Meido Moore
Hidden Zen: Practices for Sudden Awakening and Embodied Realization Paperback – 13 January 2021
by Meido Moore (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 146 ratings
Kindle $16.59
Paperback$35.00
Discover hidden practices, secretly transmitted in authentic Zen lineages, of using body, speech, and mind to remove obstructions to awakening.
Though Zen is best known for the practices of koan introspection and "just sitting" or shikantaza, there are in fact many other practices transmitted in Zen lineages. In modern practice settings, students will find that Bodhidharma's words "direct pointing at the human mind" are little mentioned, or else taken to be simply a general descriptor of Zen rather than a crucial activity within Zen practice. Reversing this trend toward homogeneous and superficial understandings of Zen technique, Hidden Zen presents a diverse collection of practice instructions that are transmitted orally from teacher to student, unlocking a comprehensive path of awakening.
This book reveals, for the first time, a treasury of "direct pointing" and internal energy cultivation practices preserved in the Rinzai Zen tradition, along with detailed instructions for their use. Examined are 28 practices of direct pointing- methods that reveal one's natural clarity and, ultimately, the nature of mind itself. Over a dozen practices of internal energetic cultivation are also detailed to provide dramatic effects on the depth of one's meditative attainment. By sharing these practices, Hidden Zen provides a small taste of the richness of the hidden practice life to help readers grow beyond the bounds of introspection and sitting to find awakening itself.
304 pages
SHAMBHALA - TRADE
Publication date
13 January 2021
Product description
Review
"A powerful and spirited offering of embodied methods for entering the dharma gates of absorption and awakening available to you in this very life. Meido Roshi shares some of his Rinzai Zen lineage's tools with masterful skill."--Dosho Port, author of Keep Me in Your Heart a While and translator of The Record of Empty Hall
"Hidden Zen is an outstanding offering with a unique integration of body practice and ways to cultivate the energy required to sharpen our awareness. Drawing deeply on Rinzai teachings, this book offers a missing link in Zen approaches, encouraging readers to develop a truly embodied practice in addition to sitting zazen. With practical application of esoteric Rinzai body techniques, readers of Meido Roshi's book will find a valuable vehicle for liberation and awakening."--Jules Shuzen Harris, author of Zen beyond Mindfulness
"The practices in this book carry the scent of pickled radish, incense, and indigo dye--they are soaked in the authenticity of Rinzai Zen's orally transmitted inner teachings. This practical and clear manual points to the essence of Zen as a full-bodied, cellular process to be investigated in all twenty-four hours of the day."--Corey Ichigen Hess, author of the Zen Embodiment blog
Meido Moore
MEIDO MOORE (1968) is the abbot of Korinji Rinzai Zen monastery near Madison, Wisconsin, and guiding teacher of the international Korinji Rinzai Zen Community.
Meido Roshi grew up in New Jersey, attending Rutgers University and the Antioch Buddhist studies program in Bodh Gaya, India. He began Zen training in 1988, and after graduating with a degree in religious studies practiced under three Rinzai Zen teachers in the line of the great master Omori Sogen Roshi: the late Tenzan Toyoda Rokoji (dharma heir of Tenshin Tanouye Roshi of Chozen-ji) in whose training hall he resided for seven years while also enduring a severe training in traditional martial arts; Dogen Hosokawa Roshi (former abbot of Chozen-ji and the primary dharma heir of Omori Roshi) with whom he trained for fifteen years; and So'zan Miller Roshi (Hosokawa Roshi's heir and abbot of Daiyuzeni in Chicago) with whom he trained for three years. He has completed the koan curriculum of this lineage, and in 2008 received inka shomei or "mind seal": recognition as a lineage holder able to transmit the full range of Rinzai Zen practices. He is one of few Westerners so certified.
Aside from Zen, Meido Roshi is also ordained in the Mt. Koshikidake tradition of Shugendo. Before his ordination he was for many years a professional martial art teacher.
Meido Roshi is the author of The Rinzai Zen Way: A Guide to Practice (Shambhala Publications, 2018) and Hidden Zen: Practices for Sudden Awakening and Embodied Realization (Shambhala Publications, 2020).
Korinji TV, a collection of online instructional videos and dharma talks featuring Meido Roshi, can be accessed at www.patreon.com/korinji
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From other countries
Keith McL
5.0 out of 5 stars A Non Esoteric and Practical Zen Book
Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on 24 January 2021
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Roshi Meido Moore has written a very practical book. He discusses embodiment practices that uses, for example, vision, to pull us into a deep peaceful samadhi.
Almost all books on Zen make the practice harder than it need be. Old Masters like Obaku thought it was "grandmotherly kindness" to make his disciples struggle to achieve kensho. Moore does the opposite. His practices lead naturally to if not kensho, close to it.
