College of Thelema: Thelemic Education

"Well, there's zazen and zazen.

Out of interest, there's a rather excellent book on Zazen, one of the few actually worthwhile books on the subject, IMHO, called Zen Training, by Katsuki Sekida. It's totally congruent with the way AC describes meditation."

I think there are probably many good books about Zen or zazen. But one of the things I like about my zazen is that it doesn't require many books, just the simple techniques such as counting breath, following breath and shikantaza. It has many of the same things that Crowley described in Mysticism and other places. For instance, new practitioners of zazen start by sitting still cross-legged and counting breath in a relaxed and focused manner, keeping the mind in lower belly. Maybe it's just a preference, but I found it useful not to think 'now I'm mastering asana and now I'm mastering holding a cup of water on my head, now I'm mastering dharana, now I'm mastering dhyana', etc. I've been practicing just following my breath for years now. Other thing I didn't so much learn from Crowley is the emphasis of kind of a slightly passive yet focused and relaxed state of mind and body. For instance, Crowley maybe suggested things such as focusing on a mantra so strongly that other thoughts will be splintered away. I found the approach of kind of passively letting the thoughts come, observe them and let them go away instead of forcing it more beneficial for me. One more thing I personally found useful is to simply consider even fancy seeming experiences just makyos and continuing with the practice, such as following the breath.

"The problem is this: "insight" in itself is fairly easy to get - one can have flashes of satori or non-dual realization in all sorts of situations. And for most people that's enough, just to have that flash of insight, it helps put life in perspective.

But it's pretty fugitive, and useless in terms of giving you something solid in life, or in terms of enabling you to teach others (and the A:.A:. is all about teaching), without a parallel training in "calming" meditation. (The equivalent in Theravada would be that you have to pursue the Jhanas to a certain extent in order to be able to meditate on the Four Noble Truths properly.) The insight has to be "fixed" by a good grounding in (initially) rather boring calming meditation and the occasional deep bath in nescience.

Now the real gem in Sekida's book is that he points out there's a certain stage before which you haven't really gotten your foot in the door of that kind of meditation yet, and that stage is absolutely parallel to what Crowley calls "Asana" - no signals from the body. And there's no getting around it - it's quite difficult and painful to get to that stage.
"

One of the reasons I like zazen is that it at least somewhat de-empathizes different stages, attainments, etc. Currently I value the benefits of zazen in being more relaxed, focused, etc, in everyday life and I'm not trying to reach dhyana and satori, etc. In a sense, I now view even zazen an advanced kind of practice. For many people, it would be much more efficient to first get their body and nutrition in condition, maybe exercise, hiking, martial arts, chi kung, whatever, and only then start with more rigorous and advanced meditation practices.

In any case, thanks for the Sekida reference, I'll put it on my books to read list.

Personally, I have found Zen Buddhist meditation (zazen) most useful, more so than the yoga meditation practices as described by Crowley in Mysticism, etc. Perhaps instead of focusing on one subject like in Crowley's yoga meditation, zazen is more like no subject, the present moment, simplifying the life, etc. As such it seems to me like a general purpose practice that can enchance different types of lifes or philosophies. Actually, for the last years I've not really practiced explicit kind of Magick, in part because I noticed I was doing lots of work and not really getting enough benefit of it. With zazen, the practitioner can enter different types of states of mind or experiences. In Zen, they say that they're just makyos ("bad things"), just keep on with the practice. I noticed that for me, some of the makyos can be seen as magical phenomenen in the psyche.

In any case, I've found zazen a very strengthening and clarifying practice for me and my nervous system. As such it does not force any dogma on me and I don't find it at all incompatible with magick practice, in fact I've now become more interested in magick because of my zazen practice.

I would start with whatever I have instead of trying to construct a perfect temple beforehand. You can improve gradually with experience and insight.

@Liber 175 said

"
Further concerning the life of the devotee: --- Now, as many are fully occupied with their affairs, let it be known that this method is adaptable to the necessities of all.
And We bear witness that this which followeth is the Crux and Quintessence of the whole Method.
First, if he have no Image, let him take anything soever, and consecrate it as an Image of his God. Likewise with his robes and instruments, his suffumigations and libations; for his Robe hath he not a nightdress; for his instrument a walking stick; for his suffumigation a burning match; for his libation a glass of water?
But let him consecrate each thing that he useth to the service of that particular Deity, and not profane the same to any other use.
"

If you're worried about hallucinations, seeing flies with glowing eyes, etc, then one technique that at least the Zen school does is to consider them as Makyos. Makyos can range from emotional states to seeing faces or animals on the wall. Some of them may even be very pleasant. In any case, the advice is not to consider them either positive or negative. Just observe them and they'll eventually go away. They're not the real attainment of kensho or satori.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makyo

Obviously, it also depends on your personality, neurochemistry and other such issues. I know of a doctor of physics and a CEO who smokes daily and always seems very sharp. Me, however, can smoke very rarely before the tolerance (not addiction, though) sets up. If I smoke more often, it just makes me feel dumber and I the experience seems mainly boring; I just keep wishing the cannabinoids would go away so that I could think without the lettuce feeling in my brain.

