Zen Naikan — The Ancient Energy Alchemy of the Rinzai Zen Monks

---

"When one learns to be quiet and simple, free from torments, the ancestral energy spontaneously conforms to this, producing an integral and pervading qi-energy. Know that this is the secret to preserving life." — Hakuin zenji

There is an energy in the body that modern medicine struggles to name and modern life relentlessly disperses. Rinzai Zen monks have cultivated it for centuries through a precise practice, transmitted orally from master to disciple: Naikan.

The term was introduced three centuries ago by Master Hakuin Ekaku to define a method of Rinzai Zen internal alchemy — not passive contemplation, but dynamic transformation of body, mind, and energy. A path accessible to both the monastery monk and the layperson living an active life in the world.

Zen Naikan is the most comprehensive work ever published in English on this tradition. Zen Master Leonardo Anfolsi traces the Eight Historical Sources of the practice — from Bodhidharma to Hakuin, from the Kamakura era to contemporary Japan — and transmits the techniques with the precision of someone who has walked that path for decades. A book on Qi and Zen energy cultivation with no equivalent in the English-language esoteric canon.

What you will find

— The Eight Sources of Zen Naikan: the complete lineage, from Taoist origins to the Japanese Rinzai school — The theory of Qi and the Dantien: how to cultivate Dantien through Zen meditation, with references to current research on the enteric nervous system and epigenetics — Embryonic breathing and Master Hakuin's techniques from the Yasenkanna and the Orategama, fully translated — The Three Secret Keys of Zen Naikan and the Body of Light — 21 traditional Naikan exercises by Hakuin Ekaku to develop Qi, harmonize body and mind, and strengthen vital energy

Who this book is for

For practitioners of yoga, martial arts, qigong, or meditation seeking a deeper level of understanding. For anyone drawn to Zen dynamic practice who wants more than sitting in silence. For those who believe the body is an instrument of knowledge, not merely of performance.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Leonardo Anfolsi Reiyo Ekai is a Zen Buddhist minister of the Rinzai lineage, recognized by the Italian and United States federal governments as a Buddhist Minister of Religion. Ordained as a monk in 1981, recognized as Master of Meditation in 2001 and Dharma Master in 2013. Trained under Master Yamada Mumon, Rector of the Imperial University of Hanazono. He received the six Yogas of Naropa from His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala in 1990. Director of the magazine Nitrogeno. Manuale per il nuovo mondo, he teaches and lectures across Italy and Europe.

Translation by Gay Hsiao-Lin Bardin.

Including 21 Traditional Exercises

The numbers in the book:
ISBN: 9788898750511
304 pages
Author: Leonardo Anfolsi Reiyo Ekai
Series: Buddismo Zen
66 images