Correcting Zen: Reforming Buddhist Practice According to Lost Buddhist Principles

Some people might be shocked at particular contents that are different from traditional ways we normally assume are proper, which is why it is called "Correcting Zen". However, Zen was corrected many times in the past and many Buddhist books of the past were initially rejected before becoming accepted as classics, which this is. It would even revolutionize Hindu or Daoist practice if those practitioners applied its principles. Forget any naysayers who might ever give this book a bad rating because it deserves multiple stars beyond 5.The first thing I must mention is the extraordinary Chapter 10 on how to read the Buddhist sutras without missing their message. I've read all the major Buddhist sutras multiple times and was blown away by Bodri's deep explanations to the extent that I must admit I missed their meaning: the Nirvana Sutra is about the original nature or ground state of reality; the Avatamsaka Sutra is about interdependent origination that characterizes manifest reality; the Diamond Sutra explains the selflessness of sentient beings and that any mereological agglomerations of atoms to make up objects (our bodies) do not actually compose an object pattern because the atoms always remain independent of one another; the Heart Sutra is a brief summary of Buddhist doctrines and the fact that nirvana (fundamental nature) and samsara (manifest nature) are the same; the Lankavatara Sutra is about the fact that consciousness is produced without a self within it, which he explains in his ARHAT YOGA book too (highly recommended); Abhidhama teaches how consciousness operates; Yogacara teaches that sensory perceptions when turned into consciousness never produce a true image of the world so we are only experiencing a mere-representation or similitude of the world as a mental user interface; the Lotus Sutra explains skillful means and the fact that Buddhas will cheat you in their teachings to lead you upwards; the Vimalakirti Sutra is noted for Shariputra's gender bender Qi interlude that turns out to be a common Qi purification technique used by many spiritual schools; and the Surangama Sutra is the esoteric guide for traditional Buddhist practice. For this alone, the book is worth a purchase and since 100 pages in the book deal with this, I can't go into more details. If you're in Zen or other schools of Buddhism then get it just for this alone even though it says "Correcting Zen."His explanation of the "liberation" view of Hinduism, and the "enlightenment view" of Buddhism is nowhere found elsewhere: the realm of manifest reality is always changing and is ungraspable like a dream, we do not perceive it fully or correctly but only create false similitudes about it within our mind that are imaginary, we cannot fathom/perceive our fundamental substrate either, our self-thought is a false notion automatically created by the workings of consciousness (Knowledge) without a self-doer being there, your existence lacks an intrinsic self because it is a non-homogenous conditional agglomeration defined by the universe through interdependent origination, and even your thinking is often logically faulty and filled with biases. With all these problems to our workings of consciousness, why are we then attaching to our thoughts and objects? The cultivation path should therefore be about how to optimally use our attribute of consciousness that separates us from the inert universe, and detachment is just one of the many principles of proper usage that addresses the issues of suffering and wellness. We must learn how to purify our minds and gain proficiency in transforming consciousness as we like not just by learning new skills such as spatial reasoning, developing a super memory, or doing arithmetic but by especially cultivating the ability to eliminate mental afflictions. Spiritual cultivation is about how to use consciousness correctly, such as detaching from thoughts so that the surface personality and its engagements are separate from a peaceful calm within.As to how to correct Zen, the author no doubt chose a provocative title to stir controversy but his points are extremely well-founded and most people will recognize this. I always view Buddhist practice - whether it be Zen, Pure Land, Hinayana, Mahayana or Vajrayana, etc. - as like making cookies. Students are like raw cookie dough put on sheets but never baked, and "masters" hope that those blobs of cookie dough will somehow rise into baked cookies (get enlightened) if they meditate on emptiness for years without doing any inner energy work to transform themselves for actual enlightenment. A person that just sits there meditating on emptiness will never achieve realization. Zen particularly has this problem that affects millions of students. It's a tragedy for millions of monks and nuns that they are like cookie dough that will never rise without the heat of inner energy transformations, so they waste their life in useless practice, but this can be easily corrected. You just have to add a few energy practices to those cookie blobs to get them anywhere near enlightenment and then even if they still fail they will be closer to its attainment during the after-life state. If our current practice schedules were so efficient then everyone would be enlightened after years of meditation practice but they aren't. What are they missing? Bodri tells us …I once had a Japanese Zen master tell me once, "Well, in addition to meditation you also have to do energy work to become enlightened" but no one except Bodri emphasizes this or explains how and it is certainly missing from Zen practice. Why? The entire school of Vajrayana succeeds because it is about energy work … as is Daoism and many tantric yoga schools in Hinduism, so why isn't Buddhism stressing this? I once read Leigh Brasington's instructions for entering jhana (dhyana) where he said you maintain your attention on a meditation topic until access concentration arises, then you shift your attention to a pleasant sensation, you maintain your attention on that sensation and do nothing else. Well, the focus on a positive sensation changes your energy and that is energy work! Bodri points out that Buddha's anapana practice has you focusing on joy energy while moving your internal Qi energy with your breathing, the four immeasurables have you focusing on positive or neutral emotions that we should dwell in to change our energy and mentality, and the second of the twenty demon mara states in the Surangama Sutra is surprisingly about having you go through intense yin and