Light of Zen in the West: Incorporating 'The Supreme Doctrine' and 'The Realization of the Self'

This Centenary Commemorative Edition also includes two lesser known works Buddha and the Intuition of the Universal and Techniques of Timeless Realization. The volume is complemented by a detailed Glossary, an Index, an Original Foreword by Aldous Huxley (1955), an Original Preface by Swami Siddheswarananda (1955), and a Contemporary Foreword by Professor Asanga Tilakaratne. Benoits writings on the human predicament and the path to inner freedom were influenced by his studies in Zen Buddhism and psychoanalysis. There is, as well, an evident dialogue in Benoits writings between the Gurdjieff teaching and Zen, with insightful ideas about universal laws, inner work, the human machine, and work in life. The Supreme Doctrine and The Realization of the Self foreshadow contemporary transpersonal and integral psychology: through the re-integration of psychology and metaphysics, Benoit invites us to make our own journey toward spiritual transformation and the intuitive understanding of universal truths. This Centenary Commemorative Edition also includes two lesser known works Buddha and the Intuition of the Universal and Techniques of Timeless Realization. The volume is complemented by a detailed Glossary, an Index, an Original Foreword by Aldous Huxley (1955), an Original Preface by Swami Siddheswarananda (1955), and a Contemporary Foreword by Professor Asanga Tilakaratne.

Table of Contents:
Contents: Zen Thought: An Overview; Good and Evil; Salvation as Idolatry; Zen Existentialism; The Mechanisms of Distress; The Five Modes of Thought and the Psychological Conditions for Satori; Freedom -- Total Determinism'; The Egotistical States; The Zen Unconscious; Metaphysical' Distress; Seeing Into One's Own Nature -- The Spectator of the Spectacle; Practical Implications of the Zen Approach to Inner Work; Obedience to the Nature of Things; Emotions and Emotional States; Sensation and Feeling; Pleasure, Pain and the Affective Response; The Rider and the Horse; The Primordial Error or Original Sin'; The Immediate Presence of Satori; The Mind's Passivity and the Disintegration of Our Energy; Concerning Discipline'; Compensations; Inner Alchemy; Humility; Metaphysical Insights; The Validity of Intellect in the Domain of Metaphysics; The Noumenal Domain; The Creative Principle; The Nature of God; Are Phenomena Real?; Why Does God Manifest Himself?; Two Ways of Thinking About the Cosmos; The Genesis of Creation; The Purusha-Prakriti Duality; Divine Indifference; The Law of Interconditioning; Our Total Conditioning as Human Beings; The Role of the Demiurge; God and Man; A Critique of Systematic Methods; Theoretical Understanding at the Intellectual Level and Lived Knowledge'; Dying in order to be Re-born; The Search for Happiness; Duality and Dualism: The Possibility of Perfect Humility; Good and Evil; The Conditions which Precede Realisation; How To Bring About a Progressive Reduction in One's Pride; Benoit's Technique of Timeless Realisation; Buddha and the Intuition of the Universal; Glossary of Terms; Index.

About the Author :
Graham Rooth is a retired Consultant Psychiatrist with a longstanding interest in languages, and the relationship between Spirituality and the Humanistic Therapies.

Review :
"...an excellent insight into Benoit's work on the human being and the nature of our suffering." -- The Middle Way, May 2005. "This is a book that should be read by everyone who aspires to know who he is and what he can do to acquire such self-knowledge..." -- From the Foreword to the first English edition by Aldous Huxley. ""There were giants in the earth in those days." This line from Genesis comes to mind as I look again, after a gap of some years, at the writings of Hubert Benoit. Like Karlfried Graf von Durckheim (author of Daily Life as Spiritual Exercise), who was of virtually the same generation, Benoit brought a formidable mind and a seeker's firm dedication to the exploration of Zen. They were deciphering then what remains for us to continue deciphering: teachings Asian in origin but native to our minds and hearts." -- Roger Lipsey, author of The Spiritual in Twentieth-Century Art.