When Kazuki Sekida first published Zen training: Methods and philosophy in the 1970s, the book caused a stir. Sekida was not a Buddhist monk — Zen being as school of Buddhism — having spent his entire working life as a school teacher. Although he had obtained some recognition as a Zen master, he was not head of any type of centre, monastery or otherwise, where a Buddhist might train. Yet, he proposed that learning Zen-style meditation, at least the physical parts, was not so complex as to require travel to distant lands and enrolment in quasi-religious institutions.

Naturally, those interested in Zen thought and training were sceptical, even as some agreed that some parts were accessible without an instructor.

Sekida’s idea was revolutionary largely due to the outsized presence in the West of Daisetsu Teitaro ‘D.T.’ Suzuki and his writings on the subject of Zen Buddhism and Eastern mysticism in general. Suzuki was an established, recognised scholar of religious studies and translator. That he and his particular impressions of Zen shaped Western understanding was a function of being one of the first Japanese writers to have wide access to important connections at places like Columbia University, or his wife’s alma mater Radcliffe College — before Harvard was co-educational, Radcliffe as the associated women’s college was functionally Harvard in terms of access — as well as being able to write fluently in English in a style that was appealing to non-academics. But his presentation of the material attracted criticism from his scholarly peers. In his presentation, D.T. supposedly conflated Eastern ideas with Western ones, resulting in a mixture that was not entirely true to the Eastern original. His peers used the today much more recognisable term “post-Modernism” to describe the Suzuki’s version of Buddhism.

Nevertheless, other Japanese scholars with similar infrastructure too released works countering Suzuki’s position. For example, scholar and genuine Buddhist monk Kogen Mizuno wrote extensively for a Western audience on the origins of Buddhism, its scriptures and its practices. Perhaps the chief obstacle to these efforts to balance Suzuki’s presence was a perception that an academic understanding the entire tradition, from its genesis in India, its transition through China, and eventual landing in Japan, was required to obtain the stated goal of “awakening.”

Though this was a goal which Suzuki fundamentally shared, Sekida’s position was that “awakening” was such a variable experience for individuals that one could not safely identify it as a goal in-and-of-itself, and therefore there were benefits to training in Zen without explicitly seeking “awakening.”

Since Sekida’s book’s purpose is to teach the physicality of Zen without assuming any prior knowledge, it is of necessity somewhat truncated. There is merely some brief coverage of the mental discipline aspect of Zen, which in turn was carefully phrased to avoid any religious terminology — so as to appeal to those without affinity for organised religion. As a result, the book’s position is that a person can enquire into the fundamental nature of reality simply through physical control and mental discipline.

That said, the book’s structure broadly follows a traditional path used by Zen masters to guide pupils to heighted awareness.

Regardless of one’s views on Zen Buddhism and the craze for Eastern meditation in all its forms, which swept the Western world in the second half of the twentieth century, the principles of enquiry, focus and mental discipline are in short supply these days. Constant stimulation, easy gratification, but mixed with mass hysteria and panic in the face of technologies which both entertain and threaten, there is little which encourages periods of pause and reflection; dare one say even boredom? While a single book cannot bring calm to troubled minds — especially if one reads without practicing — but to “take up and read,” in the words of St Augustine’s mysterious muse, is a start.

Photo by Jared Rice of what many annoying people in the West presumably imagine when they hear the word ‘Zen.’