The words are also used in Crowley's self-initiation ceremony Liber Pyramidos. In comments by Frater T.S., it is written:

'... Other versions have “Sazaz Sazaz Adnatsan SazaZ (Pronounce this backwards. But it is very dangerous. It opens the Gates of Hell.)” I am unsure of the origin of the “Zazas” formula; in The Vision and the Voice it is given slightly differently, and Crowley in a note refers the words to “some vision of old time.” The most likely source is one of the Gnostic texts; certainly the style is right.'

Hope this is of some help.

@Takamba said

"
@Veronica said
"I am enjoying this thread very much, thank you Puck for sharing those lovely rites to begin with, who wrote them?
"

Liber Qoph, a ritual of the type like Liber Resh, is credited to Horus/Maat Lodge and may have been written by Orryelle Bascule (unless Orryelle Bascule is only the author of the commentary on Liber Qoph)."

I found this document about Crowley and Luna. In it this rite LIBER QOPH vel Hecate is said to be by Orryelle Defenestrate (same Orryelle probably).

www.scribd.com/doc/8598450/Gayatri-Crowley

This is from Crowley's "Eight Lectures on Yoga":

".. every student should make a point of salutiing the sun (in the manner recommended in Liber Resh) four times daily, and shall salute the Moon on her appearance with the Mantra Gayatri. The best way is to say the Mantra instantly one sees the Moon, to note whether the attention waves, and to repeat the Mantra untiul it does not waver at all."

This Mantra Gayatri, I believe, goes somewhat like this, see Book 4 part 1 (Mysticism) for the proper letters, I can't type them all right now.

"Aum! tat savitur varenyam
Bhargo devasya dhimahi
Dhiyo yo nah pracodayat"

It seems that when you drive your nervous system to a state where doesn't have any viable "answer", it goes to an empty state, which is a fertile ground.

However, we're getting a bit off-topic, don't you think?

I definitely got into Magick, Zen, mysticism, etc, because I experimented with psychedelics in my youth. I was a hardcore atheist already in my early teens, basically despising all religions. In my early university years, I got introduced to cannabis, LSD, mushrooms, MDMA, salvia and some other psychedelics. On the discussion boards (Usenet at the time) a person I highly respected said that a book called Zen and the Brain is really great. I found the book but I still remember being repelled by the name "Zen" on the cover, because I thought it reminds me of religions too much.

A similar thing, even stronger, happened with Magick.

Through the psychedelic experience and the community, I learned that there's at least something in these systems.

These days, I practice Magick and some other systems daily, but use psychedelics very scarcely.

On the end note, I basically went too far with the psychedelics, which took many years to recover and I'm not sure I'm all done yet.

So take care!

It's a long time since I read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

However, doesn't Pirsig's description of descend into madness resemble Liber Liber Os Abysmi vel Daath sub figura CDLXXIV?

"Let then his reason hurl itself again and again against the blank wall of mystery which will confront him.

Thus also following is it said, and we deny it not. At last automatically his reason will take up the practice, sua sponte, and he shall have no rest therefrom.

Then will all phenomena which present themselves to him appear meaningless and disconnected, and his own Ego will break up into a series of impressions having no relation one with the other, or with any other thing.

Let this state then become so acute that it is in truth Insanity, and let this continue until exhaustion.

According to a certain deeper tendency of the individual will be the duration of this state.

It may end in real insanity, which concludes the activities of the Adept during this present life, or by his rebirth into his own body and mind with the simplicity of a little child."

In order to avoid the serious problems with forcing kundalini upwards, it may also be instructive to see how Taoists do chi kung which is roughly equivalent to pranayama.

For instance, one of their most important practices is one called Small Universe in which you also raise the energy from the root of penis along the spine and all the way to the brain. However, Taoists also say that the brain is good for reflecting and transforming energy, but not so good at storing it. In fact it can be dangerous. That's why the Small Universe practice also includes directing the energy from the brain like a stream of water along the front of your body to your dantian in your lower belly. They say this is a safe place to store the energy.

Also, the Taoists maintain that you shouldn't force the energy to flow to one place. Instead, you just focus your will on the place and the energy should flow there, provided you're experienced enough.

There are also some easy to read books about Taoist sexual techniques, called The Multi-orgasmic Man and The Multi-orgasmic Couple, by Mantak Chia et al.

@Jim Eshelman said

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@Alias55A said
"i looked it up in 777..."

That table is a weak spot in 777. I think the better attributions are the traditional Eastern association of Svadisthana to the element Water, and the planetary attribution of Mars."

I agree, I don't like these attributions either. I prefer to attribute Muladhara to Malkuth, Svadhisthana to Yesod, Manipura to the crossing of Peh and Samekh, Anahata to Tiphareth, etc.

Since I also regularly practice with Zen, Chinese (Taoist/Kungfu/Chi Cung/Tai Chi Chuan) and Tree of Life systems, each with similar yet different attributions, I've been at times confused of issues such as how much can I borrow from system, etc. For instance, if in Zazen they tell I should breathe to the lower abdomen, should I use my skills from dantian or Yesod meditations or try to do it the Zen way?