yang emotions to purify the Qi of your inner subtle body, … but no one really caught the basic principle as to what is going on. It is all energy work. Bodri reveals the secret neglected principles of effective spiritual practices when he discusses this in detail. It was a gigantic eye-opener and explained to me why masters try to scare students, send them to cemeteries and all sorts of other oddities. Finally, after years of reading several hundred spiritual books of many kinds, I finally got some answers from him that cleared up many questions I had and explain many spiritual stories I read about. All these emotions affect our Qi energy, and that is the basis of purifying the energy of our body and generating the true first dhyana which is a subtle body attainment, but more on that in a moment.Getting back to the inadequacies of current Zen practice today – and he points out that this applies not just to Buddhism but to Daoism, Hinduism, Yoga, and so forth - if any cookie blobs (people) adopt any of Bodri's principles to their practice then the dough will actually rise without the necessary intervention of a spiritual master helping them with his kundalini energies, so the outcome for their practice results will be dramatically better by the end of their lives and more people will achieve enlightenment. Otherwise, students will remain unbaked cookie dough that never rises because no one is doing energy work on them, yet everyone expects them to get enlightened just because they meditate on emptiness (shamatha) and perform vipassana practice (watching thoughts) for years. That assumption of progress resulting from stale practice is ridiculous.Of course, if you want to concentrate on emptiness practice the author gives two dozen ways to cultivate the samadhi of infinite space emptiness or the samadhi of infinite consciousness and tells you how to rotate to trying a new one each week so that you do not end up attaching to a false image of emptiness in your mind. More importantly, he teaches correct meditation posture of your internal energy where you center it within your body around the brain stem and your physical core, and make sure the back of the brain and cerebellum open up. This is never discussed elsewhere, nor the discussion on the flow state of being in the moment (the state of presence or pristine awareness) that permits us to function at our peak.What are the things missing in Zen practice? One, the emphasis on physical exercise that Shakyamuni mastered and Bodhidharma pointed out is missing. Zen students should be practicing yoga and the soft martial arts that teach control of inner energy since energy work is needed on the path. Two, an emphasis on actual inner energy work, and Bodri clearly shows how to do this in several ways. He has a story about an engineer who cultivated the energy of authority in a stadium so that he was able to captivate and override the authority of navy commanders, and I'll remember this story and its principles forever since it ties in directly with Buddhist practice. If you do not undergo purification of the energy within your physical body you cannot attain the first dhyana that involves generating a "mind-born body", which is the impure illusory body of Tibetan Buddhism and subtle body attainment of Hinduism. Three, the confession and self-rectification process of Buddhism needs to be updated so that we are elevating our personalities in a much more efficient fashion, and the methods Bodri outlines are superb. Some come from Chinese culture, some from Greek (Stoicism) or Buddhism itself and there are non-denominational methods from other cultures as well. We all need this. If enlightenment requires merit by correcting personality flaws, as Chinese Buddhism likes to emphasize, we should be putting more vigor into perfecting our characters and conduct and Bodri reveals the way with multiple pillars. Fourth, he is right that no one is making Buddha vows to become a certain type of Buddha (as in the Avatamsaka Sutra) and accumulating merit (doing good deeds) in those directions now or learning the skills for those vocations. What a colossal waste of time for monks and nuns who could be using their lives to train in those directions and helping society as they make spiritual progress! He has an entire book on this called BUDDHA YOGA that changed my practice because of his emphasis on making vows. Get it. It even tells monasteries how to raise funds for their operations, which makes it seem materialistic but it is not.Now we come to the aspects of Buddhist energy work he discusses that are found in Buddhaghosa's Visuddhimagga, anapana practice, the four immeasurables practice, and other Buddhist meditation techniques. Chapter 3 is on the skeleton visualization method, chapter 4 on anapana practice (this is the first real set of explanations in print I ever found), chapter 5 on the four immeasurables, chapter 6 on mantra practice (containing explanations I never even dreamed about hearing) and chapter 9 on the most effective practice schedule for you, and then for monks and nuns. His explanations are not only revealing in lifting the veil off of the purposes behind countless practices (including Chod, Aghora, etc.) but any monk or nun who starts using the techniques recommended will get a boost in progress. I followed his advice to do many different methods simultaneously that work according to different principles and began to feel strong currents of inner kundalini energy in a short period of time. His explanations ring true.Now here is the thing that some people will disagree with because they don't know anything about the true stages of enlightenment. First, the Lotus Sutra tells us that Buddhas will mislead you and the emphasis in Hinayana Buddhism is on meditation whereas the esoteric school focuses on breathing and inner energy work, so which one is misleading us? You must engage in both parts for attainment. The esoteric school has enlightened masters sitting on top of students practicing so they don't go astray with their energy work (which is why they go through empowerments or initiations) whereas this isn't the case with the Hinayana and Mahayana traditions. Therefore those two traditions mislead the monks and ignore energy work in favor of stale meditation practices that avoid body-energy troubles that Bodri says come from the interference of devas when you do inner energy work as the Surangama Sutra states.Bodri offers the Hindu yoga explanations that 12 years of energy purification must happen within your body to attain the real first dhyana and this involves an independent spiritual