THE
ARCANE
ARCHIVE

a cache of usenet and other text files pertaining
to occult, mystical, and spiritual subjects.


TOP | RELIGION | BUDDHISM | ZEN

Kongo Zen Diamond Zen info please?

To: alt.zen
From: jneatrou@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (John Neatrour)
Subject: Re: Kongo Zen Diamond Zen info please? (9409.kngozen.jn)
Date: 499409xx

Quoting: |>rjm@panix.com (rjm) 
	 |QUARK  

|> Can anyone tell me about Kongo Zen?

|We had a brief discussion of kongo zen awhile back.    It is taught by the 
|Shorinji Kempo organization in Japan.   I believe by the time one gets a 3rd 
|degree black belt (sandan), he is considered a buddhist priest.   What little 
|I know about the school is that they do zazen practice as complementary to 
|martial arts training.   The founder, Doshin So,  claims to have been taught 
|by Chinese Secret Societies, a dubious claim to most Chinese involved in 
|martial arts.   Shorinji Kempo is an interesting art in spite of this;  a lot 
|of joint locks and aikido-type throws are mixed in with hand and foot 
|techniques.   As for the zazen practice,  I cannot attest to the quality of 
|it.  Others? 

The Shingon sect (Tantric) of Japan has a practice called Kongo Zen. It is a
mix. In posture it is similar to zazen except that the right hand is on top in
the mudra. Counting and following the breath are similar to zazen but the
mantra 'a' is used and concentration on a mandala is also employed. There is a
Sun and a Moon mandala but also a mandala using the letter 'a'. Somewhere in
my pile I have a pamphlet called "Gedatsu Ajikan Kongozen Meditation"
describing the practice. I can't find it at the moment.

I think that American Sanghas might be found under something like Gedatsu
Churches of America or something like that. I remember being put off by the
pamphlet because it advocated some kind of phrenology.

Mantras are fine, mandalas and kasinas are fine. They are generally regarded
as secondary to zazen though.

EOF

The Arcane Archive is copyright by the authors cited.
Send comments to the Arcane Archivist: tyaginator@arcane-archive.org.

Did you like what you read here? Find it useful?
Then please click on the Paypal Secure Server logo and make a small
donation to the site maintainer for the creation and upkeep of this site.

The ARCANE ARCHIVE is a large domain,
organized into a number of sub-directories,
each dealing with a different branch of
religion, mysticism, occultism, or esoteric knowledge.
Here are the major ARCANE ARCHIVE directories you can visit:
interdisciplinary: geometry, natural proportion, ratio, archaeoastronomy
mysticism: enlightenment, self-realization, trance, meditation, consciousness
occultism: divination, hermeticism, amulets, sigils, magick, witchcraft, spells
religion: buddhism, christianity, hinduism, islam, judaism, taoism, wicca, voodoo
societies and fraternal orders: freemasonry, golden dawn, rosicrucians, etc.

SEARCH THE ARCANE ARCHIVE

There are thousands of web pages at the ARCANE ARCHIVE. You can use ATOMZ.COM
to search for a single word (like witchcraft, hoodoo, pagan, or magic) or an
exact phrase (like Kwan Yin, golden ratio, or book of shadows):

Search For:
Match:  Any word All words Exact phrase

OTHER ESOTERIC AND OCCULT SITES OF INTEREST

Southern Spirits: 19th and 20th century accounts of hoodoo, including slave narratives & interviews
Hoodoo in Theory and Practice by cat yronwode: an introduction to African-American rootwork
Lucky W Amulet Archive by cat yronwode: an online museum of worldwide talismans and charms
Sacred Sex: essays and articles on tantra yoga, neo-tantra, karezza, sex magic, and sex worship
Sacred Landscape: essays and articles on archaeoastronomy, sacred architecture, and sacred geometry
Lucky Mojo Forum: practitioners answer queries on conjure; sponsored by the Lucky Mojo Curio Co.
Herb Magic: illustrated descriptions of magic herbs with free spells, recipes, and an ordering option
Association of Independent Readers and Rootworkers: ethical diviners and hoodoo spell-casters
Freemasonry for Women by cat yronwode: a history of mixed-gender Freemasonic lodges
Missionary Independent Spiritual Church: spirit-led, inter-faith, the Smallest Church in the World
Satan Service Org: an archive presenting the theory, practice, and history of Satanism and Satanists
Gospel of Satan: the story of Jesus and the angels, from the perspective of the God of this World
Lucky Mojo Usenet FAQ Archive: FAQs and REFs for occult and magical usenet newsgroups
Candles and Curios: essays and articles on traditional African American conjure and folk magic
Aleister Crowley Text Archive: a multitude of texts by an early 20th century ceremonial occultist
Spiritual Spells: lessons in folk magic and spell casting from an eclectic Wiccan perspective
The Mystic Tea Room: divination by reading tea-leaves, with a museum of antique fortune telling cups
Yronwode Institution for the Preservation and Popularization of Indigenous Ethnomagicology
Yronwode Home: personal pages of catherine yronwode and nagasiva yronwode, magical archivists
Lucky Mojo Magic Spells Archives: love spells, money spells, luck spells, protection spells, etc.
      Free Love Spell Archive: love spells, attraction spells, sex magick, romance spells, and lust spells
      Free Money Spell Archive: money spells, prosperity spells, and wealth spells for job and business
      Free Protection Spell Archive: protection spells against witchcraft, jinxes, hexes, and the evil eye
      Free Gambling Luck Spell Archive: lucky gambling spells for the lottery, casinos, and races