With time I've come to build some kind of "elasticity" in my mind so that it doesn't matter that much to me. Sometimes I practice it the Zen way, sometimes I do basically the same practice and think of Yesod there, yet sometimes I do dantian breathing. It would have been easier to work only in one system, I guess, but then again, it's Magick.

One nice thing about working with multiple systems is that you can use their common ideas to figure out what's important. For instance, most of these systems have the "Middle Pillar" in the spine and also often start with breathing or meditation to the lower abdomen, so I figured I could as well start there.

@Alias55A said

"anpi: thnx for the link, i never knew about the jaw and lips and stuff, just the little things, great link! oh and about the lying down one, where it saise to bend your knees so your feet are flat on the floor to straighten your spine, how much do you bend them?"

Sorry, I don't know. I had practiced to sit in the full lotus before I even took any courses, just from books... and I didn't use a cushion back then. So I wouldn't ask me about the specifics. However, when a guy on the zen center checked my posture, he said it's a good one.

"i think this will work for me, but how is it that alot of people get good results and not have correct posture? I know some people that realy know there s**t and they just do what is comfortable to them, i just think they have much better concentration then i do lol"

Basically, you don't need to have a posture that's exactly by the book to have results. Some people, especially in the magick circles, think that any posture is good as long as it's comfortable, other people are very specific about details such as where you put your lips, etc. I think I'm somewhere in the middle about this.

When you advance with your meditation practices, it may be that you spend at times very long hours in the asana, I mean perhaps some hours per day. I think it's ridiculous to do this in the Ibis or Thunderbolt asana as shown by Crowley, if only because it can be harmful to your body.

The hard asanas, such as the full lotus, will often come comfortable with practice. For instance, I can sit in a full lotus with the legs in one position for 45 minutes without a slightest problems. However, if I switch the legs in a reverse or mirror position, I can do it comfortably only for about five minutes. It's only because I've always been practicing in the first way. I'm not sure if it's only about how stretchy your muscles are, perhaps part of it is that your nervous system gets used to certain positions, in the same way as for many or most people, crossing hands in one way feels natural but the other way it's uncomfortable.

One reason that I try to do it in the traditional way instead of using just what feels comfortable right now is that I admit right away that I don't understand all the details about the nervous system, the body, etc. People have been using the traditional postures with good results or at least without harming themselves too much for hundreds of years, so I might as well go with their rules.

Ultimately, you're supposed to find a posture that is so stable, symmetrical and comfortable that it won't bother your mind and won't cause damage to your body. You can get results with different types of postures, but certain postures may have benefits; for instance, it's perhaps harder to fall asleep in a full lotus than lying on the floor.

I've been taking Zazen classes in our local Zen center for about a year and a half. It's not that everyone there can do the full lotus posture. Some people use a kind of a meditation stool as their aid. Some do half lotus. Some sit in a posture similar to the Dragon asana. However, many think that if you can do the full lotus, then it's one of the most stable and best postures. I can do the full lotus and it has come to the point where my body doesn't tire at all even if I sit longer periods.

And yes, I bought bought a rigid zafu cushion in the Zen center that I sit on in my lotus posture.

About Crowley's mention of the body getting rigid and even jumping around, I haven't experienced that with zazen and I don't see other people jumping around either. I'm not sure, but it could be that it's because of somewhat different emphasis on what you do with your mind. For instance, in Zazen you often try to get in a very relaxed yet alert state of mind, mind held at the bottom of the belly ("hara"), and not to force the mind or body overtly. Perhaps more rigid practices, such as forcibly concentring on one object, can bring more of the stiffness or even jumping around? I'm not sure, but if you're trying to do Zazen, you're not usually supposed to try to get your body very rigid.

If you have problems such as strains on your body, perhaps you could try stretching, some yoga or whatever. But go slowly about it and don't try to strain too much, otherwise you could do some serious damage to your body. I heard of one guy who got quite serious problems with his knees apparently from trying too hard with the full lotus.

Edit: I just stumbled to this:

"Before I go on, I would like to give a caution. The instructions I will be giving can be followed to two extremes. One extreme is to not follow the instruction enough, to be too lax which leads to sloppiness, dullness, drowsiness, or sleepiness. The other extreme is placing too much effort into your posture which will produce tension or a rigid body and mind.

Two characteristics of zazen are being alert yet relaxed. This is an intentional activity and there should be some effort or energy in zazen, but not too much effort. If there is too much effort, again, you will become tense, and your zazen practice can become a strain. While sitting, you should be relaxed but awake. If you become too relaxed, your mind will wander in its usual way or you may fall asleep. Each of us needs to find for ourselves a balance between our effort and a sense of ease."

www.intrex.net/chzg/posture.htm

That is, perhaps more intensive concentration, control and effort will bring more of the rigidity, but zazen tends to emphasize a kind of a middle way. For instance, instead of forcibly pushing arising thoughts away, in zazen your often instructed to just passively let the thoughts arise and they'll eventually go away.

anpi