Customer Reviews

Master Dogen's Shobogenzo, Book 3

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I began work on this translation in 1982, simply re-writing the English translation already accomplished by Gudo Nishijima. From 1986, I began to work directly from the original text. It then became increasingly apparent to me that Master Nishijima had very deep intuitive, non-semantic understanding of everything that Master Dogen was endeavoring to transmit. It was also apparent to me that, in his attempts to render this non-semantic understanding into an authentic, more or less literal English translation, Master Nishijima was remarkably wide of the mark. So I did my best, like a miner, to extract the real meaning from Master Nishijima, sitting by his side at temple retreats, and visiting him regularly at his office to ask him in detail about the original text. Then I went home and did my best to produce an as-far-as possible literal translation in tune with this real meaning. This process continued until 1997, when Master Nishijima called a halt to my revision work, apparently fearing that I was corrupting the true meaning of Shobogenzo due to my new-found enthusiasm, from 1994 onward, for the teaching of FM Alexander.

What I woud like to make clear now is that in the years when I was working on the Shobogenzo translation under Master Nishijima, through to 1997, my own understanding of the fundamental principle of Shobogenzo was not clear. Only recently, after 25 years of daily Zazen, has my own understanding of the fundamental principle become truly clear.

Thus, if I were to revise the translation again, I would want to change the wording in many places. In the very first sentence of Book One, for example, I would change the translation of MU-I from "without intention" to "free of intention" or "free of effort." As I see it now, it is a crucially important distinction.

In practice, however, the translation as it is represents a true joint effort between Gudo Nishijima and myself. Rather than continue in the endless and ultimately impossible effort to turn the translation into something that might be totally without mistakes, I think the best thing may be for me to accept its publication in its present form, and to use this translation, mistakes and all, as a basis for clarifying my understanding as it is now.

If any sincere person is interested in how my understanding of the central teaching of Shobogenzo has changed, I have tried to express it on my blog at http://the-middle-way.blogspot.com and would welcome any Shobogenzo-related questions. Or better still, let us find a way just to sit together in the lotus posture.

A Monumental Achievement!

If you have not read Books 1 through 4 of this translation of the 95 chapter edition of Shobogenzo, do it now! If you have read them, do it again!

Gudo Nishijima and Mike (Chodo) Cross's four volume translation of the 13th century Zen master Eihei Dogen's masterpiece marked the first English language translation of the entire 95 chapter version of Shobogenzo - The True Dharma-Eye Treasury (excepting the nearly useless translation by Kosen Nishiyama and John Stevens).

By opting for a more "literal" rather than "interpretive" rendition, the translators have realized a monumental achievement by furnishing English readers with a reliable text that is certain to be invaluable for generations.

This set is also packed with a wide selection of reference material, or "Aids to the Reader", including a translation of The Heart Sutra, Dogen's Fukanzazengi, and a generous selection of passages from the Lotus Sutra, Glossaries, a variety of tables offering data on everything from The Works of Dogen, to equivalents of Chinese/Japanese/Sanskrit/English.

The extensive footnotes, while occasionally offering some overly "interpretive" (read: sectarian), provide readers with a vast amount of supplemental information with lucid explanations concerning cultural context, alternate readings, sources for material quoted in the body of the text, biographical (historical and traditional) information on personages appearing in the text, and much more.

Book 1 - Table of Contents

[1] BENDOWA - A Talk about Pursuing the Truth

[2] MAKA-HANNYA-HARAMITSU - Maha-prajna-paramita

[3] GENJO-KOAN - The Realized Universe

[4] IKKA-NO-MYOJU - One Bright Pearl

[5] JU-UNDO-SHIKI - Rules for the Hall of Heavy Cloud

[6] SOKU-SHIN-ZE-BUTSU - Mind Here and Now Is Buddha

[7] SENJO - Washing

[8] RAIHAI-TOKUZUI - Prostrating to Attainment of the Marrow

[9] KEISEI-SANSHIKI - The Voices of the River-Valley and the Form of the Mountains

[10] SHOAKU-MAKUSA - Not Doing Wrongs

[11] UJI - Existence-Time

[12] KESA-KUDOKU - The Merit of the Kasaya

[13] DEN-E - The Transmission of the Robe

[14] SANSUIGYO - The Sutra of Mountains and Water

[15] BUSSO - The Buddhist Patriarchs

[16] SHISHO - The Certificate of Succession

[17] HOKKE-TEN-HOKKE - The Flower of Dharma Turns the Flower of Dharma

[18] SHIN-FUKATOKU - Mind Cannot Be Grasped [The former]

[19] SHIN-FUKATOKU - Mind Cannot Be Grasped [The latter]

