Treasury of the True Dharma Eye: Zen Master Dogen's Shobo Genzo, Two-Volume Slipcased Edition [Hardcover]

Dogen Dogen (Author), Kazuaki Tanahashi (Editor)

Book Description

Release date: July 12, 2011

Treasury of the True Dharma Eye (Shobo Genzo, in Japanese) is a monumental work, considered to be one of the profoundest expressions of Zen wisdom ever put on paper, and also the most outstanding literary and philosophical work of Japan. It is a collection of essays by Eihei Dogen (1200–1253), founder of Zen’s Soto school.

Kazuaki Tanahashi and a team of translators that represent a Who’s Who of American Zen have produced a translation of the great work that combines accuracy with a deep understanding of Dogen’s voice and literary gifts. The finely produced, two-volume boxed set includes a wealth of materials to aid understanding, including maps, lineage charts, a bibliography, and an exhaustive glossary of names and terms—and, as a bonus, the most renowned of all Dogen’s essays, “Recommending Zazen to All People.”

Editorial Reviews

Review

“A vast, beautiful translation of the master work of the Japanese genius Dogen Zenji. English-speaking practitioners will be indebted to Kaz Tanahashi and his associates for this truly magnificent teaching, an indispensable contribution to Zen letters.”—Peter Matthiessen (Muryo Roshi)

“At long last! A discerning, poetic, and intimate rendering of Dogen’s true expression of the dharma. Dogen’s devotees have long awaited Tanahashi’s complete translation of the Shobogenzo into a contemporary and deeply profound version. Those new to the wisdom of this great teacher as well as those who treasure him will delight in the extraordinary work by our foremost translator and interpreter of Dogen’s masterpiece.”—Pat Enkyo O’Hara, Abbot of Village Zendo, New York

“Kaz Tanahashi, a renowned translator of Dogen and noted artist, has put together an outstanding team of co-translators to create a complete rendering of Dogen's magnum opus, the Shobo Genzo. This publication, which will be in great demand by all scholars, students, and practitioners of Zen Buddhism and Eastern thought more generally, is both accurate and accessible in following the original text literally while capturing the spirit of Dogen's poetic genius. Although there are numerous versions of the work available in English, this new edition is sure to be the one turned to and cited consistently by knowledgeable readers.”—Steven Heine, Professor of Religious Studies and Director of Asian Studies, Florida International University, author of Zen Skin, Zen Marrow and Opening a Mountain: Koans of the Zen Masters

“Reading over Treasury of the True Dharma Eye: Zen Master Dogen’s Shobo Genzo, I am astonished first by the incredible range and variety of Dogen's writings, and second by the immense task that has been done to translate this major text.  With the possible exception of Hakuin's complete writings, there is nothing in Japanese Zen to equal the immense breadth and depth of Dogen's work, which ranges from direct instructions in simple language to the most complex and profound teachings that use words to go far beyond words.  I am convinced that Zen students will find this text especially valuable to contemplate, study, and absorb over the entire course of their lifetimes.”—Stephen Addiss, author of The Art of Zen

“A deeply considered and deeply relevant text.  Shambhala’s publication of Kazuaki Tanahashi’s two volume translation of the complete text of Eihei Dogen’s Shobogenzo marks a watershed moment for Western Buddhism.  With the Tanahashi version, it appears we now have an edition that will receive the sort of attention this great work deserves. Tanahashi’s effort to preserve the particular Japanese difficulty of Dogen’s poetic prose, aided by the excellent work of the poet and Zen teacher Peter Levitt, emphasizes the text’s ambiguity, multiplicity, and resonance of meaning more effectively than other versions.”—Norman Fischer, Tricycle

“For adventuresome Dharma students of any tradition . . . Dogen’s writings offer the possibility of a profound exploration into the nature of practice, words, intimacy. This complete and splendid translation, the work of translators deeply immersed in Dharma and three languages—medieval Japanese, modern Japanese and English—is a new atlas for such adventurers.”—Inquiring Mind

About the Author

Dogen (1200–1253) is known as the founder of the Japanese Soto Zen sect.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1280 pages
• Publisher: Shambhala (July 12, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590304748
• ISBN-13: 978-1590304747
• Product Dimensions: 4.5 x 7.5 x 10.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #859,443 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An essential set August 23, 2011

By Kirk McElhearn VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Dogen's Shobogenzo is the most profound and perplexing work of the Zen canon. Written in the 13th century by the founder of the Soto school of Zen, the Shobogenzo is a collection of texts written over a long period of time that examine the concepts and practices of Zen.

