Rational Zen: The Mind of Dogen Zenji (Shambhala Dragon Editions) - Softcover

Cleary, Thomas

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1570626340 ISBN 13: 9781570626340

Publisher: Shambhala, 2001

Synopsis

Zen has often been portrayed as being illogical and mystifying, even aimed at the destruction of the rational intellect. These new translations of the thirteenth-century Zen master Dogen—one of most original and important Zen writers—illustrate the rational side of Zen, which has been obscured through the centuries, tainting people's understanding of it.

Rational Zen consists of enlightening selections from Dogen's two masterworks, "Treasury of Eyes of True Teaching" (the famed Shobogenzo, Japan's most sophisticated philosophical work) and "Universal Book of Eternal Peace," which until now has been unavailable in English. The translator also provides explanations of the inner meanings of Dogen's writings and sayings—the first commentaries of their kind of English. A compendium of authentic source materials further enhances the reader's insight into Dogen's methods, linking them to the great classical traditions of Buddhism that ultimately flowered in Zen.

About this title

About the Author:

Thomas Cleary holds a PhD in East Asian Languages and Civilizations from Harvard University and a JD from the University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law. He is the translator of over fifty volumes of Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian, and Islamic texts from Sanskrit, Chinese, Japanese, Pali, and Arabic.

Language Notes:

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Japanese

About this edition

• Publisher: Shambhala
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 1570626340
• ISBN 13: 9781570626340
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 232