A helpful, de-mystifying and practical approach
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 communicators
And so it is here.
Julian Daizan Skinner writes clearly about a subject which can be a challenging one 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.
we don’t need to particularly change ourselves into something else. We don’t have to go on painful courses of practice or force ourselves in any way. This is about acknowledging the truth of who we are , who we were and who we will always be
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
Practical Zen: Meditation and Beyond Amazon UK
Practical Zen: Meditation and Beyond Amazon USA
Lady Fancifull 
This sounds great for those who want to explore the effect of meditation on their lives. Did you try out any of the sessions? I think it is nice that they included material online too
Yes indeed, I am working my way through, as some of the practices are a little different from what I have previously done. I prefer reading each stage, and then sitting without the talked through guidance – which is, though, very well done indeed – but it is useful to see what works best for each person, and great to have the option. I think his approach is wonderfully practical, whilst at the time being remarkably spacious. Another book I find wonderful is Clark Strand’s Meditation without Gurus
Sounds excellent – as someone who needs to introduce a little calm and mindfulness into their life, this could be the approachable kind of book I need.
I do think, these days, it is something we all could do with. Life must always have had at least times of stress for most of us, but technology, which in theory was supposed to make life easier, instead means we are ‘on’ for more and more of the time, whether it is something demanded by the workplace, firing emails left right and centre, which have to be dealt with, or the way we get sucked into that with social media. I do like meditation books by people who have had enough long years of study and immersion to be able to find the simple approach for those who would just like to simply begin. I have read the odd few books, some which are too esoteric for me, going into concepts which are rather beyond my grasp, and some coming from a Western DIY mindfulness approach which fail to touch me at all, as they run so far away from the philosophy and are so focused on a bullet point approach that it is almost like a meditation spreadsheet.
This one has found a good and navigable path – clear directions, and enough to notice on the way. He is satisfying the artist in me, whilst providing a clear structure
There is certainly a need for a book like this – as you say so many others either are far too basic or too complex so I give up
This manages the balance very well. He avoids jargon, and is a good writer, which for me is also always key – an authentic voice speaking, and finding a fresh way of explanation. I must admit that the purely lets-completely-dissociate-the-practice-from-spirituality-and-just-talk-mindfulness-as-a-medical-approach-instruction-manual miss something fundamental for me, but so do those written by those absolutely steeped in the depth of these traditions who use jargon and overworn images devoid of freshness. I suspect finding a way to be absolutely clear and simple, but avoiding the simplistic, is much harder to achieve than might be supposed
it’s difficult to find the right balance between simplification and complexity