This edition is a milestone, representing a complete English translation of the Shobogenzo, in an extremely attractive set of books. The two volumes are, while a bit expensive, very well produced. The paper is thick and opaque, the font is very readable, and the binding will last one or more lifetimes. Volume one has introductory matter about Dogen's life and the composition of the Shobogenzo, and the first part of the texts (fascicles 1-47). (For a more thorough discussion of Dogen's life and career, as well as an analysis of his thought, see Eihei Dogen: Mystical Realist, by Hee-Jin Kim.) The second volume contains the remainder of the texts (fascicles 48-95 plus a 96th fascicle not included in the original edition of the Shobogenzo), and an extensive glossary explaining the terms used in the books.

Some of the texts in this collection have been published previously, in Moon in a Dewdrop, Beyond Thinking, and Enlightenment Unfolds. In fact, many readers may find those there volumes sufficient in content, and more agreeable in overall price. (Another useful book is Realizing Genjokoan: The Key to Dogen's Shobogenzo, by Shohaku Okumura, which is a detailed, and very accessible commentary on this section of the Shobogenzo.)

This glossary in volume two is essential to the reading and study of this work. Readers will need to look up terms to get a better understanding of what they really mean. Often a single word, or a short phrase, may seem obscure when reading, but the glossary goes into detail to explain it better. In addition, the glossary serves as an index, with references to where the terms are used.

But the glossary is a bit problematic. At more than 200 pages, this is a big chunk of the text, and it is, of course, only available in the second volume. If you are reading the first volume, you still need to have this glossary handy, so you'll need to have both books. I wish that Shambhala had included the glossary as a separate volume - perhaps a paperback - so it could be more easily consulted. Or, if they could provide an ebook version, popping it on an iPad would make reading and consulting it more practical.

This doesn't detract from the overall work, which is, I must say, an amazing feat of translation that has taken decades. The text is beautifully rendered, and, while just one interpretation, it certainly has the weight of experience both of the translators as translators and as practitioners. This set is a monument to the work of Dogen.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars To Be Enlightened By The Ten Thousand Things. October 1, 2011

By J. H. Minde TOP 1000 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Kazuaki Tanahashi has spent most of the last fifty years translating Eihei Dogen Zenji's (1200-1253) masterwork SHOBOGENZO (THE TREASURY OF THE TRUE DHARMA EYE) into English. But even before then he spent time bringing Dogen's medieval Japanese into modern idiom.

Dogen is considered the seminal thinker in Soto Zen Buddhism. It is difficult to get far into practice without coming face-to-face with Dogen, whose writings mark him out not only as one of humanity's original thinkers but as a brilliant stylist.

Dogen was born into an affluent family, but lost his parents and whatever wealth they'd had before he reached the age of thirteen. He was born into a Japan undergoing social and political upheavals. In order to more completely understand the impermanence that defined his life and times he became a monk in his early teens. Eventually he traveled to China, the home of Ch'an (Zen) returning, he once said, after he had discovered that his nose was vertical and his eyes were horizontal. Not long after he arrived back in Japan, he wrote FUKANZAZENGI (INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE UNIVERSAL APPLICATION OF SITTING MEDITATION). He also began writing the first of the 95 (or more) fascicles (essays or chapters) that make up the SHOBOGENZO.

Anyone can learn from Dogen, so direct are his words. Yet, the SHOBOGENZO is truly profound, whether Dogen is addressing such mundane topics as cooking or such esoterica as the nature of space-time. It is interesting to discover that many of Dogen's intuitions match Einstein's equations. At the same time, Dogen's Zen is first and foremost a Zen for Humanity, devoid of priestly trappings and temple pieties and material wealth. Dogen clearly wants his students to thrive, survive and be enlightened by the ten thousand things even in the deepest of dark nights of the soul, and even when all the world is backlit by the flames of war, disruption and unrest.

In a book/collection of such a broad range, it should be unsurprising that so much of what Dogen wrote is complex and subtle. Kaz's true brilliance (aided by a team of translators) is that he was able to translate Dogen's poetical, idiomatic and epigrammatic 13th century Japanese into modern English and to do it so well.