body attainment. Nonsense you say, where do the sutras say this? In the Surangama sutra, in the fact that Ananda could shrink his body to enter the room of the First Buddhist Council, in the fact that Arhats used to rise into the air upon their deaths and demonstrate its transformation into the fire and water elements, and it's in the Vajrayana school texts as well as in Daoism, Yoga and more. If it is truly enlightenment then the other spiritual traditions should have it as well so you should put aside sectarianism and see what the other schools have to confirm many aspects of Buddhism. They have these independent spiritual body doubles that are invisible or you can see and touch. Wow, how do they attain those … no one but Bodri explains!Enlightenment training is a technology for attaining spiritual energy bodies that compose the sambhogakaya and he is the first one to explain this clearly. No one ever discusses what happens during those twelve years – you can read all sorts of autobiographies of masters and those happenings are conspicuously absent – but the Surangama Sutra goes into it. They're going through energy transformations. Even Ramana Maharshi said that when he hugged the Shiva Linga at the Tiruvannamalai temple the inner energy currents he felt coursing inside him since young finally went silent, which shows he was undergoing the necessary kundalini transformations since young before he could attain enlightenment. Ramakrishna had a similar tale and was always feeling spiritual ecstasies since a young age. You must go through twelve years of this to attain the first dhyana of enlightenment, and then you proceed to attaining the higher stages from that. The guys who get enlightened when young are nirmanakaya emanations of enlightened masters who start going through this process when children which is why their enlightenment comes early as compared to others.The point is that your energy gets washed or churned through the process of spiritual practice, it must become purified this way, that washing or purification purifies or differentiates the various Qi (Prana) energies within your physical body and inner spiritual body, and as a result, you can eventually attain an independent spiritual body that emerges from your physical shell as you break through the form skandha (physical body). That is the first dhyana achievement that generates an invisible body. It is not that you attain a calm mental state of enlightenment called the first dhyana and then "presto magic" you can generate spiritual bodies that the masters of all traditions are known for having. No, you cultivate these bodies through meditation and ENERGY WORK and then upon their attainment you have the co-existent enlightenment mind of purity appropriate to that body as your achievement.Buddhism did not tell you this clearly, as per the misdirection principle of the Lotus Sutra, but Buddhism leaves out lots of things and this must be the truth when you think about it, especially since other traditions tell us this. In fact, Hinduism explains that this is exactly what happens and Sufis say they attain these bodies but Buddhists cannot believe this because have been brainwashed through Zen literature to think enlightenment is only a mind attainment because of all the Zen nonsense that has been created over the years. How do you get a spiritual body that can manifest and disappear? Is it because you think it into existence after enlightenment? Nonsense. The Surangama Sutra explains that you break free of the form skandha (physical body) because of energy work that enables you to attain a spiritual deva body and you thereby attain the first dhyana.I also love his explanation of spiritual techniques and how they work, which appears in ARHAT YOGA too: Basically, anapana uses your breathing to wash/purify your Qi. The white skeleton visualization uses mental concentration. Mantrayana uses sound power and your breathing. The Four Immeasurables uses great emotions or large attitudes. Nyasa yoga and pratyahara use your thoughts and willpower to move your Qi internally and wash your tissues. Kumbhakya pranayama uses breath retention to force open up your Qi channels and improve inner Qi flow. Pranayama uses control of your breathing to move your Qi. Yoga and martial arts use stretching, muscle control and Qi control (mastery of internal Qi movements guided by your will). This taught me a lot because now I know why practices work, which helps me know what to do.Okay, that's enough. I did my little act of merit by letting you know what is in this book and putting some time into it because it is absolutely revolutionary for Zen practice, Buddhist practice, Hindu practice, and basically for all spiritual traditions. Absolutely revolutionary. It will help your practice and help you understand the path and how spiritual cultivation works and what it is supposed to do. Strict traditionalists might not have enough experience to know better which is like the Hinayana monks of Southeast Asia (in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Burma, Laos, Sri Lanka) who reject boran kammathana (Southern Esoteric Buddhism) because it doesn't accord with the scriptures exactly, yet boran kammathana contains the very technology that will win you enlightenment quickest and the other spiritual traditions use similar techniques to its own. Buddhism is not about being loyal to the Buddha's methods and words but being loyal to the process for gaining enlightenment. Use what works no matter the origins.Many spiritual traditions can take you to enlightenment. Orthodox Christianity has many Christian saints who attained enlightenment as just one example, they demonstrate miraculous powers and body doubles just like everyone else, and their dogma is entirely different so it is not correct dogma that gets you there.Bodri corrects the faults and deficiencies that many traditions have developed over the ages and fills in the gap as to what, why and how to correct matters. It is relevant to your practice if you want it to count. He especially focuses on the failings of Zen, which have been corrected several times over the centuries by various Zen masters, but I see that the principles he espouses apply to all the traditions. He said he's pained by the lack of progress he sees in thousands of Zen students getting nowhere and wasting their lives so that's why he wrote this blockbuster to help them. I honestly think that most people don't have enough experience to know how valuable this book is. It is revolutionary for the Zen school and other traditions if they bother to apply its principles.

