Dogen's Shobogenzo Zuimonki

This text consists of Master Dåogen's own words, albeit through the filter of his Dharma successor, Koun Ejåo, who wrote down the spoken words of his teacher. The title of the text, Shåobåogenzåo Zuimonki, can be translated as True Dharma Eye Treasury:Record of Things Heard." It also distinct from Dåogen's magnum opus (called just Shåobåogenzåo) in that it consists of relatively straightforward and accessible teachings, making more limited use of the allusion, word-play, and metaphor that characterizethe essays that comprise Shåobåogenzåo. Record of Things Heard can be read as a highly practical manual of Buddhist practice, essentially a primer of Såotåo Zen. Dåogen's words express fundamental aspects of Buddhist practice in terms that are both concrete and straightforward in Japanese society in the thirteenth century. Among the many topics covered, Dåogen especially emphasizes the following points: seeing impermanence, departing from the ego-centered self, being free from greed, giving up self-attachment, following the guidance of a true teacher, and the practice of zazen, specifically shikantaza, or "just sitting". Record of Things Heard is a bilingual edition with extensive notes which help to provide the reader with a new way of approaching the text. As bonus material, this edition also includes translations and commentary of Dåogen's luminously evocative waka poetry, formerly published under the title White Snow on Bright Leaves. The book also includes a selection of Dogen's waka poetry with commentary"--