Meido Moore talks about Zen practice in ways that I have never heard of before. For example, he talks about the moments before and after sleep as opportunities to enter deep samadhi. He clarifies the reasons for using the keisaku stick and what it does. Bowing, sneezing and much more are moments our minds can become clear.
I find Hidden Zen to be very a very practical and necessary book in my Zen library. I come back to it very often.
All readers need to do is do the practices regularly..
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Frank Inzan Owen
5.0 out of 5 stars It's Not Zen Without Embodiment
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 13 October 2020
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With a thorough preparation in both Rinzai and Shugendo, Meido Moore-sama has compiled a text that will be of great benefit to beginning Zen students, seasoned Zen practitioners, Dharma artists, and established Zen teachers alike. After clearly articulating the intent of the book (not the least of which is to preserve some of the methods he received in his own training for future practitioners), the author provides over twenty Zen embodiment practices and instructions, many of which have never been recorded. A couple of the practices (or variations of them) were already familiar to me from experiences with my own teacher, such as what the author calls "Spreading Out the Vision" (a.k.a. "Soft-Attention"; expanding to peripheral awareness vs. focused awareness during zazen or time in nature), and "Seeing A Tree" and working with the elements (which falls into the category of landscape practice), but the remainder of the 20+ practices (and Abbot Meido Moore's subsequent commentaries) was new, fresh, and compelling material that provides a series of body-based practices and awareness methods that are sure to be doorways to awakening to practitioners.
27 people found this helpful
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Justin Walker
5.0 out of 5 stars A robust catalogue of true zen
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 14 November 2020
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I just finished Hidden Zen. What a remarkable work for Zen in America. I became interested in Zen after 20 years of practice in the Tibetan Tradition where I have some authorization to teach. Yes my path is not finished and I have much work to do and while I have been very movrd by the writings of the Japanese masters like Hakiun and Tori to-date most of my experiences with various Zen centers in the west have have felt a bit simplistic and perhaps even “not of Buddhism”. So much of what is written in Hidden zen carries the hallmarks of integrated psycho-physical practices maintained in an unbroken yogic tradition since the time of the Buddha. What a treasure for Zen in America.
16 people found this helpful
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Urmish R. Mehta
5.0 out of 5 stars Kensho
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 1 January 2021
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If you had a first awakening or a glimpse of what is known as emptiness (Anatta or no-self experience) when the feeling of ‘I’ has dissolved perhaps temporarily, then this book is DEFINITELY for you. Abiding in the experience of not finding ‘I am’ is initially short, some teachers call it kensho or satori or samadhi etc. well, this book peaks up a thread from there precisely. At other end, if you had not experienced anything like that, still this book offers a firm footing to begin your practice. I recommend this book to serious meditators.
16 people found this helpful
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Daniel Mroz
5.0 out of 5 stars Practical, not reductive
Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on 19 March 2021
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For those who want to practice, this is a great book. It is brimming with useful practices, clearly explained. It is a rare find in a field cluttered with commercial, reductive and pedantic books.
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A. Walsh
5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating and unique view into Zen practice.
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 9 November 2020
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A fascinating and unique view into Zen practice. Shows how the usual way of presenting Zen Buddhist teachings in the U.S. has been incomplete and lacking large parts of the tradition in favor of a minimalism that doesn't reflect the reality of Zen history. Well worth the read.
4 people found this helpful
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Chicago Mike
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent and Practical
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 18 October 2020
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Excellent, clear and practical explanation of the mechanisms by which Zen practitioners may generate and use energy in a connected way in order to attain and deepen realization in this very body. Needed now in the modern world more than ever.
7 people found this helpful
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N. Egan
5.0 out of 5 stars An extremely important work
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 8 January 2021
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As a long-time dharma practitioner, I cannot say enough positive things about this book.
If you are truly looking to deepen your practice with practical tools involving energy and the body, get this book immediately.
6 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars for advanced practitioners
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 17 February 2022
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glad available
One person found this helpful
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mukunda777
5.0 out of 5 stars Solid Zen Practices
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 1 February 2021
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I revere all of this young Roshi's books....Engaging clarity!
2 people found this helpful
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rom other countries
Robert Hermer
1.0 out of 5 stars Irrelevant filling; nothing substantially helpful
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 9 January 2022
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My title says it all, and I’ve been practicing for 40 years with highly regarded old school zen masters…,
One person found this helpful
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Smokey Bacon Jr
2.0 out of 5 stars Occult mumbo jumbo
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 22 March 2022
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I really enjoyed Moore's introduction to Zen, so I bought this as a companion. Unfortunately, it doesn't really add anything and is just a collection of practices based on some very unscientific foundations like "energy" and meridians etc.
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