[.ca] Twenty Five Doors To Meditation P (ISBN 1578630355)

excellent book for advanced and serious cultivators:
There is a flurry of "spiritual activity" out there, with hundreds and hundreds of books expounding on spiritual cultivation and all kinds of esoteric or New Age practices. Oftentimes, the literature is confusing and easily leads the inexperienced reader astray. One would expect that the writer of such subjects to have at least some degree of personal attainment or realization, which I've found in general not to be the case. This is what makes this book all the more invaluable. Bill and Shu-Mei are serious practitioners who back theory with countless hours of practice and self-realization. They belong to a select few who have been trained directly by the great Master Nan Huai-chin, one of the few true Zen Masters still living today. Both spent more than 10 years in dedicated practice, all devoted exclusively to the pursuit of the Way. I was also one of the few who was priviledged to see a draft of this book before it came out (the authors' courtesy) a! ! nd was awaiting anxiously to see it out in press. I have very little doubt that Bill and Shu-Mei will emerge as among the foremost masters of Zen for many years to come. In the tradition of Master Nan, their approach is refreshingly non-sectarian, teaching the practitioner the practical aspects (what really matters!) of the various cultivation schools. By drawing the reader's attention to the common features underlying the various meditation techniques, the authors succeed in building from ground up a robust scientific and biophysical foundation for spiritual cultivation that demystifies much of the superstition and beliefs that have clouded this field in the past. Readers who are serious practitioners of meditation will treasure this book.

Review of 25 doors:
This book is a compilation of spiritual practices and techniques, mostly derived from the Chinese (Taoist) and Indian (Hinduism, Buddhism) schools of philosophy and religion. The book is first and foremost, practical. Each technique is carefully described, along with other historical and bibliographical notes. These notes are useful for more inquisitive readers who wish to learn more about a particular method or topic. The idea of all these spiritual practices is the attainment of self-realisation. This can also be called "enlightenment" or "seeing the Tao". The authors make a great deal of effort in trying to make this point; possibly because people get side-tracked, looking for mystical experience's or the attainment of superpower's, which have nothing to do with the real spiritual path. The authors also emphasise proper behaviour and virtuous actions. In fact they say, before a person can make any real progress (on the spiritual path), he must accumulate merit from performing good deeds. This is quite strange and unique. I have not come across any other material, other than the books of Nan Huai Chin (BUY them), that talk about moral conduct. I therefore recommend this book to anyone wishing to learn the HOW's and WHY's of meditation practice. The book also should be commended because it try's to make an effort in explaining the spiritual path, in terms of Western science. All to often, meditation books tell us, that a particular technique has been around for 1000 years and that's it! No further explanation as to why it actually benefits us or how the body actually gets healthy (it's true) through meditation. I hope this tells you what you want know!

Practical Instructions for Actual Meditators:
If you're serious about getting results from your meditative practice -- read this book! It does an excellent job of explaining the principles behind various meditation practices. With a depth all to rare in this field. You'll find it's one of the best tools for people who actually meditate. Read it and you'll learn 25 different types of meditation...what they do...and why they work. If you're only interested in abstract, touchy feely stuff, this isn't for you. But if you want to actually get results and progress in your meditation -- whether you're a beginner or a veteran -- this is one of most helpful books you'll find. Serious meditators should also check out the author's website, www.meditationexpert.com. The stuff on there is the most detailed, comprehensive and useful information a meditator can find. If you have any real familiarity with the field you'll be HUGELY impressed with the info. on this site. Most of this information isn't available anywhere else to the western reader. The clear, detailed explanation will clear up a lot of the mistaken ideas about meditation and give you the tools to be able to understand meditation(theory & practice) ...and to get results. Seriously, check out the website. The more you know the more you'll be impressed.

Not quite as claimed:
The book claimes to overview and relate various medative tradtions. It doesn't. It forces everything into a set pattern and ignores large chucks of tradition and the teachings of other traditions. The references to Christian prayer are just plain wrong, there is no mention of hesychasm, and the obvious tie in with bhakti devotion totally misstates christian belief and practice. Similar problems are seen with Judaism and Isalem. Some of the Daoist stuff also is very very different from what I've learned. I get a distinct sense the authors just tossed in everything they heard of and forced it to fit into their belief system, without a lot of research. Save your money and buy something else.

A "must have" book for the mechanics of meditation.:
Bill Bodri kindly sent me (an inquiring stranger) a draft of this book about six months ago, and I have been standing on one foot waiting for the final product since then. This will become a standard reference for those interested in the mechanics and comparative techniques of meditation. The technical content is from Ch'an Master Nan Huai-Chin, and it goes far in explaining the relationship between the meditation techniques of Taoism, Ch'an, and other Buddhist methods. The overall objective is to help the reader discover what types of techniques work well for himself, whether he is a beginner or an experienced meditator seeking to change methods (as was my case). For the latter, this text is all the more useful, since some of the methods presented already recognizably correspond to some of one's own meditation experience. This book is an important contribution to the Dharma, because it encourages one to try other methods instead of just quitting meditation practice because "the old magic does'nt work any more." The cautionary downside is that the practitioner must not jump from one method to the other, but instead must give a fair trial to the method of his choice. One method is not intrinsically better than another, just different. Which methods work for you is unique to yourself and quite unpredictable. Happy Sitting, Friends.