Ten columns, 20 characters per column. 43 folding leaves. Ten chapters in one vol. Large 8vo, orig. brown wrappers (rather rubbed), new stitching. [Japan]: from the colophon, in trans.: “February 1629.”

First edition to be printed in Japan of the summary and update of what is probably the first practical manual of meditation in China (Sekiguchi, in trans.); it served as the model for almost all subsequent meditation manuals (Swanson, p. 2). It was “by far the most comprehensive systematization of Buddhist practise to date.”–Neal Arvid Donner, The Great Calming and Contemplation of Chih-I. Chapter One: The Synopsis. Translated, Annotated... More