In HARA, Karlfried Graf Dürckheim shows the Western world how to overcome the physical and spiritual decay of modern life by adopting the age-old techniques of Japanese Zen masters. By leaving behind the "chest out & belly in" posture and attitude of the West and adopting the belly-centered posture and attitude of Hara, individuals can live a calm, grounded, and more balanced life. Included in this classic text are vital life force practices and translations of the wisdom teachings of three Japanese Zen masters. This book also explores how the practice of Hara emphasizes empirical learning and the cultivation of
self-knowledge through the perfection of arts such as painting and archery. [From Amazon.]
Author(s): Dürckheim, Karlfried, Graf von; (Trans. S. M. von Kospoth; E. R. Healey)
Publisher: George Allen & Unwin
Year: 1971
Language: English
Pages: 208
City: London
Tags: Zen; Western Zen; Meditation
INTRODUCTION 11
I HARA IN THE LIFE OF THE JAPANESE
1 Hara in the Life of the Japanese 17
2 Hara in the Everyday Life ofJapan 11
3 Hara as the Purpose of Practice 33
4 Hara in the Japanese Language 47
II HARA IN ITS GENERAL HUMAN
SIGNIFICANCE
I Eastern and Western Views of Hara 65
(a) The General Signißcance of the
Centre of the Body 65
(b) The European Attitude to the Belly 67
(c) Natural Hara 70
(d) The Two Levels 75
III MAN WITH HARA
1 The Living Form Centred in Hara 79
2 The Ego and the Vital Centre 85
3 Malformations of the I 90
4 Hara as Secular Power 96
5 Hara in Experience, Insight and Practice 103
6 The Strength, Breadth and Closeness
Engendered by Hara 106
7 The Order of Life in the Symbolism
of the Body 113
IV HARA AS PRACTICE
I The Purpose and Pre-requisite of all
Practice 123
1 The Purpose and Limits of Practice 126
3 The Pre-requisites oj all Practice 130
4 Posture, Breath, Tension — as Starting
Points of Practice 133
5 The Practice of Right Posture 136
6 Sitting with Hara 140
7 Tension-Relaxation 144
8 The Practice of Breathing 152
V RETROSPECT AND OUTLOOK 167
A P P E N D I X: Japanese Texts
1 Okado Torajiro 175
2 Sato Tsuji : The Teaching of the
Human Body 190
3 Kaneko Shoseki : Nature and Origin of
Man 202