[20] KOKYO - The Eternal Mirror

[21] KANKIN - Reading Sutras

Book 2 - Table of Contents

[22] BUSSHO - The Buddha-nature

[23] GYOBUTSU-YUIGI - The Dignified Behavior of Acting Buddha

[24] BUKKYO - The Buddha's Teaching

[25] JINZU - Mystical Power

[26] DAIGO - Great Realization

[27] ZAZENSHIN - A Needle for Zazen

[28] BUTSU-KOJO-NO-JI - The Matter of the Ascendant State of Buddha

[29] INMO - It

[30] GYOJI - [Pure] Conduct and Observance [of Precepts] - Parts 1 & 2

[31] KAI-IN-ZANMAI - Samadhi, State Like the Sea

[32] JUKI - Affirmation

[33] KANNON - Avalokitesvara

[34] ARAKAN - The Arhat

[35] HAKUJUSHI - Cedar Trees

[36] KOMYO - Brightness

[37] SHINJIN-GAKUDO - Learning the Truth with Body and Mind

[38] MUCHU-SETSUMU - Preaching a Dream in a Dream

[39] DOTOKU - Expressing the Truth

[40] GABYO - A Picture of Rice Cake

[41] ZENKI - All Functions

Book 3 - Table of Contents

[42] TSUKI - The Moon

[43] KUGE - Flowers in Space

[44] KOBUSSHIN - The Mind of Eternal Buddhas

[45] BODAISATTA-SHISHOBO - Four Elements of a Bodhisattva's Social Relations

[46] KATTO - The Complicated

[47] SANGAI-YUISHIN - The Triple World is Only the Mind

[48] SESSHIN-SESSHO - Expounding the Mind & Expounding the Nature

[49] BUTSUDO - The Buddhist Truth

[50] SHOHO-JISSO - All Dharmas are Real Form

[51] MITSUGO - Secret Talk

[52] BUKKYO - The Buddhist Sutras

[53] MUJO-SEPPO - The Non-Emotional Preaches the Dharma

[54] HOSSHO - The Dharma-nature

[55] DARANI - Dharani

[56] SENMEN - Washing the Face

[57] MENJU - The Face-to-Face Transmission

[58] ZAZENGI - The Standard Method of Zazen

[59] BAIKE - Plum Blossoms

[60] JUPPO - The Ten Directions

[61] KENBUTSU - Meeting Buddha

[62] HENSAN - Thorough Exploration

[63] GANZEI - Eyes

[64] KAJO - Everyday Life

[65] RYUGIN - The Moaning of Dragons

[66] SHUNJU - Spring and Autumn

[67] SOSHI-SAIRAI-NO-I - The Ancestral Master's Intention in Coming from the West

[68] UDONGE - The Udumbara Flower

[69] HOTSU-MUJOSHIN - Establishment of the Will to the Supreme

[70] HOTSU-BODAISHIN - Establishment of the Bodhi-mind

[71] NYORAI-ZENSHIN - The Whole Body of the Tathagata

[72] ZANMAI-O-ZANMAI - The Samadhi That Is King of Samadhis

[73] SANJUSHICHI-BON-BODAI-BUNBO - The Thirty-seven Auxiliary Bodhi Methods

[74] TEMBORIN - Turning the Dharma Wheel

[75] JISHO ZANMAI - Samadhi as Self Experience

[76] DAI SHUGYO - Great Practice

[77] KOKU - Space

[78] HATSU-U - The Patra

[79] ANGO - The Retreat

[80] TASHINTSU - The Power to Know Others' Minds

[81] O SAKU SENDABA - A King's Seeking of Saindhava

[82] JI-KUIN-MON - Sentences To Be Shown in the Kitchen Hall

[83] SHUKKE - Leaving Family Life

[84] SANJI-NO-GO - Karma in Three Times

[85] SHIME - The Four Horses

[86] SHUKKE-KUDOKU - The Merit of Leaving Family Life

[87] KUYO-SHOBUTSU - Serving Offerings to Buddhas

[88] KIE-SANBO - Taking Refuge in the Three Treasures

[89] SHINJIN-INGA - Deep Belief in Cause and Effect

[90] SHIZEN-BIKU - The Bhiksu in the Fourth Dhyana

[91] YUI-BUTSU-YO-BUTSU - Buddhas Alone, Together With Buddhas

[92] SHOJI - Life-and-Death

[93] DOSHIN - The Will to the Truth

[94] JUKAI - Receiving the Precepts

[95] HACHI-DAININGAKU - The Eight Truths of a Great Human Being

[Appendix 1] BUTSU-KOJO-NO-JI - The Matter of the Ascendant State of Buddha

[Appendix 2] IPPYAKUHACHI-HOMYOMON - One Hundred and Eight Gates of Dharma-Illumination