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Beyond Sanity & Madness Way of Zen Mas (Tuttle Library of Enlightenment)

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BEYOND SANITY AND MADNESS : The Way of Zen Master Dogen. By Dennis Genpo Merzel. 276 pp. Boston : Charles E. Tuttle Co., Inc., 1994.
ISBN 0-8048-3035-5 (Pbk).

Zen Master Dogen (1200-1253), founder of the Soto sect and perhaps the most brilliant mind Japan has ever produced, is a true giant of Asian thought. Comparable in religious intensity to the great medieval Rhineland mystic Meister Eckhart (d. cir. 1327), he was also philosophic genius whose works are of an astounding richness and profundity.

Studies of Dogen's writings tend to be of two kinds. On the one hand we have works by distinguished academics such as William R. LaFleur, Carl Bielefeldt, Hee-Jin Kim, Thomas P. Kasulis, Masao Abe, and Francis H. Cook whose main focus of attention is Dogen's rich philosophic content. All of these scholars are well worth reading, and a handy collection of their articles will be found in LaFleur's 'Dogen Studies' (University of Hawaii Press, 1985).

Then there are the practising Zenists such as Kosho Uchiyama Roshi, Taezan Maezumi Roshi, and the present writer, Dennis Genpo Merzel, men who are perhaps drawn more to Dogen for what he can teach them about practice. But whether of a practical or more theoretical bent, anyone who is in any way working to improve our understanding of Dogen and to disseminate his thought more widely deserves our gratitude.

Dennis Genpo Merzel, who is the founder of Kanzeon Sangha and the Abbot of Kanzeon Zen Center Utah, tells us that his book "does not offer any sort of scholarly analysis of Dogen Zenji's teaching, but rather discusses the essential features in his vision of Zen training and practice" (p.xii). To this end he has modified earier translations of three Dogen texts and written a basic commentary to each. The texts are:

1. GAKUDO YOJINSHU - 'Points to Watch in Practicing the Way,' (tr. Yuho Yokoi) which deals with basic points concerning Zen training.

2. YUIBUTSU YOBUTSU - 'Only Buddha and Buddha,' (tr. Tanahashi and Brown) on transcendental wisdom and its transmission from teacher to student.

3. BODAISATTA SHISHOBO - 'The Four Benevolent Ways of the Bodhisattva,' (tr. Kosen Nishiyama) which elucidates the practice of _dana_ or giving (almsgiving; loving words; beneficial actions; identification with others as the expression of compassion).

Genpo Sensei's elementary commentary is preceded by a very interesting brief Introduction by Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi Roshi (from whom I have borrowed a few words), and the book is rounded out with three appendixes which repeat the texts (but this time minus commentary), a Glossary of Zen Terminology, and a brief Bibliography.

It seems to me that this book would be of use to those who are are coming to Dogen for the first time, and who would like a simple and straightforward account of his basic thought. One way such readers might tackle a first reading of this book would be to read the complete texts in the appendixes first, referring to the commentary only as needed. Afterwards, those who would like to learn more about Dogen's vision of Zen practice might care to take a look at the following somewhat fuller treatment :

HOW TO RAISE AN OX : Zen Practice as Taught in Zen Master Dogen's Shobogenzo - Including Ten Newly Translated Essays by Francis Dojun Cook. Foreword by Taizan Maezumi Roshi. 216 pp. Los Angeles, California : Center Publications, 1978 and reprinted.

How to Raise an Ox: Zen Practice as Taught in Zen Master Dogen's Shobogenzo

A more general approach to Dogen, and one which gives an even wider selection of writings, will be found in :

MOON IN A DEWDROP - WRITINGS OF ZEN MASTER DOGEN. Edited by Kazuaki Tanahashi. Translated by Robert Aitken, Philip Whalen, et al. 356 pp. San Francisco: North Point Press, 1985 and reprinted.

Moon in a Dewdrop: Writings of Zen Master Dogen -

But whether you read Dogen as mediated by Genpo Sensei or Cook or Tanahashi or some other Zenist or scholar, you should certainly read some Dogen, if only to appreciate what Kazuaki Tanahashi meant when he stated that the time is ripe for Dogen to become part of the common human heritage. He really is that wonderful.

I have quite a collection of books about Buddhist teachings and the teachers, mostly from the Theravada traditions. Until I read this one, Dogen and Zen was very much a mystery to me. Next to "The Three Pillars of Zen" by Kaplan Roshi, it has provided insight where I had none before.

I am fortunate enough to live in the very same city as the author Genpo Roshi, abbot of the Kanzeon center, and it did play a role in my electing to visit the center. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who wishes to understand the writings of Dogen, and to learn a bit more about Zen.

Great book I love it. This a vivid living stream of teachings: How to find ZEN in the West, not to make a dumb copy of Japanese ZEN but embrace what we meet here and now... This book helps me a lot in my daily life and my business work.

Whammies

Lying in bed reading Beyond Sanity and Madness by Genpo Roshi in 2001 some time after having attended a Big Mind workshop with Genpo Roshi at Kanzeon Zen Center in Salt Lake City I had this experience of consciousness that was able to move through walls, buildings and space. A panoramic awareness that is inclusive, expansive, and boundless without boundaries or limits. A feeling of complete freedom and release. Ability to inhabit any space, location or person instantly. My physical body became just part of the landscape. This consciousness had no body no fixed anything. Time had frozen, completely still. The experience was fluid and flowing but time stopped. I sat up and wrote "When Time Freezes"

When time freezes
There is no you
There is no me
This is bliss

As I move freely through
Out space and time
Be anywhere, do anything
Everyone & everything else stands still

Not long after I wrote "Sometimes I fly" While reading Beyond Sanity and Madness

Sometimes I fly
Sometimes desire to fly
Prevents me from flying
Sometimes doubt says I never
Flew at all
Sometimes I fly anyway

This
"Experience of
No want for anything
Already am everything

This who less, I less experience is what is referred to as flying in the poem. Over a period of several months I had repeated experiences that I called Whammies or Explosions as they would come suddenly with out expectation even while driving the car sometimes. These whammies would last for a fraction of second to several seconds always followed by intense joy and amazement. I would just be blown away. Literally the "I" was away. I wanted everyone to experience this.

Several years later reading Sutta's from the Pali Cannon I read this and it brought me back to that experience and poem. It is as the Buddha has said about his Bhikkhu's.

"having been one, they become many; having been many, they become one; they appear and vanish; they go unhindered through walls, through enclosures, through mountains, as though through space; they dive in and out of the earth as though it were water; They walk on water without sinking as though it were earth; seated cross-legged, they travel in space like birds; with their hands they touch and stroke the moon and sun so powerful and mighty................" (From the Mahasakuludayi Sutta)

I can never express my gratitude and appreciation for this teacher enough!

This book is truly horrible. Merzel spends most of the book making the following points:

1. you must never criticize your teacher 2. if the teacher commits actions that seems "immoral" they are just to bring you to enlightenment 3. you have to give up home and family to practice zen

Funny to think that Merzel and Joko Beck are both Dharma heirs of Maezumi Roshi, since they are exact opposites. Don't buy this book! Read Joko instead.

This book sets back Zen in America to the dark ages...