ABSOLUTE SAMADHI — The state reached in meditation, in which “the activity of consciousness is stopped and we cease to be aware of time, space, and causation. . . . A state in which absolute silence and stillness reign, bathed in a pure, serene light.”
DHARMA— Has many meanings. It is used here (in chapter 6) to mean the laws of the universe; the teaching of Buddha.
KENSHO — The marvelous moment of realization sometimes experienced when emerging from absolute samadhi. Ken means seeing into something; sho means one’s true nature. “You seem to see and hear beautiful things,” Katsuki Sekida writes in Zen Training, “but the truth is that you yourself have become beautiful and exalted. Kensho is the recognition of your own purified mind.” He also writes later (p. 238), “When one attains kensho and the habitual way of consciousness falls off, there appears what may be translated as ‘the great perfect Mirror of Wisdom.’” There are many stages of kensho. See also Satori.
MUSHIN— Literally, this means “no mind” (mu, no; shin, mind), which means “no ego.” It means the mind is in a state of equilibrium.
POSITIVE SAMADHI — Remaining in samadhi while interacting with the world.
PURE EXISTENCE — The state we realize in samadhi, which Katsuki Sekida calls “the zero level of consciousness.” As he writes in Zen Training, “Although no thought occurs, a bright illumination seemingly lights up the mind. Or rather, the mind itself emits the illumination. . . . It is not that a light is illuminating the mind but that the mind is illuminating itself. There is nothing to be found: no world, no others, no self, no time. There is only a subtle existence, of which there can be no description.” And in the beginning of the chapter titled “Pure Existence” he writes, “The activity of consciousness . . . conceals the real nature of existence. . . . First you have to go through absolute samadhi, where the activity of consciousness is reduced to zero level, and where you can vividly see existence in its nakedness.”
PURE SENSATION — When the process of thinking is inhibited, pure sensation results. “Sensations are the first things in the way of consciousness” (William James, Textbook of Psychology).
SAMADHI — The state in which the activity of consciousness — including all thought — ceases and an absolute silence and stillness reigns, bathed in a pure, serene light. Usually, when we use the term samadhi, we are referring to absolute samadhi instead of positive samadhi. Katsuki Sekida writes in Zen Training (p. 238), “In absolute samadhi the veil is cleared away and the perfect mirror is allowed to appear. . . . The great Mirror of Wisdom becomes brilliantly lit.”
SATORI— The realization of our True Nature sometimes experienced when emerging from absolute samadhi. “Sakyamuni Buddha’s satori was a matter of creating a new world. . . . The unprecedented experience came to him suddenly, striking him like a thunderbolt, and his every problem was solved in an instant” (from Zen Training). See also Kensho.
TANDEN — The lower part of the abdomen. Traditionally regarded in the East as the seat of human spiritual power.
ZAZEN — Sitting meditation.
ZEN — Meditation that leads to absolute samadhi while sitting and positive samadhi while interacting with the world.