On Having No Head -- Zen and the Rediscovery of the Obvious
by D.E.Harding.
"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. Douglas Harding describes his first experience of headlessness in On Having No Head, a classic work first published in 1961. In this extensively revised edition he conveys the immediacy, simplicity and practicality of 'the headless way', placing it within a zen context, and also drawing parallels to practices in other traditions.
'I know of no other piece of writing as concise… that stands a better chance of shifting the reader's perception to a different register.' Professor Huston Smith.