Essential for readers interested in meditation or Eastern religion. There is no other book devoted solely to the very important Zen practice of Shikantaza (literally, "just sitting").

Praise & Reviews "At last a book that brings together writings on the subtlest and most fundamental Zen practice: just sitting. For the first time, now gathered in one volume, we can read 1500 years of the discovery of true path of discovery and realize what it means to be truly present for life as it is. Zen Master Daido Loori has gathered the essence of true meditation into this jewel of a book. We should not miss it." —Joan Halifax Roshi, Head Teacher, Upaya Zen Center "When Daido Loori, now abbot of Zen Mountain Monastery, began his Buddhist practice, he couldn't find much written on the subject of sitting meditation. Taken together, the writing in his THE ART OF JUST SITTING spans 1,500 years, all pointing to the practice of 'just sitting,' whereby no object is used as a meditation focus. There are specific instructions here for location, posture, and mental state, which will be helpful to beginners. Advanced practitioners can benefit from the more esoteric thoughts about 'non-thinking.' …Loori has compiled a useful guide, promising 'if you were to live for a hundred thousand years, you would never find in this life anything more powerful, more healing, [and] more empowering.'" —Publishers Weekly "A valuable collection from an authority on this subtle and profound form of Zen. We have needed a book like this for a long time." —Professor Francis Dojun Cook, author of How to Raise an Ox "This is the single most comprehensive treasury of writings on the subject in English. It is likely to remain the most important collection for many years to come. Often misunderstood, the practice of shikantaza is authoritatively presented and carefully examined in two dozen essays by Chinese, Japanese, and American masters, along with an appendix of six seminal classic texts. This volume, spanning the centuries since Shakymuni Buddha to the present day, will prove indispensable to meditators and scholars alike. Roshi John Daido Loori has given us a rare treasure." —John Daishin Buksbazen, author of Zen Meditation in Plain English "'Just sit' is one of the most commonly heard —and least understood—phrases associated with Zen Buddhism. And yet 'just sitting,' or shikantaza—along with koan practice—is one of the two primary methods of Zen meditation. Zen master John Daido Loori brings together teachings of some of the most prominent ancient and modern teachers, including Dogen Zenji, Shunryu Suzuki, Sheng-yen, and Maezumi. The book also includes an appendix of foundational texts relating to the practice of shikantaza." —Tricycle ""Wisdom is putting out good, interesting books, and here is one devoted to the meditation of just sitting, edited by John Daido Loori, who has done a fair amount of it. It's a cool book, an anthology drawing from a variety of authors, and it takes the risk of going deep." —John Tarrant, author, Zen teacher and director of the Pacific Zen Insititute [excerpted from Buddhadharma: The Practitioner's Quarterly]

John Daido Loori, Editor John Daido Loori is the spiritual leader and abbot of Zen Mountain Monastery in Mt. Tremper, New York. Trained in koan Zen as well as in the subtle school of Master Dogen's Zen, he is the dharma heir of Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi Roshi. Devoted to maintaining authentic Zen training, he has developed a distinctive style, called the Eight Gates of Zen, based on the Eightfold Path. Drawing on his background as scientist, artist, naturalist, and Zen priest, Abbot Loori is an American master who speaks directly to students from the perspective of a common background. His books include Mountain Record of Zen Talks and The Heart of Being. Taigen Dan Leighton, Introduction Taigen Dan Leighton is a SotoZen priest and Dharma successor in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi and the San Francisco Zen Center. Leighton began formal Soto practice in 1975 at the New York Zen Center with Kando Nakajima Roshi and graduated in East Asian Studies from Columbia College. He is author of Faces of Compassion and Visions of Awakening Space and Time: Dogen and the Lotus Sutra and is co-translator and editor of several Zen texts, including Cultivating the Empty Field, as well as The Wholehearted Way and Dogen's Pure Standards for the Zen Community, both translated together with Shohaku Okumura. He currently teaches at the Institute of Buddhist Studies of the Berkeley Graduate Theological Union and leads the Ancient Dragon Zen Gate meditation group in Chicago.