''Zen Flesh, Zen Bones'' is a 1957 publication by Paul Reps combining four separate texts on nondual practice: * ''

101 Zen Stories ''101 Zen Stories'' is a 1919 compilation of Zen koans including 19th and early 20th century anecdotes compiled by Nyogen Senzaki, and a translation of '' Shasekishū'', written in the 13th century by Japan Japan is an island country i ...

'' * ''

The Gateless Gate ''The Gateless Barrier'' (Mandarin: 無門關 ''Wúménguān''; Japanese: 無門関 ''Mumonkan''), sometimes translated as ''The Gateless Gate'', is a collection of 48 Chan (Zen) koans compiled in the early 13th century by the Chinese Zen mast ...

'' (Mumonkan) * ''

Ten Bulls Ten Bulls or Ten Ox Herding Pictures ( Chinese: ''shíniú'' 十牛 , Japanese: ''jūgyūzu'' 十牛図 , korean: ''sipwoo'' 십우) is a series of short poems and accompanying drawings used in the Zen tradition to describe the stages of a ...

'' * ''

Centering Centring, centre, centering"Centering 2, Centring 2" def. 1. Whitney, William Dwight, and Benjamin E. Smith. ''The Century dictionary and cyclopedia''. vol. 2. New York: Century Co., 1901. p. 885., or center is a type of falsework: the temporary st ...

'' ( Vigyan Bhairav Tantra)

101 Zen Stories

''101 Zen Stories'' is a 1919 compilation of

Zen Zen (; from Chinese: ''Chán''; in Korean: ''Sŏn'', and Vietnamese: ''Thiền'') is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty by blending Indian Mahayana Buddhism, particularly Yogacara and Madhyamaka phil ...

koan A ( ; ; zh, c=公案, p=gōng'àn ; ; ) is a story, dialogue, question, or statement from Chinese Chan Buddhist lore, supplemented with commentaries, that is used in Zen Buddhist practice in different ways. The main goal of practice in Z ...

s including 19th and early 20th century

anecdote An anecdote is "a story with a point", such as to communicate an abstract idea about a person, place, or thing through the concrete details of a short narrative or to characterize by delineating a specific quirk or trait. Anecdotes may be real ...

s compiled by

Nyogen Senzaki Nyogen Senzaki (千崎如幻, 1876–1958) was a Rinzai Zen monk who was one of the 20th century's leading proponents of Zen Buddhism in the United States. Early life Details of Senzaki's early life are unclear. Town records in Fukaura, Aomo ...

, and a translation of '' Shasekishū'', written in the 13th century by

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese Zen master

Mujū Mujū Dōkyō (; 1 January 1227 – 9 November 1312), birth name Ichien Dōkyō, was a Buddhist monk of the Japanese Kamakura period. He is superficially considered a Rinzai monk by some due to his compilation of the '' Shasekishū'' and similar ...

(無住) (literally, "non-dweller"). The book was reprinted by Paul Reps as part of ''Zen Flesh, Zen Bones''. Well-known koans in the collection include ''A Cup of Tea'' (1), ''The Sound of One Hand'' (21), ''No Water, No Moon'' (29), and ''Everything is Best'' (31).

Gateless Gate

''The Gateless Gate'' (

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

: 無門關 ''Wúménguān'';

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

: 無門関 ''Mumonkan''), more accurately translated as ''The Gateless Barrier'', is a collection of 48 Chan (

)

s compiled in the early 13th century by the Chinese Zen master

Wumen Huikai Wumen Huikai (; Wade-Giles: Wu-men Hui-k'ai; ) (1183–1260) was a Chinese Chán (Japanese: Zen) master during China‘s Song period. He is most famous for having compiled and commentated the 48-koan collection '' The Gateless Barrier'' (Mandar ...

(無門慧開; Japanese: ''Mumon Ekai''; 1183–1260). Wumen's preface indicates that the volume was published in 1228. Each koan is accompanied by a commentary and verse by Wumen.

Ten Bulls

''Ten Bulls'' or ''Ten Ox Herding Pictures'' (十牛;

: ''jūgyū'',

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

: ''shíniú'') is a series of short poems and accompanying pictures used in the

tradition to illustrate the stages of a practitioner's progression towards the purification of the mind and

enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...

,廓庵《十牛圖頌》考：從牧牛圖頌談起
/ref> as well as his or her subsequent return into the world while acting out of wisdom. An equivalent series of stages is depicted in the Nine Stages of Tranquility, used in the

Mahamudra Mahāmudrā (Sanskrit: महामुद्रा, , contraction of ) literally means "great seal" or "great imprint" and refers to the fact that "all phenomena inevitably are stamped by the fact of wisdom and emptiness inseparable". Mahāmud ...

tradition, in which the mind is represented by an elephant and a monkey.Skyflower Dharmacenter, ''Mahamudra Tranquility and Insight''
/ref> This formulation originates with

Asaṅga Asaṅga (Sanskrit: असंग, , ; Romaji: ''Mujaku'') (fl. 4th century C.E.) was one of the most important spiritual figures of Mahayana Buddhism and the founder of the Yogachara school.Engle, Artemus (translator), Asanga, ''The Bodhisattva P ...

(4th CE), delineating the nine mental abidings in his ''Abhidharmasamuccaya'' and the ''Śrāvakabhūmi'' chapter of his '' Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra''. It is also found in the '' Mahāyānasūtrālaṅkāra'' of Maitreyanātha, which shows considerable similarity in arrangement and content to the Bodhisattva-bhūmi-śāstra. The ''Dharma Fellowship, a

Kagyu The ''Kagyu'' school, also transliterated as ''Kagyü'', or ''Kagyud'' (), which translates to "Oral Lineage" or "Whispered Transmission" school, is one of the main schools (''chos lugs'') of Tibetan Buddhism, Tibetan (or Himalayan) Buddhism. ...

(Mahamudra) organisation, notes that the practice starts with studying and pondering the dharma, where-after the practice of meditation commences.

Vigyan Bhairav Tantra

The '' Vigyan Bhairav Tantra'' is a chapter from the ''Rudrayamala Tantra''. It was introduced to the west by Paul Reps, a student of

Lakshman Joo Swami Lakshman Joo (9 May 1907 – 27 September 1991), born Lakshman Raina and also called Lal Sahib by his followers, was a mystic and scholar of Kashmir Shaivism. Biography Lakshman Joo was born in a Kashmiri Hindu Brahmin family in ...

. Reps brought the text to wider attention by including an English translation in his popular book ''Zen Flesh, Zen Bones''. Cast as a discourse between the god

Shiva Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐh and Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the God in Hinduism, Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions w ...

and his consort

Devi ''Devī'' (; ) is the Sanskrit word for 'goddess'; the masculine form is Deva (Hinduism), ''deva''. ''Devi'' and ''deva'' mean 'heavenly, divine, anything of excellence', and are also gender-specific terms for a deity in Hinduism. The concept ...

Shakti Shakti (Devanagari: शक्ति, IAST: Śakti; 'energy, ability, strength, effort, power, might, capability') in Hinduism, is the "Universal Power" that underlies and sustains all existence. Conceived as feminine in essence, Shakti refer ...

, it briefly presents 112 meditation methods or centering techniques ('' dharana''s).Paul Reps, ''Zen Flesh, Zen Bones, A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings'' ()

Notes

References

;Printed references ;Web-references {{reflist, group=web Books about Zen Kashmir Shaivism