needs more meditators. Meditating can help you perceive yourself as part of the world, not separate from it. This book provides invaluable advice on how to practice whether you're a newbie or an old pro.You may already know the benefits that a few minutes of meditation can bring. Why not take if farther and meditate for longer periods of time with more of a sense of purpose? If you're having trouble getting your practice started or keeping it fueled, this book is sure to support you and offer you new insights of what it means to meditate. Highly recommended.

I recommend this one. It's easy to understand and there is not much "jargon" in it. Written by someone that understands meditation.

“Practical Zen” is just that practical. Daizan brings Shinzan Miyamae’s Zen practices to life by combining Bankei and Hakuin’s practices.Bankei’s relaxed “Unborn Zen” and Hakuin’s break through to kensho into post satori practices.Although Hakuin never mentioned Bankei, he criticized Unborn Zen as useless and “do nothing Zen”.It is a great service that Shinzan and Daizan have found a way to combine the two great 17th century Zen Masters’ teaching into a very practical book.I highly recommend this book.

Scritto in modo semplice e coinvolgente, ti aiuta passo per passo ad entrare nel mondo della meditazione Zen.

A really well written book with content and practices going well past standard meditation practices. This is a book if you want to take your practice much further.

This is a truly brilliant book. Daizan is an articulate, measured and humorous author who provides a description of Zen practise in a logical progression of ideas that gently leads the reader through a subject that has become , unfortunately, muddied by intellectual jousting and misinterpretation/mistranslation of the Japanese language in which Zen is often written. This is a direct and lucid guide that isn’t overly serious but is respectful and a great read. This is a practical guide so it includes practical meditative exercises interspersed amongst the text which are great to join in with (although they do assume you’re sitting in a chair whilst reading it rather than lying on ones front in bed in ones pyjamas, but they’re totally adaptable! Very usefully it includes tips on taking things further beyond the scope of a book and includes access to many online resources than are excellent to support ones practise. I’ve had to protect my copy in a plastic cover because I’m always digging into it, carry it during walking meditation trips and fear it would literally fall to bits if I didn’t. This book couldn’t have come at a better time where some seem to be frazzling themselves out and need a calming, compassionate route which will allow them to find some semblance of peace, rest and good vibes. I can’t recommend this book enough.