The Record of Transmitting the Light: Zen Master Keizan's Denkoroku [Paperback]

Francis Harold Cook (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1991

The Record of Transmitting the Light traces the inheritance of the Buddha's enlightenment through successive Buddhist masters. Written by a seminal figure in the Japanese Zen tradition, its significance as an historical and religious document is unquestionable. And ultimately, The Record of Transmitting the Light serves as a testament to the human capacity to awaken to a life of freedom, wisdom, and compassion. Readers of Zen will also find the introduction and translation by Francis Dojun Cook, the scholar whose insights brought Zen Master Dogen to life in How to Raise an Ox, of great value.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Both Keizan’s text itself and Dr. Cook’s superb introduction are invaluable in studying our Zen lineage." -- Zenkei Blanche Hartman, Abbess, San Francisco Zen Center

"I am gratified that Dr. Cook's astute translation has been brought back into print in such a fine edition." -- Robert Aitken, author/translator of the Gateless Barrier

"The Record of Transmitting the Light is a work which many would rank alongside Dogen's Shobogenzo as a major classic." -- John Daido Loori, editor of The Art of Just Sitting --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Japanese --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Center Pubns; First Edition edition (February 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0916820203
• ISBN-13: 978-0916820206
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #445,438 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Living Lineage of Soto Zen, April 15, 2003

By 

John D. Buksbazen "daishin" (Santa Monica, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Record of Transmitting the Light: Zen Master Keizan's Denkoroku (Paperback)

From Shakyamuni Buddha through fifty three generations of successors to Koun Ejo, the lineage of Soto Zen Buddhism unfolds.

Each chapter centers on a pivotal exchange between a Zen ancestor and his successor. These exchanges, preserved and used as koans, represent the living transmission of awakened mind, presented by Keizan Zenji, co-founder with Dogen Zenji, of the Japanese Soto school.

Master Keizan's lucid commentaries and verses on each case render the succession accessible to the determined practitioner. This masterful collection, parallelling in importance the Shobogenzo of Dogen Zenji, remains a seminal text for all serious students of Zen.

The translation by Francis Dojun Cook is at once meticulous and vivid, embodying careful scholarship as well as the essence of the realization of these fifty three Zen ancestors.

Time spent with this book will richly reward the reader.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Incredible Book., February 11, 2011

By 

TOM CORBETT "flakey" (London, England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Record of Transmitting the Light: Zen Master Keizan's Denkoroku (Paperback)

I have read this book many times and never grow tired of it. in my opinion, more profound than any of the other koan books, even the Shinji Shobogenzo.

it speaks of own nature. awareness of that which one sees and that within one... only awareness.
it speaks of emptiness. that which is truly nameless and untouchable and yet is all things... only awareness.
it speaks of the Self. awareness within and without (if within still remains)... only awareness.
it speaks of the Mind. awareness of within and without. thoughts, feelings and forms all... only awareness.
it speaks of the teaching of the inanimate. only awareness of the emptiness of such teaching. such emptiness is only awareness.
the cessation of self, and arising of the Self (own nature) which results in perception of only awareness.
it speaks of non-duality and the oneness of emptiness, the oneness of awareness.

when one sees ones own nature for the first time, then one is able to appreciate the sameness and emptiness of all things, but only after one has recognised that the normal feeling within oneself is no different from the feeling of awareness of external forms and objects.

what is emptiness... emptiness is found when all else has been dropped or swept away. all that remains is awareness and emptiness is awareness. In Thibetan Ati Yoga is the teaching of Padmasambhava on appreciating 'Rigpa'... normal feeling or awareness.

in the last paragraph of this book, Keizan speaks of vivid alertness, waking from a dream... a feeling of being "very awake". vivid alertness is vivid awareness. this vivid alertness is however a buddha demon in that it can rob people of the appreciation of supreme normality of basic awareness.

awareness is thought. thoughts are aware.
awareness is feeling. feelings are aware.
awareness is sensation.
awareness is truth.
even loving kindness is a form of awareness.
all is awarness, whether it be vivid or completley normal.
all forms are a form of awareness, as is all sensation of emptiness.

Buddhism is awareness of awareness.
Christianity is awareness of the source of awareness, which is in Him/Her self a form of awareness.

JUST AWARENESS.

with love from White Lotus. xxx

the only thing in my experience that can canker awareness is "premature" annihilation of the mundane self. if this happens then awareness is replaced by grey nothingness. limbo. there are different purities of awareness and the time may come when deliberate exposure to limbo is necessary in the clearing away process. after experiencing the nameless i was left with no 'within'. i asked jesus to give me a new self of loving kindness and the vibration of thought in that state is even purer than it was after annihilation of 'subject/within'. tc.