Definitely a MUST HAVE book for not just Zen but other Asian spiritual practices too since it is redefining the basic requirements of Asian spiritual cultivation work, including how monasteries should work. This is the first truly original book in decades to correct monastic traditions of ALL TYPES and personal spiritual practice too. Bodri corrects monastic and personal cultivation practice as follows:PHYSICAL EXERCISE: There needs to be more physical exercise in people’s spiritual practice schedules. Whether it be static or active muscle work such as yoga or martial arts, the exercise should require people to cultivate the Qi or Prana of their muscles and to start gaining control over this energy rather than simply stretch muscles and ligaments. He goes into details.MEDITATION: Bodri points out that there is vipassana and shamatha or mental watching and calming meditations (like the dhyana absorptions) as the core of their practice. However, people who practice emptiness meditation become bored and start clinging to dead images of emptiness that are not true “empty mind” or liberation. Therefore he gives about thirty “emptiness station” type meditations you can rotate through in order to prevent clinging and keep things fresh. This is great!INNER QI WORK: You need to do inner energy work (besides meditation) or you will not become enlightened because you won’t be able to get the first dhyana (jhana). Many Buddhist Sutras teach this but people don’t recognize the teachings. The Four Immeasurables Practice of Hinayana and Mahayana Buddhism, Kaula Tantra ecstatic visualizations, anapana breathwork, Vajrayana yidam deity yoga, Taoist inner nei-gong, kundalini yoga, Hindu Viramarga (Path of Heroes), boran kammathana, Visuddhimagga (Path of Purification), Vaishnaivism, Shaivism, Shaktism, etc. are all about inner energy work, especially when they mention to have joy or other emotions arise within your body. The Surangama Sutra explains how your body’s Qi, energy or Prana is washed and purified by passing through different yin and yang emotional states. After enough purification you can attain the independent mind-born body, “impure illusory body,” or astral subtle body attainment that is the first dhyana of enlightenment or Srotapanna stage of Arhatship. Without inner energy work this will never happen with just stale emptiness meditation practice.SELF-CORRECTION: The mindfulness of vipassana, or inner watching, needs to become even more formalized to include an end-of-day self-review of infractions and self-corrections so that one’s thinking and behavior are cleansed of faults over time.CULTIVATING VIRTUES AND POSITIVE PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTICS: You need to cultivate positive personality traits as did Yuan Liao Fan, Benjamin Franklin, and Frank Bettger. Bodri gives some surprising self-development systems that incorporate inner energy work.MERIT MAKING: You need to engage in social work (or charity), and skills development devoted towards fulfilling Buddha vows of your own making so that you gradually shape yourself not just to become enlightened but to become a certain type of enlightened being (Buddha) who performs certain deeds in the universe for the benefit of all beings. The idea is not to waste this life in only meditation, but use this opportunity to do good deeds for others and develop long-term skills as well.The book contains two priceless, amazing sections on enlightenment theory that cannot be found in any Buddhist, Hindu or Taoist text. They address the stages of the enlightenment path and true meaning of enlightenment and liberation. I’ve got tons of Buddhist and Hindu books. This one is revolutionary as to filling in explanatory gaps for consciousness-only, interdependent origination, and enlightenment teachings.Honestly, this book is more than just about Zen or Buddhism. You’ll be wasting your time in Asian spiritual practices of countless traditions if you don’t get this information so that you can easily plug the holes in your spiritual practice. Outstanding in terms of revolutionary material!!! It should certainly be in your hands but also in every type of monastery where many people are practicing.

My copy is in the recycle bin. Research the author.

You wont find this info anywhere else