The True Dharma Eye: Zen Master Dogen's Three Hundred Koans [Paperback]

John Daido Loori (Author, Translator), Kazuaki Tanahashi (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 11, 2009

A collection of three hundred koans compiled by Eihei Dogen, the thirteenth-century founder of Soto Zen in Japan, this book presents readers with a uniquely contemporary perspective on his profound teachings and their relevance for modern Western practitioners of Zen. Following the traditional format for koan collections, John Daido Loori Roshi, an American Zen master, has added his own commentary and accompanying verse for each of Dogen’s koans. Zen students and scholars will find The True Dharma Eye to be a source of deep insight into the mind of one of the world’s greatest religious thinkers, as well as the practice of koan study itself.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"In this astonishing resource, John Daido Loori Roshi has provided commentary and verses on each koan. These koans yank us away from our preconceptions and fixed ideas, forcing us to see what is real. They perplex us and exhaust reason.”—Spirituality & Health

“Loori Roshi offers to modern students new entry into this profound and ancient practice.”—Tricycle

"We are fortunate to receive this important new translation by Kaz Tanahashi and Daido Loori of Zen Master Dogen's early selection of three hundred koans that formed a basis for his many later koan commentaries. Daido Loori's introduction discussing Dogen's approach counteracts prevalent stereotypes that base all koan practice on later eighteenth-century training systems. Daido Loori's brief remarks and verse comments after each case suggest helpful perspectives for practitioners."—Taigen Dan Leighton, cotranslator and editor, Dogen's Extensive Record and Dogen's Pure Standards for the Zen Community

"What Daido Roshi now does in a remarkable way is to breathe new life into the text by innovatively creating prose and verse comments. The Mana Shobogenzo lives again, and for the lucky readers so does the thought of Dogen Zenji transmitted to the twenty-first century."—Steven Heine, co-editor of Dogen's Extensive Record

"This creative work, presented from the perspective of a Western Zen teacher, adds a significant contribution in helping to make Zen more global in its application as a spiritual path."—Shohaku Okumura, Dharma Successor of Kosho Uchiyama Roshi and founder of Sanshin Zen Community in Bloomington, Indiana

Product Details

• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: Shambhala (August 11, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590304659
• ISBN-13: 978-1590304655
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.3 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #169,304 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A remarkable achievement!, January 17, 2006

By 

james "hank" (Toronto, ON, CAN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The True Dharma Eye: Zen Master Dogen's Three Hundred Koans (Hardcover)

I cannot render praise high enough to John Daido Loori. With his translation of Dogen's three hundred koans, he builds a modern masterpiece out of an old one. This collection of koans, which Dogen assembled, serves as the foundation on which he built many fascicles of his might Shobogenzo. Indeed, a reading of this book enhances one's understanding of Dogen's primary masterpiece greatly. Typically, a koan collection is comprised of cases, accompanied with a commentary and verse by the compiler. But Dogen never added these items, though he comments on some of them at great length in the Shobogenzo. So translator John Daido Loori, has boldly undertaken the task of the compiler, providing each koan with commentary and verse. In doing so, he weaves his own masterpiece together with Dogen's. With his remarks, Loori shows himself to be a true enlightened representative of Dogen's lineage, a master of Zen writing style, and a truly great writer. Commentary by Zen masters tends to be vivid, mocking, and sardonic, whilst pointing to the essence of the koan. Reading this, one feels that one is reading Engo Kokugon's commentary on the Blue Cliff Record, or Mumon's commentary on the Gateless Gate (both compiled in the twelfth century!). Loori understands so well the style and message of these Zen masters that he writes a commentary worthy to stand beside them. And, with a deep respect of Dogen, and a deep understanding of the Shobogenzo, he interweaves seemlessly Dogen's concepts with his own, unapologetically lifting passages from famous works, as Zen masters have always been wont to do. He makes new verses out of old famous ones, brings up vital points of Dogen's philosophy by putting them in a different context, and shows as complete an expression of Zen as I have ever seen in a modern writer (or in many ancient ones.) Perhaps his greatest achievement is his clarity. He uses the same metaphors and the same ridiculous phrases used by so many Zen commentators, yet his remarks are suited to people who want to train with koans at a lower level, or who do not have a master to train under. He offers no explanations, nor offers any solutions, yet he points gently to the watos, the points that one should meditate on, and the nature of kanna zen. A must have for any serious student of koan training!

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A compilation of koans by the thirteenth-century Zen Buddhism master Eihei Dogen, April 4, 2006

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The True Dharma Eye: Zen Master Dogen's Three Hundred Koans (Hardcover)

The True Dharma Eye: Zen Master Dogen's Three Hundred Koans is a compilation of koans by the thirteenth-century Zen Buddhism master Eihei Dogen. First published in Japan in 1766, this new version features extensive commentary and interpretation for each koan by the abbot of Zen Mountain Monastery of Mount Tremper, New York, John Daido Loori Roshi. For example, one koan's main case is "Longya was once asked by a monastic, 'What is the meaning of the Ancestor's [Bodhidharma's] coming from India?' Longya said, 'I will tell you when the stone tortoise speaks." The commentary examines this response, and similar responses that appear at first glance to be a refusal to answer, in various lights - that perhaps the meaning of the Ancestor's coming is as inconceivable as the existence of a speaking stone tortoise, or perhaps by hearing the voice of the stone tortoise one can truly begin to understand. Each koan has a capping verse; in the previous case, it is "East Mountain moves over water; / the stone woman gives birth to a child in the night. / Outstanding, awesome - / the teachings of the insentient. / If you listen with the ear, you will never get it; / when you hear with the eye, everything is clear and undisguised." Cross- references, lineage charts, and biographical notes round out this excellent and highly accessible primary source for students, practitioners, and scholars of Zen Buddhism.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Critical for thoroughly understanding Dogen, May 20, 2006

By 

nicholas fulgoney (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The True Dharma Eye: Zen Master Dogen's Three Hundred Koans (Hardcover)

It is impossible to read the Shobogenzo or Eihei Koroku without stumbling through the main cases of the koans contained in this book. Now with Daido Loori, Roshi's commentary, capping verses and footnotes, these koans can be directly encountered with a great deal more skill and studied fruitfully in coordination with Dogen's other works. It is a landmark in the evolution of understanding Dogen, as well as in the progress of American Zen.