"Zen" is a silly word, carrying so much meaning in American English. Goodness knows what it means in Japan or China nowadays, a dying religious sect taking sides in the jiriki vs. hariki battle?
We aim to find on Thursdays in Los Angeles at the Pasadena Zen Sangha. There is a path. What is it? Ask the average American Zen practitioner, and everything likely to be heard will be some derivation of Taoism. No relation to the historical Buddha. Lao Tzu (, Latin Lacious)
Buddha Yoga: Cultivating the Yoga Path of the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Guardian Spirits
Author William Bodri has 4.9 out of 5 stars (with 17 reviews).
The path to enlightenment, self-realization, moksha ("spiritual liberation") is essentially a path of yoga.
Specifically, this path of “Buddha Yoga” entails both mental meditation practice and inner cultivation of the Qi (chi) or prana within our body so that we can attain the first fruit of the spiritual path, which is an independent spiritual body that can leave the physical body at will.
Buddha Yoga is also a pathway that requires us to polish our mind and behavior so that we can achieve the purity of virtue in thought, word, and deed.
Regardless of our religion and hard work at spiritual training, most people will not achieve the initial fruit of the spiritual path because we usually lack the proper instructions and devotion to effective spiritual practice efforts.
The most we can then hope for is success in some afterlife, during which time we can choose to become bodhisattva protectors or guardian spirits for all sorts of earthly activities.
That being the case, this book teaches ordinary people how to properly perform spiritual practices and how readers can most effectively train to become a guardian spirit, buddha, or bodhisattva of one's own choosing.
This includes spiritual careers as protectors of nations, cities, people’s health, wealth, agriculture, and so forth.
It reviews common spiritual teachings about the origin of the universe and consciousness, helps readers
- decide on a specific life purpose(s) within this life,
- delineates the yoga practice methods for cultivating the physical body and stages of emptiness meditation required of Buddha Yoga,
- goes over several foundational topics of study for becoming various types of guardian spirits or bodhisattva protectors for humanity, and
- reveals how religious professionals can better help greater society through certain forms of self-study.
Correcting Zen: Reforming Buddhist Practice According to Lost Buddhist Principles
However, many of the principles behind these practices have become lost over time, sometimes because they are considered "secret" in Buddhism's later esoteric traditions.
When Buddhism first entered China and the majority of its teachings were as yet still untranslated, a large number of practitioners were still able to attain enlightenment without depending on sutras because those individuals primarily relied on just two cultivation techniques that had been transmitted, anapana inner breath (energy) work and the white skeleton bone visualization practice.
Buddhism today rarely produces enlightened sages as it did in the beginning because its training curriculum is now inadequate in inner energy work, breathing practices, and mindfulness work, visualization efforts, immeasurable meditations, mantra-yana, stretching exercises, self-rectification, and Buddha vows.
This work helps restore many of the lost principles for these practices that were once responsible for Buddhism’s previous great success in producing countless enlightened masters.
These instructions of highly effective enlightenment practices are for the benefit of all people, of all traditions and religions, who are seeking spiritual attainments and who desire the quickest pathway of sequential steps and practices for attainment. More
- William Bodri, April 13, 2019, Jan. 20, 2023; Amber Larson, CC Liu, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
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