Dogen's Shobogenzo Zuimonki The New Annotated Translation—Also Including Dogen's Waka Poetry with Commentary

"This text consists of Master Dōgen's own words, albeit through the filter of his Dharma successor, Koun Ejō, who wrote down the spoken words of his teacher. The title of the text, Shōbōgenzō Zuimonki, can be translated as "True Dharma Eye Treasury: Record of Things Heard." It also distinct from Dōgen's magnum opus (called just Shōbōgenzō) in that it consists of relatively straightforward and accessible teachings, making more limited use of the allusion, word-play, and metaphor that characterize the essays that comprise Shōbōgenzō. Record of Things Heard can be read as a highly practical manual of Buddhist practice, essentially a primer of Sōtō Zen. Dōgen's words express fundamental aspects of Buddhist practice in terms that are both concrete and straightforward in Japanese society in the thirteenth century. Among the many topics covered, Dōgen especially emphasizes the following points: seeing impermanence, departing from the ego-centered self, being free from greed, giving up self-attachment, following the guidance of a true teacher, and the practice of zazen, specifically shikantaza, or "just sitting". Record of Things Heard is a bilingual edition with extensive notes which help to provide the reader with a new way of approaching the text. As bonus material, this edition also includes translations and commentary of Dōgen's luminously evocative waka poetry, formerly published under the title White Snow on Bright Leaves. The book also includes a selection of Dogen's waka poetry with commentary"--