Table of Contents

Introduction

Part I--Hara in the Life of the Japanese
1 Hara in the Life of the Japanese
2 Hara in the Life of the Japanese
3 Hara as the Purpose of Practice
4 Hara in the Japanese Language

Part II--Hara in its General Human
Significance
1 Eastern and Western Views of Hara
The General Significance of the Center
of the Body
The European Attitude to the Belly
Natural Hara
The Two Levels

Part III--Man With Hara
1 The Living Form Centered in Hara
2 The Ego and the Vital Center
3 Malformations of the I
4 Hara as Secular Power
5 Hara in Experience: Insight and Practice
6 The Strength, Breadth, and Closeness
Engendered by Hara
7 The Order of Life in the Symbolism
of the Body

Part IV--Hara as Practice
1 The Purpose and Prerequisite of
All Practice
2 The Purpose and Limits of Practice
3 The Prerequisites of all Practice
4 Posture, Breath, Tension--as Starting
Points of Practice
5 The Practice of Right Posture
6 Sitting with Hara
7 Tension-Relaxation
8 The Practice of Breathing

Part V--Retrospect and Outlook
1 Retrospect and Outlook

Appendix--Japanese Texts
1 Okado Torajiro
2 Sato Tsuji-The Teachings of the Human
Body
3 Kaneko Shoseki-Nature and Origins
of Man

Index

About the Author

Karlfried Graf Dürckheim (1896-1988) spent eight years in Japan before World War II and was a professor at the University of Kiel until Hitler’s rise to power in 1933. In Japan he discovered Zen Buddhism in its various expressions and subsequently became a Western authority on the subject.

Reviews

“Hara is essential reading for all who inquire into the spiritual principles and practices that are fundamental to all wisdom traditions and natural healing professions.”
*Don Stapleton, author of Self-Awakening Yoga*

"...the formalism is well worth accommodating in order to gain its gems of wisdom."
*Spirit of Change, May/June 2005*