Author Description

In this booklet, an Enlightened Chan (Zen in Japanese) master, Master Huai-jin Nan (1918-2012) shows us how to acquire a disease-free physical and mental state by applying the principles of tai chi into Chan walking while chanting into a calm mental state of Chan Ding, which is similar to Samadhi in Hindu yoga.Master Nan shows us how to enter the state of Chan ding by combining two coordinated repetitive movements, Chan walking (1st movement) and chanting (2nd movement) the name of Buddha mentally or orally. If you do not want to chant the Buddhist way you can chant quietly the non-religious six healing sounds, as shown in the booklet.Walking is a good repetitive exercise to generate new neurological reflexes, especially when one is in the hypnagogic state in Chan (Zen in Japanese) meditation, called Ding in Chinese. Hypnagogia is the transitional period of "threshold consciousness" between wakefulness and sleep. In this empty mental state, you can rewrite your programs (reflexes). This is the most important aspect of integrative body-mind training like yoga, tai chi and qigong.According to Master Nan, in order to practice meditation with good results, you have to reach and state in the mental condition, called Ding in 4 principal daily activities, i.e. the Sì wēi yí, the four dignified modes of daily activities i.e. walking, standing, sitting and meditating in a lying down posture. Thomas Cleary has written the following about Nan''s works and methodology:"There is no question that Master Nan''s work is a cut above anything else available from modern authors, either academic or sectarian, and I would like to see his work gain its rightful place in the English speaking world....." Source: Master Nan book review "The Cultivation of Practice" translated by J.C. Cleary (Thomas Cleary is an author and translator of Buddhist, Daoist, Confucian, and Muslim classics, and of The Art of War, a treatise on management, military strategy, and statecraft. He lives in Oakland,