Although portions of Dogen have been translated from time to time this translation has been and still is a lifelong labor of intensively intellectual spontaneous love. This boxed set with its heavy binding, thick ecru pages, clear print, and excellent presentation, reflects all of that. Although this translation costs a pricey $150.00 it is well worth the investment. This is a book you will be reading every day for the rest of your long life.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A really great translation - poetic and easy to read July 20, 2012

By Stratus128

Format:Hardcover

I'm not an expert on translation or on Dogen. I've been through the Nishijima/Cross translation as well as parts of the Shasta Abbey Translation (I've never been able to get a copy of the old nishiyama one) but I find this one so much more readable, so much alive. Nishijima/Cross is good - but it can be hard to read and a bit tedious. This translation is so easy to understand.

I understand that Tanahashi has spent decades working on this - and I suppose that Moon In a Dewdrop and Enlightenment Unfolds are like previews to this work - and certainly, if you don't want to spend the "big bucks" - you could get 2nd hand copies of each of those books for a good taste of what this has to offer.

An article written by Norman Fischer describes the Nishijima/Cross as rigorous, the Shasta Abbey translation as pious and this translation as poetic. And I think he's right on the money there. But "poetic" can make you think that maybe this translation might be a bit fluffy - omitting meaning in favour of flowery words chosen to evoke emotion?? NO, not a bit of it. Words were seemingly chosen to take in greater depth of meaning and understanding - rather than fluff and flower. The result is a very readable, very comprehensible copy of the Shobogenzo.

So why did I only give it 4 stars? **** .. why not 5? This is why, and it's driving me crazy:

I know it's common in many lineages (especially in the USA) to translate the names of the ancestors into their original language and the names of Shobogenzo chapters into English. But this practice is not necessarily followed across all western Soto Zen lineages. Those of us only familiar with the Japanese chapter names will struggle a bit when using this wonderful 2 volume set.

For example: The chapters "Gyoji" 1 and 2 - Nishijima/Cross translate the title as "[Pure] Conduct and Observance [of Precepts]" - Shasta Abbey as "On Ceaseless Practice" - Tanashi(et.al) translate it as "Continuous Practice". Three different names and 1 very different from the others. But in THIS translation, there IS NO JAPANESE name (not in parentheses, not in small print, not in the table of contents..)to help orient you.

- to be fair, the Japanese is give in the chapter summaries listed in the "Texts in Relation to Dogen's Life and Translation Credits" section, as well as in the Glossary, but constantly having to refer to these sections is quite frankly a royal pain in the butt. My beautiful, expensive, new, hard cover Shobogenzo is already littered with pencil marks as I have written the Japanese name over many of the chapter titles and in the table of contents for my own reference.

Non-native English speakers (like my Teacher) will find this lack of Japanese titles even more difficult for navigating the book. The Shasta Abbey and the Nishijima/Cross translations BOTH use the common Japanese name AND their translations for chapter titles - this makes it easier to orient yourself when reading and also to cross reference translations. If you make a 2nd edition,PLEASE incorporate this.

I faced the same problem when it came to the names of the old ancestors. And this has led to WAY MORE pencil marks in my nice new book. In some chapters I've had to keep reminding myself (with the help of my trusty pencil) that Tiantong Rujing is actually Tendo Nyojo and Shi tou Xiqian is the same guy I think of as Sekito Kisen... and who is Xuedou Zhijian??? .... hmm. ok.. look it up in the Glossary.. ahh! he's Setcho Chikan yes! of course! ... I chant his name nearly every day.. oh.. now where was I.. damn.. I lost my page.. and the flow of reading.. ... anyway, you get the picture

Now, I'm not saying it isn't a completely fair and sensible choice to give Chinese ancestors their actual Chinese names, instead of the Sino-Japanese transliteration(or whatever it is) - but all across Europe, and many parts of North America I suspect, English speakers are spending loads of time looking up these names in the glossary. Why not footnote them (or put their Japanese names in parenthesis)so everyone can easily read .. instead of just those people from lineages who use the original names?

Anyway, that's my rant for the day. All in All this is an amazing and excellent translation, it's so easy to read, if it wasn't, I wouldn't have taken the time to use my pencil so very much, I now bookmark my places in the book with a pencil to make my life easier.