On Having No Head: Zen and the Rediscovery of the Obvious

"Headlessness", the feeling of no self that mystics of all times have aspired to, is an instantaneous way of "waking up" and becoming more aware of oneself and the world. Douglas Harding's description of his first experience of headlessness, a work first published in 1961, has now been revised. Describing the technique and placing it within the Zen context, this book also includes parallels from traditions other than Buddhism, as well as a concluding chapter on the "headless way".