A Blade of Grass Japanese Poetry and Aesthetics in Dōgen Zen

This work provides the first complete annotated translation of Dogen's collected Japanese poetry (waka) along with an analysis of the role of aesthetics in Dogen's philosophical writings in light of medieval Japanese literature. It argues that Dogen's approach to Buddhist thought is not characterized by a clear-cut and one-sided rejection of aesthetics. Rather, Dogen's standpoint is based on a fundamental paradoxicality encompassing the interplay of religion and literature, didacticism and lyricism, and absolute and relative expressing a contemplative view of nature and impermanence that is compatible with traditional Japanese religio-aesthetics. This work also critically assesses recent Japanese scholarship on Dogen's poetry in cultural history and textual studies, and examines the medieval and modern history of the waka collection text and commentaries."